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Issue: Aug. 20, 2008
Toshiba’s Player: Not Blu-ray, but Better than DVD
Toshiba, the chief proponent of the now-defunct HD DVD disc format, seems to be showing something of a stubborn streak. Whether it also makes good business sense should be known by year’s end, following the holiday season.
The HD DVD format lost out to Blu-ray last winter. But instead of launching its own line of Blu-ray players (something it vowed not to do, even when it was clear Blu-ray would win out), Toshiba is releasing a disc player that appears to fall somewhere between standard DVD and Blu-ray—both in image quality and price points.
Toshiba, which had promised to continue to compete with Blu-ray (though not necessarily create a whole new HD disc format), is being cautious not to claim that its new player can achieve Blu-ray quality. (It does not, say media critics who have seen it.) But apparently the new player does noticeably improve standard DVD images, according to several critics who have sampled it.
Toshiba's new player (model XD-E500) is priced between a higher-end, progressive scan standard DVD unit and a lower-end Blu-ray player (i.e., this week it’s $180 on Amazon.com).
Toshiba said its intended market is DVD users with large standard disc libraries who are not inclined to run out and buy new Blu-ray players and more expensive Blu-ray discs, at least not right away, but who may have large-screen HD sets.
Microsoft Windows to Support Blu-ray Internally
Microsoft, a staunch supporter of HD DVD before the format died, has now indicated that a near-future edition of its Windows operating system for PCs will permit disc-burning in the Blu-ray Disc format directly from the desktop without the need to install any third-party software.
The strategy signals a 180-degree turnabout from not too long ago when Microsoft was offering an HD DVD add-on direct to its Xbox 360 game consoles. But while the Redmond, Wash., computer giant might be a fierce competitor of rival console maker Sony (Blu-ray’s primary proponent), which produces the PlayStation 3, the house that Bill Gates built often finds itself on the co-operative side of Sony when it comes to the Japanese maker’s laptop computers (and the Microsoft software that often is bundled with them).
Although currently being beta-tested, Windows’ Feature Pack for Storage contains a Blu-ray application programming interface that enables the Windows platform to do “master-style optical burning on Blu-ray media,” Microsoft said in a statement posted online Aug. 18 for Web site developers. Only a major, unforeseen rift between both firms would likely lead to any last-minute exclusion of the Blu-ray software from Microsoft’s Windows platforms, notably Vista and XP.
Warner Discs to include Three Versions of ‘Polar Express’
In a “first” for the Hollywood studio that was a loyal holdout for HD DVD till the very end last winter, Warner Bros. said this week it plans to release three versions of its computer-animated holiday feature, “The Polar Express,” with a day-and date issuance on standard DVD along with dual rollouts on Blu-ray featuring the original theater 2-D version and a new 3-D version.
The new red/blue anaglyphic 3-D transfer will require the use of special glasses—four pairs of which will come with each Blu-ray disc set.
The same bonus features that came with the original 2-D Blu-ray release last fall will be included in the new Blu-ray version, featuring Tom Hanks, whose face was used as computer models for several of the film’s animated characters, as well as music by Josh Grogan.
Warner Bros. has not issued the technical specs for the 2-D or 3-D versions yet, according to High-Def Digest.
Survey: DTV Shipments Continue Climb Despite Economy
Despite a weak U.S. economy and rising energy prices that directly impact consumer budgets—or maybe because of them—TV shipments grew by 26 percent in the second quarter compared to the same period a year ago, and jumped 28 percent from last year (to more than 9.3 million units in North America), according to analyst DisplaySearch. This annual growth is the strongest on record since DisplaySearch began tracking TV shipments in 2004.
Plasma shipments, somewhat surprisingly, rose at a higher rate than LCD from the first to second quarters (35 and 30 percent, respectively). Plasma’s growth was noticeably enhanced by big-box brand Vizio’s first shipments of 32-inch units, according to DisplaySearch, although 32-inch LCD screens by various brands also fared well. More than 80 percent of the shipments are HD units.
Over the course of the past year, however, LCD unit shipments rose by 52 percent (nearly 7.5 million)—with much of the growth coming in smaller sets of 19, 22 and 32 inches.
Samsung was the top brand name with a record quarterly shipment share of more than 19 percent of all unit shipments in North America.
Cable One, NYT Proclaim HD no Longer a “Luxury” Item
Remember when HD was the new kid on the block, and everyone liked it but few could afford it? Those days seem to be fast-disappearing, at least according to some, even with the formal transition still six months away.
The New York Times, in an Aug. 18 story lauding the all-HD aspects of NBC Universal’s Olympics coverage in Beijing, ended its own observations with the declaration, “High-definition TV is no longer a luxury option. It’s standard.”
There are others who proclaim HD is becoming more the norm than the exception (still technically untrue, for the moment). Cable One, in an FCC petition related to the deployment of set-top boxes, flatly asserted that HD should no longer be considered an “advanced” cable service because “virtually every network is available in HD [and] virtually every new TV purchased is HD-capable…”
Still, nearly two-thirds of all U.S. homes do not yet have HD—and even the optimistically inclined Consumer Electronics Association predicts that somewhere less than half of all households (47 percent) will have at least one HD set by early 2009.
RCN to Switch its Big Apple Analog Subs to DTV for Free
RCN, a cable-broadband-telephony firm serving several major markets including New York City (Nielsen DMA no. 1), is giving 15,000 of its 90,000 subs a “free upgrade” from basic analog to digital, although not all analog viewers may consider it an improvement over what they have now.
Starting in October, subs currently getting the basic cable package will be fitted with new set-top boxes for RCN’s basic digital cable package—with about a dozen extra channels thrown in for good measure.
RCN’s generosity has a business purpose: It wants its analog spectrum back in order to provide more HD and SD digital outlets to compete better, and by switching all its subs to the far more spectrum-efficient digital side, it will free up valuable spectrum in the process. The cabler’s basic analog tier now consists of 97 channels; its basic digital tier has 108, as well as 45 music venues.
Still, those “extra” digital channels to be available to former analog subs at no extra charge include a virtual Who’s Who of some of the most obscure offerings available anywhere, including: The Word, Reelz, American Life, Pentagon Channel, Jewelry TV, and four community access channels serving Brooklyn. (Hey, you lookin’ at me?)
At the same time, RCN plans to remove the far less obscure National Geographic and Bloomberg channels from its basic digital line-up. The cabler has already switched its analog subs to digital in Chicago (Nielsen DMA no. 3) and Boston (Nielsen DMA no. 7).
Inlet Couples HD Spinnaker 7000 with Adobe Flash
Inlet Technologies (not to be confused with Intel) is rolling out its new live HD H.264 video streaming capabilities, designed to work in tandem with Adobe’s Flash Media Server.
Inlet's appliance, the Spinnaker 7000, streams HD video in real time using with Adobe’s Flash Media Server 3 to deliver content to Adobe Flash Player 9 users. Inlet said its goal is to allow content creators to begin offering viewers and PC users a “living room” experience via Internet broadband. The Spinnaker 7000 (first unveiled in May prior to its synergy with Adobe) allows content creators to distribute live HD content for viewing over IP networks in real time.
Adobe Flash, for the most part, is one of the Internet’s most ubiquitous formats, and Inlet said tapping into the H.264 video streaming standard and using the Flash Media Server allows for video approaching 720p quality online (depending, as always, on the computer and computer monitor, and the online connection).
Inlet, which is based in Raleigh, N.C., said its Spinnaker series is one of the first professional streaming appliances that can output Adobe Flash H.264, VP6, VC-1 and Silverlight streams simultaneously, allowing content providers to reach virtually any user on any device.
Comcast, MGM Launch Action VOD with ‘Impact’
Comcast and MGM Studios ramped up a new VOD venue dubbed “Impact” last week, which is dedicated exclusively to offering action movies and TV shows from Hollywood’s past and present—ranging from “The Magnificent Seven” (which no doubt will also make some future Westerns-only channels) to the newest in the James bonds series, which dates back more than four decades.
The best part: Comcast said many of the selections, old and new, will be offered in HD.
Comcast, the nation’s largest cabler, said it now offers about 1,000 titles from its On Demand library, with only about half of them in HD. But it told HD Notebook it’s currently on course to grow its VOD menu to at least 1,000 HD titles by year’s end.
Australia: HD Sales Vanquish SD’s for Olympics
Australian retailer Gerry Harvey has pretty much had it with SD, and so has a big percentage of his customers, he said, judging from what he says it’s a clear surge for HD sets down under just prior to (and during) the Olympics, compared to a nearly absent desire for any of the less expensive SD units.
According to Harvey, thousands of HD sets have moved from his chain’s shelves to living rooms across the Aussie continent, especially when broadcasters and retailers publicized the fact that unlike in Athens four years ago, the Beijing games would be aired almost entirely in HD from start to finish.
“It's almost not worth putting standard definition televisions on the floor. Even at [lower prices], people are just not interested,” Harvey told Australian IT online. Various surveys have indicated that HD sales globally were about 30 percent higher in June (about a month prior to the Olympics) than in June 2007. HD sales (vs. SD) accounted for about 85 percent of all flat-panel TV transactions.
One analyst, GFK, said the 32-inch LCD screens were the most popular with Australian consumers, accounting for 22 percent of all TV sales. Harvey credits the HD Olympics as a more important factor this summer in selling HD sets than the steadily declining price points.
Europe: SES Astra Providing Multichannel HD Olympics Platform
Satellite firm SES Astra said it is providing services for more than a dozen HD national channels that are dedicated exclusively to cover the Beijing Olympics in many major European markets.
The HD channels broadcasting the Olympics using SES’s orbital services include: BBC HD (Great Britain); 2 HD and CANAL+ HD (France); Anixe HD (Germany); TVP HD (Poland); STV3 (Slovak Republic); 1 HD (Netherlands); een HD (Belgium); Teledeporte HD (Spain); Viasat HD and SVT HD (Spain) and SVT HD and ORF HD (Austria).
SES Astra said in a statement that the growing number of broadcasters covering the Olympics in HD and using its services this summer, compared to only four years ago in Athens, is a telltale sign that HD television “is taking off in Europe and satellite is the infrastructure of choice for HD transmissions.” The typical European viewer's experience of watching virtually all of the Olympics in HD (where available), SES said, is greatly helping to further promote HD across Europe.
SES Astra’s satellite fleet now includes 14 Astra and two Sirius satellites, and it said its combined satellite system serves more than 115 million direct-dish and cable households.
Super Hi-Vision to be Demo-ed Over Live International Links at IBC
NHK (of Japan), RAI (of Italy) and the BBC will collaborate at IBC2008 on live demonstrations with international links of Super Hi-Vision, an NHK-based system that combines 7680x4320 pixel images with 22.2 channel immersive audio.
In the demonstrations, content shot in Japan will be mixed with live pictures from a camera in London; the live feed from London will be compressed using MPEG-2 and delivered over an ultra-broadband fiber. Content will also be played into the demonstration from a server in Torino, Italy, delivered over two full satellite transponders provided by Eutelsat.
The demo will take place at the NHK theatre using an 8K x 4K projector and at the EBU Village stand (10.D21). The EBU Village will house the satellite downlink and will show the content downconverted for a still-spectacular 3840x2160 pixel LCD display, alongside a similar display with a second demonstration showing Super Hi-Vision content coded using the Dirac algorithm. Super Hi-Vision can also be viewed on the Eutelsat stand (1.D59).
“We have undertaken a huge challenge with our plans for IBC,” said Kenkichi Tanioka, director general of the Science and Technical Research Laboratories of NHK. “It is a tribute to the alliance of forward-looking companies working on this project that we are confident all will be well. In particular, I know that my colleagues at the BBC and RAI would like to thank our industry partners who are investing heavily in broadband and satellite capacity over an extended period to make this work.”
“We first brought the NHK Ultra High Definition Television system to IBC in 2006,” said Phil White, director of Technology and Events for IBC. “This year, through the live links to the U.K. and Italy—not once but many times a day—the partners involved in this project will be showing absolute leading edge technology with real practical applications: just what our visitors expect from IBC.”
In addition to the demonstrations (which will be regularly repeated in the NHK theatre and are open to all visitors) an IBC conference session will address the technologies behind the systems and the future for ultra-HD television like Super Hi-Vision. The conference session is at 2 p.m. Monday, Sept. 15, in the Forum.
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