What we're watching: We'll check out a new episode of Chuck, along with Monday Night Football pitting the Green Bay Packers v.s the Denver Broncos.Our traditional high-def listings continue below.
HDTV Listings for October 29, 2007
What we're watching: We'll check out a new episode of Chuck, along with Monday Night Football pitting the Green Bay Packers v.s the Denver Broncos.Our traditional high-def listings continue below.
EZFetch HD media streamer can stream off Nseries phones
Read -- EZ 4 Media website
Read -- EZFetch FCC listing
HD DVD and Blu-ray releases on October 30th, 2007
This title counting business is a mess, between titles showing up without dates, studios switching sides and ceasing the production of titles, and now titles that feature nothing more than a fireplace or an aquarium, we're not sure what to count. But a title is a title, and Blu-ray has thirteen this week -- who knew that DVD International would have such an impact on the format war. What's bigger news than Blu-ray retaking the lead is, the release of Spider-Man 3 -- with or without the trilogy box set -- while we doubt it'll be as big as Transformers, the Blu-ray camp has high expectations. Warner finally brings The Polar Express to Blu-ray and has License to Wed for both sides. Paramount's impact, is less this week as they bring another HD DVD exclusive title to the street in the way of Face/Off. Universal shows up this week as well with the release of Talk to Me.HD DVD 326 vs Blu-ray 332 *
Blu-ray
- HDScape: Antarctica Dreaming (DVD International)
- HDScape: Blu-ray Sampler (DVD International)
- HDScape: Exotic Saltwater Aquarium (DVD International)
- HDScape: Fireplace - Visions of Tranquility (DVD International)
- HDScape: HDWindow - Hawaii (DVD International)
- HDScape: HDWindow - The Great Southwest (DVD International)
- HDScape: Serenity - Southern Seas (DVD International)
- HDScape: Stargaze II (DVD International)
- HDScape: Visions of the Sea (DVD International)
- License to Wed (Warner)
- The Polar Express (Warner)
- Spider-Man 3 (Sony)
- Spider-Man: The High-Definition Trilogy (Sony)
- Face/Off (Paramount)
- License to Wed (Warner)
- Mozart: Die Zauberflote (Opus Arte)
- Talk to Me (Universal)
*Blu-ray total does not reflects 32 Paramount titles that were previously available.
Shinoda Plasma prepping 142-inch 720p "PTA" display for next year
It's never easy keeping track of the largest HDTV out there, and then there's all that display technology bickering to be done -- do outdoor LED displays count, or how about rear projection? Today's "largest" flavor of the week is this new 142-inch Plasma Tube Array from Shinoda Plasma. The good news is that this plasma-based bad boy boasts a 720p resolution, 1,000 nits of brightness and a contrast ratio of 10,000:1. The bad news is that the asking price is "several tens of million yen" (a few hundred thousand dollars), and the 3 x 2 meter display is composed of 1 x 1 meter squares that are slapped together on site. That cuts down shipping shipping costs, but means you're not going to get a seamless picture -- which is fine for most commercial applications that this thing is primarily built for, but does nothing for our Super Bowl plans. The display will start shipping in small quantities in 2008, with about 200 total planned for production.
Sharp's AQUOS P Series of TVs: world's first 22- and 26-inch 1080p LCDs
[Via Impress]
HDTV Listings for October 28, 2007
What we're watching: No Sunday Night Football, but we'll watch Colorado try to extend the World Series tonight against Boston in Game 4 on Fox.Our traditional high-def listings continue below.
EchoStar adds VOD to ViP-TV service
Plasmas post record Q3 sales volume
Despite the fact that LCDs are really taking off in the HDTV marketplace, PDPs set a new unit sales record for Q3, according to DisplaySearch. Despite Q1-Q2 numbers being below the previous year's numbers, plasmas showed a rebound in Q3. Credit goes to lower prices and availability of the fact-tag-friendly 1080p panels. The pinch from LCDs is being felt though: the 50-inch and above regime accounts for almost a third of sales and half of the revenue in the PDP market. And despite the rise in unit sales, on-year revenues for PDPs were down 31%, so you know competition is fierce out there. These PDP numbers are a case of rising HDTV sales across the competing technologies, which is good for us consumers! 
HDTV Listings for October 27, 2007
What we're watching: The World Series, as Colorado hopes they can get some of the magic back at home and avoid another loss to Boston. A movie to look out for tonight is Smokin' Aces on Cinemax.Our traditional high-def listings continue below.
Toshiba A2 HD DVD Player for $200 at Circuit City
[Thanks to everyone that sent this in!]
DirecTV unveils HD Starship mobile display
Just in case DirecTV's lineup of HD channels wasn't enough to make you take notice, they've rolled out their own display -- in the mobile space no less. The DirecTV HD Starship made its debt at the World Series, hoisting its HD cameras and 70 x 30-foot LED display to share the video goodness with everybody in attendance. Yeah, that screen measurement is in feet. So it's huge; it's gotta be HD, too, right? Well, that's a little disappointing: 33,600 pixels, which comes out to 280 x 120 pixels. Ouch. Sure, a viewing distance chart will tell you that past 270-feet even ED 480P is more than you need. But still, HD it isn't. So if you're lucky enough to catch a World Series game in person, get your eyes back on the game! As we like to say, "How good can it be, if it ain't in HD?"HDTV Listings for October 26, 2007
What we're watching: With choices like Hardcore Midget Wrestling on HDNet and Bloodsucking Cinema on Starz, we just can't see watching anything else.Our traditional high-def listings continue below.
HP's Media Center PC with CableCARD for $1250
We didn't realize this was news, but after we discovered that Sony was selling ATI's CableCARD tuner for $300 by it's lonesome, we realized how few people knew that you could buy a Media Center PC with a CableCARD tuner for less than $3000. We agree that $300 for a CableCARD tuner is out of control ridiculous -- especially compared to a TiVo HD which sells for the same price and has dual CableCARD tuners -- but to go around and pretend like they only work with "expensive" Media Center PCs is ridiculous. Sure it sucks that it costs $300 and that you have to buy it with a OEM like HP or Dell just to get it, but we for one are just glad they are a reality, now if only DirecTV or Dish would make a tuner like this for Media Center.Nielsen VideoScan High-Def market share for week ending October 21st, 2007
- Transformers 100
- Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest 9.47
- Pirates of the Carribean: Curse of the Black Pearl 9.12
- Fatastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer 5.47
- Apocalypto 5.02
- Deja Vu 3.71
- The Prestige 3.60
- Wild Hogs 3.53
- The Reaping BR 3.42
- 300 BR 3.37
[Via AVSForum]
Panasonic showcases in-dash Blu-ray head unit
[Via Blu-ray]
Continue reading Panasonic showcases in-dash Blu-ray head unit
