April, 2006 | HD TV PROFESSOR

Month: April 2006

Mobile TV Set to Grow

April 28, 2006 | Ibex Marketing

It's almost the opposite of HDTV -- at least at this point -- but television and other video content on mobile devices including cell phones has become a hot topic. According to many reports (including one from Internet World) , mobile video was the major buzz at the National Association of Broadcasters -- NAB -- conference in Las Vegas this week. Lots of problems are cited as potential speed bumps...

Brillian 1080p HDTV Wins

April 27, 2006 | Ibex Marketing

Syntax-Brillian won the "LCoS RPTV of the Year Award" at the Annual China Digital TV Award 2006 event held last week in Beijing, China. The award was for the Brillian 65-inch 1080p rear-projection LCoS HDTV. Syntax-Brillian has also entered into a partnership with a company owned by the Chinese government to manufacture the LCoS imagers for use by Chinese television manufacturers. The joint venture hopes to be have volume production...

Parents as TV Censors?

April 26, 2006 | Ibex Marketing

Jack Valenti is the former head of the Motion Picture Association of America, a group that was very concerned about protecting their copyrighted content. At the National Association of Broadcasters meeting in Las Vegas, his keynote address called for government "hands off" when it comes to censoring that content. Valenti is heading a consortium of TV networks, cable, satellite, local broadcasters, and Hollywood studios that hopes to head off government...

Big 1080p HDTV from LG

April 25, 2006 | Ibex Marketing

Word is out that LG Electronics has started shipping their new MW-71PY10 plasma HDTV. The 71-inch 1080p resolution display weighs nearly 200 pounds (plus another 70 if you include the stand). What does it cost? Well, as the saying goes, "if you have to ask, you can't afford it." Perhaps it helps to say that the suggested list price is just under $1,000 per diagonal inch. Yes, that works out...

IPTV Links

April 24, 2006 | Ibex Marketing

At the Trenton Computer Festival on Saturday, I gave a talk about "Will Your Next Computer be an HDTV?" Many of the audience members were interested in what I had to say about IPTV and some of my favorite sites for free video over the Internet. At their request, I'm listing the links that I mentioned in my presentation. Sundance Film Festival Shorts: http://festival.sundance.org/2006/watch/index.aspx Yahoo! video search: http://video.search.yahoo.com/ You Tube:...

HDTV Ad Adversion?

April 21, 2006 | Ibex Marketing

Philips made news this week with a U.S. patent that is intended to prevent users from skipping commercials. It's not clear whether this is aimed at "realtime" broadcast, or at recorded content as you'd have on a DVR. According to a company statement, the point is not to force viewers to watch commercials; the technology is designed to let broadcasters charge a fee to let customers skip the ads. Hmmm,...

Hear about HDTV!

April 20, 2006 | Ibex Marketing

This Sunday, April 23, you can hear about HDTV and Professor Poor's Guide to HDTV on Dave Graveline's "Into Tomorrow" radio show. Jamie Bsales is a former Senior Editor with PC Magazine, and he edited the book, so he knows the content inside and out. You can listen to the show on the Web using streaming audio. The show runs from 2 to 5 PM Eastern time, and the interview...

Blue laser HD-DVD Arrives

April 19, 2006 | Ibex Marketing

Well, a high-density DVD target deadline has finally been met, and the Toshiba HD-A1 went on sale for $499 this week in the U.S. Reports indicate that supplies were slim and sales were brisk, in spite of the fact that there are only three movie titles available for the players. This news means that we can finally say that blue laser DVD players are real products, and at least some...

Video Games on TV

April 18, 2006 | Ibex Marketing

A story in the Washington Post today reports that USA Network will start broadcasting coverage of Major League Gaming events later this year. The league organizes professional video game competitions, and now they will be televised. Professional video gaming? According to the Post, top players earn hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, so this is serious business. What does this have to do with HDTV? There's no mention of...

Reader Question: Upscaling?

April 17, 2006 | Ibex Marketing

Q: I've been told that plasma TVs are better at up-scaling to their native resolution than LCDs. But after reading your book I've learned that both technologies use fixed pixel addressing. So how can plasmas have an advantage over LCDs in up-scaling? Joe Gabela There's nothing inherent in the plasma technology that gives it an advantage over LCD, but there are some other factors that could come into play. Let...

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