Panasonic to Debut 58-Inch Plasma in June

Panasonic announced plans today to release a pair of 58-inch plasma displays early this summer, both of which offer 1366x768 resolution and 10,000:1 contrast ratio. The company says that the 58-inchers are designed to complement Panasonic's previously announced 65-inch 1080p model that will be released soon and its already-available 50-inch display.

These two plasmas feature a technology Panasonic is calling EZ-Sync that will allow for single remote and one-button control of the entire home theater system. The company says that it differs from a universal remote in that one button will turn on the entire system and select the right inputs and settings for the DVD player. (Note to the PR guys at Panasonic: my Orion universal remote already does this.)

The new TH-58PX600U and TH-58PX60U models also offer an SD Memory Card slot, which is a useful feature.

To meet rising demand for plasmas, Panasonic is adding a fourth panel factory that will go online in 2007 in Amagasaki, Japan.

The TH-58PX600U, which includes a digital tuner and CableCARD slot, will retail for $5,999.95 while the TH-58PX60U will list for $5,499.95 when they are both released this summer.

Specialty A/V Shops Trying to Get Around Flat-Panel Shortages

This Week in Consumer Electronics (TWICE) has an interesting piece that directly relates to my most recent post about the Panasonic plasma inventory shortages. Apparently flat-panel displays from the major manufacturers are in short supply almost across the board, which is leading custom home theater shops to consider expanding the range of brands that they carry to include second-tier brands like Vizio and the new ProScan. Some are also looking at private-labeling displays manufacturered in Korea and China.

Here's the link:
http://www.twice.com/article/CA6318862.html?display=breaking+news

Panasonic Plasma Inventories Running Short

I've been getting a lot of feedback on the lack of Panasonic plasmas available from a number of retailers. In particular, the commercial-grade TH-50PHD8UK (see CNET review link below) seems to be in short supply. A friend of mine who owns a high-end custom home theater shop in Southern California says that the interval between ordering and delivery of these well-regarded models is currently averaging 3-4 weeks. A reader emailed me that a Panasonic rep told him that it's because this year's models are being rolled out, meaning that they quit making the previous generation several months ago. This may be true for the consumer line, but the pro line was just released on Sept. 1st of last year, so I don't think it's been replaced just yet.

If you know anything, please post a comment here or email me.

http://reviews.cnet.com/Panasonic_TH_50PHD8UK/4505-6482_7-31511908.html?tag=upidmlp

VOOM Adds Gameplay HD to Lineup

VOOM has added a new gaming channel to its high-def programming lineup, Gameplay HD. Broadcasting & Cable reports that "the new network is geared to the video game market and has three tiers of programming, including gaming news, original series, and coverage of global gaming communities."

Sony Planning Major HDTV Ad Push

Sony Electronics is planning to boost its 2006 advertising budget by hundreds of millions of dollars, the bulk of which will go towards promoting HDTVs, Blu-ray players and digital cameras and camcorders. Reuters reports that Sony the increased ad budget will be used for TV ads, sponsorship of NASCAR races and film-related merchandising. Sony's goal is to boost HDTV market share, which the Consumer Electronics Association predicts will reach 15.9 million in '06.

More here: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060325/tc_nm/sony_marketing_dc

Dell Says Consumers Prefer Its Plasma to Panasonic

Dell released results of a four-city, head-to-head competition between its 50-inch plasma and the industry-leading Panasonic model in which Dell says consumers preferred the Dell. The consumer preference study of 50-inch plasma HDTVs was conducted from November 2005 through February 2006 in Baltimore, Chicago, New York and San Francisco. Following viewings of each TV, 308 consumers were asked their preference if the Panasonic and Dell TVs were priced $500 and $100 apart. According to Guideline Research, which conducted the taste-test on Dell's behalf, the Dell won at only a $100 discount to the Panasonic.

www.dell.com/HDTVchallenge
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/060321/20060321005546.html?.v=1

Dell did one of these "double-blind" studies last year showing that consumers prefer Dell HDTVs over competing models from the leading consumer electronics manufacturers. They seem to be trying to dispel the common perception in the industry that while Dell offers a great value, its products are not of the highest quality. I'd be curious as to what opinions are out there from people who have purchased Dell plasma or LCD TVs -- would you buy one again?

CBS Coverage of March Madness is Just Terrible

This year's coverage of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament on CBS has been the absolute worst I can remember. In what is just the most recent example, the Connecticut-Kentucky game is on now, and it's a decent game -- UConn is up by 6 with about 7 1/2 minutes left. But there's a major upset in the works with 11th-seeded George Mason up by 3 over North Carolina with about 10 seconds left. CBS keeps saying they'll switch us over to that game but are unable to actually do so for whatever reason. Now there are 6 seconds left and they still haven't switched over.

This has happened at least three different times in the four days I've been watching the tournament, in addition to viewers being randomly shown commercials without warning in the middle of a game and the games switching back and forth between SD and HD for no reason.

All of this might be excusable if CBS had just picked up the NCAA rights this year, but this is the 25th year they've been televising the tournament! Surely they should have figured out to how do this right by now.

Incidentally, North Carolina did indeed get beat by George Mason. Not that we got to see any of it...

LG was World's Top TV Manufacturer in '05

According to research firm iSuppli, LG Electronics recaptured its title as the world market share leader in TVs shipped, leaping ahead of rivals TCL-Thomson (parent company of RCA) and Samsung. LG's global market share was 10.2% while the latter two had 9.2% each. The vast majority of all TVs sold last year were CRTs - 82%.

Sharp was the leading LCD TV manufacturer, while Panasonic dominated plasma displays and Sony led in rear-projection TVs.

http://news.com.com/LG+regains+worldwide+TV+crown/2100-1041-6050080.html?part=dht&tag=nl.e433

It is interesting to compare iSuppli's report with a competing one issued by rival research firm DisplaySearch last week. That one ranked global TV market share by revenue (check out our 3/9 post below) and had LG in 5th place behind Sony, Samsung, Philips and Panasonic.

Sony PS3 Shipments Pushed Back to November

Delays in Blu-ray production have caused shipments of Sony's much-anticipated PlayStation 3 to be pushed back to November, CNET writes. The hold-up appears to be negotiations over copy protection development between the movie studios and the electronics giant.

http://news.com.com/Sony%27s+PlayStation+3+delayed+until+November/2100-1043_3-6049479.html?tag=fd_nbs_ent&tag=nl.e703

LG to Debut Dual HD DVD/Blu-ray Player in Fall

LG Electronics is developing a dual HD DVD/Blu-ray player that will be ready in the fall, according to a Reuters report. Read more here:

http://go.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=technologyNews&storyID=11532770&src=rss/technologyNews

Adelphia Adds HD Channels in SoCal

Adelphia has recently added ESPN2 HD, HDNet, HDNet Movies, INHD and INHD2 to its high-def programming lineup in Southern California. To receive those channels along with the NFL Network in HD, customers have to subscribe to the $5 a month HDTV Plus tier.

DISH Launches HD Locals in Kansas City

DISH Network announced Monday that Kansas City is the latest market in which the company has launched local broadcast channels in high-definition. The following local TV channels are available: ABC Ch. 9 (KMBC), CBS Ch. 5 (KCTV), NBC Ch. 41 (KSHB) and FOX Ch. 4 (WDAF).

KC joins Albuquerque, Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York City, Philadelphia, Salt Lake City and Washington, D.C. as markets in which DISH offers HD locals.

DISH Launches HD Locals in Seven Additional Cities

DISH Network this week continued its expansion of local broadcast stations in high-def, adding Albuquerque, Atlanta, Boston, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Salt Lake City and Washington, D.C. to the mix. They previously announced New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Denver and Nashville.

Customers will need the new MPEG4 HD receivers to get the local HD channels.

DisplaySearch Releases Global TV Market Share Report

There are some interesting stats in here, among them that Sony accounted for one out of every two microdisplay rear-projection TVs sold in ’05 and that LCD TV revenue outpaced CRT revenue worldwide for the first time. On a revenue basis, the top five manufacturers in global TV market share are Sony, Samsung, Philips, Panasonic and LG Electronics.

The full release:
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/060307/20060307005429.html?.v=1

Another New Display Technology Gets Delayed

Toshiba and Canon announced this week that their joint efforts to produce SED (surface-conduction electron-emitter display) TVs have been delayed until the summer of 2007 and that they won’t really heavily begin marketing them until the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, China. It’s merely the latest production delay for the new flat-panel technology, which was supposed to have been initially rolled out last fall and then was pushed back to this spring. According to CNET News, the issue has been that the two manufacturers didn’t expect plasma and LCD prices to drop so quickly, so they have been forced to try to determine how to manufacture SED TVs less expensively.

The full story is here:
http://news.com.com/Toshiba%2C+Canon+delay+SED+TV+launch+to+2007/2100-1041_3-6047405.html?tag=fd_nbs_ent&tag=nl.e433

VIZIO Launches Plasma Price War

V, Inc. announced this week that has cut the prices of its VIZIO plasma displays by $200-300 in time for the March Madness NCAA men’s basketball tournament. The 42” VIZIO HD plasma now sells for $1,499 while the 50” version goes for $2,299. Additionally, the company’s 32” LCD flat-panel display with integrated tuner is priced at $999.99.

VIZIO products are available at Costco, Sam’s Club, BJ’s Wholesale and selected Wal-Mart stores.

LG Apparently Dropping LCoS Line

TWICE is reporting on LG Electronics’ decision not to ship two LCoS HDTVs that were shown off at CES – the 71SA1D and 62SA1D. In a letter that went out to LG dealers, the company expressed concerns about the growth prospects of the microdisplay market in light of heavy consumer demand for flat-panel LCD and plasma displays. While LG did not indicate that it would abandon the LCoS market entirely, the letter to dealers didn’t demonstrate much optimism in the technology as a viable option going forward.

LG currently sells plasma and LCD HDTVs along with a couple of DLP models in both the LG and Zenith brands.

More here:
http://www.twice.com/article/CA6312249.html

Seinfeld in HD

Reruns of Seinfeld episodes could soon be coming your way in HD, as the series' third cycle of syndication will be available in high-def on March 27. Broadcasting & Cable magazine reports that Sony Pictures will also be bringing game shows Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! to the world of HD this fall. There are some technical reasons why syndicating HD programming has proven difficult, primarily due to the network of stations receiving the broadcasts along with satellite and server space capacity issues.

Read more here:

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6308571.html

DISH Launches HD Locals in More Markets

DISH has announced the availability of high-def local channels in Denver and Nashville, to go along with initial deployments in New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago.

DISH's basic HD package costs $49.99 a month, which includes its America's Top 60 package along with a variety of HD channels (listed below) and the local HD broadcast nets in the select markets. To get the HD locals as well as ESPN2 HD, customers need to buy or upgrade to the new MPEG-4 satellite HD system and receiver. HBO HD and Showtime HD are also available to customers of those premium channels.

• Discovery HD Theater
• ESPN HD
• ESPN2 HD
• HDNet
• HDNet Movies
• NBA TV HD
• TNT HD
• Universal HD
• The VOOM 15

Blu-ray, HD DVD Players Getting Set for Release

Sony announced this week that the first Blu-ray players and discs will be released to stores on May 23, while its HD DVD competitor Toshiba told CNET Japan that it will be ready with a player and titles on about 8 weeks earlier, on March 28. The latter is also planning an HD DVD PC drive for April and an HD DVD recorder for May.

I hate to be a pessimist, but the upcoming launch of both Blu-ray and HD DVD will probably be among the most hyped but least purchased technological developments of the last decade. To be sure, there will be some early adopters with money to blow who might even buy both players to hedge their bets. But for the vast majority of consumers, this will be a non-event until the format battle is settled. The first generation of these players won't even support 1080p, lest you think that new 1080p DLP or LCD you're planning to buy might have some native content to showcase its full HD resolution glory.

So we in the media (both traditional and non) will continue to report on this story, because that's what we do. I might even buy one or both (it's a tax write-off for me, after all). But Joe and Jane Consumer won't, and maybe that's what it will ultimately take for the competing camps to finally realize that dueling technologies are only hurting both of their causes.

http://news.com.com/Toshiba+to+release+HD-DVD+player/2100-1041_3-6044262.html?tag=fd_nbs_ent&tag=nl.e703

http://news.com.com/Sony+sets+Blu-ray+rollout+date/2100-1026_3-6043954.html?tag=fd_nbs_ent&tag=nl.e703

LCD and Plasma Prices Dropped by a Third in '05

Reuters runs a story today on how the decline in LCD and plasma display prices is impacting manufacturers' production plans for the competing technologies. According to research firm DisplaySearch, 40-inch LCD panel prices declined by 36% in 2005, compared to a 31% drop for similar sized 42-inch plasma displays. DisplaySearch is forecasting 25% declines in '06 for both LCD and plasma. The research firm predicts that by 2009 LCD will have grabbed 50% market share in the key 40-44 inch segment - up from 6% last year - while plasma's will have dropped from 71% to 49%.

In my mind, DisplaySearch's market share numbers are pretty aggressive in favor of LCD. Plasma has such a head-start in the over 40-inch category that it will take some pretty big momentum shifts for LCD to catch up. While the LCD makers are investing heavily in new production facilities that will enable economies of scale to lower LCD panel prices, plasma manufacturers are doing the same thing. And while LCD backers are spending their time on 40-inch displays, 50-inch plasmas are increasingly becoming the norm...case in point, Panasonic's 50-incher goes for under $3,000 now, which is less than most good 40-inch LCDs.

Here's the Reuters story link:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060302/tc_nm/summit_displays_dc;_
ylt=AvGMiovzgIqliPKxajibVRtT.3QA;_ylu=X3oDMTA5aHJvMDdwBHNlYwN5bmNhdA