Television Quality Perception by Gender
August 2, 2011 8:12 AM Subscribe
Prob Sexist question filter: Do women perceive television quality different than men? Or is this a sports tv on HD thing? Or am I the weird one? (ok, yeah)
Virtually every women's house I've been to with an HDTV has their channels set on the non-HD channel (i.e Bravo vs. Non Bravo HD.
This enrages me internally to no end, and usually switch the channel as soon as there is a commercial to the HD channel. The owner of the tv doesn't see the difference. (even with the stretching and the bars), and wonder's what the hell the fuss is all about.
However, this rarely happens when I go to guy's houses. I have wondered if this is because of the guys being more into electronics and more used to watching sports in HD (which were more ubiquitous on cable than channels like Bravo or Comedy Central much earlier). All these guys will also refuse to watch tv that's not in HD.
Virtually every women's house I've been to with an HDTV has their channels set on the non-HD channel (i.e Bravo vs. Non Bravo HD.
This enrages me internally to no end, and usually switch the channel as soon as there is a commercial to the HD channel. The owner of the tv doesn't see the difference. (even with the stretching and the bars), and wonder's what the hell the fuss is all about.
However, this rarely happens when I go to guy's houses. I have wondered if this is because of the guys being more into electronics and more used to watching sports in HD (which were more ubiquitous on cable than channels like Bravo or Comedy Central much earlier). All these guys will also refuse to watch tv that's not in HD.
This post was deleted for the following reason: If you want to give this another shot next week more in the stripped down vein of your followup comment, that'd probably be fine, but as stated this is kind of a lot of distracting not-great framing getting in the way of that. -- cortex
My father is always the one switching to the HD channel. My mother doesn't care. However, they are just one man and one woman.
posted by madcaptenor at 8:18 AM on August 2, 2011
posted by madcaptenor at 8:18 AM on August 2, 2011
I don't see a problem or a correctly answerable question. Some people care about HDTV and some don't. I doubt there's any reliable empirical data on this. Assuming it to be true, your hypothesis (men-focused channels have been around in HD longer, so men expect HD more) is just as reasonable a story as anything else that I could come up with.
posted by a robot made out of meat at 8:19 AM on August 2, 2011
posted by a robot made out of meat at 8:19 AM on August 2, 2011
Most guys I hang out with could care less about HD and aspect ratios.
We also could care less about sports.
My wife watches sports.
She cares more about watching things in HD.
Perhaps the sports conjecture is correct.
Though, I bet it might be something else.
posted by Seamus at 8:20 AM on August 2, 2011
We also could care less about sports.
My wife watches sports.
She cares more about watching things in HD.
Perhaps the sports conjecture is correct.
Though, I bet it might be something else.
posted by Seamus at 8:20 AM on August 2, 2011
In a screenwriting class once it was pointed out that soap operas are written to be listened to. The picture is completely ancillary to the story, so that the show can be used as background to doing other things around the house. I suspect that this is a common aspect to shows targeted towards women, which also suggests that we've got half a century or more of culture which encourages women to not actually watch TV shows.
And for my part, I've spent a bit of my career playing with digital picture quality issues. It took me quite a while to be able to watch DVDs vs VHS because the artifacts of DVD compression bug me a hell of a lot more than the lower resolution and bleeding color of VHS. I don't watch TV these days, but really one set of artifacts and crawlies and aliasing jaggies can be as distracting as another set of bleeding colors. So, yeah, could also just totally be preference for one set of video artifacts over another.
posted by straw at 8:20 AM on August 2, 2011 [1 favorite]
And for my part, I've spent a bit of my career playing with digital picture quality issues. It took me quite a while to be able to watch DVDs vs VHS because the artifacts of DVD compression bug me a hell of a lot more than the lower resolution and bleeding color of VHS. I don't watch TV these days, but really one set of artifacts and crawlies and aliasing jaggies can be as distracting as another set of bleeding colors. So, yeah, could also just totally be preference for one set of video artifacts over another.
posted by straw at 8:20 AM on August 2, 2011 [1 favorite]
before this thread likely gets deleted, i did want to suggest a simple empirical thought (from 2 friends and their wives.) In both cases the woman require a VERY mild glasses prescription (one of whom doesn't wear glasses at all and one who "only wears them to drive".) In both cases they swear there is no difference between SD and HD and yet with a glance you will catch both squinting at the TV.
so perhaps there's a pattern relating to vanity... i too know men who can't see the difference but it does seem to be a higher percentage of women who state that.
posted by chasles at 8:22 AM on August 2, 2011 [1 favorite]
so perhaps there's a pattern relating to vanity... i too know men who can't see the difference but it does seem to be a higher percentage of women who state that.
posted by chasles at 8:22 AM on August 2, 2011 [1 favorite]
My dad is the same way, is a devotee of the pan 'n' scan. When he got a new TV with an HD-shaped screen, he was furious that all his movies now had those hated "black bars."
I don't care about HD or not, but I do care about aspect ratio. If the purpose of film/tv/whatever is to communicate, most of the time HD doesn't matter. I would imagine you and the guys you hang out with are more likely to be tech-heads for its own sake than the women you know.
As for whether the question is sexist, well, it's only sexist if you start making value judgements based on it (e.g. women can't appreciate TV like men can). That's different than "the structure of the visual cortex and optic nerves in female humans is different that that in males, leading to different perception and processing of information" which is not sexist and potentially really interesting.
posted by Jon_Evil at 8:25 AM on August 2, 2011
I don't care about HD or not, but I do care about aspect ratio. If the purpose of film/tv/whatever is to communicate, most of the time HD doesn't matter. I would imagine you and the guys you hang out with are more likely to be tech-heads for its own sake than the women you know.
As for whether the question is sexist, well, it's only sexist if you start making value judgements based on it (e.g. women can't appreciate TV like men can). That's different than "the structure of the visual cortex and optic nerves in female humans is different that that in males, leading to different perception and processing of information" which is not sexist and potentially really interesting.
posted by Jon_Evil at 8:25 AM on August 2, 2011
Guy here, I struggle to motivate myself to care about the difference, I know I should, but really, good TV in bad quality is still good, bad TV in good quality is still bad.
Given a choice, I put it on the HD channel when I had the option, but I wouldn't get upset if it was SD.
I've moved to a new house with no HD, and I can't say I'm upset at "missing out"
I would definitely agree it makes a much bigger difference with sports though, you can see the puck in HD!
posted by chrispy108 at 8:25 AM on August 2, 2011
Given a choice, I put it on the HD channel when I had the option, but I wouldn't get upset if it was SD.
I've moved to a new house with no HD, and I can't say I'm upset at "missing out"
I would definitely agree it makes a much bigger difference with sports though, you can see the puck in HD!
posted by chrispy108 at 8:25 AM on August 2, 2011
Best answer: 1) Is HD really necessary? The size of the screen relates to the video quality people can actually realize.
2) If you like what you're watching, you're less likely to notice the difference in video quality.
posted by filthy light thief at 8:27 AM on August 2, 2011
2) If you like what you're watching, you're less likely to notice the difference in video quality.
posted by filthy light thief at 8:27 AM on August 2, 2011
Response by poster: I guess a better question would be to ask:
What makes some people care about television picture quality than others? Although to me, that would be like asking the meaning of life.
posted by sandmanwv at 8:28 AM on August 2, 2011
What makes some people care about television picture quality than others? Although to me, that would be like asking the meaning of life.
posted by sandmanwv at 8:28 AM on August 2, 2011
Woman here and I love HD tv.
maybe we should talk about individual differences rather than gender differences.
posted by lilnublet at 8:28 AM on August 2, 2011
maybe we should talk about individual differences rather than gender differences.
posted by lilnublet at 8:28 AM on August 2, 2011
I don't watch a lot of TV, but when I do, non-HD makes me feel like I'm going blind. I know, I know - boo hoo, first world probs. Whatever, like I said. If I'm GOING to watch TV, it's gonna look good. You know the guide channel, or the info screen? If I click on it while I'm on a non-HD channel, I have to squint to read it. It's so blurry. Data point. I'm a woman.
posted by peep at 8:31 AM on August 2, 2011
posted by peep at 8:31 AM on August 2, 2011
You're asking a technology question, and women are clasically socialized away from technology/science/math. This is why there's such a gender mismatch in engineering schools. This is why there's such a push, thank god, to get young girls more interested in math and science.
posted by griphus at 8:31 AM on August 2, 2011
posted by griphus at 8:31 AM on August 2, 2011
I think it has more to do with what you're watching than your sex. Specifically, sports, as mentioned above. I like watching football in HD but I couldn't give a damn if I watched Modern Family in HD or not.
posted by gaspode at 8:33 AM on August 2, 2011
posted by gaspode at 8:33 AM on August 2, 2011
I'm female, I hate sports so I never watch it but I also hate the aspect ration being messed up and am the one always bitching about it in our house. We've had the TV for 9 months now and my husband still can't pick when the ratio is wrong. I don't think it's a sex based thing I think its a some people just don't care thing and your sample is too small to confirm or deny sexual bias. But then my sample is 2 people so I really can't argue against it either I guess :)
posted by wwax at 8:34 AM on August 2, 2011
posted by wwax at 8:34 AM on August 2, 2011
I am a female. My male partner does wonder sometimes why I don't always have on the HD channel if it is available. To echo some sentiments above, I don't care about the picture quality except while watching sports. I know what the difference is and can tell when the HD channel is on and when it is not, but sometimes I just don't care. Hockey in HD is beautiful and so is baseball. House Hunters, SpongeBob and Seinfeld reruns do not require HD to be enjoyed so why should I bother searching for them? What are these friends or yours watching? Maybe they don't care, either! More importantly, why do you care so much about what they are watching?
posted by bijou243 at 8:37 AM on August 2, 2011
posted by bijou243 at 8:37 AM on August 2, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
I have no idea how these people cannot perceive the difference in quality. It boggles the mind.
posted by King Bee at 8:16 AM on August 2, 2011