June, 2012 | HD TV PROFESSOR

Month: June 2012

More U.S. Households Rely on TV Broadcasts

June 29, 2012 | Author: Muneeb Mannan

In a recent letter to the FCC (as reported by TV Technology), head of the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Gordon Smith cited new figures about over-the-air television in the U.S. in support of his statement about the FCC auction of part of the TV radio signal spectrum. According to his statement, the portion of U.S. television households that rely solely on free broadcasts has grown to almost 18%. In...

Google TV: Round 2

June 28, 2012 | Author: Muneeb Mannan

Google TV is back. After an abortive first attempt two years ago, the second generation is getting close to shipping. Both Sony and Vizio have announced network media players based on the Google software, and LG has a new LCD HDTV with the feature. Google TV is intended to bridge the traditional subscription television and over-the-air broadcasts with the growing choices available on the Internet. For example, you should be...

Sony Blu-ray Player for $40

June 27, 2012 | Author: Muneeb Mannan

Blu-ray has taken a long time to catch up with DVD, and as I continue to point out, the disc business appears to be in decline. Is if possible tht Blu-ray could catch up this late in the race? It could if the premium between it and standard DVD players (which is "good enough" for the majority of consumers) dropped to something approaching "zero." And apparently now it has. [caption...

Sony and Panasonic: New Entrants in OLED TV Race

June 26, 2012 | Author: Muneeb Mannan

This story has me scratching my head a bit; Sony and Panasonic will partner in developing OLED TVs. According to the press release, the two companies will pool their "core and printing technologies" to develop a "printing method-based next-generation OLED technology." Perhaps the most puzzling part is that they "aim to establish mass-production technology during 2013." Wow! This strikes me as two drowning swimmers throwing each other cement life rings....

Strawberries and Cream Over the Top

June 25, 2012 | Author: Muneeb Mannan

There is one type of content that makes "television" the most compelling entertainment media available: live sports. If streaming video -- also known as "over the top" -- is going to make serious inroads into the traditional linear television broadcasting markets, it will need to offer "better-than-television" coverage. And we've already seen many experiments that are making significant progress in this direction. For example, the Olympics in China had more...

Supreme Court Throws Out FOX and ABC Sanctions

June 22, 2012 | Author: Muneeb Mannan

The FCC suffered a bit of an "enforcement malfunction" yesterday when the Supreme Court threw out sanctions against ABC and FOX. Disney had been hit with a $1.2 million penalty for nudity in an "NYPD Blue" episode on ABC, while FOX was warned about expletives that were uttered on the air during two live award show broadcasts. The Supreme Court decision did not address the overall issue concerning the constitionality...

Verizon Jacks Up the Speed

June 21, 2012 | Author: Muneeb Mannan

Verizon's FiOS service has become very popular with some users for its outstanding broadband service speeds. It doesn't seem that long ago that getting a couple Mbps over DSL was amazing; now FiOS service starts at 15 Mbps download and 5 Mbps upload. And Verizon has now raised the ante. Recognizing that broadband households are using more and more data from the Internet, Verizon has introduced "FiOS Quantum" service. This...

Online Video Gets More Product Placements

June 20, 2012 | Author: Muneeb Mannan

If you're a long-time reader of the HDTV Almanac, you know that one of my favorite hobbyhorses to ride is the question of "who is going to pay for the video content?" Advertisers have long been aware that we're skipping their commercials with our DVRs, but they were at a loss about what to do instead. Some of them are smelling the french roast, however; Nike has cut its television commercial...

Sharp Ships 90″ LCD HDTV

June 19, 2012 | Author: Muneeb Mannan

Imagine a television that is more than six and a half feet wide. Imagine that you could have one in your living room now if you want it. It's not a pipedream; it's the Sharp LC-90LE745U 90" LCD HDTV, and the company announced yesterday that it is available now from select retailers in the U.S. The mammoth screen has a 90" diagonal measurement, and relies on a full matrix of...

Amazon Adds MGM Movies

June 18, 2012 | Author: Muneeb Mannan

Amazon Instant Video is the quiet third-place contender behind Netflix and Hulu, but the service keeps adding content to its catalog. Many of the titles are available for free streaming -- some in high-definition -- for customers who pay for an Amazon Prime membership at $79 per year. In addition to benefits such as free two-day shipping on most orders and free "borrowing" of Kindle books, members also get to...