how come so few HDTV's come with PiP?

[BlahBlahYouToo]

when it was all the rage with larger CRT and RPTV's.

 

[The Boston Dangler]

it may have been all the rage, but nobody used it.

 

[SonicIce]

cuz theyre too cheap to include two tuners

 

[sivart]

...because very few people use the internal tuners. Most with PiP use the internal tuner and one other source these days..if you can find one.

 

[Modelworks]

Still have the problem of needing two sources for the video. Satellite would need two boxes as would cable or two tuners . It just cost too much to support.

 

[Chess]

it may have been all the rage, but nobody used it.

Agreed...

PiP was a big thing 5-8 years ago... now honestly who cares we have DVR to record instead of watching that small box lol

 

[mmntech]

Picture-in-Picture has to be the most useless feature on a TV, even when it was all the rage.

I don't know why they insisted on limiting it to only the analogue antenna/cable tuners. My current TV has it, made in 2008, and yeah, tuners only.

 

[Ika]

It was useful for watching games when they went to commercial break. I guess if you have a DVR it doesn't matter, but personally I don't want to be bothered to set up a DVR when I want to watch something (which is rare).

 

[cubalis]

I used to use PiP exclusively for levelling up my FF7 characters while watching TV. The good old days...

 

[Red Squirrel]

I remember when we bought a CRT that had it, it was pretty cool. My mom would watch her love story while my dad watched the hockey game in the tiny little box.

I don't think they used it that much though, when they redid the basement they just got a second TV. Now they never see each other. LOL

 

[Deleted member 4644]

I think pip made sense when you could easily have two tuners over the air.

Now with cable boxes its too expensive, and you can just record.

Still sometimes I wish I had the feature -- gaming + watching TV would be roxxor.

 

[simonizor]

I think pip made sense when you could easily have two tuners over the air.

Now with cable boxes its too expensive, and you can just record.

Still sometimes I wish I had the feature -- gaming + watching TV would be roxxor.

My friend's Olevia 37" LCD has a feature that allows you to split two video sources between the right and left halves of the screen. PiP isn't gone; it has just been improved upon. Still, as many people posted, its popularity dropped off a while ago, and you can only find this split feature in a handful of TVs.

 

[fffblackmage]

I never did understand what the point of PiP was for TVs, but I could definitely use PiP for my monitor...

 

[0roo0roo]

just takes time, many ota customers are cheap and wouldn't pay for two tuners, but they'll eventually add it. when pip was in regular crts it was over priced which drove down adoption and consumer comfort level with said tech. pip was sorta added to crt tv's after the crt had plateaued technologically, they had no where else to go to add premium features. flat panels just keep getting better so adding that additional level is just not as high a priority.
also with tivo and such its not as necessary. you can get a dvr for over the air broadcasts these days as well, thinkn its the dtv pal or somethin.
pip would be an additional feature to this and so less desirable.

 

[kalrith]

I think everyone who said it's because of DVRs is right on. If you're watching two live shows and can't record one while you watch the other, then it makes sense. However, I would guess that very few people who buy HDTVs do not have DVRs. It doesn't make financial sense to add a feature for 2% of the consumers.

 

[SunnyD]

Picture-By-Picture (PbP) rocked. Watching two items side by side instead of overlayed. Hell, it's even better on monitors like my Dell 2407. In fact, this gives me an idea for eyefinity.

 

[kalrith]

Picture-By-Picture (PbP) rocked. Watching two items side by side instead of overlayed.

If I'm understanding you correctly, my in-laws have that feature and really like it during football season. They'll watch games side by side when they're both on at the same time and then switch to just one game during commercials and half time of the other game.

Live sports on at the same time would be the one situation when a DVR doesn't eliminate the need for PiP or PbP. Once you get the to end of one game, you already know the score of the other game. Even if the other game is only halfway through, it take a lot of enjoyment out of watching it.

 

[dmw16]

PiP was useful in GT3 for making money doing the oval track in the F1 car. You couldn't lose, but the endurance race took hours.

 

[kornphlake]

My Dish Network box does PIP. It has 2 tuners though and PIP only works if only one television is connected.

 

[0roo0roo]

I think everyone who said it's because of DVRs is right on. If you're watching two live shows and can't record one while you watch the other, then it makes sense. However, I would guess that very few people who buy HDTVs do not have DVRs. It doesn't make financial sense to add a feature for 2% of the consumers.

no, many don't have dvrs, its why the ota market is only served by a single dvr maker really. sad situation. there are the cable/sat hdtv market which are very likely to have dvr, and the ota market which is very unlikely to have a dvr, but those people are also unlikely to pay for the premium pip feature as well.