HD DVD Reviews High on Picture, Low on Titles

From the Washington Post comes an article about early user reviews of Toshiba's HD DVD players that debuted last week for $500 and $800. The most positive comments surround the picture quality, particularly with standard-def DVDs. The negative feedback revolves around the lack of movie titles released in HD DVD alongside the Toshiba players.

Sony Expecting TV Profits by Fall Thanks to LCDs

Business Week has an interesting piece this week on the rebound of Sony's electronics division thanks in large measure to increasing demand for its Bravia line of LCD TVs. Much of the company's ability to meet demand for Bravia LCDs is due to its S-LCD joint production venture with Korean rival/partner Samsung Electronics, a venture that will be expanded by an additional $2.2 billion investment from the two companies. Sony is expecting its TV division to turn a profit by this fall, which will be just in time to offset heavy losses brought on by the introduction of the new PlayStation 3 and its large start-up costs.

National Geographic HD Debuts on Verizon FiOS

Without much fanfare, National Geographic HD has made its carriage debut, showing up on Verizon FiOS TV channel lineups in various markets throughout the U.S. Programming includes Naked Science, MegaStructures, Seconds From Disaster and Explorer. No word from Nat Geo on other carriage deals, but for those keeping track, FiOS TV now boasts a total of 24 HD channels.

Also bowing on FiOS TV is MTV's MHD, which the folks at Verizon somewhat inaccurately refer to as MTV HD. MHD's only cable carriage deal is with Cox, although it hasn't yet been added across all the Cox cable systems.

VOD vs. HD-DVR

One of the hot topics at the cable industry's annual confab in Atlanta last week was video on demand (VOD), which frankly, has been the case for at least the last three years. It got me thinking, though, about VOD's biggest problem: the vast majority of such programming is unavailable in high-def. If you believe the CEA that 2006 will be the first year that digital TVs outsell analog models - they project that a total of nearly 16 million HDTVs will be sold this year -- then you might assume that the cable industry would do more to get HD programming into VOD. Not so.

The issue, as it always seems to be with the cable industry, is bandwidth. Most of the cable providers have largely ceased adding new HD channels over the past year due to bandwidth constraints, and the same problem is hindering any significant amount of HD VOD. So as an HD aficionado, my cable company's VOD is pretty unappealing. In theory, VOD should enable me to not care when this week's episode of a program like The Sopranos airs because I can always go to the On Demand menu and pull it up whenever I want. In theory. However, because I want to watch it in high-def, you better believe that I care when it's on and that I make sure to set the HD-DVR to record it.

Some backers of VOD have made the argument that there is no competition between that technology and DVR because of the vast library of programming that can be offered via VOD. While to some extent that may be true, that argument only holds if the programming is offered in the format that viewers want. And this much I know: we use our HD-DVR literally every day and I can't remember the last time we watched a program live (other than sports). But we've only used our cable company's VOD offering a couple of times and each time were fairly underwhelmed. The vast majority of programming we watch here at home is in HD and until more of it is available in high-def via VOD, we'll stick with our HD-DVR.

HD DVD Players Finally Available

Toshiba has fired the opening salvo in the battle for next-generation DVD players, officially launching two HD DVD models today. The HD-A1 retails for $500 while the HD-XA1 goes for $800. Manufacturers of the competing Blu-ray plan to debut a player early this summer.

HDNet Teams with NASA for Space in High-Def

HDNet, in a partnership with NASA, will broadcast future manned spacecraft launches in high-def beginning this July. According to Broadcast & Cable magazine, HDNet won't have an exclusive right to the high-def space coverage but will be the only high-def broadcaster with cameras on the launchpad and in other pre-staging areas. HDNet will utilize a dozen cameras for the coverage and expects to be on hand for 15 shuttle launches and pre-launch events.

A&E to Bow HD Network This Fall

Multichannel News has the story on the A&E Network's push into high-def that will culminate Labor Day weekend with the launch of A&E HD. The new channel will simulcast the regular A&E programming and will include approximately 65% of A&E's primetime lineup. Among the series to be showcased in high-def are CSI: Miami, Cold Case Files, The First 48 and in 2007, The Sopranos.

The History Channel, which is owned by the same parent company, will make its HD debut sometime in 2007, according to Multichannel News.

Sony and Samsung Up LCD Investment by $2 Billion

Samsung and Sony announced last week a plan to increase their LCD plant capacity via an additional $2 billion investment in their joint production facility. According to Reuters, the new plant expansion will go online next fall (2007) and will be capable of producing 50,000 LCD panels a month.

Circuit City to Focus More on Home Theater Installation

TWICE reports that Circuit City is planning a new strategy for more affordable custom home theater installations and will roll it out sometime in the second half. Complete with a new brand name, the installation service will utilize both company and third-party installers.

Mitsubishi Unveils New DLP and LCDs at Dealer Line Show

Mitsubishi has intro'd a slew of new HDTVs, including a pair of 73-inch DLP models as well as one with a 6-primary 1080p DLP color system. Here are the releases:

http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/Story.aspx?guid=%7B264B6C60%2DAC26%2D497E%2D886D%2DB4A3809F0BFE%7D&siteid=mktw&dist=nbk&symb=

http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/Story.aspx?guid=%7B6F64DBD2%2DF962%2D4D4C%2DA72F%2D877A2707CE67%7D&siteid=mktw&dist=nbk&symb=

http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/Story.aspx?guid=%7BA936A689%2D203B%2D46DC%2D9E2B%2D40270C17558F%7D&siteid=mktw&dist=nbk&symb=

http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/Story.aspx?guid=%7B48334C15%2DFEE2%2D44CC%2D8E31%2DB3046FC8720E%7D&siteid=mktw&dist=nbk&symb=

LG’s 71-Inch Plasma Now Available in Retail

LG Electronics announced last week that its 71-inch plasma - the world's largest production model - is now available in select retail stores. Unveiled at Ken Cranes in West L.A. and Sixth Avenue Electronics just outside New York City, the MW-71PY10 boasts 1920x1080p display resolution and LG's proprietary XD Engine technology, which takes the low resolution of analog signals to what the company says are near high-definition levels.

More here:
http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/Story.aspx?guid=%7BAD2C3D55%2DDCD0%2D4DC6%2DA15F%2D739182C3831E%7D&siteid=mktw&dist=nbk&symb=

Samsung Blu-ray Shipments On Hold Until June

Samsung Electronics said today that it has delayed its Blu-ray player introduction until June so that it can complete testing. Reuters reports that the BD-P1000 launch will now be June 25 instead of May 23, although the company still anticipates being the first to market with a Blu-ray player.

It's funny how we all get caught up in the race to introduce a product like Blu-ray or HD DVD (which began shipping in Japan last week). The reality is that there probably won't be a ton of people lining up to buy one of these things like it's an Xbox 360 or PS3. Until the interoperability issues are ironed out, the initial buyers of Blu-ray and HD DVD will be the extreme early adopters -- people who either can afford to buy both or have a strong preference out of the gate as to which will be the long-term survivor.

Here's the Reuters/CNET piece:
http://news.com.com/Samsung+delays+U.S.+Blu-ray+player+launch/2100-1041_3-6057321.html?tag=fd_nbs_ent&tag=nl.e703

Mitsubishi to Unveil Laser-Powered DLP

The New York Times is reporting that Mitsubishi will debut a new DLP HDTV later this week that employs separate red, green and blue colored lasers instead of lamps to produce the image on the screen. The company says its new laser DLPs are unique and will go on sale in late 2007. Instead of a glass panel, advanced plastics will be used, which will make the display much lighter and require less room to mount. Pricing for the initial 52-inch display is expected to be roughly in line with that of 50-inch plasmas.

Mitsubishi claims that its laser DLPs will be able to better produce black levels than plasmas -- simply by shutting off the lasers -- and that they will last much longer than traditional lamp-based DLPs.

More here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/03/business/03hdtv.html?ex=1144209600&en=572d69d69059a120&ei=5087