Welcome to the 23rd annual “This is the year of HDTV,” quipped Mark Schubin as he opened Tuesday’s HPA Tech Retreat program.

He reported that HD set penetration in US household has reached 23.2%, up from 12.8% a year ago. He added that an estimated 1/3 of HDTV users don’t watch HD.

According to Nielsen, most U.S. HD viewing is sports, followed by political content, awards show and sitcoms. Schubin noted that drama was not in the top four.

He posed the question: “Is this the year of 3D TV?”

One of the morning speakers was industry vet Matt Peterson, who started Vertatique (vertatique.com) to share information and spur action to advance sustainability in the creation and use of computing, media, and e-devices.

He said: “As technologists, we have an obligation to think about the social implications of what we do.”

Having polled HPA attendees, he reported that about 1/3 had a green ICT initiative (but not all participated.)

Peterson said energy costs are driving 2-30% of facilities’ ICT budgets, and about 50% of ICT energy goes to heat removal.

He suggested green media production practices, such as: Digital deployment, stage and set practices, and location practices.

For more: http://vertatique.com/vertatiques-green-production-practices