世論 What Japan Thinks

[part one] [part two]

This recent survey from Interface In Design into smart television, where the respondents got to compare devices hands-on, produced the surprising result that one Korean model beat three Japanese models in almost every category.

Demographics

Between the 11th and 16th of October 2012 240 people were picked off the street to take part in a Central Location Test, where they could try all the devices under test hands-on. The sample was of people who watched television at home at least thrice a week, and there was a 50:50 split of the sexes in each of four age groups, with 25% in their twenties, thirties, forties, and fifties or older. The televisions under test were all 55 or 52 inch LCDs, Panasonic TH-L55ET5, Sony KDL-55HX850, Sharp LC-52L5 and LG 55LM7600.

Note that The Register has an interesting opinion piece on smart television’s software design.

Research results

Q1: Do you know what Smart Television is? (Sample size=240)

Have one at home	0.4%
Know something about it	8.3%
Just heard the term	57.9%
Don’t know anything about it	33.3%

Q2: What image do you have when you hear the term Smart Television? (Sample size=240, multiple answer)

As well as television viewing, can connect to the internet and do various things	67.1%
Can search for weather, news, etc like on a PC	62.1%
Can work along with a smartphone	56.3%
Can look up related information on the internet while watching programmes	46.3%
Can use Twitter, Facebook, etc	30.4%
Can play back photos, videos I shot myself	28.3%
Can watch from any room, when outside, etc	27,5%
Can use content providers like Tsutaya, Hulu	25.4%
Can watch in Full HD	25.0%
Can seamlessly choose from broadcast programmes, recorded TV, and internet delivery	24.6%
Can expand functions through downloaded apps	24.6%
Can download karaoke, shopping, etc apps	18.8%
Recording functions become more advanced	15.8%
Don’t really know, cannot imagine	10.0%

The following questions were asked after the respondents got a chance to use the various models.

Q3: What would you like to see from Smart Television? (Sample size=240, multiple answer)

Easy to use remote control	94.6%
Easy to understand, easy to search from home screen	85.4%
Quality images	80.0%
Good physical design	74.6%
Sufficient network functionality	69.6%

For this question, they were asked to rate overall satisfaction in one four categories “Satisfied”, “Somewhat satisfied”, “Somewhat dissatisfied” and “Dissatisfied”, and wanting to buy as “Defintely”, “Perhaps”, “Perhaps not”, and “Not at all”. The scores for the two positive answers for each device were added up and are reported below. The pattern was also repeated in many of the later questions.

Q4: How do you rate the devices in the following categories? (Sample size=240, multiple answer)

	Panasonic	Sony	Sharp	LG
Overall satisfaction	63.5%	62.1%	52.5%	67.6%
Would want to buy	60.0%	54.3%	41.7%	64.6%

Q5: Which device had the easiest to use remote control? (Sample size=240)

Panasonic	20.0%
Sony	19.2%
Sharp	14.6%
LG	46.3%

Q6: How was the ease of use for each remote control? (Sample size=240, multiple answer)

Panasonic	61.0%
Sony	54.3%
Sharp	48.0%
LG	71.7%

[part one] [part two]