The AV Science Forum Web site took its fourth annual poll, asking how respondents receive HDTV signals. You should know that this poll represents a self-selecting population of respondents, not the general public, and perhaps not even the general HDTV-viewing public. There were 233 respondents to this year's poll, compared to 405 in last year's. With those warnings in mind, it is interesting to see some of the statistics. Forty percent of 2005 poll respondents receive HDTV using a DirecTV STB, while 6 percent use an EchoStar STB. In 2004, the figures were 44 percent and 10 percent respectively. In second place was reception on a cable STB, at 22 percent in 2005 and 15 percent in 2004. Interestingly, the doomed Voom picked up a share of respondents in 2005, at 5 percent, versus 2 percent in 2004.Broadcast HDTV reception came in third in both 2005 and 2004 at 15 percent each year. The balance of respondents used various other sources.
As mentioned, this set of figures probably can't be considered as representative of all HDTV viewers, but it also can't be great news for HDTV broadcasters.
