LCD and plasma TVs are far more reliable than older rear-projection types, according to a report by Consumer Reports. On average, only 3% of flat panel TVs need repairs, with the majority of those repairs being free thanks to warranties. Rear projection TVs had a far higher repair rate of 18%, probably due to the limited life of the bulbs contained in these TVs. When flat panels TVs did need an out of warranty repair, they cost around $260 for LCDs, and nearly $400 for plasmas, with rear projection TV repairs costing around $300. The report also called out expensive extended warranties, saying that they're only worth it if you're particularly paranoid and they're cheaper than any possible repairs.

DisplaySearch has issued a report that adds to the good outlook for the future of plasma displays. After poring over the numbers and taking a tour of Panasonic's Plasma Display factories, the firm cited motion performance, cost, and "luminous efficacy" among the technology's competitive features. The motion performance is something we've covered before, with the best PDPs besting even the latest LCDs, even if only by a bit. But what got the analysts really excited is the increased luminous efficacy coming to PDPs in the future. Obviously, more brightness per Watt will result in more energy efficient and cooler-running PDPs, but we can also look forward to increased performance in bright settings and better lifetime and reliability. And of, course, more torchy torch modes! Seriously, we hope the report is on target -- more competition is always better for consumers.

JupiterResearch has added its opinion to the line of analysts weighing in on the format war. Its report titled "Next Generation DVD: Will the Winner Be HD DVD, Blu-ray, or None of the Above?" found both formats at risk, so it'll come as no surprise that they picked choice "C." Citing confusion between formats, larger catalogs for DVDs and competition from other distribution mechanisms, the report concludes that upscaling DVD players are the real competition faced by HDM. But rather than throwing in the towel for HDM, we think hardware manufacturers should take a hint form the study and tout the fact that every HDM player is a great upscaling DVD player, too!

What we're watching: We're watching our latest guilty pleasure, Women's Murder Club, but don't tell anyone, we have a reputation to uphold. We'll catch highlights from the NBA doubleheader on ESPN later and no one will know the difference.

Our traditional high-def listings continue below.

Sometimes we start to feel like a broken record around here. Seriously, how many times do we have to say this, and yet so many never listen? Rather than complain about one's devout faith in specifications, Joshua from HiDefDigest makes his case in the old 'specs vs reality' argument and we have to say, we couldn't have said it better ourselves. Click through for the full explanation, but here are the highlights. Higher bit-rate and a newer codec don't always look better, lossless audio doesn't always sound better, and -- we'd like to add -- 1080p isn't always better than 720p. So for your own sake, don't sell yourself short by relaying on specs to tell you what looks and sounds good.

It's really easy to lose sight of the intentions of the gov't. This is especially true, when it's been so long since the law was passed by congress that some of us at Engadget were still in grade school. You see, over ten years ago Congress passed the Communications Act of 1996 and one of the many intentions was to free consumers from the hold that cable co's had on them and create an open system -- very much like the way you can bring your own phone to your land line. As you'd expect, big cable has been dragging their feet every step of the way and it doesn't surprise us that they haven't given up yet. And, in the spirit of protecting their business Comcast is suing the FCC for forcing them to deploy cable boxes without integrated security (CableCARD). You might be asking, "on what grounds?" and the answer is kinda silly. Comcast is upset because these boxes cost more than their old boxes and the FCC issued waivers to smaller cable co's to help lessen the burden -- as if ten years notice wasn't enough time to prepare. On the other hand, we applaud the FCC for standing up to them and have witnessed the benefits first hand, as every cable co' that didn't get a waiver now supports M-Cards that help reduce a TiVo HD owners monthly expenses, while those with waivers are stuck renting two single stream cards.

Transformers stays on top again in this week's installment of the Nielsen VideoScan report courtesy of Home Media Magazine. Disney's Meet the Robinsons and Fox's Mr. Brooks were no match for it, even on it's second week. This puts the two formats neck and neck at 55/45, for the second week in a row. Of course this will have to go on for longer than that if they want to affect they year to date, which only changed 2% over the past two weeks and is now at 64/36. We can only imagine that Warner is a little disappointed that none of their new movies hit the top ten this week, but they continue to enjoy success with the regulars on the list like 300. At this point the real question is how will Spider-Man 3 fair next week against Transformers in it's third week and what kind of impact will the recent flood of HD DVD players have on the market. Sure, spidy did better in the box office, but sales will be split with the box set.

1. Transformers HD DVD 100.00
2. Heroes Season 1 HD DVD 47.91
3. Meet the Robinsons BD 44.88
4. Mr. Brooks BD 14.41
5. Hostel Part II BD 13.65
6. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Mans Chest BD 13.01
7. 300 HD 12.05
8. Pirates of the Cari bean Curse of the Black Pearl BD 11.61
9. 300 BD 11.26
10. Planet Earth HD 11.22

The only thing better than buying last year's entry level HD DVD player for $99, is buying the latest for $87. While this might not be the most honest hack, we're pretty sure it's not illegal. Our friend Tyler from Format War Central decided to pick up an HD-A2 from Best Buy yesterday -- why not at $99? -- and noticed that in addition to getting two free movies, the receipt said he bought an HD-A3. So he figured he'd take Circuit City up on their "Low Price Guarantee" and upon displaying his Best Buy receipt they happily sold him a $300 HD-A3 for $87 (out the door) -- which also had two free HD DVDs in the box to boot.

It's no surprise that most people get their DVRs from there HD provider, when you consider how much cheaper it is -- not to mention easier. Of course the rub is that the the cable co's DVR leaves a lot left to be desired. Now after a very long wait Comcast customers in select markets can take advantage of the best compromise today. Of course the problem is that it isn't available to everyone, and how can you tell if you're one of the lucky ones? So in the hopes to get the word out, Comcast has created a new webpage -- where among other things -- you can check for availability in your area. The one thing that does seem to be missing is the price, which we've heard is about a $6 premium over the comcastic DVR.

[Via ZatzNotFunny]

The nations declining discount retailer has decided to not carry Blu-ray players, citing the price. They say that they aren't choosing sides and that no one's bought an end-cap, but they feel that Blu-ray players are more focused on home theater enthusiasts and they recognize that those people don't shop for the latest HT gear at Kmart. We don't get into a Kmart much, but the last time we checked the only HD movie gear they had on the shelves was an Xbox360 HD DVD add-on drive hidden amongst the rest of the 360 accessories.

Update: Kmart reaffirms this to High-Def Digest saying that "Kmart intends to support both the HD DVD and Blu-ray platforms, and has no plans to support either platform exclusively." We should've also mentioned that PS3s can be found on Kmart's shelves.

Oh, how the times they are a-changin'. Merely months after Vizio ousted Samsung as the LCD TV king in Q2, Sammy is back on top of overall flat-panel TV sales here in North America. Thanks primarily to a staggering 37-percent quarter-to-quarter growth rate (compared to Vizio's 12-percent), Samsung now has an 11.8-percent unit share compared to Vizio's 10.2-percent. Strictly looking at LCD TVs, Vizio still isn't holding the gold; rather, Sharp rocketed ahead to the top spot in that category and left the previous leader clinging to second. It should be noted that Vizio's sales are far from stagnant -- the firm has experienced a 334-percent increase year-to-year in LCD TV growth compared to Sharp's 88-percent. Still, we wouldn't count on the current leaderboard staying this way for long, as Black Friday (and the holiday season in general) has a tendency to shake things up.

We certainly haven't been starved for media streamers of late, and if you reckoned the feature-packed EZfetch Wireless HD Digital Media Player would be priced right out of your league, guess again. This multifaceted unit, which appeared just days ago on the FCC's website, is now officially available to anyone interested -- and for $249, no less. Yep, for the price of a (likely sold-out) Wii, users can can pick up a snazzy streaming box that pulls in content from Nokia N-series mobiles, PCs, NAS drives and a slew of WiFi-enabled devices in order to light up your living room TV. Furthermore, the gizmo plays nice with more formats than you can shake a stick at, and it's shipping now to those who simply can't resist.

[Via eHomeUpgrade]

What we're watching: More NBA action on TNT, but we'll be watching an hour-long episode of My Name is Earl on NBC. Also keep an eye out for the tail end of a Heroes marathon (what, you don't have the HD DVDs already?) and the premiere of a new show, Test Drive, at 8 p.m. on Mojo HD.

Our traditional high-def listings continue below.

We really love the reviews with all the nitty-gritty details of what a display is capable of. Sure we do a fine job on our reviews, but it's not the same as an ISF certified technician with the right high end equipment to put a TVs through it's paces. Gary's latest review of the LN-T4081F and goes on to say that it has the most accurate colors and the best contrast of any LCD TV he's ever tested. He does bring things down to earth and remind us that the latest Kuro he's currently reviewing was able to best the black levels -- but that shouldn't come as much of a surprise. The other feature that really impressed him was "Motion Plus," which helped Samsung's top of the line HDTV, best any LCD TV in measured effective motion resolution. He was disappointed with the sets ability to upconvert 480i, but honestly who cares?