Panasonic and Sony in Advertising Battle

They've been rivals for as long as anyone can remember. Now Panasonic and Sony are taking the fight to Madison Ave. with competing ads trying to convince consumers that their products are superior to the other's, specifically in the ongoing battle royale between plasma and LCD. It started with Sony ran an ad in which it asked consumers to take the "HD Challenge," with the conclusion of course being that they should buy Sony LCD displays. Panasonic fired back with its own ads that list all the reasons why its plasmas are the only way to go.

Keep in mind that Panasonic also sells LCDs, although it seems to do so with about as much enthusiasm as Sony did with its plasmas prior to ditching them a couple years back.

More from the NY Times.

New HDTV for Christmas? Buy More Insurance

When you add an expensive item to your house, it's always a good idea to update your homeowner's insurance, and a new HDTV is no exception. Imagine if the new plasma, LCD or DLP you just bought went up in flames and you didn't have enough personal property insurance (generally a rider on your homeowner's policy) to cover its replacement.

So remember, after you call your cable or satellite guy, make sure to call your insurance guy (or gal).

Thanks to WLWT.com for the tip.

FSN HD: Where You At?

From the "should this really be necessary?" file comes word that Fox Sports Net is planning a multimedia consumer education campaign to help people figure out how to find it. Literally. As in, "Here in San Francisco, FSN HD can be found on Comcast cable channel 720." (Which is where it really is.)

Apparently FSN is fed up with cable companies that keep shuffling their channel lineups, leaving viewers befuddled as to how to find certain HD programming. Consolidation in the cable industry certainly hasn't helped matters.

Thanks to TV Week for the story.

No SED at CES

For those of you looking forward to getting a peak at the new SED display jointly produced by a Toshiba-Canon venture at next month's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the companies have this to say: No dice. Without revealing why, Toshiba sent a note of cancellation to people who had appointments to see the 55-inch surface conduction electron emitter display that the manufacturers tell us will blow the doors off of plasma and LCD in terms of both price and performance.

This project has been fraught with delays since its beginning in 1999, leaving me to wonder if it will ever really get off the ground. Maybe SED will prove to be better than plasma and LCD, but by the time it's available for purchase, will everyone already have bought something else?

More from CNET.

Sony, Panasonic Still #1 in LCD, Plasma

My old employer Current Analysis reports that Sony kept its position as the leading LCD manufacturer by retail shelf-share, while rival Panasonic is still tops among plasma makers. In November, Sony boasted nearly 16 percent of available retail shelf-share for LCD TV, up 23 percent from October. Panasonic's share of the plasma shelf space was over 23 percent, up 3 percent from the prior month. Philips and Samsung are the #2 and #3 plasma manufacturers by this measure, respectively, while Magnavox and Samsung hold those positions in LCD. Magnavox leapfrogged Sharp, which dropped 4 percent from October.

More from TWICE.

Sony (Finally) Shipping Blu-ray Disc Player

TWICE reports that Sony is now shipping its much-anticipated $999 Blu-ray disc player (model BDP-S1). As part of a PR push, NFL stars Peyton Manning and Donnie Edwards will be among the first to receive the new Blu-ray machines.

MHD Plans 'Gorillaz: Live in Harlem' Concert

MTV announced today that its high-def channel MHD will celebrate the New Year with the exclusive premiere of "Gorillaz: Live in Harlem," shot at Harlem's Apollo Theater in high-definition. The concert will premiere on Sunday, December 31st at 9pm ET/PT and re-air at midnight. According to MTV, Gorillaz is considered the first virtual hip-hop act and the group's "Feel Good Inc." was the first high-definition music video to ever play on MHD.

HDTV Review for '06

It's the time of year when everyone starts thinking about the significance of 2006 and CNET has published a year-end retrospective of the developments in the world of HD. It's a good compiliation and worth a read.

Sports Coverage in HD Somewhat Lacking

The Wall Street Journal ran a piece last week that was picked up by other papers regarding the lack of regional sporting events in high-def. I've heard this complaint from others, particularly when it comes to CBS. The network's NFL broadcasts that are in HD look amazing (typically better than FOX, NBC or ESPN) but there are only a few games each week actually shown in high-def. We live in San Diego, home to the AFC's Chargers, which are almost always shown on CBS unless they're a part of the national game of the week as they were this week on Sunday Night Football. I haven't kept track each week, but it does seem like there have been almost as many weeks when the Chargers haven't been in HD as when they have.

I spoke with the head of ESPN HD about this issue awhile back and he told me that it all comes down to truck availability. The networks simply have not made the investment to upgrade all of their production trucks to HD yet -- not even close -- and trucks obviously have to drive between various venues. So if FOX shows a football game in Dallas on Thanksgiving in HD, it probably won't have enough time to make it to Philadelphia for a Sunday early afternoon game. The bottom line here is that once enough consumers have made the switch to HDTV, the networks will be forced to upgrade their entire infrastructures to support the superior technology. The question is, when will that be?

Vizio Plans Sub-$2,000 47" 1080p LCD

Vizio, a Southern California flat-panel display maker, plans to introduce a 47-inch LCD flat panel HDTV with 1080p resolution for under $2,000. It initially planned to make it available in time for the Super Bowl but now is hoping for a quicker year-end unveiling. The company is already known for its cut-rate prices on 42- and 50-inch plasma displays, which are available at retailers such as Costco, Sam's Club and Circuit City.

More from CNET.

DivX Looks to HDTV

Video compression software maker DivX has its sights set on HD technology, a CNET article reports. The company plans to display some of its HD solutions at this January's Consumer Electronics Show and is in talks with movie studios and producers in places like India and Eastern Europe to persuade them to incorporate DivX HD technology. The company has never been popular with U.S. studios, who resent its origins as a tool for video piracy.

This is a pretty cool San Diego-based company that just went public and is doing well right now. Worth keeping an eye on.

Comcast, Circuit City Hook Up for HD

Cable giant Comcast is in a deal with #2 retailer Circuit City to open a new electronics boutique called Connect that will showcase Comcast's HDTV offerings and help educate consumers about high-def technology. The idea seems to be that satellite TV companies have been well integrated into retail for years and while the cable industry often talks about partnering with retailers, little seems to ever actually happen. In this case, they're just opening one store for now, but it can only benefit consumers to have more ways to experience HD before buying.

However, it does seem a bit odd that Circuit would open a brand new store rather than figuring out a way to make Comcast a bigger part of its existing retail locations. And if consumers have to go to a legacy Circuit City to see what satellite offers and then to the new Connect to see Comcast cable HD, that doesn't seem very convenient or conducive for comparison shopping.

Best Buy Seeing Lower Profits from HDTVs

Best Buy said in its third quarter earnings report this week that average selling prices for LCD flat-panel displays were down 25 percent year-over-year and plasma ASPs were down 30 percent from last year, both of which combined with aggressive promotional pricing led to lower profits for the retail giant. TWICE has the full story, which is an interesting read if you're at all interested in the business of retail consumer electronics.

Sony Worried HDTV Prices Are Falling Too Quickly

Sony executives said last week that LCD TV prices will drop 25 to 30 percent this year, much more than they expected, a trend that could leave the LCD manufacturers with little incentive to invest in new technology. According to some estimates, there are more than 90 companies making LCD TVs today, causing price pressures that may bankrupt many of them. While consumers will benefit in the short term, the long-term outlook for technological advances may suffer. More from CNET.

Let's not panic too quickly here, fellas. If the market really is that competitive, then constant pressure from smaller upstarts will force the big guys to keep innovating to stay ahead, regardless of any price wars. While Sony may be forced to lower prices from time to time to keep pace with cut-rate manufacturers, it can continue to maintain its price premiums due to its technological and brand-name advantages.

And for those of us who spent $4,000 on an HDTV three years ago that now sells for less than half that amount, you'll have to forgive us if our eyes don't well with tears for companies like Sony. I hope that my $4K was well-spent...

LCD Price-Fixing Probe Gathers Steam in Japan

Samsung, LG.Philips LCD and Sharp are all under investigation by the Japanese Fair Trading Commission into whether they conspired to fix LCD prices during 2003-2004. CNET has the story.

Sony's Secret Sale

CNET has the story of Sony offering substantial discounts on some of its HDTVs during the Black Friday weekend after Thanksgiving. What's that, you say? How is an HDTV sale newsworthy when all the retailers and manufacturers have been slashing prices? Well in this case, Sony for whatever reason didn't advertise the sale; rather, they just discounted prices in both retail stores and online for consumers who happened to be shopping for the particular models that Sony wanted to move quickly. A strange strategy to be sure, as price discounts are typically intended to spur interest in products rather than simply to reward customers who happened to stumble upon them...