More than 85 million US households will have high-definition-capable television sets by 2012, according to Leichtman Research Group's "HDTV 2007: Consumer Awareness, Interest and Ownership" report.

Leichtman said that about one-quarter of US households had HD-capable TVs in 2007, up nearly 100% from 2005. Not all those households were watching HD programming, however.

"With the expansion of HDTV, there will need to be continued consumer education about high-definition programming and products," said Bruce Leichtman, the company's president and principal analyst.

Over three-quarters of HDTV owners thought they were watching HD programming, but Leichtman estimated that about 20% were not actually viewing high-definition signals.

The research company found that mean annual income for HDTV households was 27% above average.