December, 2006 | HD TV PROFESSOR

Month: December 2006

China Resists Digital TV Royalties

December 29, 2006 | Author: Muneeb Mannan

A report by China Daily on Wednesday indicates that some Chinese TV manufacturers may be banding together to negotiate lower royalty rates for the patent licenses required to build televisions with digital tuners for the United States Market. All TVs must have digital tuners starting next March. According to the report, the Chinese government claims that manufacturers have to pay $23 per unit to include an ATSC tuner. That is...

Reader Question: Interference from Flat Panels?

December 28, 2006 | Author: Muneeb Mannan

Q: I am an amateur radio operator and I want to get a flat panel TV that will be in the same room as the radio transceivers. I am concerned about the new TV producing any interference for the radio. I do not get any noise from the LCD monitor on my computer in the room, though I did with the regular CRT monitors. Are plasma models as free of...

Sorry — No SED at CES

December 27, 2006 | Author: Muneeb Mannan

Toshiba has released a statement indicating the the company will not be showing the SED HDTV displays at CES next month in Las Vegas. CNET reports that a company spokesperson said that the reason for the cancellation is neither "technical or business". While this does not seem to leave much much room for other causes, some analysts have speculated that it could be related to a lawsuit over licensed technology,...

Red Friday?

December 26, 2006 | Author: Muneeb Mannan

Circuit City reported its third quarter financials last week, for their third quarter ending November 30th. The net loss was $16 million. That's a lot of money to lose, but it's even larger when you compare it with the $10 million in profit the company posted for the same period a year ago. What happened? Black Friday gets its name from the fact that retailers have counted on it to...

Best Wishes to All!

December 25, 2006 | Author: Muneeb Mannan

I'm off enjoying a high-definition holiday today, so I'll just take this moment to thank all of you for your tremendous support in the past year, to wish you warm greetings of the holiday season, and to hope that you and yours enjoy a happy, healthy, and prosperous new year. Peace, Alfred Poor

Reader Question: Obsolete TVs?

December 22, 2006 | Author: Muneeb Mannan

Q: I've heard that in the near future, only those who have HDTV will be able to receive a tv signal and all the old tvs will be obsolete. This can't be true, can it? Please advise. Robert Romine A: This is probably the question that I am asked second-most often. (The most frequent question is "Which HDTV should I buy?") The sad part is that this question clearly demonstrates...

Shortcut to IPTV?

December 21, 2006 | Author: Muneeb Mannan

A friend sent me a link to a product called "PCShowBuzz" that promises to give you access to more than 1,000 movie, news, sports, and music channels on the Web. My friend wanted to know if this product was for real, or was it a scam of some sort. The answer is that it's a little of both. I have not tested this producted myself, but based on the research...

How Reliable Are HDTV Reviews?

December 20, 2006 | Author: Muneeb Mannan

Of all the sources of comparitive reviews of consumer products, I hold Consumer Reports in very high regard. This is the company that essentially established the field, and they generally are careful and precise in their testing and reporting. I discovered when I was deeply involved in personal computer testing over the past 20 years that Consumer Reports did not always have the expertise or resources to test some technical...

IPTV: The Venice Project

December 19, 2006 | Author: Muneeb Mannan

I've been testing a bunch of different IPTV services, and some of them leave me unconvinced that they're an improvement on traditional broadcast. In some cases, I'm not even sure that they are as good. But there's a new effort underway to make IPTV work: The Venice Project. According to its Web site, this is a new venture that aims to deliver video entertainment content over the Web. They launched...

RP HDTV on the Wall

December 18, 2006 | Author: Muneeb Mannan

One of the reasons that people prefer LCD and plasma flat panels over rear projection models is that you can "hang them on the wall". Never mind that fewer than 25% of buyers ever do that. For a 42" or larger screen, you could be dealing with hanging 100 pounds or more: not your typical family photo. And then there's the question of what to do with the wires. When...