Toshiba wants to get in on the action in China, where they want to create their own HD disc format based on HD-DVD.

The tactic of courting Chinese makers has been largely taboo in Japan, where manufacturers like Sony and Panasonic have long tried to delay their technology from turning into cheap commodities. But Toshiba’s decision could have significant ramifications in the race for the billions of dollars that will very likely flow from the next generation of DVD technology that promises sharper pictures, enhanced audio and more disc storage.

I don’t know if this is a good thing or not. Thoughts?

IHT - Toshiba crosses border in battle over next DVD standard

Samsung is shipping its 1080p rear projection HDTVs. They are comprised of the 68 series, the 78 series, and the 88 series. Sizes range from 50″ to 70″. All use full 1080p DLP chips, though no mention is made about whether or not this is via wobulation.

Audio|Video Revolution - Samsung’s 1080p DLP Rear Projection Sets In Stores Now

Samsung has also released a bunch of LCD monitors.

which include the following SyncMaster units: 19-inch 970P (1280 x 1024 resolution, 1000:1 contrast ratio, $549), 19-inch 940MW (widescreen 1440 x 900, 700:1, HDTV-ready, analog TV and FM tuners, PIP and PBP, $699), 17-inch 740BF (1280 x 1024, 700:1, 4ms response time, $399) and 19-inch 940BF (1280 x 1024, 700:1, 4ms, $499), and 21-inch 214T (1600 x 1200, 900:1, $859) and 24-inch 244T (widescreen 1920 x 1200, 1000:1, $1699)

engadget - Samsung unleashes swarm of new LCD monitors

CableCARD support in Windows Vista? Most likely.

And to back up the point I have had for a while about Windows XP not being ready to get certified by CableLabs, open up your Registry Editor after installing Update Rollup 2 and do a search for “UDCR” and notice what you get. UDCR is Uni-Directional Cable Receiver, or what we all call CableCARD. Support for CableCARD has been being built for some time now, it just can’t happen until Windows Vista and the fact that Update Rollup 2 has bits related to UDCR just backs up this point even more. Microsoft does care about HD, they just don’t have the platform that will enable it to happen yet. Vista will be (yet again) a turning point for Media Center and more! some reason.

Thomas Hawk - More Evidence for CableCARD HDTV in Vista

[Update: from Reuters, it must be official!]

In what can only be described as somewhat official news, it seems that Warner Bros. has decided to support Blu-ray.

Reportedly, the Blu-ray Disc Association’s board formally approved Warner’s admission on Wednesday night.

Warner was holding out for concessions by the Blu-ray group on a number of issues, particularly increased safeguards against unauthorized copying. Sources say the Blu-ray board voted at 5 p.m. Wednesday to approve revisions requested by Warner.

Paramount announces Blu-ray support. Then Forrester Research recently proclaimed a Blu-ray victory. Now this. The pendulum is definitely swinging in Blu-ray’s favour. I think they’re hoping it won’t swing away.

HomeMediaRetailing - Another Victory for Blu-ray Camp
VB Online - Warner embraces Blu-ray (free subscription)

A CEA survey says that 46% percent of consumers said that their next TV would definitely or probably be an HDTV. By the end of this year, more than 40% of TVs shipped to dealers will be HDTVs. Sound like big numbers, until you think to yourself “hey, shouldn’t those numbers be a lot closer to 100?”.

Seriously! HDTV is the next big thing, and has been around for a while now. I’ve owned an HDTV for over a year, and many people have owned them for longer. Of the other 4 guys I play video games with every Thursday, only one of them has an HDTV. But another two plan for their next purchase to be an HDTV, one of them pretty soon. Those are the kind of stats I like to hear. Soon 80% of my group will have HDTVs. 80 is a lot better than 46.

What is causing people to think that an SD TV is the right choice? My guess is price. According to the CEA survey, the average price of TVs has gone up. This is because new display technologies like LCD, plasma, and DLP are more expensive than CRT.

So not only are people supposed to buy a new TV technology, it’s also more expensive. Great. Not only that, lots of TV programming isn’t even in HD. I’m watching Smallville in SD this season because none of the channels I get offer it in HD!!

The HDTV transition is going to take a long time.

ArsTechnica - Five big consumer tech trends for 2006

According to REDNOVA, technology group Forrester Research has declared Blu-ray the winner in the format war. They believe that Sony learned its lesson from the Beta vs VHS war, and lined up an “impregnable lineup of partners.” The list of Blu-ray supporters is certainly very significant.

Undoubtedly another major factor in Forrester’s decision is Paramount’s support for Blu-ray and Warner Bros.’ alleged leanings to do the same. It’s all about the software, and if five of the six major studios support a format, it’s all over except for the sweeping.

RedNova News - Blu-Ray Winner in DVD War: Industry Group

It took them quite some effort to find a panel without defects for showing off at the Yokohama exhibition. But they did it, and showed off an LCD panel with a resolution of 3840 pixels by 2160. That’s four normal 1920 x 1080 HD displays stuck together. It takes about 1.4GB/second of data to drive this this.

One application of this super HDTV is “for TV junkies who want to watch four high-definition channels at the same time in full resolution”. I can barely keep track of what’s happening in one show, much less four. But maybe this thing would do great as a stat-board at NORAD like in WarGames.

PCWorld.com - Quad High-Definition LCD Unveiled

Haven’t we been through this before? Just a month ago Sharp announced AQUOS price cuts, and now they’re doing it again.

The new suggested retail prices obtained by TWICE include the following AQUOS models:

The 13-inch LC13B8U-S drops from $499.99, to $449.99.

The 20-inch LC20S4U-S drops from $799.99, to $749.99.

The 26W-inch LC26DA5U drops from $1,399.99, to $1,299.99.

The step-up 26W-inch LC26D4U with integrated ATSC tuning drops from $1,699.99, to $1,599.99, and the step-up integrated LC26D6U drops from $1,799.99, to 1,699.99.

The 32W-inch LC32D5U drops from $1,899.99, to $1,699.99, while the integrated step-up LC32D4U drops from $2,399.99, to $1,999.99 and the LC32D6U drops from $2,499.99, to $2,099.99.

The change cited by dealers as being the most significant for plasma was on 37W-inch models, including the LC37DB5U, which drops from $3,299, to $2,799, while the step-up LC37D4U drops from $3,499.99, to $2,999.99 and the LC37D6U drops from $3,599.99, to $3,099.99.

The 45W-inch models LC45GD5U and LC45GD7U drop from $6,499.99, to $5499.99, each.

TWICE- Sharp Cuts AQUOS TV Pricing

Yahoo! News has an article about HP pressuring the Blu-ray group to make their format more consumer friendly. I guess this is a result of Mr. Gates saying that Blu-ray is anti-consumer, but I don’t know that as a fact. The article says that HD-DVD has a feature called “mandatory managed copy” which is a lot more friendly than Blu-ray’s “much stricter content protection rules”.

Well, that’s only partly true. Blu-ray does allow managed copy. It’s part of the AACS copy protection system that both Blu-ray and HD-DVD support. The only difference is that HD-DVD is making it mandatory, while Blu-ray is making it optional. So studios could conceivably release Blu-ray software that is just as “consumer friendly” as HD-DVD discs. But they don’t have to, and therein lies the rub. Because really, do you think that studios will really give consumers what they want? Yeah right.

HP is also pushing Blu-ray to adopt the iHD standard developed by Microsoft and Disney and supported by HD-DVD. This one is a little more confusing for me. I don’t really understand why they need iHD if Blu-ray has BD-Java. Probably just so that Microsoft gets behind the format, I guess.

So the gist is that HP is pushing for mandatory managed copy. Which is a good thing. Let’s hope that HP gets their way. They’re also pushing for iHD. Uh…

Yahoo! News - HP Pressures Blu-Ray on New DVD
VB Online - H-P makes high-def demands (free subscription)

The folks at AudioVideo Revolution have a breif review of the $10,000 1080p Sony Front Projector.

The SXRD Projector uses Sony’s Silicon X-tal Reflective Display technology (their version of LCOS).

Besides the 1080p resolution, the projector boasts 15,000:1 contrast, low noise and a 400 watt xenon lamp for good brightness.

Not sure if $10k is in the budget for your HD living room, but if you have that kind of cash this Sony looks promissing.

Audio|Video Revolution - Sony’s New $10,000 1080p SXRD Projector

LG Electronics has signed an agreement to build next generation MPEG4 set top boxes for satelite player DIRECTV.

Cable and satelite providers are racing to transition from MPEG2 based devices to ones that use the MPEG4 in order to satisfy consumer demand for HD content. I say it’s about time!

According to the release…

By 2007, DIRECTV plans to offer more than 1,500 local broadcast channels and more than 150 national channels in HD.

PRNewswire - LG Electronics Launches Production of HDTV Set-Top Boxes for DIRECTV

Ed Bott (via Thomas Hawk) wrote up a CableCARD status report that points out something interesting.

What’s that? I’ll tell you. The interesting part is that CableCARD 2.0 is on track for 2006 deployment. That is, CableCARD 2.0 devices will begin appearing in about mid 2006. CableCARD 2.0 includes the stuff that will make cable companies actually consider using it. Like VOD and PPV. (I’m pretty sure that’s what’s meant by “multi-stream”.)

Which is why when I went shopping for an HDTV last year I didn’t really care that the set didn’t have CableCARD support. CableCARD 2.0 is the thing to get. So if you’re going to be purchasing an HDTV next year sometime, think about waiting for a set that has CableCARD 2.0.

Ed Bott’s Media Central - CableCARD Status Report

Audioholics has a review of the Proton LX-37B1C2 37-inch LCD TV.

The LCD panel has a resolution of 1366 x 768, which does qualify it for HD status. The set has lots of features, including a memory card reader, user adjustable colour temperature control (yay!), removable speakers, backlit remote, and adjustable backlight level.

I could keep going, but I’m not going to . The set does not have an HDMI input or a DVI input with HDCP support. Yup, it’s now nearing the end of 2005. Unless you have very specific needs that do not include using sources currently being made available and to be made available next year that require HDMI or DVI/HDCP, then it would be just crazy to buy this set.

What are manufacturers thinking? In this day and age with HD-DVD players, Blu-ray players, and the PS3 all coming down the pike, all needing HDMI or DVI/HDCP, why would you buy a set that excludes all those devices right from the get-go?

Ideas anyone?

Audioholics - Proton LX-37B1C2 37-inch LCD TV Review