European HDTV Continues to Stall

BusinessWeek Online has an interesting piece today about the challenges facing HDTV adoption in Europe. The recently concluded World Cup in Germany was supposed to have been the catalyst for HD sales and programming, but like the ’04 Athens Olympics before it, the big bounce never materialized. These numbers from German researcher GfK are simply astounding:

HD-Ready TV Sets in Use
U.S. – 19 million
Japan – 11 million
Europe – 2 million

Wow. So what’s the problem? There are several, but the lack of content is the biggest and in that area Europe faces a vexing issue that the U.S. and Japan largely do not – the large number of European languages prevent the mass distribution of programming. Read the BW article for more insight.

China HDTV Set to Boom

3.2 million HDTVs will be sold in China this year, up from just under one million in 2005, according to Sino Market Research. Shanghai Daily reports that a problem with HDTV adoption is the lack of high-def content available, with just four HD channels currently being broadcast in China. Nonetheless, the Chinese government plans to show the 2008 Beijing Olympics in HD.

DIRECTV HD DVR Delayed Yet Again

Various news outlets are reporting that DIRECTV has delayed shipments of its new HD DVR until sometime this fall. Originally scheduled to launch early this year, the switch from TiVo to DIRECTV sister company NDS apparently isn’t going well. Wall Street is predicting that the delay will mean customer losses for the satellite giant as people buying flat-screen HDTVs go with either cable or DISH for HD DVR.

Does anyone make a service provider choice based on HD DVR availability? It’s possible but it seems more likely that factors such as local broadcast HD channels, total number of HD channels and the NFL Sunday Ticket would make a bigger difference. This would be especially true if you thought that DIRECTV would only make you wait another couple of months to get the HD DVR and you could make due with the regular DVR until then.

Panasonic Parent to Sell 103-inch Plasmas Sept. 1

Matsushita, parent company of Panasonic, said today that it will begin taking orders for the world's largest plasma display on September 1st in Japan. The 103-inch monster will retail for about $50,000. The company also plans to sell 1080p models in three other sizes: 50 inches, 58 inches and 65 inches.

Pioneer Intros World's First 1080p Plasma

Pioneer announced yesterday that it has begun shipping a 1080p plasma, the world's first. Announced back in January at the Consumer Electronics Show, the 50-inch Pioneer Elite PureVision PRO-FHD1 carries a steep MSRP of $10,000. According to the company, the challenge in creating a 50-inch plasma display with a 1080p signal was to reduce the pixel size by half in order to fit more than 2 million pixels in the screen.

Although there really isn't much in the way of true 1080p content available yet, both Blu-ray and HD DVD should get there in the second or third product generations. It will take substantially longer than that for the broadcasting, cable and satellite communities to convert to what some consider the "full" HD standard. However, there is some benefit to the 1080p upconverting that the high-end video scaler performs on lower-resolution content.

So here's a question: If for the same money you could buy a 60-inch 768p plasma or a 50-inch 1080p, which would you buy? Or if you could buy two or three 50-inch 768p plasmas for that same price (one each for the family room, living room and bedroom), would you? Then again, people who are spending $10K on a TV might not be all that concerned with value.

Dan Rather Moves to HDNet

HDNet said this week that longtime CBS newsman Dan Rather will debut his new show "Dan Rather Reports" beginning this October. According to the company, the weekly program "will feature hard-edged field reports, interviews and investigative pieces. It will be one-hour in length and will be completely uncensored. It will reflect the signature qualities of its host with a focus on accuracy, fairness and guts."

DIRECTV Now Offering Regional Baseball in HD

DIRECTV announced today that it will now be offering Major League Baseball games in HD courtesy of the regional sports networks that broadcast them. From the release:

"DIRECTV is now broadcasting all MLB games produced in HD from the following RSNs: FSN Prime Ticket (Los Angeles Dodgers), FSN West (Los Angeles Angels), FSN Bay Area (San Francisco Giants, Oakland A's), FSN South (Atlanta Braves), FSN Houston (Astros), FSN Detroit (Tigers), FSN Florida (Marlins, Devil Rays), SportsTime Ohio (Cleveland Indians), FSN North (Minnesota Twins), FSN Northwest (Seattle Mariners), FSN Arizona (Diamondbacks), FSN Rocky Mountain (Colorado Rockies) and Turner South (Atlanta Braves).

"On July 18, HD MLB games from YES Network (Yankees) and FSN Southwest (Rangers HD games will be seen only in the Dallas DMA) will be available, as well as a continuous 24/7 HD feed from NESN HD (Red Sox). In August DIRECTV will deliver HD MLB games from SportsNet New York (Mets), as well as continuous 24/7 HD feeds from Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic HD (Orioles) and Comcast SportsNet Chicago HDTV (Cubs, White Sox)."

Notably absent from this carriage deal are my San Diego Padres...

However, lest you get too excited, here's a caveat: "The RSNs' HD games will be broadcast by DIRECTV via a local market spot beam, and as a result, the RSN programming will be available only to those customers who live within the local DMA (designated market area) spot beam and the RSN team territory. The games will be available at no extra charge."

So you'll be able to watch your home team's games in HD but not any of the others around the country. For that, you'd have to subscribe to the MLB Extra Innings package, but it's unclear exactly how many baseball games in HD you would receive. Another caveat is that you'll need DIRECTV's new MPEG4 receiver with the five-line LNB dish to get these HD channels.

In addition to the MLB games, DIRECTV will also carry NHL and NBA games that are televised on the RSNs when their seasons start in the fall.

This announcement is a big deal because the cable companies often use the fact that they offer the regional sports networks in HD as justification for choosing cable over satellite. Many analysts, myself included, have confirmed that rationale. But as with local broadcast networks, which are becoming more and more available in high-def over satellite around the country every week after having been available only via cable or an antenna for a couple of years, the regional sports networks will no longer be the exclusive provence of the cable providers. For fans of baseball and competition in the marketplace, that can only be seen as a home run.

DISH Rolls Out HD Locals in Detroit

DISH Network last week began offering local high-def broadcasts of the ABC, CBS and FOX affiliates in the greater Detroit metro area. No word on when NBC will be added.

TVs Keep Getting Bigger

It's no secret that Americans are demanding bigger and bigger screen sizes from their TVs. The New York Times ran a piece this week detailing the trend, with experts predicting that the average new purchase of an HDTV will soon increase from today's 50 inches to 60 inches or larger in the not-too-distant future.

JVC Intros New, Faster LCDs

JVC this week took the wraps off of two new LCD TVs that boast twice the refresh rate typical in the industry. At 120 frames per second with 120Hz refresh rate, fast motion sequences should be more clear with less ghosting. More from TWICE.

Pioneer Opens First Retail Store

Pioneer last week opened its first retail store in the U.S., joining the likes of Apple, Sony and Dell. The company's initial foray into retail is located at the South Coast Plaza shopping center in Costa Mesa, Calif., which happens to be the nation's top grossing shopping mall with $1.7 billion in sales last year. Pioneer plans to use the store to test concepts and gauge customer reaction before opening additional locations around the country.

CNET Reviews New Toshiba HD Line

Highlights include three 40+ inch LCD flat-panels, all of which boast 1080p resolution. Read about it here.

Samsung Blu-ray Player Now Available

Samsung's Blu-ray disc player, the BD-P1000, launched last week in retail and became of its kind to go on sale in the U.S. Its list price is a penny under $1,000. More here.