October 31st, 2009

Men watch more high-def than women--and other things about HDTV you probably already know

Posted by Sean Portnoy @ 5:41 am

Categories: Home Theater

Tags: Men, Women, HDTV, HD, HD Drama, Gender And Diversity, Cable, TVs, Network Technology, Tv & Home Theater

There was a time not too long ago when a lot of people bought an HDTV, brought it home, and started watched TV, all the while thinking they were watching in HD when they hadn’t bothered to upgrade their cable or satellite package to make high-def programming available. Now viewers have become savvier, according to a new study by the Knowledge Network, which finds that 43 percent of high-definition viewers watch HD programming every day. That’s up from 26 percent two years—a 65-percent increase.

Viewing of various types of shows in high-def has also increased, though not spectacularly. HD dramas are now watched by 43 percent of respondents (up from 32 percent), and sitcom HD viewership has jumped to 47 percent from 38 percent. The biggest move comes with how-to shows, which are now watched in HD by 26 percent of respondents compared to just 12 percent in 2007; this may be due to the increasing number of cable channels broadcast in high-def, as they have increased in number in the past couple of years. Curiously, findings about HD viewership of sports isn’t included in the company’s press release.

The study also confirms what you probably can surmise on your own anecdotally—men are much more interested in HD than women. While 48 percent of men check HD channels first when they switch on the set, only 19 percent of females do. Similarly, more males choose to watch an HD version of a show instead of the SD version than women do (58 percent versus 41 percent). These findings definitely play out in this household—how about yours?

October 27th, 2009

Is HDTV turning Americans into hockey fans?

Posted by Sean Portnoy @ 6:08 pm

Categories: Home Theater

Tags: Network, HDTV, NHL, Sport, Games, Cable, Tv & Home Theater, Networking, Personal Technology, Telecommunications

Hockey, the national pastime of our neighbors up north, has always been the number-four sport in the U.S., save for pockets of the country with a puck pedigree (the Northeast, the northern Midwest). While the league expanded south and west during the 1990s, and managed to have Fox broadcast Stanley Cups during the decade, that expansion has stalled and the NHL now has a deal with minor cable network Versus.

An unlikely hero has emerged for the sport in the last couple of years, though—broadcasts of hockey games in high definition. Of course, all sports look better in HD, but hockey in particular benefits from the extra resolution in one critical way: Casual viewers can now follow the puck. The inability to see the puck has been the long-time lament of people who’ve tried to watch a game but given up in frustration at being unable to see the little bugger.

But according to an article in the Toronto Star, NHL ratings are actually on the upswing. This season, Versus has already seen a 16-percent rise in viewership. The network itself credits the HD revolution for the gain in popularity, with Marc Fein, Versus’ executive vice-president of programming, saying that “We see that as HD gets more prevalent and more people get it hooked up … our growth in hockey has been amazing.”

Whether the improving ratings will be enough to allow the league to move back to a bigger network (back on ESPN, for example) is still to be determined, but this is a more positive development than. say, people recoiling from celebrities who you realize you don’t want to see in all of the glory of high definition.

October 25th, 2009

Would you let Wal-mart do your home-theater installation?

Posted by Sean Portnoy @ 10:57 am

Categories: Home Theater

Tags: Best Buy Co. Inc., Home Theater, Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Electronics, Home Entertainment, Tv & Home Theater, Consumer Electronics, Personal Technology, Sean Portnoy

Above all else, Wal-mart is about offering the lowest prices possible (seemingly at all costs), but when it comes to electronics products like HDTVs, being the cheapest only gets you so far. Best Buy has remained strong during the recession in thanks to its service offerings, most notably its Geek Squad of techies who can be hired to install that $2,000 home theater you just purchased.

Since the Geek Squad has been a huge cash cow for Best Buy, it shouldn’t come as a total surprise that Wal-mart has made a move to cut into that competitor’s market by announcing that it will offer home theater installation services (as well as other tech support) as the holiday season approaches. But while Best Buy started out hiring the Geek Squad before acquiring the company and integrating it into its stores, Wal-mart is not developing its own tech troop, choosing instead to work with N.E.W. Customer Service Companies (which calls itself “the nation’s leading provider of extended service plans, buyer protection programs and product support for retailers”) to supply the installers.

Wal-mart will charge $99 to install that new TV you brought at the mega-retailer and give you a tutorial on how to use it. It will charge up to $339 for other services, which presumably would entail setting up an entire home theater system—and possibly more. The move follows the decision last month for Sam’s Club, the warehouse brand Wal-mart runs, to use a new supplier (probably N.E.W.) for tech support for electronics purchased at its locations.

Given its price-conscious clientele, will Wal-mart be able to match Best Buy’s success with the Geek Squad with its offering? Would you pay Wal-mart to install your new HDTV or home theater? Or have you already used the Geek Squad for that? Let us know your thoughts and experiences in our TalkBack section.

October 22nd, 2009

New Roku XR will add 802.11n Wi-Fi upgrade to cheap media streamer

Posted by Sean Portnoy @ 6:20 pm

Categories: Home Theater

Tags: IEEE 802.11n, Roku Inc., Wireless LANs, Wi-Fi, Video On Demand (VoD), Wireless And Mobility, Personal Technology, Home Entertainment, Sean Portnoy

It may not be the ultimate media streaming solution, but for $99.99 the Roku Digital Video Player already does quite a bit, including offering Netflix and Amazon Video On Demand and Major League Baseball games. Unlike many of its competitors, Roku even offers built-in Wi-Fi to go along with its wired Ethernet port.

Unfortunately, that wireless connection is 802.11b/g, which isn’t ideal for video streaming. Apparently, Roku will be addressing that limitation with its new XR player, which will come with 802.11n Wi-Fi for far greater throughput rates. It also adds a USB port, so you can connect an external hard drive or thumb drive with video files for streaming to your HDTV. One thing that isn’t clear is if the XR will support 1080p HD, which the original Roku doesn’t currently handle.

We also don’t know what the price of the new device will be, though if these are the extent of the upgrades, Roku should probably keep the same pricing. When the XR will become available is not known as well, though with more of these streaming player hitting the marketplace all the time, the sooner the better.

[Via Engadget HD]

October 20th, 2009

Asus' wireless HDMI streamer coming next month?

Posted by Sean Portnoy @ 5:13 am

Categories: Home Theater

Tags: ASUS, HDMI, Wireless, Gefen, Wi-Fi, Wireless And Mobility, Sean Portnoy

An anonymous tipster provided Engadget with a juicy scoop yesterday regarding the latest attempt to produce a commercially viable wireless HDMI streaming device. Asus is apparently nearly ready to introduce the BR-HD3, a $650 box that can transmit the signal (up to 1080p) from one device to your HDTV. While the BR-HD3 has been in the pipeline for a while, it might be officially released as early as next month.

That single source is a notable limitation, since you won’t be able to hook up a Blu-ray player to it if you already have your cable box connected to it. Asus supposedly will release a version with three ports by the middle of next year. There’s also no solid information regarding how far the BR-HD3 can transmit the signal.

Wireless HDMI that’s affordable is a bit of the Holy Grail that has mostly been offered by TV manufacturers for their sets. Sony has the $499 Bravia Wireless Video Link, which doesn’t do 1080p and is designed for its HDTVs, while Panasonic uses the WirelessHD standard for its $5,500 Panasonic Z1 plasma. Gefen offers the Wireless for HDMI Extender, with a range of 100 feet, for $899, a couple of hundred dollars more than Asus will supposedly sell the BR-HD3 for. Belkin generated plenty of buzz with its FlyWire device, but that HDMI streamer was to retail for $1,499 and was killed off earlier this year.

October 18th, 2009

3D HDTV without glasses? Hitachi has a prototype display for that.

Posted by Sean Portnoy @ 6:22 am

Categories: Home Theater

Tags: 3D, Hitachi Ltd., Resolution, Sean Portnoy

If we’re going to have to put up with 3D being the next big thing in HDTVs, the least we can hope for is that we’re not stuck wearing those plastic glasses on our sofas for the next 50 years. While that’s exactly what Panasonic and other 3D proponents are pushing with their new sets and services, there are a few promising signs that 3D will be possible without donning special specs.

Hitachi is at work on a glasses-free solution, and recently displayed a 10-inch version at the CEATEC trade show in Japan. The Full Parallax 3D TV uses 16 projectors with 800×600 resolution and a special lens array sheet to create the perception of depth without special eye wear, though the display currently tops at a meager 640×480 (VGA) resolution. The low resolution is the result of having to provide multiple viewpoints of the image—the good news is that it permits viewing from any angle. In the future, the plan is to combine in one set to create a 4k image (which is roughly twice four times the resolution of 1080p HD).

Of course, the bad news is that there’s no time line for when the company can produce a set that’s bigger than a netbook display. On the other hand, I’m confident plenty of people will be waiting for a glasses-free option before getting excited about 3D on their HDTV.

[Via Tech-On]

October 13th, 2009

Western Digital adds networking capability to WD TV Live HD Media Player

Posted by Sean Portnoy @ 4:24 pm

Categories: Home Theater

Tags: Network, Video, Western Digital Corp., 1080p, Corporate Communications, Web Site Development, Marketing, Internet, Sean Portnoy

It was nearly a year ago when storage giant Western Digital rolled out its WD TV HD Media Player, which consisted of mostly a tiny box with a USB port and HDMI and composite-video output and a remote control. The idea was to attach your external hard drive to the device, then send your media on said drive to your HDTV. There’s something to be said for simple solutions, but the WD had some crucial limitations—most importantly, no way to connect it to your home network (where most of your video files likely live) and no support for 1080p (or “full HD”) video files.

Given the large number of competitors that have jumped into the marketplace with more well-rounded devices than the WD TV, it should come as no surprise that Western Digital has just announced a new version that addresses these shortcomings. The WD TV Live HD Media Player (note the added word to the product name) now hits the same bar as the competition, featuring an Ethernet port to connect to your home network. It also adds a second USB port, as well as component-video and SPDIF digital audio output (for Dolby Digital surround sound support). Additionally thrown in is support for online media services from usual suspects Flickr, Live365, Pandora, and YouTube, though no streaming video offerings from Netflix or Amazon.

One advantage the WD TV Live HD has over its even more full-featured brethren is its low price: $149.99. That makes the inevitable wireless adapter add-on more palatable, though there’s no word on how much that will cost. And if you still only need the features of the original WD TV, it’s just $99.99.

October 11th, 2009

"HDTV" experiment proves believing is seeing

Posted by Sean Portnoy @ 4:09 pm

Categories: Home Theater

Tags: HDTV, Video Clip, Programming, TVs, Corporate Communications, Tv & Home Theater, Cable, Network Technology, Personal Technology, Home Entertainment

The result isn’t really that surprising, but it’s still an interesting finding. According to a recent Dutch experiment, it turns out that the power of suggestion once again can make unsuspecting test subjects talk themselves into seeing something that isn’t there—literally, in this case.

The study used a TV set that was accompanied by a super-thick cable running to it and promotional materials hung on the walls. The flyers and posters supported what half the participants were told: that the video clip they were about to watch would have a clearer, sharper image thanks to high-def technology. The other half were told that they were going to see a video clip from a standard-definition DVD. As you might expect, everyone saw the same non-HD clip, and as you might also expect, the half who were told they were seeing a crisp, clear HD image believed, in fact, that they saw a higher-quality image.

Granted that screen size and viewing distance can impact the perception of image quality, the finding might nonetheless help explain why so many people buy HDTVs and yet don’t realize they need HD content (via high-def cable or satellite programming, a Blu-ray player, or even over-the-air local HD channels) to get the real benefits from the set. We probably all know someone that falls into that category—if you do, let us know about it in the TalkBack section.

[Via New Scientist]

October 8th, 2009

TechCrunch throws down on cable boxes: Who can argue?

Posted by Sean Portnoy @ 7:22 pm

Categories: Home Theater

Tags: TechCrunch, Cable Box, CableCard, Siegler, Cable, Network Technology, Telecommunications, Personal Technology, Networking, Sean Portnoy

The TechCrunch blog usually covers start-up culture, but a post today takes a diversion into the limited, primitive realm of cable boxes. You know ‘em, you hate ‘em. As post author MG Siegler points out, the interfaces are archaic, the horsepower anemic, and the remotes unappealing. He rightly suggests that cable providers can get away with old tech in their boxes, as well as constant rate hikes, because they still have limited monopolies in most regions of the country.

Siegler suggests that an Apple TV set-top box, created in concert with the cable providers, could be a way out of this mess, though what incentive does the cable industry have since most of us tolerate their DVR and on-demand services from our current boxes. If there is one possible alternative option, it could be based around the latest CableCards, which can actually handle two-way signals for features like on-demand videos (unlike the previous generation of CableCard technology).

To make use of CableCards, you can built yourself a home theater PC, or buy a TiVo HD or HD XL DVR. But hardly anyone is taking the plunge—just roughly 440,000 CableCards are in use among 41 million digital cable subscribers. The reasons are myriad: TiVo hardware is a more expensive upfront proposition than renting a cable box with DVR; the cable companies do not promote CableCards at all, if not do everything to discourage their use; and video on demand and pay-per-view don’t work with third-party devices using the CableCards. Sony and Samsung had claimed support for the new CableCards but don’t have the products to back those promises up.

Could a company as influential as Apple bake CableCard support into a new Apple TV or the long-rumored-but-unlikely Apple high-def televisions? Is that what it would take to shake cable companies from their lethargy about their boxes? Or could more networked media players that offer options like Amazon or Netflix’s streaming video service and Hulu’s TV programming render cable features like pay-per-view movies obsolete? Will a TV company put a CableCard slot back in its spec list, after eliminating it when people didn’t bother with the first generation of CableCards (maybe as part of Toshiba’s Cell TV platform)?

Is there anything that can be done to improve our cable boxes? Or what would be a better alternative? Let us know in the TalkBack section.

October 6th, 2009

Toshiba Cell Regza 55X1: The HDTV of the future?

Posted by Sean Portnoy @ 6:04 pm

Categories: Home Theater

Tags: HDTV, Toshiba Corp., Cell, 55X1, Processors, Semiconductors, Hardware, Components, Sean Portnoy

Let’s set aside 3D TVs for a moment—they seem to be coming whether we want them or not—and look at another futuristic set concept that’s (of course) coming to Japan by year’s end. Toshiba’s “Cell” project, which powers an LCD HDTV with the Cell processor—best known as the brains behind the PlayStation 3—finally appears closer to reality. At the Ceatec 2009 trade show in Japan this week, Toshiba is showing off the Cell Regza 55X1, a 55-inch LED-backlit set that leapfrogs the competition in terms of features.

The Cell HDTV comes with 3TB of storage (both the Cell chip and storage reside in an external box), which shames all DVRs out there except something that a person has built himself or herself. How shameful? It can record up to 26 hours of programming from eight channels simultaneously. For pure sensory overload, the TV can also display eight channels at once. You can search your recorded shows by keyword, which is useful if you’re taping a long block of programming from a channel. It also can optimize picture settings automatically, which THX-certified displays do as well; it will be interesting to see how the Regza compares to those THX sets in this regard. A network connection of some kind is included, though whether it’s wireless or the usual Ethernet jack is unclear, and Toshiba has chosen the Opera browser for its window to the Web.

The 55X1 is expected to go on sale in Japan at the beginning of December; Gizmodo reports that it will costs a little more than $11,000, and Toshiba expects to sell about 1,000 per month. The site also says it’s coming to the States in 2010, though I wasn’t able to get a Toshiba rep to get back to me with any idea of a US price or date of availability. Gizmodo also says that a Cell TV with 4K resolution (i.e., more than 2x the resolution of 1080p) is in the works.