HDMI, the replacement for DVI, is growing up. It’s now 1.2 and has some new teeth:

Features and modifications for HDMI 1.2 include:

• Support for One Bit Audio format, such as SuperAudio CD’s DSD (Direct Stream Digital)
• Changes to offer better support for current and future PCs with HDMI outputs, including:
  • Availability of the widely-used HDMI Type A connector for PC sources and displays with full support for PC video formats
  • Ability for PC sources to use their native RGB color-space while retaining the option to support the YCbCr CE color-space
  • Requirement for HDMI 1.2 and later displays to support future low-voltage (i.e., AC-coupled) sources, such as those based on PCI Express I/O technology

PRNewswire - HDMI Licensing, LLC Announces Availability of HDMI 1.2 Specification

Talks have been so on-again off-again between the Blu-ray and HD-DVD folks that I didn’t know they were on enough for them to become off. But that seems to be just the case.

The Associated Press is reporting the talks between Toshiba and Sony have broken down again, and the bargaining table is quite empty. But “We are hopeful that we can still find a resolution,” Andy Parsons, a Blu-ray spokesman said. “We still have time to find a way to avoid having two formats go to market, which isn’t good for consumers or us.”

Frankly, I don’t see any compromise being reached until it becomes obvious that one of the formats has more momentum. And since I think the word “obvious” there is key, we’ll be waiting quite some time.

Forbes - Update 3: Report: Toshiba Quits DVD Talks With Sony

Would you care for a 71″ rear-projection DLP HDTV? How about one with 1080p resolution? And built by Samsung? And with a 10,000:1 contrast ratio? If so, then you can go to Tweeters or Best Buy in September to pick one up.

And don’t forget to pick up some bragging rights while you’re there. Seventy one inches! Holy cow.

AVing - Samsung has released a grand 71-inch DLP TV

Dell has a new DLP projector, and it’s called the 5100MP. It has a resolution of 1400 x 1050, giving it a 4:3 aspect ratio. But there’s still plenty of resolution in there to display HD video at HD, even cutting off the top and bottom a bit. And it includes an HDMI input for all your copy-protected content needs.

eCoustics - Dell Launches Its Most Powerful, Highest Resolution Projector

HD in the fall will be much better than HD during the summer, thanks to some interesting developments in the world of HDTV.

TVPredictions lists six reasons why the fall will be so much better than the summer when it comes to us HDTV fans, and they include David Letterman in HD, DIRECTV’s launch of ESPN HD 2, NFL in HD, NHL in HD, SNL in HD, and Good Morning America in HD.

Let me take a look at that list with the most critical of viewpoints - mine! David Letterman in HD? Cool, but doesn’t affect me. DIRECTV? Actually, I use Rogers, and I’m not even American so I couldn’t use DIRECTV if I wanted to. NFL? Nope. NHL? Nope. SNL? Nope. That leaves one: Good Morning America in HD. Do I care? Nope.

Hm. Well, I hope this list of six good HD things works out better for you than it did for me.

TVPredictions - HDTV: Getting Hot This Fall

VGA. DVI. HDMI. And now DisplayPort. I’ve mentioned it before, and now it seems that it’s gaining momentum.

The real question is: how is it different or better than HDMI, which seems to target the same purpose? Audioholics has an answer for you:

HDMI is a great consumer electronics interface, but VESA does not feel it is the best solution for PCs as a monitor interface. A somewhat limited performance is available in terms of resolution and color depth for PC monitors (see comparison chart for exactly how this might impact future displays). HDMI is designed to be a premium A/V interface, rather than as a broadly available general purpose display interface. The HDMI specification is not geared to unifying internal and external display connections; its primary focus is consumer electronics.

The also have a great table comparing DisplayPort, LVDS (???), DVI, and HDMI.

Audioholics - VESA DisplayPort Standard v1.0

All together now: BRAVIA. No, not Bavarian sausage. It’s a new label Sony will be affixing to their LCD televisions. From now on, Sony’s HD flat-panel LCD displays will have “BRAVIA” emblazoned upon it. The first models with this brand name will be displays sizing from 26 to 40 inches.

It sounds like some think-tank thunk up the name. And maybe they did. But it’s not a name. It’s an acronym. It stands for “Best Resolution Audio Video Integrated Architecture”. And this has got to be one of the stupidest acronyms ever thunk up.

Yahoo! Finance - Sony Redefining Television Again With Introduction of ‘Bravia’ LCD HDTVs

SED (Surface conduction Electron emitter Displays) is that great new flat-panel technology that promises a flat plasma-like form factor and a great CRT-like image. Mass production is expected to start January 2007.

And now Canon is investing $188 million in a SED research facility “to develop production technology for surface conduction electron emitter displays”.

I’m guessing here, but I think that means that Canon’s trying to figure out how to make SED displays. That’s always a good first step on the way to selling them.

Reuters - Canon to invest $188 mln on new panel R&D center

Prices of large screen displays are “pretty much in a free fall” according to David Naranjo of DisplaySearch, a market research firm. Panasonic, for example, is expected to drop prices dramatically for its plasma displays. Olevia has said that they’ll match any Panasonic price decrease, according to News.com. A plasma screen that retailed for $20,000 five years ago could sell for close to $4,000 this season. I always thought that plasmas were overpriced!

And according to The Ledger, a 65″ plasma from Panasonic will come in at half the price of existing models:

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. will start marketing a 65-inch plasma television worldwide toward the end of the year for less than 1 million yen — half the price of existing models — The Yomiuri Shimbun learned Friday. An official announcement is expected from Matsushita on Thursday. Company sources said Matsushita, best known abroad for its Panasonic brand, had slashed production costs of plasma televisions while keeping them compatible with the “full high vision” standard — the highest resolution of television pictures.

Bring it on!

News.com - Falling costs of big-screen TVs to keep falling
The Ledger - Plasma TVs to Cost Less
ABC News - Flat-Screen TV Prices Finally Coming Down

PCHDTV.com has a $170 HD-3000 PCI high definition television tuner card for your PC. It supports HDTV over-the-air broadcasts, some HD cable, and standard television as well. NewsForge has a review, so it’s from a Linux perspective:

Standard television reception worked well in every OS I tested, but it was sort of grainy compared to other NTSC tuners. With some minor tuning I had Xawtv and TVtime working fine on my Kanotix install. VLC worked in every situation and ChrisTV worked fine in Windows XP. But of course, I could have gotten equivalent results with a much less expensive standard TV tuner card.

High definition, or ATSC, signal reception was a completely different story. I still haven’t been able to use the software that came with the product with my OS of choice, Kanotix, and there’s even less hope for XP. KnoppMyth worked, but my indoor amplified antenna was not strong enough to get any signal at all. After consulting AntennaWeb.org I bought an outdoor directional antenna with a pre-amp, which I believed would allow me to view HD television with my KnoppMyth setup. But I still had no luck; apparently, the low elevation and the dense forest in the area where I live effectively block the HD signal from the distant broadcasters.

NewsForge - Review: HD-3000 HDTV tuner card

(And so does Panasonic.)

According to DisplaySearch, in Q2 2005 Samsung had 9.9% of all television sales by revenue. Panasonic came in second with 9.7% while Sony fell to third at 8.8%. By number of units sold, LGE was highest with 9.8%, Samsung was second at 9.0%, while TTE (Thomson) was third at 7.5%.

LGE led the CRT TV market, Sharp was number one in LCD TVs, Panasonic rules plasmas, Sony ruled microdisplay RPTVs, and TTE was best in CRT RPTVs.

For all the stats, check out eCoustics:

eCoustics - Samsung Overtakes Sony on a TV Revenue Basis

DWIN recently introduced three DuoVision™ display systems, each consisting of a DLP front projector, a plasma screen, and a video processor connected to them both. The video processor allows the two displays to share video sources, and switches video sources as well, with 10 video inputs. The video processor scales each incoming input to each display’s native resolution.

This kind of system is great for a room for daytime plasma viewing and nighttime DLP projector viewing for a larger image. During the day sunlight may spoil an otherwise great DLP-projected movie, so the plasma is great for daytime viewing. At night, the screen comes down, you get out your popcorn, and you can watch your movie BIG!

Suggested retail price for the new systems start at $14,490 for the DV-442 with DWIN’s new TransVision™ 4 720p DLP projector and DWIN’s 42-inch high definition plasma display, $16,490 for the DV-450 with 50-inch high definition plasma display, and $24,995 for the DV-461 with a 61-inch high definition plasma display. Other dual-plasma configurations start at a suggested retail price of $15,995.

DWIN DuoVision
eCoustics - DWIN Introduces Three New DuoVision Systems

Sharp is shipping their new 45″ professional LCD monitor. It has a full resolution of 1920 x 1080, and at 45″ in size, it’s plently large enough for HDTV viewing. They say it’s a monitor, but I don’t forsee this on many people’s desks. The term “monitor” probably just means that it has no built-in tuner. If you’re like me and use an external PVR anyway, that shouldn’t be a problem.

A cool feature is that if one of the pixels fail, Sharp’s Black TFT/Bright Pixel Elimination feature will make sure it’s not visible. This eliminates one of the most annoying problems with LCD displays.

While not really targetted for home use, that doesn’t mean it can’t be used for such. Just supply $9,595 MSRP.

Audioholics - Sharp Ships PN-455 45-Inch Professional HD LCD Monitor

My Dell-employee friend made sure to send me the news that in taste-tests across the country, people preferred a certain too-sweet cola because it was just a taste and you didn’t have to drink the whole can.

Uh, wait a sec.

In a four-city head-to-head comparison, most consumers (almost 70%) preferred a Dell plasma over a Sony plasma, based on picture quality and price.

The consumer preference study of 42-inch plasma HDTVs was conducted from June through the end of July in Baltimore, Chicago, New York City and San Francisco. Following viewings of each TV, 308 consumers were asked their preference if the Sony were priced at “about $4,000,” as much as $1,000 less than Sony’s online prices in effect during the study period. Consumers were shown a Dell price of “about $2,800,” which was Dell’s online price during the same period.

Now I have to point out to my Dell-loving friend that this method of comparing viewer preferences is subject to all kinds of errors. First of all, price WAS a consideration mentioned. Where were these surveys done? In a more price-conscious area of town? Or in a more affluent neighbourhood?

That said, Dell displays do sem to be a good deal.

eCoustics - Consumers Overwhelmingly Choose Dell’s 42-inch Plasma HDTV

My cable provider has a feature called Pay-Per-View (PPV). Most cable providers do. My cable provider also gives me PPV in HD, which not all companies offer. I’ve found it handy every so often, but the variety isn’t that great. Actually, it’s terrible. For some reason they think I always want the movie Blade at my beck and call.

The other day I decided to buy Hostage, the Bruce Willis flick. I started it up, and to my vast annoyance the video slightly paused about every 5 seconds. This happened both live and playing back the recorded version (PVR’s are wonderful). I haven’t watched the whole movie yet, but I gotta say, if I have to sit through the whole movie with the video pausing like that, I’ll have to pull my teeth out of the ottoman afterward.

We’re years into the HD transition already, and my cable company can’t get something as basic as this working properly. For shame!

Has anyone else had HD problems that shouldn’t happen anymore?