Westinghouse Asks What’s Next for HDTV

Westinghouse Digital Electronics polled 1,200 consumers to ask what features they want in future digital televisions. Would you believe voice recognition made the list?

Westinghouse Digital Electronics recently polled more than 1,200 consumers to ask them what features they most want to see in future HDTV televisions. The company plans to doll out insights from the polling a little at a time, perhaps to gleam more PR exposure from the poll or time the info to its own product announcements. (Who knows why? We just don’t get the sense number-crunching is the cause for the delay.)

In response to the question "If you could design a TV yourself, what would you add?" Westinghouse says the top answers included voice recognition, touch screen interface, a 120Hz refresh rate, wireless capability, energy conservation, built-in DVD players and DVRs, and Bluetooth capability.

"We are always fascinated and enlightened by the comments and suggestions we get from our users—and we encourage the dialog on an ongoing basis,’ said Rey Roque, Westinghouse Digital’s VP Marketing, in a statement. "Tomorrow’s realities always start with today’s dreams and desires, and these insights will inform our product and feature planning over the years to come."

We most admit that voice recognition capabilities in a television could provide hours of entertainment, even though in some households it might boil down to two-word conversations. ("Football!" "Oprah!" "Football! "Oprah!") And if you’re in the middle of watching, say Heroes, and mutter "Hey, that reminds me of that thing they did on Stargate SG-1 a few years ago…" like magic, your television could flip over to Richard Dean Anderson. Exciting!

But at least it would reduce repetitive stress injuries in folks who find using a remote too taxing.

Similarly, a touch-screen interface for a television doesn’t seen all that well thought-out, especially considering the size of typical HDTV panels. Obviously, the idea is probably most favored by consumers who don’t have sticky-handed children in the house, but we must admit: if users were forced to get up off the couch and walk over to the TV to change channels, they’d at least be getting some exercise. You know, just like back in the 1950s before Robert Adler co-invented "the clicker."