Monthly Archives: September 2008

TiVo HD DVR on Your PC

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There’s at least one dark side to the February 17, 2009 transition to digital TV broadcasts that few people have addressed, and that’s the question of what to do about getting a digital video recorder. We have a Panasonic model in our home that we use to watch at least 80% of all our TV content. But it only has an analog tuner, so it won’t work next year. We could add a converter box to it, but we wouldn’t be able to use its programmable recording feature.

TiVo recorders have a wonderful interface that its users love. However, maybe you want to have a home theater PC as your digital video recorder so that you can also access the Internet and watch video from the Web as well. It turns out that now you can have both in one box. Nero is teaming with TiVo to bring the TiVo interface to your computer. Nero LiquidTV | TiVo PC lets you record television programming on your PC, and play it back or even transfer it to other devices for viewing elsewhere. And the package includes a TV tuner, a remote control, and even includes an IR Blaster so that it can control a cable or satellite box as well.

The bundle is expected to cost $199 when it ships next month, and includes a one year subscription to TiVo. You can also get the software alone (if you already have the TV tuner card and remote control) for just $99 — the same as a one-year TiVo subscription — as a download from Nero. In either case, you do need to renew the TiVo subscription each year for $99. You’ll also need a broadband Internet connection so that the TiVo software can phone home, but you’ll want access to Internet video anyway, so this is not an unreasonable requirement.

If you use over-the-air broadcast for some or all of your television viewing, make plans to add some sort of digital video recorder to your system soon. It look as though this Nero software could be a great way to get your home computer to take on that role.

Circuit City on the Rocks?

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Circuit City has announced a bone-crushing $239.2 million loss for the second quarter of this year. According to various news reports, management has stopped trying to find a buyer for the company, and is trying to find ways to shore up the ailing company. This includes shelving plans for opening up new stores, cancelling all the stores planned for next year. In fact, the company may close more existing stores. Traffic is way down in the stores, and the company is looking to boost sales in the upcoming holiday sales season. Fortunately, their top vendors have expressed support for the company, so obtaining inventory should not be a problem.

Maintaining profit margin could be a serious problem. While the company has made some progress on that score, the chief merchandising officer John Kelly was quoted as saying that they are willing to come up with “compelling offers to enhance traffic.” Translation: we’re going to slash prices if that’s what it takes to get people in the door this year. And you can be sure that Best Buy and Wal-Mart and Costco are listening to that kind of talk.

With the stock and real estate markets down, widespread uncertainty about the economy, and tightening credit for consumers and businesses alike, there’s little reason to be optimistic that the declines in consumer electronics sales are going to turn around on their own. Circuit City’s situation only underscores my expectation that we’re going to see aggressive discounting early in the HDTV market this year, with significant discounts starting in as little as a week or two. If you want a new HDTV and have the cash, you should be able to get a great deal this fall. And ultimately, a price war won’t be good news for Circuit City.

Sony Signs with DISH Network

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This week, DISH Network announced an agreement with Sony Pictures Television that will allow DISH to carry their movies and other content on their video on demand service, DISH on Demand. The agreement covers both standard resolution and HD versions of the content, and also includes delivery through the DISH Pay-Per-View service. DISH on Demand requires a digital video recorder. Some of the titles will be available on the same day as the DVD release date.

HD content seems to be driving the video subscribers’ choices, so adding access to Sony’s HD library should be a good move for DISH Network as they try to keep up with DirecTV. DISH does offer an HD package for less than $25 a month, which should appeal to bargain hunters.

This also is another datapoint in the shift to the electronic delivery of movie content. Netflix eliminated the trip to the movie rental store; now we’re seeing the elimination of the trip to the mailbox.

LG Puts Holy Text in HDTV

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It has been widely reported that LG Electronics is shipping two HDTV models for Middle East markets that contain the full text of the Koran (Quran), the holy book of Islam. This product was created after research indicated that many devout Muslims read the Koran every day, or listen to it on their home entertainment systems. By embedding the content in the 42″ and 50″ HDTV models, LG hopes to increase the products’ appeal in the Middle East market. All 114 chapters are included, and they can be displayed on the screen as text, or the system can read them aloud. Playback can be controlled using the remote control, and you can bookmark passages for easy navigation.

This is one of those “Doh!” moments, where a simple idea becomes obvious once you hear about it. If nothing else, an HDTV is a complex computer so it won’t even break into a sweat while storing and retrieving the full text of books. It may not make sense to use a TV as the delivery system for books in general, but for specific content for which there is a clear market — such as religious texts — it could make a lot of sense. Now that Muslims can enjoy their version of Moses in the bullrushes on a big flat screen, can a Jewish or Christian version be far behind? What other seminal references could be loaded into an HDTV to be instantly available? And it doesn’t have to be limited to text; storage media is so inexpensive, it would be possible to preload a TV with an enormous amount of audio or video content as well.

Is there content that you’d like to see preinstalled on your new HDTV? Let me know at alfred@hdtvprofessor.com.

Wilmington NC: What Did We Learn?

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On September 8, most of the TV stations in Wilmington, NC turned off their analog broadcasts and broadcast only in digital. While most say that the transition went smoothly, there were still plenty of people caught unprepared for the change. This experiment was important so that local, state, and federal government officials could learn from the Wilmington experience, and hopefully maket the transition smoother for the rest of the country when it occurs next February.

We all are fortunate that Dr. Connie Ledoux Book of Elon University in North Carolina had the foresight to have a team of student observers in Wilmington on the day of the transition. Dr. Book and her students helped answer the phone calls from area residents with problems, and the team’s observations provide some helpful details about the experience. Dr. Book was invited to testify about the event before the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet on September 16. She generously shared a copy of her testimony with me, which contained a number of useful insights.

Dr. Book’s overall impression is that the Wilmington transition went well. Government at all levels was involved in helping educate residents, and most were prepared. On the day of the transition, special resources were available. For example, Wilmington firefighters formed special crews who go to residents’ homes on request, and help them connect their converter boxes correctly. While they were there, they would also provide a courtesy test of the smoke alarms in the home. Dr. Book reports that this sort of outreach is an important part of making the transition go smoothly.

She also suggests that local stations “blink” their analog broadcasts more often, especially during some of the most popular shows. This means interrupting the progam to put up a text screen stating that this television might not be prepared for the transition, and contact details for additional information. She also recommends that station personnel go out and test signal strength on a block-by-block basis in their broadcast area, and make this information available to residents. Dr. Book found in Wilmington that there were hardship cases, and that the local stations should have a supply of converter boxes to give to viewers on the day of transition. These could be bought by the stations themselves, or some provision could be made to cover their cost through the rebate coupon program.

Dr. Book made a number of other recommendations, but the key point is that television programming is the most effective way to communicate with viewers.

It was valuable to have Dr. Book and her students on the ground in Wilmington on the day of the transition, as their observations can indeed help other communities prepare. I’m not sure that I share her optimism about the process, however. Wilmington has been placed under a national magnifying glass, and all sorts of resources have been focused on helping residents make the transition smoothly. Even with this effort, many residents were not prepared. The local WalMart sold out of converter boxes three days before the changeover.

I doubt that most stations have the resources to do thorough testing of their broadcast signal strength throughout their range, even if they limited it to the fringe areas. And getting that information efficiently to the residents who need it will be a challenge, since most people don’t need it (because they have cable or satellite service). And the idea that all communities will be able to mobilize their fire departments or other agencies to assist anyone with problems connecting their converter boxes paints a nice image of community service, but it’s not going to be practical in many places, ranging from dense urban markets to broadly spread out rural communities. Wilmington is a fairly compact and self-contained market, so there are aspects of this test that are not representative of what people will experience in their cities and towns.

I do agree with Dr. Book that much has been done already, and that more can be done easily – such as blinking analog programming — to help make people aware of the transition. I still believe that many people, primarily poor and elderly residents, are going to have most of the problems when the changeover occurs, and local communities need to be prepared to field their questions and provide them effective assistance if they can. I expect that there will still be some bumps left in this road to all-digital TV broadcasts.

Reader Question: Scaling HDTV

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Q: If a HDTV is limited to automatically displaying 720p what will be the picture results if the signal come at 1080 off air or cable?
Curt

A: Curt, when an image of one size is displayed on a screen with a different native resolution (number of pixels), then the image has to be scaled. If the image is smaller — a 720p image on a 1080p set — then the expanded parts of the picture have to be “invented”. The computer that is the HDTV’s controlling circuitry actually identifies features such as lines and objects in the image, and does its best to guess what dots to add to the expanded image in order to make it look good. It’s a tricky thing, and if done badly, the image quality can suffer. (This is what the “upconverting” DVD players do.)

If the image is larger than the screen — a 1080p image on a 720p set, as in your question — then the controller has to decide which part of the image to throw away in order to get it to fit on the screen. Again, it needs to preserve lines and the edges of objects, so this too is a complex process. And done badly, it’s even more likely to result in visible flaws in the image.

While many people may not be able to see the difference between a 1080p image and one scaled down to 720p, my personal preference is to not throw away any information for an image. That’s why — everything else being equal — I prefer 1080p as the native resolution for an HDTV. Whether you get a 720p or 1080p set, however, it’s very important to get one that scales well.

DTV Transition Contest

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If you want to get people to do something, offer prizes. That’s what the Consumer Electronics Association (the group behind the annual CES mega-show) and the National Association of Broadcasters have done. To help publicize the impending transition to digital over-the-air TV broadcasts in February, the two organizations are sponsoring a “Rabbit Ears Pioneers” contest which you can enter at http://www.antennaweb.org/rep/rep_index.html.

The contest is intended to highlight the stories of real people helping others deal with the end of analog broadcasts. A Rabbit Ears Pioneer is someone who relies on over-the-air broadcasts, has a TV set, and an antenna, and needs help in preparing for the switch. Submit an essay of 200 words or more that describes the Pioneer, what they like to watch, and their equipment. If your entry is picked as a monthly semi-final winner, your Pioneer will receive a GE digital converter box and an RCA antenna. And all the semi-final winners will be eligible for the grand prize, in which both you and your Pioneer will each receive a complete home television entertainment system with a flat screen TV, a Blu-ray DVD player, and a surround sound audio system.

It’s an interesting program, and will likely help spread the word, but keep in mind that people like you are probably the best front line offense in helping people prepare for the transition. Talk about it with friends and family, and consider contacting local organizations such as nursing homes that may have residents who are not prepared for the changeover. People remain confused about who will be affected by the change and what they need to do to get ready, and we all need to help them understand the facts.

One More Nail in Plasma Coffin

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Hitachi has announced that it will cease production of plasma panels, and instead buy them from Panasonic (Matsushita). This mirrors a similar decision made earlier this year by Pioneer. This is good news for Panasonic — at least in the short term — as it ensures an increased market for the output from the company’s expanding plasma production facilities. On the other hand, it increases the risk for the future of plasma flat panel products, as it leaves Hitachi with less investment in the technology which would make it easier to withdraw from that segment of the TV business. Hitachi already has a deal with Panasonic to supply LCD panels for TVs.

Overall, I expect that this is bad news for plasma, as Hitachi has been one of the steady supporters of the technology. And this is not an industry that needs more bad news. DisplayBank is reporting today that LCD TV panel shipments worldwide declined 2.8% in June and another 4.2% in July, but the declines for plasma panels for those two months were down 10.2% and 10.8%, nearly triple LCD’s losses. Add to this the fact that the overall volume of plasma panels is about 0ne-eighth that of LCD panels, and it looks like an industry in decline.

On a more positive note, this probably also signals continued consolidation in the flat panel TV market. Hitachi has been one of those name brands in the middle; not high enough to be considered a top tier, and not competitive with the lower, aggressive brands like Vizio. These brands are getting squeezed from above and below, as lower prices reduce the difference between top and bottom brands. Philips has already surrendered the North American market, licensing its brand to Funai. Now that Hitachi’s heart is no longer in flat panel production, it may be setting up to leave the market entirely.

Top This!

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Okay, I’m not shilling for Westinghouse (or any other manufacturer or retailer, for that matter), but I’ve just noticed another deal that I have to mention. Two weeks ago it was a Westinghouse 42″ 1080p model at Costco that staggered me. Now Buy.com is offering a different model at a price that risks causing double-take whiplash.

Consider this: the LTV46w1 46″ Wide XGA (1,366 by 768 pixels) 720p-class LCD TV. It has both analog and digital tuners, and fits both 75 mm and 100 mm VESA mounts. Yes, it’s last year’s model, and yes, it has only one HDMI connector; those are limitations that diminish its value a bit. But it’s new-in-box with a full one-year factory warranty (at least as far as I can tell from the Buy.com page); it’s not a refurb unit. So what is the price for this puppy? $799, and Buy.com will include free standard shipping.

Okay, that’s just $100 more than the Costco price on the 42″ model, and is about what I’d expect to pay for a name brand 37″ 720p LCD TV. Yes, I think that just about anyone will find notice that 46″ is significantly larger than 37″.

Now, I’m not bringing this up today because I think it’s such an incredible bargain that you should click over to buy it right now, before the limited supply runs out. No, my point is that there is inventory lying around in warehouses; in this case, it’s a quantity of a year old model. But I believe that it’s a sign of the surplus already in stock. And there are boatloads – literally — of new models on the way. Manufacturers and retailers are going to struggle to find ways to get some cash back out of this existing inventory to help pay for the new orders. The tricky part will be how to do that without depressing the price for the new products. When people get a taste of buying new 46″ LCD HDTVs for $799 — with free shipping — it’s going to be that much harder to try to get $1,500 out of them for a similar model in November.

HDTV Half Full? Half Empty?

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Market research firm NPD has stated (according to a report by TWICE) that about 46 percent of USA television households now have HDTVs. 34 percent have only one HDTV, and 13 percent have two or more. So depending on how you look at it, the HDTV glass for US viewers is either half empty or half full.

We’ve had free digital broadcasts of HDTV as well as HD content on cable and satellite for several years now. As repeatedly mentioned here, the amount of available HD programming is growing rapidly (though some might say that some of it is not worth watching). And yet, less than half of the households have even one HDTV.

Note also that the NPD figures cited do not apparently report how many of those installed HDTVs have a high definition signal source. As of about a year ago, about half of them didn’t. And half of those with HDTVs but without high definition signals back then reported that they thought that they were watching HD.

I suspect that the allure of a “flat panel” is probably at least as strong as the desire for high definition, with some confusion about the digital TV broadcast transition thrown in as an added incentive to scrap the old picture tube set. As a result, I expect to see HDTV penetration slow down over the next few years. In spite of the falling prices, a lot of people still have a hard time getting rid of a perfectly good picture tube set just so that they can spend many hundreds of dollars — if not a couple thousand – on a flat panel set to replace it. Most of those who can afford to make the switch probably have already done so.

So the HDTV glass is half full, but we may have to be satisfied with less than a full glass for quite a while.