HDTV Magazine Columns

HDTV Almanac - Walmart Joins Early Sales Trend

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 05:00:42 -0800

Early Black Friday sales are popping up all over, and Walmart is holding a one-day in-store sale tomorrow, Saturday November 7, starting at 8 AM. Quantities are limited, and you can’t buy more than two of some items, but here are some of the items that might get your attention. The 46″ 1080p plasma HDTV [...]

HDTV Almanac - Looks Like Last Year

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 05:00:24 -0800

Last month, the NPD Group came out with the results of their annual survey of consumers, trying to find out what their holiday shopping plans are. And the results look very familiar. 11% of those polled indicated that they intend to spend more than they did last year, which is the same number as last [...]

HDTV Almanac - Go with the Flo

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 05:00:20 -0800

I’ve mentioned Qualcomm’s Flo TV before, but now you have a new way that you can get television programming as you go about your daily routine. Chrysler announced last week that it will be offering this mobile TV service as an option in most of its cars, starting next month. For $629 (plus dealer installation [...]

HDTV Almanac - Comcast Close to Buying NBC

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 05:00:47 -0800

It seems a little like a gasoline company buying General Motors, but it looks like the rumors about Comcast wanting to buy NBC Universal have some fire behind the smoke. In an article published Sunday by the New York Times, General Electric may be on the verge of reaching a deal with Comcast. According to [...]

HDTV Almanac - DIY Big Antenna

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 05:00:52 -0800

I still get TV broadcasts over the air, but I’m not happy with the antenna I’ve got in one of our buildings. So I’ve been poking around the Web lately, looking at ideas for a do-it-yourself TV antenna. And then I found a site that has plans for a monster, designed for fringe reception. I [...]

HDTV Almanac - Fall Back — Bah, Humbug!

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 06:00:40 -0800

And now for a public service announcement: Don’t forget to turn your clocks back an hour on Saturday night (unless you live in one of those areas that does not observe Daylight Savings Time).
And now for my semi-annual rant: Why should I have to reset the clock on anything? It seems that I have more [...]

HDTV Almanac - Sears: Eating Their Young?

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 06:00:20 -0800

Hmmm, it’s still October but the Black Friday madness has started already. Sears has decided to start a “Black Friday Now” campaign that offers “doorbuster” deals every Saturday from now until Christmas. The offers will be available from 7 AM to noon each Saturday, but in honor of Halloween this week the doorbusters will be [...]

Ed's View - 3DTV: The Cart Before the Horse

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:45:14 -0800

Here again, the US consumer electronics industry as well as broadcasters find themselves and their consumers in a technical/marketing quandary because of lack of foresight, planning and just plain incompetence. This time it may really hurt. It didn't take any genius to foresee the possibilities of in-home 3D years ago, particularly in light of the economic success of digital 3D movies over the past three years. Since movies derive more than 55% (and climbing) of their revenues from in-home distribution channels (disc, VOD, PPV etc.), it doesn't take much prescience to predict 3DTV possibilities. Did the salient organizations react? Yes. Being unencumbered by the thought process, their reaction was something like a bunch of night drunks during a bar raid.

A couple of years ago a few manufactures started marketing "3D ready" rear projection units with no particular performance standards or technology in mind. Then about a year and a half ago...

HDTV Almanac - How Much Would You Pay for Hulu?

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 06:00:58 -0800

Sky’s offer of satellite service over the Internet for United Kingdom customers is an interesting step, but it raises a major question: How long can streaming video on demand sites remain free? I’m talking about Hulu, which reportedly attracts more than 40 million viewers these days, but the same question applies to Joost and other [...]

HDTV Almanac - No Blu-ray for XBox

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 06:00:40 -0800

According to a Digital Trends report, a Microsoft spokesperson has stated that there are no plans to build an XBox version with a Blu-ray player in place of the current standard definition DVD drive. Microsoft was a backer of the ill-fated HD DVD technology, but now that even Toshiba has started shipping a Blu-ray player, [...]

HDTV Almanac - Satellite Without the Dish

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 06:00:57 -0800

Got Windows 7? Want satellite TV service? Don’t want to hang a dish on your house? Well, if you live in the United Kingdom and your version of Windows 7 includes Media Center, you’re all set. You can subscribe to the Sky satellite service and get all your programming content sent to you over the [...]

HDTV Almanac - NBA Knicks Get Courtside LED TVs — Really

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 06:00:23 -0800

While 10 NBA teams now use DLP rear-projection modules from ANC Sports Enterprises as courtside displays, the New York Knicks are the first to use the company’s new LED modules. Built by Mitsubishi, the panels are thinner and have better viewing angles than the bulkier DLP models.
Note that these are true LED displays, where individual [...]

Alfred Poor's Video Report - Epson Artisan 810 All-In-One Printer

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 08:50:48 -0800

This Alfred Poor's Video Report is a company-sponsored report on the Epson Artisan 810 All-In-One Printer, which can print, copy, scan, and send and receive faxes. Optimized for photos, it also does a great job at printing at scanning. A wireless connection makes it easy to share.

HDTV Almanac - New Wireless HDTV Option

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 06:00:51 -0800

You’ve got your beautiful, big, flat screen television hanging on the wall. Now how do you get the signal to it? You can buy an expensive HDMI cable to cover a long run, or you can spend a lot more to get a professional to run wires through your floor, wall, or ceiling. Now there’s [...]

Alfred Poor's Video Report - Western Digital WD TV Live HD Media Player

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 08:56:07 -0800

This Alfred Poor's Video Report is a company-sponsored report on the Western Digital WD TV Live HD Player, which can play video, music, and photos on your HDTV without a computer. A network connection lets you access local, network, and Internet content.