the HD Guy

At this point, it’s quite clear that Blu-Ray won the standards war… But did the end user win too?

One can wonder. Sure it’s great that from now on, all high definition movies will most likely be released on the same format, meaning you will only need one high definition DVD player. But what does it really mean as far as the price of the DVD itself is concerned?
Will Blu-Ray DVDs stay as expensive as they are today, with no competition or will they quickly decrease to help high definition adoption?…

In no particular order…

1 - Warner goes Blu-ray
The announcement that Warner is moving exclusively to the Blu-ray side was one of the major event during CES. It even led the HD-DVD group to cancel their CES press conference.

Warner Bros. Entertainment press release

2 - Sony XEL-1 11 inch OLED screen
This is the first commercially available OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) screen and is available on Sonystyle for $2500.
Yes this is thin!
Sony XEL-1 on SonyStyle
Also on display was Samsung’s impressive 31 inch OLED TV.

3 - Canon Vixia HF10 HD Camcorder
Amazing full HD camcorder with 16GB of on-board flash.
Canon Vixia HF10

4 - Panasonic 150 inch plasma TV
World’s largest plasma hdtv with a resoltion of 4096x2160 pixels. Yes, that’s more that 9 47′ inches…
Panasonic anouncement
See Panasonic CES web site under Technology Showcase.

5 - Blu-ray / HD-DVD combo players
Several dual format high definition DVD players were seen at the show such as the Samsung BD-UP5000 & BD-UP5500 or the LG BH200. The main problem with those dual format players is still the price.

6 - Nokia N810 Internet tablet
Announced a few months ago, it was nice to be able to play with the device. (still waiting for the Wimax version though)
Nokia N810
N810 Specifications

7 - Myvu Crystal
The new VGA version of the well known glasses make them much more interesting.
Myvu web site

8 - Mitsubishi Laser TV
Twice the color range, more energy efficient, 3d experience… when can I get one?
Mitsubishi Laser TV on Engadget

9 - iRobot Looj
After the vacuum cleaner, the gutter cleaning robot. You gotta have one.
iRobot Looj

10 - Everything else
Lot of flat screen TVs, GPS, media players, cell phones… bill Gates’ last keynote.

Warner Bros. Entertainment has just announced they will release high definition DVD exclusively in the Blu-ray format… This sounds like very bad news for the other side, the HD-DVD in the high def format war.

The HD-DVD group even cancelled their CES press conference because of this announcement.

Some rumours talk about a large money incentive to explain Warner’s switch. Others talk about Microsoft supporting the HD-DVD side, only to maintain the war, and eventually push high def downloads and streaming… Even more rumours talk about the other current “HD-DVD” backers, turning to Blu-ray as well.

But what does it really mean for the end user?
Of course one format is better than two. But the player cost is also important. Several HD-DVD players can be found for less than $200 but no Blu-ray players at this point.

It’s also interesting to mention that at CES 2008, several dual format high def players have been released from companies such as LG or Samsung. (even though for a price)

Another important factor to consider before declaring Blu-ray the winner, is the fact that the porn industry seems to have chosen the HD-DVD side…

We will probably see more changes and announcements in the next few weeks, that will help the big high def picture to become clearer.

this is a place holder to import the quick review of the Philips 47′ LCD

At the end of the 90s, we started replacing our VHS tapes, with tiny shiny discs providing a much better quality, some interactivity, and taking less room on the shelves: DVDs. The good news was, as long as you stay in your “region", you could get your DVDs from anywhere without having to worry.

Comes the world of High Definition… Unfortunately, the industry was unable to agree on one standard, and two of them appeared completely incompatible: HD-DVD and Blu-ray.

HD-DVD is lead by Toshiba, Hitachi and Microsoft and is technically closer to the previous generation making the transition itself easier for the manufacturers.

Blu-Ray is lead by Sony, with multiple Consumer Electronics manufacturers such as Samsung, LG, Philips… and has a higher capacity per disk while being more expensive to manufacture.

But the real problem is that you cannot expect to have the same content on both formats: some of the movie studios have decided to release their movies exclusively on one of the other.

A good advice at this point: because the two technologies are completely incompatible, be careful that the high def DVD you purchase are compatible with the players they will be played on.

More later on the great HD DVD war…

Looks like I wasn’t very far from the truth when talking about a final Brazil-France… France did play against Brazil during the quarter-final on its way to the final where the team lost against Italy during a penalty shout-out.

The whole “FIFA World Cup” in HD was a real success and the image quality was amazing. Being one of the lucky one who did actually attend one of the game live in Germany, and watched many of the games in HD, I even have to admit that if it wasn’t for the “being there” feeling and the ambiance, watching the game in HD would be the best.

Considering that an estimated 751 millions viewers worldwide did watch the final (yes, that’s way more than viewers for any Olympics Ceremony or Superbowl), the question is how many of them did get a chance to watch it in HD?

Hopefully that number will be much higher next time…

placeholder to import the quick review of the Denon AVR-4306

For the very first time, all the games of the Football World Cup (Soccer for those who don’t call it like everybody else in the world) will be available in HD!

In the US, ABC-HD and ESPN2-HD will share the games, and show all of them in HD.

When you know the level of quality you get when watching the Super Bowl or the NBA Finals in HD, you can only dream of what a Brazil-France final would look like in HD.

What is HDTV aka High Definition TV?

High Definition television is a set of new formats for TV broadcasting, that considerably increase the picture quality. For 50 years, we’ve been watching TV with only 480 lines of useful information. Moreover those were actually interlaced, meaning odd lines and even lines would not be displayed at the same time, but alternatively.


What are the benefits of HDTV?

HDTV increases the resolution of the image, improves the picture quality and changes the aspect ratio of the screen from 4:3 to 16:9. Moreover it’s digital (versus regular TV that is analog), meaning that the picture still looks good on larger screen.

What are the different HD formats?

The most common TV formats are:
480i : standard analog video used for 50 years
480p : aka EDTV… even though the resolution only has 480 lines, the images are progressive (no interlacing of odd and even lines) making them look much better. Most DVD players can now output 480p.
The most common HD formats are:
720p : resolution of 1280x720 progressive
1080i : resolution of 1920x1080 interlaced
1080p : resolution of 1920x1080 progressive - recent resolution that most TV (even HDTV) don’t support yet

What do I need to watch HDTV?

You need a TV that can display HD format (at least 720p and 1080i) such as RPTV, LCD or Plasma, and an HD source: the easiest is to get an HD Cable Box, or and HD satellite receiver… But you can also us an ATSC tuner (most of the times inside your TV) and an antenna.


What channel can I watch in HD?

Currently Discovery, HBO, PBS, ESPN, NBC, CBS and ABC among others have programs in HD.


Where can I find HDTV channel guide data?

Have a look at titantv:
http://ww2.titantv.com/ttv/home/HDTVUpdate.aspx


Can I record HD content?

Yes you can. There are several ways to do that, including D-VHS VCR, and HD Digital Video Recorder such as Motorola 6412 or HD TiVo.


What does it mean for me?

You’d better get an high definition TV soon… you’ll wonder how you could live without it.

So your Motorola DCT 6412 has 2 tuners… It’s supposed to allow you to watch a channel while recording another.

But how do you change the tuner you are using?

Following is a small trick that allow just that by programming a SWAP button on your remote.
1. Press the “Cable” button once on your remote
2. Press and Hold the “Setup” button until the “Cable” buttons blinks twice
3. Enter the code 994 (the “Cable” button will blink twice)
4. Press the “Setup” button once
5. Enter the code 00236
5. Press the button that you want to use as the SWAP button

Have fun!