Immersive, Emotive and Cognitive effects of HDTV: Evaluating Effects of Image Definition on Presence

In the search of effects of image quality, we evaluated the effects of HDTV on presence: immersion, emotion and cognition. The set-up of the experiments involved respondents being wired up and recorded during two different viewing scenarios: in the first, they watched SD and HD versions of the same content being broadcast simultaneously on two identical adjacent HD-ready flat-screen displays for ten minutes; in the second, they were asked to choose with a remote control and watch SD or HD programming from a selection offering content divided 50/50 between the two modes. In the first scenario, when the same content could be watched either in SD or HD over a ten-minute period, respondents spent 70% of the ten-minute period watching HD. 77% of them said they preferred HD; and 76% of them found that the quality of the HD picture was better. In the second scenario, when respondents were free to hop between different content modes as they saw fit, they spent 25% more time watching HD content before switching to a different channel. On average, they also chose HD programming 12.5% more than SD versions of the same programs. Physiological monitoring of the test subjects, combined with questionnaires, also found that HD both increased the legibility of, and the amount of 'reading' of the images, increasing comprehension of what was being shown, and stimulating viewers' curiosity and imagination.