Ed Bland, a Microsoft executive, said that the Xbox 360 will deliver HD content using normal red-laser based DVD drives. Now, this is nothing new. We knew the Xbox 360 would use a DVD drive, and we knew it would support HD. Maybe they’re just trying to make it official? Or to grab headlines? Who knows? But it’ll use VC-1, a great codec for encoding HD content that Warner Brothers has also commited to using.

HP is doing something similar - saying that its Media Center PCs will support HD from their DVD ROM drives. This is nothing new either. Most people with a powerfull machine and a DVD drive can do the same. But the article linked below says:

Just one hour of higher resolution content can be captured by the HP system on a dual layer DVD- or DVD+ recordable disc, a throwback to the cassette capacity of the first Betamax tape recorders. But the discs will then be readable by any current DVD disc player and will “look better than the best commercial discs, especially if you have a new DVD player that upconverts the output to a 720p signal,” said an HP demonstrator.

This doesn’t make any sense. HD content on a normal DVD disc can be done, sure, but only a rare few consumer DVD players can play the stuff. And if you have to upconvert the signal to 720p, then the original signal must have been SD, or something close. Something’s fishy here…

Link: FortWayne.com - Microsoft, HP unveil new high-def video disc formats

[Update 10may05: Toshiba actually bothered to make a statement that nothing has been decided. The Digital Bits thinks this might be posturing to help Toshiba in negotiations.]

According to Yahoo News, Sony and Toshiba have kissed and made up. I’ve been scouring the internet looking for news like this ever since word came out that they were in discussions. But all the news I found, even weeks later, was just a rehashing of the original Nihon Keizai Shimbun article. But this time there are some new details! Supposedly Sony and Toshiba are close to finalizing a plan that could be unveiled before a key meeting on May 16th. That’s just 6 days away! Supposedly the new format uses Sony’s technology for recording and Toshiba’s software technology for efficient data transfer and for copyright protection.

I hope this means that we’ll be seeing 25GB single layer discs, because I was really hoping for that greater capacity. I wonder if the PS3 will use this new standard? I hope so…

Link: Yahoo! News - Sony, Toshiba to agree on new DVD format -paper

VESA announces plans to develop a new audio/video connnection standard called DisplayPort. It will be used to connect PCs to displays, and maybe more. The content will be protected by a digital rights management system. This sounds a lot like HDMI to me, so the only reason I can think of for DisplayPort is to overcome HDMI’s resolution limitations.

Link: Yahoo Finance - VESA Announces Plan to Develop New Digital Display Interface Standard

[Update 11may05: Motorola claims that this could lead to $400 NED (Nano Emissive Display) at a screen size of 42″.]
[Update: more details over at PhysOrg.com]

TI makes the DLP chips that drive many of the fixed-pixel displays you can buy today. TI is a semi-conductor company that didn’t have a big name for itself in consumer electronics before DLP came along.

Motorola is trying to do almost the same thing with its new nanotube display technology. “Motorola has built a working prototype of a new colour display that uses numerous tiny filaments called carbon nanotubes…” Instead of using a single gun to emit electrons, like in a CRT display, the nanotubes replace the gun and are lines up like soldiers. In this way it resembles SED technology. But the company doesn’t plan to make the displays, but rather to license the technology. Unlike SED, however, this technology is at least two years away from being on the market.

Link: ZDNet UK - Nanotech display shown off by Motorola
Link: Chicago Sun Times - Big Screens a Growth Industry for Motorola

If you have a DVD player that doesn’t scale up to 1080 or 720 resolutions, and you feel that need, ultimate AV has a review of a piece of hardware that does just that. Key Digital Systems sells the KD-FIRE1080P (or HD Hanna) which can take a SD and convert it up to one of many formats. They are 720×480i (SD), 720×480p, 1280×720p, 1920×1080i/30, 1920×1080p/24, 1920×1080p/60, 1280×768p, 1366×768p, 1400×1050p, and 1920×540p. At $2495 the price is a little steep, though.

Link: ultimate AV - Key Digital Systems HD Hanna Video Processor
Link: Key Digital

[Update 09may05: ultimate AV has a commentary on this too]
[Update: HDTV Magazine has more reactions from content producers]

With all the talk of downrezzed channels and copy protection and all sorts of other measures designed to restrict a user’s rights on content they legally purchase, it’s good to hear that something is going the consumer’s way.

The broadcast flag is a flag broadcasters can put into their television program data stream to tell consumer electronics devices that this is copy-protected content and to restrict the consumer’s rights with said content. This can range from preventing the program from being recorded to downrezzing the signal to much less than the original HD signal if the consumer is using the analog output. Both of these applications of the technology are unfair encroachments on the consumer’s rights.

This is a good day for conumers. Their rights to record legally procured television programs and to view content as it’s supposed to be viewed have been maintained. However, it is likely that the groups like the MPAA will not let this die and bring it to Congress.

From Twice:

The U.S. Court of Appeals has rejected a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) order requiring digital television products and other devices capable of handling over-the-air digital broadcasts to be equipped with so-called “Broadcast Flag” circuitry to prevent unauthorized redistribution of digital broadcast content over the Internet.

And:

Commenting on the Court’s decision the CEA said: “Courts are right to be wary when government institutions seek to regulate the specific features and functions of safe, useful consumer technology. We look forward to studying the Court’s ruling in greater detail with a focus on continuing efforts to preserve the freedom to innovate while protecting the interests of patent and copyright owners.”

Link: Twice - Court Strikes Down Broadcast Flag
Link: Cape Cod Times - FCC Can’t Stop HDTV Taping
Link: CEA - CEA RESPONDS TO COURT RULING ON BROADCAST FLAG

SYPHA Online discusses new professional level HD cameras from Sony.

A Sony executive states: “These cameras overcome the challenges presented by the varied requirements of U.S. DTV production. It’s no longer an issue of `one format or the other.’ This technology enables a single studio or OB van to support both 1080i and 720P signal formats with no compromise in image quality.”

Link: SYPHA News
Link: Sony Broadcast/Professional

With all the news recently about the slow uptake of HDTV it’s nice to see an article from a news source that’s a little bit more upbeat. The Oregonian says that this may be your year to jump into HDTV if you’ve so far been resisting the urge. Read the rest of this entry »

In this article I mentioned that CyberLink announced support for Blu-ray. But that product was playback only. Nero is supporting writing Blu-ray with their software. They showed off their Blu-ray burning capabilities in Nero 6.6 at the Blu-ray Disc Association member seminar at the end of April. And Blu-ray playback will be added to Nero Showtime as well.

Link: Nero - Nero Showcases Blu-ray Disc support in Nero 6.6 and Nero Showtime

Kreisen is replacing its KR-320T Liquid Crystal Display television with the new KR-321T. The KR-321T is brighter with a better contrast ratio and is less expensive, with an MSRP of $1,499. It is a 32″ panel with a contrast ratio of 1200:1 and brightness of 600 cd/m2. It has an 8ms response time, which is very good, reducing trails and motion blur.

Link: eCoustics - Kreisen Unveils Latest HD LCD Entrant
Link: Kreisen - KR-321T

I’ve never liked the “Dummy” name used for the Dummies series of books. It’s a bit derogatory and you have to feel just a little sheepish bringing one of these books to the teller for a sale. But my wife really likes the one on pregnancy named, appropriately enough, “Pregnancy for Dummies”. She thought it was really well laid out and had great information. She said it was much better than the famous “What to expect when you’re expecting”.

So the book RCA and the Dummies people are putting together, “HDTV Buying Tips for Dummies” might actually be pretty good. I’ll have to look for it next time I go to my local Chapters.

Link: Broadcasting & Cable - DTV For Dummies

What’s a balun? The word ‘balun’ is short for ‘balanced unbalanced’. A balun is something that converts a balanced signal to an unbalanced one, or vice versa. Typically, you have a balun that converts to balanced on one end, connected by a long cable to another balun that converts back to unbalanced at the other end. What’s balanced? Any audiophiles among you might know. Some higher-end audio components sport balanced connectors. A balanced signal is actually two signals - the signal and it’s inverse. When the two signals are received at the other end, the inverse can be flipped back to be non-inverted, and the two signals compared, and any noise introduced along the signal path can then be identified and removed.

Well, Intelix is has a DVI over Cat-5 balun, allowing DVI signals to be distributed up to 150 feet. Quite handy!

Link: CyberTheater.com - Intelix DVI over CAT-5 balun Overview

This article over at Silicon Valley Watcher postulates that the Blu-ray vs HD-DVD thing is somewhat like the DVD-R vs DVD+R thing, where the industry has settled down to use both formats. Now, I’m no fortuneteller but I don’t think so. DVD+-R is for recording. There is only one DVD format for pre-recorded content. These are two different things. The production lines for creating HD-DVD discs and Blu-ray discs are significantly different. Heavy investments have to be made one way or the other (especially the Blu-ray way). The two formats are physically a lot different. Studios will not want to support both - they’ll only support one. While you could argue that the industry could move forward supporting both formats, and you’d be right, I think that it would move forward a lot faster if everybody was pulling in the same direction.

Link: Silicon Valley Watcher - Why High-def Video Hardware Standards Are Irrelevant

This BusinessWeek Online article mostly talks about other Star Wars related stuff, but at the very end it says that George Lucas is at work on remastered versions of the whole Star Wars series, to be released in the future in HD. I kind of figured they’d do this sometime or other, but there it is.

Link: BusinessWeek Online - The Force Behind Star Wars

Sony currently sells what is probably one of the best looking digital displays available today for home theater: the Qualia 004 SXRD projector. It’s been on the market for a little while already and has made a good name for itself. It is based on Sony’s SXRD technology, which is basically LCOS (Liquid Crystal on Silicon). It has a resolution of 1920×1080p, the holy grail of HDTV. However, it does not accept a 1080p signal, which is a shame. Though there is no 1080p content out there, some scalers do provide 1080p output, so it would be nice to have the option. The projector is purported to display a very film-like image, one of the best available. The projector costs $30,000.

audio|video Revolution has a review of this projector, and goes into detail about how Sony tried to get all aspects of the projector working at the the sharp end.

The bulb:

The UHP bulbs used in most projectors have a peaky light spectrum that diminishes the color detail when the imaging panel is used in an attempt to control those peaks. The pure Xenon bulb used in the Sony has the smoothest and most natural light spectrum available. The color spectrum of the bulb is very important for accurate reproduction of color.

The light path:

The light path is the same distance for all three colors. This ensures that the lens system will align the colors correctly from edge to edge of the image, and focus them at the same distance.

The lens:

The lenses for this projector are additional. Three choices are available: a wide-zoom, a mid-zoom and a tele-zoom. They are what you would expect from a contender for a state of the art product, made by the world-renowned Carl Zeiss lens company. Any camera enthusiast knows Zeiss’ reputation.

Light output:

Sony does not publish the rated light output of this projector, but simply states that it has enough light output for up to a 300 inch 16×9 screen.

Black level (the Achilles heal of digital displays):

Contrast ratio is comparable to a fine film projector. It is a very dark gray that the eyes see as black on almost all images. It only fails when compared to a CRT on low-contrast, dimly lit scenes like those in the caves on “Star Trek: Insurrection.” Please understand that I am not suggesting people go out and buy nine-inch CRT projectors. However, while it is no longer the reigning champion of video, the nine-inch CRT can still make some very black blacks. Still, the Qualia 004 gets exceptionally close to that long-standing standard.

And most important of all, picture quality:

We compared the DVD of “Spider-Man 2” to the trailer for the movie in HD on Blu-ray laser. There literally was no contest. While the edge enhancement and noise level were visible on the DVD, the smooth detailed image in HD was as good as the best film. The image did not break down and the individual pixels remained invisible. I could find no digital artifacts. All colors were not only perfectly saturated, but also showed intimate details. Reds had depth and detail equal to the best transfers on film.

Link: audio|video Revolution - Sony Qualia 004 Projector