• by Aaron Baar , January 29, 2010

Nearly two-thirds of all Americans have a high-definition television in their home, and another 12% intend to buy one within the next two years, according to a consumer survey from the Opinion Research Corporation (ORC).

The survey, which is representative of the United States population in terms of income, age, race and gender, suggests that by 2012, nearly three-quarters of the country will have a high-definition television.

While this might be good news for consumer electronics companies, consumers were less impressed with the introduction of 3-D television. According to the survey, 60% of American adults were aware of the technology (thanks to press coverage of the television introductions at the Consumer Electronics Show earlier this month). Surprisingly, awareness was higher in the 34-55 demographic. However, only 5% of consumers said they had plans to buy a 3-D set within the next two years.

"What's driving that is the economy and the appliances needed [e.g., special glasses] needed for the experience to be rich," Robert Clark, senior vice president of ORC's Technology Market Insights practice, tells Marketing Daily. "What consumers seem to be saying is the H-D experience is acceptable enough."

Consumer sentiment could change, however, when more 3-D movies move to DVD and networks such as ESPN introduce 3-D channels.

As part of the survey, ORC also asked consumers which brands were synonymous with quality. By a wide majority, consumers selected Sony, cited by 43% of the survey respondents. The next-highest, cited by only 11% of the respondents, was Samsung. "Sony was head and shoulders above the others, which is a bit surprising," Clark says.

Behind Sony and Samsung, 5% cited Panasonic as a brand synonymous with quality, 4% cited Vizio and 3% cited LG. Toshiba, RCA and Sharp were cited by 2%, while only 1% of consumers cited Magnavox, Mitsubishi, JVC and Zenith.