Today's High-Def Headlines

DirecTV CEO Carey Promises 70 HD Channels - MCN
DirecTV plans to have more than 70 HD channels when it launches its expanded HDTV package the end of the third quarter, and to have 100 HD services by the end of the year, officials said Thursday.

Cuban upping ante on HD VOD - Daily Variety
If Mark Cuban has his way, Brian De Palma's forthcoming Iraq war movie "Redacted" will be available to digital subscribers two or three weeks before the pic reaches the multiplexes. The strategy is called Ultra HD Video on Demand.

Plasma-Panel Revenue About To Peak: iSuppli - TWICE
Plasma-panel vendors will see their revenue peak in 2008 primarily due to competition from LCD and price erosion, according to the research firm iSuppli.

'300' Sets Blu-ray/HD DVD Sales Record - Hollywood Reporter/GameDaily BIZ
Warner Home Video may have delayed the launch of its dual-format Total HD disc until the first part of next year, but in the meantime the studio's policy of releasing titles on both Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD continues to pay off. The studio Tuesday announced it had sold through to consumers more than 250,000 high-def disc copies of the epic actioner "300," which was released on both next-generation formats July 31, the same day as the standard DVD.

HBO Picks Motorola For HD Encoding - MCN
Motorola will implement a high-definition MPEG-4 Advanced Video Coding system for HBO as the premium network moves to deliver all 26 of its channels to operators in HD format by mid-2008 -- and the system also will let HBO continue to deliver four main high-definition feeds in MPEG-2.

NuVision Adds 10 Lucidium 1080p LCD Flat Panels - TWICE
NuVision U.S. has launched its Lucidium Deep Black LCD HDTV line with models ranging from 22 inches to 65 inches.