Today's High-Def Headlines

I think the whole industry is taking a well-deserved breather following CES earlier in the week, but here are a few stories we're watching:

Puppies in High Def: Animal Planet Shoots ‘Puppy Bowl IV’ - MCN
Animal Planet is once again banking on video clips of cute puppies and kittens to hook viewers during half time of the NFL Super Bowl, scheduling its fourth annual Puppy Bowl Feb. 3. This year’s contest, Puppy Bowl IV, will be offered in HDTV for the first time, Animal Planet said Thursday.

Matsushita to Change Corporate Name to Panasonic - MCN
Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. -- best known for its global Panasonic brand of consumer electronics -- announced Thursday that the company will change its company name to Panasonic Corp. effective Oct. 1. The company will also use the Panasonic brand across the world for all of its products, which will include replacing the “National” brand in Japan by March 2010. The change was approved by the company’s board of directors and is subject to approval by shareholders.

Plasma TV Makes Comeback - Reuters/NY Times
Given up for dead less than a year ago, plasma TVs are making a comeback, with manufacturers boosting sales forecasts amid a continued shortage of LCD TVs and surging demand in developing countries. In less than two years, plasma-display technology has gone from dominant format to afterthought, then back to a viable option.

Philips' Eco TV Sips Power, Saves Rainforest - CNET
At CNET, we take HDTV power consumption seriously, which helps explain our excitement when Philips announced its Eco TV. The 42-inch, 1080p resolution, flat-panel LCD, model 42PFL5603D (due in March, $1,399 MSRP), is packed with power-saving features. Chief among them is the ability to dim the backlight--by up to five times peak brightness--in response to program material, much like the "local dimming" found on Samsung's LED-based LN-T4681F. Dimming the backlight in darker scenes has the dual benefit of saving power and improving black-level performance, according to the company. The backlight can also be dimmed via a room lighting sensor, so in dark rooms it will use less power.

The Thinner the Better for New HDTV Sets - Rocky Mountain News
HDTV manufacturers are trying to make the task of buying an HDTV set much more difficult than just choosing between LCD and plasma, 42 or 46 inches. To stand out amid fierce competition, they're adding exotic features and even a little bit of color to the plain black bezels that have been de rigueur. They're also chasing each other to zero - zero thickness, that is. Apparently, you can't be too thin if you're a TV.