September, 2006 | HD TV PROFESSOR

Month: September 2006

HD DVD Continues Early Lead

September 29, 2006 | Author: Muneeb Mannan

The conflict between BluRay and HD DVD as the new blue laser standard format for high definition DVDs is rapidly evolving into a religious conflict similar to the one between the Mac and the PC. You can find heated debate and impassioned defenses for both sides all over the Web. The staff at HDBlu.com decided to see how the early products are doing. They analyzed more than 120 reviews of...

Pocket Cinema

September 28, 2006 | Author: Muneeb Mannan

Okay, this is not HDTV, but it's too cool to miss. The Next Big Thing in front projectors is really something small: pocket projectors. A number of models are available, but the newest arrival is the BumbleBee from Boxlight. This projector is small -- 4.75 "x 3.9" x 1.9" -- and weighs less than a pound. How small is that? Think about half the size of a small paperback novel....

Pioneer and Samsung in Plasma HDTV Dispute

September 27, 2006 | Author: Muneeb Mannan

It seems that competition in the courts is as important as what takes place on the store shelves these days. Pioneer filed a suit against Samsung on Monday, claiming patent violations in their plasma panel technology. Samsung reportedly will file a counter-suit. This is a newsworthy development, but not shocking. There is a lot of valuable intellectual property involved in HDTVs, and it makes sense that a company would seek...

HDTV for $.37 an Hour

September 26, 2006 | Author: Muneeb Mannan

A report from Nielsen Media Research states that the average American home has 2.73 televisions, but only 2.55 people. The Nielsen also reports that the average person watches about four and a half hours of TV each day. Okay, let's do some math about HDTV watching. Let's assume that someone pays $2,000 (to pick a round number) for a large screen HDTV. They pay $100 a month (again, a round...

DirecTV Makes Difficult HD Decisions

September 25, 2006 | Author: Muneeb Mannan

To paraphrase the Stones, you can't always watch what you want, especially if you're an HDTV customer of DirecTV. As reported by Phillip Swann in TV Predictions, the service has selectively shut down certain HD channels on a temporary basis in recent weeks. First TNT HD, then HDNet, and most recently Universal HD. The reason for the shutdowns was to make room for the system's coverage of the NFL football...

Getcha New HDTV Right Here!

September 22, 2006 | Author: Muneeb Mannan

Hurry, hurry, hurry! Step right up! See the big screen of your dreams right here in our store! Take home an HDTV today! Sure, we expect to find HDTVs for sale in the major big box consumer electronics chains such as Best Buy and Circuit City. We even look for them in the discount clubs like Costco. And as I have reported here, the electronics part chain Radio Shack and...

RP HDTV Boosters Unite

September 21, 2006 | Author: Muneeb Mannan

One of the mysteries of rear projection HDTVs remains why consumers continue to favor LCD and plasma for large screens, even though the rear projection models of the same size cost hundreds or thousands of dollars less. A number of Japanese companies have banded together to form the Micro Device Display Consortium (MDDPC) to promote rear projection HDTV, covering all three technologies: DLP, LCD, and LCoS. The group has created...

WB Releases HD Titles

September 20, 2006 | Author: Muneeb Mannan

October 10th, Warner Home Video will release a dozen new high-definition DVD titles. The actual titles are not nearly as interesting as two other facts. First, 10 of the 12 new titles will be on HD DVD format, leaving only two on Blu-Ray. And the HD DVDs will list for $28.99 while the Blu-Ray titles will list for $6 more, at $34.99. Hmmm... more choices for HD DVD, a 20%...

RP HDTV Gets Skinnier

September 19, 2006 | Author: Muneeb Mannan

One of the knocks against rear projection HDTV is that you have to replace a lamp every few years to maintain the brightness. That problem is being addressed through the use of solid state lighting, using high-brightness LEDs such as the PhlatLight from Luminus Devices. The other major problem is that rear projection HDTVs are too deep, compared with the thinner plasma and LCD models. Well, that's less of a...

CEDIA HDTV Wrap Up

September 18, 2006 | Author: Muneeb Mannan

CEDIA is the Consumer Electronics Designer and Installer Association show, which was held last week in Denver. The exhibit hall was filled with high-end products for the custom install market, such as motorized mounts for large plasma HDTVs, plush seating for home theaters, and gorgeous wooden housings for 7.1 channel surround sound speaker systems. So it is a bit surprising that a large number of the displays on exhibit had...