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Even if it's not the first as LG is claiming it is, the 32PC5RV 32-inch plasma TV recently announced by the company is the smallest plasma TV to get a decent production run. Launching in Brazil this month and then worldwide in November, the 32PC5RV intends to muscle in on the most popular LCD TV size. The television will come with a relatively low price tag to lure buyers in at between $1,000 and $1,100: probably not low enough to beat lesser brands selling 42-inch 1080p plasmas at around that mark, and definitely not high enough specification to beat equivalently branded 32-inch LCDs what with the 32PC5RV featuring an abysmal 852x480 resolution, 550 lumen brightness, and a 1,800:1 contrast ratio. LG, you're gonna have to do better than that.
The digital switchover is coming, and there's no more sure sign of it than fines being handed out by the FCC to retailers that continue to sell sets with only analog tuners. Any remaining inventory retailers have can be sold, but must be accompanied by signage "in close proximity" that explains the limitations of these devices in our coming digital airwaves. Fewer than one dozen violations were cited by the FCC's dragnet, which is pretty incredible. The small number of infractions is a credit to the teeth the FCC put into the regulation: an $8000 fine per model, per store. This kind of financial pressure was certainly a factor in Best Buy's recent removal of analog-only sets from their shelves entirely; one careless stocking error or misplaced sign could have proven very costly.
Vizio got our attention last year by offering a 42-inch plasma for less than $1000, and most recently overtook its competitors on the US LCD sales charts. The Washington Post visited the company's headquarters to find out what they're doing differently from everyone else to be able to offer flat screens that hit the sweet spot in price. Memory card readers, fancy chrome finishes, swivel base and ambient lighting -- out, short HDMI cables -- in. Sure, they're also missing the high contrast ratios of some, but we're probably not the only ones waiting to see what Vizio has planned for this holiday season to tweak Sony and the rest.
Sharp's new ANPR1000H is two, two products in one: TV stand and 2.1 "surround" sound system. There's also an FM tuner thrown in to complete the package. As you can see, you get L-R channels and two "sub"woofers. Oh yeah, and a place for your TV and assorted players. It's not the monster that Evesham has, but the receiver section of this console features 4x75W, Dolby's Audistry processing (for all manner of sound enhancement), and decoding for DTS, Dolby Digital, and Pro Logic II. We'd rather put the money into a receiver and speakers, but this is probably the sort of setup that was in mind for some other recommendations. No word on US availability, it's currently in Australia for AU$1099 (roughly US$980).
For today's installment of "lost in translation," we have a recommendation from Corning -- a 65-inch LCD is just about right for the average North American home. We're totally on board with that, and it's not surprising that the substrate glass manufacturer is pushing LCDs. But the "average" figures used to come up with the recommendation leave us scratching our heads: a viewing distance of 6.5-feet in a living room measuring 8 x 9-feet. By most sizing charts we've seen, below about 9-feet viewing distance on a 65-inch display, you'll be wishing you'd purchased that 1440P set. And while we're doing the math, what's with the average living room size of 8 x 9-feet? That can't be the average size of the 21st century American living room, especially for the kind of consumer who can afford a 65-inch LCD.
What we're watching: ESPN has a great SEC college football matchup between Auburn and LSU, but we'll check out Will Smith in The Pursuit of Happyness on Starz-HD.
Rumored all-in-one units aside, Xbox 360 owners looking for HD DVD still need an add-on drive and this weekend the deal could be getting a whole lot sweeter. Leaked scans of a supposed upcoming Best Buy ad reveal the $99 SRP Heroes: Season One seven-disc HD DVD set will be bundled for free; the recently updated five free HD DVD offer and existing King Kong pack-in combine to take make the $179 drive essentially free. We're not sure what will make the difference in the ongoing format war, but throw in enough free movies and even Michael Bay will have to shout.
This certainly isn't the firsttime we've heard this rumor, but SmartHouse is reporting that Microsoft and Toshiba are working on an updated Xbox 360 with a built-in HD DVD drive. If that were all, we wouldn't bat an eye -- it's gotta happen sometime -- but there are some other, crazier aspects to this version of the rumor that set off some red flags: SmartHouse also claims that the new box will be Toshiba-branded and have dual HDTV tuners, electronic program guide capabilities, built-in wireless networking, and sport an "MP3 player" dock, which we'd imagine would be for a Zune. That's a hell of a box, right there, and while we've seen similar devices like Sony's PSX, they didn't exactly take the world by storm. Our money is still on a simple bump of the existing 360 to HD DVD, but get ready to hear a lot of about this rumor in the weeks to come.
DirecTV has filed a false advertising suit against Cox Communications over claims made on the Cox website. It all goes back to a Comcast-commissioned market survey (also under suit) which concluded that two thirds of satellite customers preferred the HD image quality of Comcast over DirecTV and Dish Network. Cox ran with the story, and put the results under the headline "Cable Wins the HD Picture Challenge" on the company's website. We agree with DirecTV -- that's a huge logical misstep. DirecTV sums it up nicely in their complaint: "...the picture quality afforded by Comcast's HD service cannot be deemed equivalent to that of Cox's HD service." Check out the link for more "he said, she said" action. We understand that DirecTV has to defend itself, and that lawsuits are part of big business, but we also think continuing to pump out moreHDchannels will have a far larger impact in the marketplace.
Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer is once again the top title this week on the Nielsen VideoScan charts courtesy of Home Media Magazine. There are a lot of changes in this week's list of top ten titles, as Knocked Up falls to six, from two, and new release Evan Almighty rises to number four. As we'd expect, most of the titles to rise to the top are new releases, but a few regulars for Blu-ray seem to keep up their steam, including 300 and Casino Royale. For the second week in a row, Blu-ray wides its lead (now 2.4:1 for the week), but we all expect that to change next week when the Transformers numbers hit, despite all of Blu-ray's two-for-one promotions.
Despite what we say, many people wait till the holiday season to buy and HDTV -- more specifically Black Friday. There are a few strategies that work, and Consumer Reports' Electronics Blog has a couple of pointers for this holiday season. While the theme to finding a bargain seems to 720p, they really seem to believe Plasmas might offer the better bargain. In fact, DisplaySearch believes you'll be able to find a 42-inch 720p Plasma for as low as $599 on Black Friday, which seems pretty crazy. This is not to say that there won't be any great deals on LCD TVs, but just like that normal debate goes, it's really about size since there aren't many Plasmas under 42-inches. No matter what you end up picking up, you can rest assured that although you missed another entire year of HD, you most certainly saved yourself some money.
The BBC have been testing a dedicated high-def station, which should end in November '07, to determine if they need a dedication high-def station -- hellz yeah, they do. BBC HD seems to have a mash-up lineup similar to Discovery HD Theater with shows from other BBC channels all merged into one dedicated mega-channel. Currently, BBC is taking 50% of their content from BBC One, 30% from BBC Two and the other 20% is coming from BBC's other digital channels making up the high definition station that will launch in 2012. The programming seems to be there and we sure know people want HDTV, so why the wait for the British digital switch-over in 2012? It doesn't sound like BBC HD needs more testing, cut through the red tape and just launch the channel to high-def starved Brits already.
Just in time for another season, Dish Network adds the National Hockey League Network to their always-growing HD lineup. NHL HD will sport 50 live regular-season games, classic games, documentaries, and how-to shows; we're wondering how much of the extra features will be in high-def however. The station is already live on channel 403 and 559 for subs with America's Top 100 package or the NHL Center Ice subscription respectively. This new station should calm rabid Hockey fans but they do hold Hockey's dirty, little high-def secret: the sport is, arguably, the best looking programming in high definition.
What we're watching: A good NFL matchup between the Steelers and Broncos on NBC, along with a new episode of Dexter on Showtime.
The digital switchover is coming, and there's no more sure sign of it than fines being handed out by the FCC to retailers that continue to sell sets with only analog tuners. Any remaining inventory retailers have can be sold, but must be accompanied by signage "in close proximity" that explains the limitations of these devices in our coming digital airwaves. Fewer than one dozen violations were cited by the FCC's dragnet, which is pretty incredible. The small number of infractions is a credit to the teeth the FCC put into the regulation: an $8000 fine per model, per store. This kind of financial pressure was certainly a factor in Best Buy's recent removal of analog-only sets from their shelves entirely; one careless stocking error or misplaced sign could have proven very costly.
Vizio got our attention last year by offering a 42-inch plasma for less than $1000, and most recently overtook its competitors on the US LCD sales charts. The Washington Post visited the company's headquarters to find out what they're doing differently from everyone else to be able to offer flat screens that hit the sweet spot in price. Memory card readers, fancy chrome finishes, swivel base and ambient lighting -- out, short HDMI cables -- in. Sure, they're also missing the high contrast ratios of some, but we're probably not the only ones waiting to see what Vizio has planned for this holiday season to tweak Sony and the rest.
For today's installment of "lost in translation," we have a recommendation from Corning -- a 65-inch LCD is just about right for the average North American home. We're totally on board with that, and it's not surprising that the substrate glass manufacturer is pushing LCDs. But the "average" figures used to come up with the recommendation leave us scratching our heads: a viewing distance of 6.5-feet in a living room measuring 8 x 9-feet. By most sizing charts we've seen, below about 9-feet viewing distance on a 65-inch display, you'll be wishing you'd purchased that 1440P set. And while we're doing the math, what's with the average living room size of 8 x 9-feet? That can't be the average size of the 21st century American living room, especially for the kind of consumer who can afford a 65-inch LCD.
What we're watching: ESPN has a great SEC college football matchup between Auburn and LSU, but we'll check out Will Smith in The Pursuit of Happyness on Starz-HD.
What we're watching: We'll check out another episode of Women's Murder Club on ABC and Numb3rs on CBS.
This certainly isn't the first time we've heard this rumor, but SmartHouse is reporting that Microsoft and Toshiba are working on an updated Xbox 360 with a built-in HD DVD drive. If that were all, we wouldn't bat an eye -- it's gotta happen sometime -- but there are some other, crazier aspects to this version of the rumor that set off some red flags: SmartHouse also claims that the new box will be Toshiba-branded and have dual HDTV tuners, electronic program guide capabilities, built-in wireless networking, and sport an "MP3 player" dock, which we'd imagine would be for a Zune. That's a hell of a box, right there, and while we've seen similar devices like Sony's PSX, they didn't exactly take the world by storm. Our money is still on a simple bump of the existing 360 to HD DVD, but get ready to hear a lot of about this rumor in the weeks to come.
Despite what we say, many people wait till the holiday season to buy and HDTV -- more specifically Black Friday. There are a few strategies that work, and Consumer Reports' Electronics Blog has a couple of pointers for this holiday season. While the theme to finding a bargain seems to 720p, they really seem to believe Plasmas might offer the better bargain. In fact, DisplaySearch believes you'll be able to find a 42-inch 720p Plasma for as low as $599 on Black Friday, which seems pretty crazy. This is not to say that there won't be any great deals on LCD TVs, but just like that normal debate goes, it's really about size since there aren't many Plasmas under 42-inches. No matter what you end up picking up, you can rest assured that although you missed another entire year of HD, you most certainly saved yourself some money.
Just in time for another season, Dish Network adds the National Hockey League Network to their always-growing HD lineup. NHL HD will sport 50 live regular-season games, classic games, documentaries, and how-to shows; we're wondering how much of the extra features will be in high-def however. The station is already live on channel 403 and 559 for subs with America's Top 100 package or the NHL Center Ice subscription respectively. This new station should calm rabid Hockey fans but they do hold Hockey's dirty, little high-def secret: the sport is, arguably, the best looking programming in high definition.
