by Paul Gray, Director, European TV Research
Having lived with a new LCD TV and Blu-ray player for a couple of months now, my experiences gave me some puzzlement on TV setmaking. The messages from the TV industry have been about resolution: firstly HD, then later on the subtler one of megapixels: 1080p. It’s strange, but my 42” 1080p TV has a standard definition user interface, although mapped exactly onto the panel’s resolution. Lettering is similar to a PC circa 1988, in dark grey on a pale grey background. The Blu-ray player, by contrast, has glorious HD characters: the font has nice serifs, and its white on black design enhances the feeling of sharpness. I knew I was in a high-def world before I had even loaded a disc.A trip to a retailer over the weekend confirmed that many—indeed most—of the leading brands still have SD user interfaces, and I just do not understand why. In a world where most content is still in SD (I live in Europe) it misses a unique chance to offer a glimpse of HD—quite apart from doing nothing to offer a seamless HD experience to anyone who has paid for HD.
All in all this attention to detail is marring my satisfaction with the TV. It’s like buying a Mercedes and then discovering that the doors shut with a noisy clang.
A similar neglected area is the remote control. This has remained essentially unchanged since the first infra-red models 30 years ago. It appears to be designed by engineers—buttons are laid out in a grid format, with tiny writing. I did a button count in my home:
TV: 33 keys
Blu-ray: 46 keys
Casio algebra calculator: 47 keys
We all know devices of similar complexity that achieve seamless design of the control and the user interface as a single system. The reward to the consumer is that they are a joy to use—simple, intuitive and uncluttered. These products rightly attract a premium, and that premium is gladly paid by consumers who recognize its value.
With a maturing market, such seemingly small details will become a significant factor in success or failure. It demands a change in approach that balances styling and emotional appeal with the ‘numbers marketing’ and technical approach of the past.
