Tonight's HD Picks

Here are my top 5 picks for what's on in HD tonight:

1. 24 - FOX HD 9:00 ET/PT
2. Monday Night Baseball: St. Louis vs. Milwaukee - ESPN HD 7:00/4:00
3. Jesse James: Legend, Outlaw, Terrorist - Discovery HD 9:00 ET/PT
4. NBA Basketball: Utah vs. Houston (series tied 2-2) - TNT HD 8:00/5:00
5. NBA Basketball: San Antonio vs. Denver (Spurs lead 2-1) - TNT HD 10:30/7:30

Is Over-The-Air for You?

The AP ran a story over the weekend that got picked up by many news outlets around the country regarding the attractiveness of using an antenna to capture over-the-air (OTA) HD broadcast signals. The main arguments in favor of OTA compared to cable or satellite are that [1] it's free, and [2] the picture quality can be better than a compressed signal from your cable or satellite provider.

The biggest downside to OTA is that many of the channels you're used to watching aren't available with an antenna. For example, here's a partial list of some of the programs I watch during the week:

- The Sopranos (HBO)
- 24 (FOX)
- House (FOX)
- Entourage (HBO)
- The Office (NBC)
- The Tudors (Showtime)
- Lost (ABC)
- Friday Night Lights (NBC)
- various sporting events (broadcast, ESPN, ESPN2, TNT, Cox 4, etc.)

The first thing that comes to mind is that I watch too much TV. To which I would say "that's my job." Regardless, a quick glance at my normal viewing habits shows that at least half of what I watch in HD is non-broadcast, meaning that I need a cable or satellite high-def box to see it. I can live without a lot of things, but do not take away my Padres or Sopranos in high-def.

So the bottom line here is that when you're considering your HD programming options, I would highly recommend you take a look at your weekly TV schedule and figure out whether most of what you watch is on your local broadcast networks. If so, then OTA via antenna may make sense (depending on local geography). If you watch a decent amount of cable network programming, you'll need a cable or satellite HD receiver to get your high-def fix.

Weather Channel Updates HD Progress

The Weather Channel is spending $50 million to build a new studio for its high-def launch next year, an ambitious capital campaign that the network regards as crucial for its long-term success. Although the Weather Channel will launch on DIRECTV HD this fall, that channel will be an upconverted version of the standard-def offering rather than a true high-def network. The Weather Channel HD is expected to make its debut in mid-2008, at which time its standard-def channel will be a downconverted version of the HD channel.

How much of The Weather Channel do you watch now and how will it being in HD impact your viewing habits?

Sharp Sold 6 Million LCD TVs in '06

While plasma manufacturers seem to be struggling, rival LCD maker Sharp reported that it sold 6.03 million LCD TVs last fiscal year, 1.5 times the number it sold the prior year. You may be wondering how Sharp was able to increase the average selling price of its LCD TVs by 7% when flat-panel prices are falling across the board; the company says that its focus on larger-screen TVs helped offset declining prices. In fact, Sharp aims to increase the proportion of LCD TVs it sells that are over 30 inches from 55% of all TVs last year to 80% this year.

Sharp also said that nearly 81% of the TVs it sold in the second half of last year that were over 37 inches were 1080p, a figure it plans to bump up to over 90% this year.

Plasma Problems Prompt Planned Plant Postponement

I'm feeling alliterative today...

Just three months after it announced plans for a new $840 million plasma production plant in Japan, Hitachi said today that it is putting those expansion plans on hold for now due to a glut in supply and falling demand for PDPs. Instead, Hitachi now plans to increase capacity at its three existing PDP plants from 3.6 million panels a year to 4 million.

Curious About HDTV Power Consumption?

The folks at CNET were, so they put more than 50 models to the test. Not surprisingly, the larger TVs used more power than the smaller ones. The full results provide some interesting data regarding HDTV total cost of ownership.

Blu-ray Opens Big Sales Lead Over HD DVD

Maybe it's due to Sony's inclusion of a Blu-ray Disc player in the new PlayStation 3 or perhaps it's due to wider Hollywood studio acceptance, but Blu-ray Disc sales far surpassed those of rival HD DVD in the first quarter. In Q1, more than 1.2 million high-definition DVDs were sold, 70% of which were Blu-ray. Even in movies like "The Departed" that were released on both Blu-ray and HD DVD, Blu-ray still won out handily.

More details from the Hollywood Reporter.

HD Channel Updates for Comcast, DIRECTV, TWC

I haven't seen any official announcements, but some quick online research has shown me that Comcast has added A&E HD and National Geographic HD in a number of its systems around the country. It has also added ESPN2 HD in virtually all of its markets and is pressing forward with the launch of the dual-themed Versus/Golf HD, leveraging two Comcast-owned cable channels. Lastly on the Comcast front, the cable giant has added Universal HD and MHD to most of its cable HD lineups nationwide.

In related news, Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks have launched or are launching ESPN2 HD in all their systems nationwide.

DIRECTV has launched a preview version of National Geographic HD that airs a limited amount of NGC content on channel 98. More here.

Verizon FiOS Adds 3 More HD Channels

Verizon announced today that it has added three new HD channels to its FiOS TV service: HGTV HD, Food Network HD and Lifetime Movie Network HD (LMN). It's the first launch on a major video provider for the latter channel, while the first two are both offered by DISH Network, AT&T U-verse and a few others.

Olevia Re-Ups Deal with ESPN

Syntax-Brillian, the parent company of the Olevia LCD brand, said today that it has extended its marketing and promotional agreement with ESPN to run through August 2008. Interestingly, "Syntax-Brillian has secured the rights to integrate the ESPN HD logo marks as well as exclusive ESPN HD content for co-branded, in-store advertising and promotional purposes through 2008."

For those of you who watch any of the ESPN properties even occasionally, you know that the Olevia ads are about as ubiquitous as those for athlete's foot remedies and male body sprays (Tag, I'm talking about you). Olevia, while producing a decent quality LCD display, finds itself in a similar position as Haier, a once obscure Chinese TV brand that used a sports connection in the form of an NBA sponsorship to distinguish itself from the dozens of competing LCD makers.

Poker Goes HD for the First Time

ESPN will air this summer's World Series of Poker in high-def for the first time, bucking reality TV's general shunning of HD technology due to its higher costs. You can read more at TV Week.

The best part about this news is that since ESPN2 reruns this poker tourney seemingly hundreds of times throughout the year, at least it'll finally be in HD. The players themselves may not look better in high-def, but I'm guessing that Phil Hellmuth's tantrums will be more entertaining.

LG Losing Money on Flat-Panel TVs

The flat-panel price war has taken its toll on one of the industry's biggest players, LG Electronics, which reported yesterday that although flat-panel sales were up in the first quarter, the company actually lost money on those sales.

LG's Digital Display group reported an increase in sales to $2.93 billion or 1.5% over last year. The problem is that those sales came at an operating loss of nearly $3 million.

Bottom line: the flat-panel TV price war is good for consumers but bad for the manufacturers. At some point you have to figure that there will be some inevitable consolidation in the industry to weed out the weaker players.

Panasonic's Anti-Glare Plasma Gets Good Reviews

If you've ever watched a plasma TV in a bright room, you know that glare from external light sources can be a big distraction to what you're watching. At certain particularly sunny times the display can morph into nothing short of a mirror, a substantial impediment to your viewing pleasure.

Panasonic has developed anti-glare techology for its newest generation of plasma displays, hitting store shelves as you read this. CNET for one gives it high marks, which you can read here. They conclude, and I concur, that Panasonic offers one of the best plasmas you can buy, and perhaps the best overall value.

Seattle's NBC Affiliate Embraces HD for News

Normally I don't post too much about local broadcast affiliates making the jump to HD for their newscasts. Sure it's newsworthy if you live in, say San Diego, and the local CBS station there is now broadcasting its 5:00 or 6:00 news in high-def. But the rest of the country probably doesn't care all that much.

In the case of Seattle NBC affiliate KING, though, I was struck by the sheer quantity of news programming that will now be shown in HD. Here's the list:

-- KING 5 Morning News (5:00AM-7:00AM)
-- KING 5 Morning News on KONG (7:00AM-9:00AM)
-- KING 5 News at Noon (12:00PM-1:00PM)
-- Replay: KING 5 News at Noon on Kong (1:00PM-2:00PM)
-- KING 5 News at 5 (5:00PM-6:00PM)
-- NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams (6:00PM-6:30PM)
-- KING 5 News at 6:30 (6:30PM-7:00PM)
-- Evening Magazine (7:00PM-7:30PM)
-- KING 5 News at 10 on KONG (10:00PM-10:30PM)
-- KING 5 News at 11 (11:00PM-11:30PM)
-- KING 5 Weekend Morning News-Sat. (6:00AM-10:00AM)
-- Gardening with Cisco (Saturday) (10:00AM-10:30AM)
-- KING 5 Weekend Morning News-Sun. (6:00AM-9:30AM)
-- Northwest Backroads (Sunday) (7:00PM-7:30PM)

Evening news is one thing, but weekend news? And the noon news? Kudos to the news producers at KING Seattle for their obvious love of HD technology.

Samsung to Intro Dual-Format Blu-ray HD DVD

Samsung Electronics said today that it will support Blu-ray as well as HD DVD and plans to launch a dual-format player in time for the Christmas holiday shopping season.
Samsung has been selling Blu-ray players since last year and despite Blu-ray's sales dominance in the initial months, Samsung apparently decided to hedge its bets and support both formats.

Perhaps the fact that rival LG Electronics intro'd its dual-format Blu-ray HD DVD player in January and began selling it last month had something to do with it...

Sony Planning to Sell OLED TVs This Year

Showing off its foray into the relatively new world of OLED (organic light emitting diode) displays at an industry tradeshow in Tokyo this week, Sony executives said they plan to introduce an OLED TV for sale sometime later this year. Reputed to be clearer and brighter than either LCD or plasma, it would appear at first glance to be problematic for Sony, among the world leaders in LCD displays. However, at least initially Sony plans to sell OLEDs at much higher prices than comparable LCDs, attempting to confer upon them a status symbol that places OLED above LCD and plasma on the flat-panel TV pecking order.

Plasma Prices Plunge, But Displays Sold Are Up

The plasma vs. LCD war is apparently taking its toll on plasma prices, with market research firm NPD Group reporting that industry plasma revenues dropped 16 percent this February compared to last year. This drop marked the first time plasma revenue fell year over year. The average price for a 50-inch PDP – the top moneymaker for PDP manufacturers in terms of total sales – was $2,040

However, the news wasn’t all bad for Panasonic, Pioneer, LG, Samsung et al. Measured in terms of actual units (PDPs) sold, the plasma market is doing well, with a 30 percent increase over last year.

By way of comparison, LCD TV revenues increased 58 percent over last year.

More from PC Magazine/Yahoo.

Panasonic's 1080p 42" Plasma -- Should You Care?

Matsushita, parent company of Panasonic, will intro the world's first 42-inch 1080p plasma display in Japan on April 27th. U.S. pricing will be around $2,500 when it hits our store shelves in June -- a steep $900 premium over the company's newest 1024 x 768 model that debuted last month. More from Reuters.

I really don't see a ton of significance with the 42" 1080p PDP -- for the same money you can get a pretty nice 50" 1366 x 768 plasma and I guarantee that you'll appreciate the extra 8 inches far more than the increased resolution. In fact, at CES this year I was in the Panasonic booth where they had 1080p images playing on both standard and 1080p plasmas. I could honestly only see a difference on 2 of the 10 or so images -- and the Panasonic guy I talked to told me he could really only see an improved picture on 3 of them.

So while 1080p has a lot of buzz these days and Matsushita undoubtedly felt pressured to produce a sub-50" 1080p plasma display to compete with LCD makers like Sony and Sharp, it's hard for me to advise people that 1080p is worth the price premium right now.

ESPN2 HD Now Available on Cable One

Cable One, a midsize cable provider with about three-quarters of a million customers in 19 states, has launched ESPN2 HD as part of its $5 a month HD tier. Other channels in the HD package are A&E HD, Discovery HD Theater, ESPN HD, Food Network HD, HGTV HD and National Geographic Channel HD.

AT&T Offering Free HD Service for a Year

As part of its bid to lure customers from cable, AT&T is offering free HD programming for one year to people who sign up for its U-verse IPTV service, AT&T DISH Network or AT&T DIRECTV. The offer applies to new customers who live in the AT&T 22-state service region and is worth up to $240.

AT&T U-verse offers 25-27 HD channels where it is available while AT&T DISH Network offers up to 34 channels (including local broadcast networks in some markets).

Using free HD programming to win customers from cable is a solid strategy by AT&T. Some cable companies charge extra for an HD box while others charge extra for an HD tier of channels. Freeing up customers from either of these charges while also offering more HD channels than cable in many markets makes both AT&T U-verse and AT&T DISH all the more compelling.

Four New Markets Get HD Locals from DIRECTV

DIRECTV said today that local HD broadcast channels are now available in four new markets: Albuquerque, Buffalo, New Orleans and Tulsa. DIRECTV now offers local HD broadcast channels in 57 cities, representing more than 69 percent of U.S. TV households.

College Hoops Title Game a Letdown in HD

I don't know whether to blame CBS or my local cable provider Time Warner, but last night's college basketball championship game between Florida and Ohio State was one of the worst HD broadcasts I've seen in a long time -- and not just because I'm a Buckeyes fan. The picture pixelated more times than I could count, with the audio still coming through okay but the video becoming snowy and then freezing up altogether for several seconds at a time.

Normally I'd chalk something like this up to bad timing for it to occur during a major event like this, but I read reports of similar complaints from viewers in other parts of the country following Saturday's two Final Four matchups -- also on CBS.

In addition, another point that leads me to believe this was a CBS rather than a Time Warner Cable problem was the fact that "Prison Break," which came on FOX during the second half of the basketball game, exhibited no such problems. One would think that CBS, which often claims to be the leader among the broadcast networks in HD content, would have this stuff figured out by now.

NESN HD Now On Verizon FiOS in Boston

Just in time for baseball season, Verizon announced that customers of its FiOS TV service in Boston will be able to watch the New England Sports Network (NESN) in high-def. There will be no additional charge for accessing NESN HD; viewers just need to have a FiOS TV HD receiver.