HDTV Almanac

CORRECTION: When the federal government makes a decision, that doesn’t mean that the decision is final. Still, I should have gotten this one right. A year ago, the FCC changed the timetable, and the deadline for 25-inches or larger televisions was moved up to March 1, 2006. So that has already passed. And the deadline for 13-inches or larger televisions and all devices was moved to December 31, 2006. Thanks to those who pointed out my error.

The Federal Communications Commission established a deadline that takes effect tomorrow: as of July 1, 2006, all televisions sold in the USA that have screens 25-inches diagonal or larger must include a digital tuner. In one year from tomorrow, this expands to include all televisions 13-inches or larger, as well as any “TV Interface Device” — such as VCRs and DVRs that receive broadcast signals — must also include digital tuners.

This is all in preparation for the February 17, 2009 end of analog television broadcasts in this country. At that point, terrestrial broadcast (as opposed to cable and satellite services) will only provide a digital signal; right now, both analog and digital signals are available. So if you buy a new television 25-inches or larger tomorrow, and get over-the-air signals for your television content, you’ll be able to start receiving the digital TV signals. You need digital signals in order to receive the broadcast HDTV signals, but not all digital broadcasts are in HD, and you don’t need an HDTV to view them; you only need a TV with a digital tuner.

The vast majority of Americans don’t rely on terrestrial broadcast TV any more, however. They get their image signals from a cable or satellite service’s set top box. If this is the case, then you may be able to use a display without any tuner at all. These are called “monitors“, and receive their signal from another source.

Want help in finding the best HDTV for you? Professor Poor’s Guide to Buying HDTV has all you need to know.

Rear projection HDTV sales continue to defy logic. When you get up to the larger sizes — especially 50-inches and larger – rear projection models enjoy a huge price advantage over the more popular plasma and LCD models. Why are buyers so interested in spending more for the flat panels? Only about one in six actually get hung on a wall, so it can’t be that feature. A 50-inch plasma on a table stand is within inches of the depth of a rear projection model of the same size, so it can’t be the depth of the case. Rear projection models have thinner bezels — there’s less of a frame around the image — and they typically weigh a lot less.

Rear projection manufacturers are working to find ways to attract customers to their designs. They are replacing the projection lamp with LEDs that never burn out and turn on instantly; Samsung is expected to be first to market with such a design, when they ship a DLP model this August. They are making the thin bezels even thinner, so that the frame all but disappears. Texas Instruments, manufacturer of the DLP chips used in many rear projection models, has shown new prototype designs of a 40-inch model that is only 9.5 inches deep.

Sony’s LCoS rear projection models using their SXRD imaging chip have been the exception, selling very well compared with other rear projection models, but it remains to be seen if manufacturers will be able to come up with designs that will succeed in attracting buyers away from the more expensive plasma and LCD models.

Do you know why buyers choose plasma and LCD over rear projection? I’d like to know, so please write me at alfred@hdtvprofessor.com.

It comes as no surprise that people are confused to varying degrees by the whole process of moving to HDTV, from researching the choices, making the purchase, installing it at home, and then getting the most from it. Earlier this month, Panasonic announced a new service, Plasma Concierge, that is intended to help customers throughout the process. The service includes a new Web site, priority telephone support, and eventually an online chat service with company plasma experts.

This strikes me as being a good idea, but it also sounds like Panasonic is simply taking a good customer service program and wrapping it up in a pretty bundle. Perhaps this is in response to Best Buy’s “Geek Squad” that provides technical support services (though for a fee). Perhaps it is just intended to make plasma buyers feel more special and supported, which certainly could be a good thing. Whatever the motivation, Panasonic may not be doing anything more than any good support program should do, but they clearly are trying to draw more attention to their support services.

Are you confused about which HDTV to buy? Professor Poor’s Guide to Buying HDTV can give you the answers you need.

Earlier this month, TiVo announced TiVoCAST, a new service — free to TiVo subscribers — that provides access to video content on the Web. The service includes content from the NBA and WNBA, the New York Times, CNET, and iVillage. It also has content for extreme sports, hip hop and other music, and the Rocketboom video blog. TiVo also pointed out that this new service will make it possible for content producers to make their programming available over the Internet to TiVo customers for free (with or without advertising), by subscription, or as pay-per-view.

One of the key parts of the announcement was this: “Just as television content is easy to find and navigate through the TiVo interface, the TiVoCast service makes it easy to enjoy Web-based video content.” As I’ve written here on a few occasions, this is exactly what will be required in order for IPTV to take off. Apparently, TiVo customers will be able to access the Web content right from the Showcases area of the TiVo menu system. If this works as described, it could open Web video content to a new and larger audience, and could even help drive other efforts to make IPTV easy to access.

Maybe you already know that HDMI is the digital interface that lets you connect HDTV devices to transfer image and audio signals. Early HDTV models didn’t include it, but most recent models have an HDMI connector and sometimes even two. But did you realize that there’s now a new version of HDMI?

The companies that founded the HDMI standard have announced version 1.3 of the standard. This new design increases the bandwidth, which means that it will be able to handle the high resolution and increased frame rates of new display designs. It also supports more colors, which could result in better on-screen image quality. And it includes some interesting features such as a lip sync function that is designed to automatically synchronize the sound and video streams. The specification also offers a new, smaller connector as an option. So there will now be two different HDMI connectors.

I understand the need to expand the standard, but some of these steps will complicate matters more rather than simplify them. And there’s already plenty of confusion over HDTV connectivity. Having to choose between different HDMI cables and connectors will only make it more difficult. And it appears that we’ll still have to wait for implementation of helpful features such as letting one device control others, such as having your TV set turn on your home theater sound system and your DVD player when you choose to watch a DVD. Fortunately, HDMI 1.3 is backward compatible with earlier versions, so at least you can still plug them into each other, even though it means the connection will only work as well as the lowest standard device.

Twice Magazine reports that Radio Shack has chosen LG and Panasonic as brands of flat panel HDTVs the stores will carry, starting in September. And contrary to what I reported here last month, they plan to carry models as large as 42-inches. These plans apply to the 5,000 company-owned stores. The company also offers an expanded line through their Web site.

I know that the average Radio Shack store is a lot smaller than your typical Best Buy or Circuit City, but I thought the original plan to limit the displays to 32-inches was a case of thinking too small. People expect to see large screens when shopping, even if they end up settling for something smaller and more affordable. Big screens are the consumer electronics equivalent to the red sports car in the auto dealers showroom window; they get buyers in the door. Also, if you’re going to get a high-definition TV to watch in a group, you really need a larger display. At 1080p, a 32-inch model requires too short a viewing distance to be practical for most living rooms.

Get the right size display for your room. Read Professor Poor’s Guide to Buying HDTV.

Bad joke alert: What did the Buddhist monk ask the New York City hot dog vendor? “Please make me one with everything.”

Okay, not too Zen perhaps, but it’s right in line with DirecTV’s new offer: the Titanium Package. Talk about an “all you can eat” plan! This is clearly designed for the viewer who can’t decide what to watch. You get every channel, every movie, every pay per view event, every game, and even every HDTV channel. You can even have up to 10 HD DVR receivers, so you never have to miss anything. In short, it’s everything that DirecTV offers. You do pay for this blanket coverage, however: $7,500 a year, which works out to $625 a month. The new service will reportedly start next week.

I suppose that for some folks, this is no more than making a monthly payment on an extra luxury car, but this is clearly offered for a very select clientelle.

If you’re interested in getting satellite service, click here.

The first Blu-ray high definition DVD drives have finally started to ship, and at last, we are starting to see comparisons between Blu-ray and HD DVD based on actual products instead of just published specifications and supposition. But why do we have this major battle between two competing high definition, blue laser DVD standards?

You might think that it’s simply because each side thinks that they have the better technology, and the world would be better off using their products. I don’t doubt that this is true, but it’s not the prime motivator in this case. As “Deep Throat” told Bob Woodward, “follow the money.”

Last week, we had a ring-side seat to a demonstration of just how powerful this factor can be. The San Francisco Chronicle and others reported on the seizure of some 20,000 Cyberhome DVD recorders and players, for alleged trademark infringement. You see, Philips owns some of the intellectual property required to make such products, and they charge a fee for its use. But Cyberhome licensed the required technology from Philips; the problem is that they apparently did not pay their bills and reportedly ran up a $22 million tab with Philips. Philips then pulled their license, but Cyberhome kept right on making the products. Philips complained, and a multi-agency task force seized the products.

Cyberhome is not the only manufacturer of such products. Add all the manufacturers together, and you can see why Philips is motivated to protect their licensing fees. And there are other licensing fees involved in DVD technology; add all the fees together and soon you get to a pretty big number.

So the technology fight over blue laser DVDs is not about the technology so much as who gets to license it. If these drives are to replace the existing DVD technology — which I still think is going to take a long, long time – then the winner stands to gain a lot, and the loser will miss out completely.

One of my recurrent themes has been the question of who is going to pay for downloaded content from the Internet. iTunes has already shown that many people are willing to pay to download commerical-free television episodes. Now the returns are in on ABC’s experiment with free downloads of prime time episodes that include commercials. The company reports more than 11 million viewings in the first month alone.

Perhaps more significant is the fact that viewers recalled the sponsoring advertiser 87% of the time, which is more than twice the rate of 40% for standard broadcast versions of the shows. Frankly, with the increasing use of VCRs and DVRs, I’m a bit surprised that the 40% figure is even that high.

Disney will end the trial program next week on June 30th, but plans to resume this fall with a revised site. This initial trial has shown that the Internet viewership apparently is in addition to the broadcast audience, which is good news for the network and advertisers. And now that ABC can show that the sponsorship is even more effective than broadcast ads, they should be able to charge enough to keep the downloads coming. And that’s good news for consumers.

So you’ve got a big, gorgeous HDTV set in your living room. It looks great when you’re watching TV or movies, but it just sits there taking up space when you’re not watching. Sure, you could hide it behind the doors of an entertainment center, but Panasonic and GalleryPlayer figure you might want to use it for something a bit more artistic. The companies have collaborated to create a site where you can download free software to a PC, and then purchase high-definition images of fine art to display on your HDTV.

The image sources include National Geographic and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and individual pictures start as low a s$.99 per image. You can then create high-definition slide shows. According to the Web site, “GalleryPlayer has been designed so that burn-in is nearly impossible. Our smart technology manages image time on screen and ensures images don’t display long enough for burn-in to occur.” This should be of some comfort to plasma screen owners.

So if you want to hang a Monet or Matisse on your wall, or display some breathtaking landscapes or golf greens, you’ll find the images on this site. It’s an interesting service, but anyone with a PC that connects to their HDTV could probably get close to a similar effect using images available on the Web and a photo editing program. And I would not leave this running 24/7; aside from the power consumption question, it doesn’t make sense to waste the lifespan of the display when nobody is there to view it. Most displays will still for last years even if left on all the time, but I’d only use this when someone is in the room.