Would dual must carry be good or bad for HDTV?

While there is little doubt in how analog broadcast television is going to meet its demise, the jury is still out on analog cable. While some of use think that cable companies will use the DTV transition to move customers to digital cable, others aren't so sure. FCC Chairman Kevin Martin is now proposing what is being referred to as dual must carry, which would require cable companies to carry both the digital and analog version of each local affiliate's feed, unless the cable companies switch to an all digital network. Sure all digital network seems great to us, but for all those without QAM tuners in their TVs, this means a converter box on every TV just like the OTA folks. The FUD is getting really deep in here, but somehow we think Kevin might be on to something. If cable companies are encouraged to go to digital and since digital SD channels use far less bandwidth than analog ones, that means more room for HD and other digital services we love.

28-percent of Americans now own an HDTV

You don't have look too awfully far to find at least a couple of pals who have made the leap to HDTV, and according a recent survey by the Consumer Electronics Association, over one-fourth of American households now sport a high-definition set. The pie chunk represents around 35 million displays in all, with more than half of 'em coming in at 40-inches or larger, and while these current figures might be satisfying, the CEA is estimating that another "16 million HDTVs will ship into the marketplace this year alone." Additionally, the survey found that just 86-percent of owners were "highly satisfied" with their purchase, while we assume the other 14-percent are still left wondering why they're watching large moving blocks instead of a legible image. Interestingly, traditional means of broadcasting weren't the only mediums getting utilized, as a substantial amount of customers were noted as actually turning to the internet to get their programming fix, which leaves us to ponder just how rapidly the broadcasting ways of days past will transform in the years to come.

Panasonic TH-65PX600U Plasma HDTV Review

Introduction
I’m not sure what I was thinking when I requested a review sample of Panasonic’s TH-65PX600U. No, that’s not true. I know exactly what I was thinking: “Hmmmmm, 65-inch 1080p plasma…ooooooooo.” The allure of it managed to push a few relatively important details aside, such as where in my house I would put it and how I planned to get it there. The panel weighs 174.2 pounds – that’s without the speakers or pedestal stand, both of which are optional accessories that cost extra ($600 and $1,200, respectively). Needless to say, this isn’t the type of product you casually throw up on the wall for a short-term viewing period, so I went with the optional stand, which is itself a serious piece of hardware: it weighs about 55 pounds, and its base (48.9 by 16.5 inches) is too large to sit atop my normal gear rack or any other short cabinet in my home, for that matter. Ultimately, I decided that, for my purposes, it would be fine to simply set the plasma on the floor.

CEATEC: Hitachi TVs reprocess HD video on the fly

Hitachi will soon ship two large plasma televisions equipped with internal hard drives and a chip that can reprocess high-definition video at a lower bit rate in real time, allowing users to double the amount of video they can record.

The W50P-XR10000 and W60P-XR10000 plasma TVs have screens that measure 50in and 60in across the diagonal, respectively. They are both equipped with a 250GB internal hard drive that can store 23 hours of HD content in standard recording mode. Both models were on display this week at Hitachi's booth at Ceatec.

For users who want to store more than 23 hours of content, the W50 and W60 offer two additional recording modes that rely on a ViXS Systems Inc. chip to reprocess the video stream at a lower bit rate, effectively doubling the hard drive's capacity to 50 hours or 65 hours, depending on the recording mode selected.

The W50P and W60P are priced at ¥550,000 (US$4,658) and ¥950,000, respectively. Both TVs will go on sale in Japan during the fourth quarter of this year.

The W50 and W60 join other televisions in Hitachi's product line that offer internal hard drives for recording video content. On sale in Japan since May, these models include the W37L-HR9000 and W32L-HR9000, which sport 32in and 37in LCD screens, respectively. The W37L is priced at around ¥300,000, while the W32L costs about ¥250,000.

Analysts predict no dominant next-gen console

The games industry has long been acknowledged as a lucrative business to be involved with, which is why reports from market analysts on the prospects for new consoles command such attention.

The latest, from respected analysts IDC, comes to the conclusion that none of the next-generation games machines currently on sale is likely to lord it over the others. The report excerpt (the full hit will cost you $4,500 – see what we mean about the cash in all this?) does, however, conclude that Nintendo will be top of the pile in the short run.

Analyst Billy Pidgeon says, “…none of the three new consoles will dominate the market in the next five years like the PS2 dominated last cycle; however, Nintendo's Wii will outship and outsell the 360 and PS3 in 2007 and 2008.”

Considering that we’re already seeing the Wii forging ahead, that much doesn’t bring a great deal to the table, although we can't help but wonder if the soon-to-be rumbling PS3 might spring a few surprises.

Students recreate building-sized Donkey Kong in Post-it notes

Lightly whisk 6,400 colored Post-it notes into a team of ten geeky engineering students, top with a fetish for retro arcade games and bake on a four-storey building overnight and whaddya get?

Yep — a Technicolor paper-based recreation of Donkey Kong circa 1981 at the University of California. Boink.

Is e-cash killing real money in Japan?

Next month in Japan sees the beginning of the endgame in an ambitious scheme to entirely do away with paper tickets across Tokyo’s complex public transport network. The new the Pasmo IC-card ticketing system will work seamlessly with several existing smartcards to make life incredibly easy for the busy Tokyoite.

Pasmo is the latest RFID/IC card on the scene – it joins Suica, Edy and their variants embedded in a host of mobile phones to complete a comprehensive cashless network for both travel and shopping. A typical day for a hypothetical Tokyo resident might see him use such e-cash technology a dozen or more times, as follows:

• 7:00am: Bus to station from home using Pasmo.

• 7:15am: Wave Suica card over ticket gate to begin commute.

• 8:30am: Arrive at Shinjuku station, exiting using Suica again.

• 8:15am: Pick up morning snack at convenience store, paying with either Suica or the Edy or Osaifu-Keitai (mobile wallet) in phone.

• 11:00am: Canned coffee from Edy-enabled vending machine.

• 1:00pm: Lunchbox from local shop with new Osaifu-Keitai reader.

• 6-7:30pm: Suica into station, to buy evening sports paper and a dried squid snack from kiosk on platform and out again at home station.

• 8:00pm: Pay for new sofa on credit using phone’s iD credit-card chip at furniture store.

• 8:15pm: Fork out for few rounds of sake at local bar – oops, cash only.

• 9pm: Family dinner at chain restaurant – Edy does the trick.

• 10:30pm: Pasmo home again on the bus.

At first, this futuristic lifestyle is undeniably fun, and there’s no doubt that IC-card technology is convenient. However, on the downside, many of these services are available only to people able to secure credit, as the final charges appear on the monthly phone bill.

As more deals are thrashed out to allow interoperability and a single IC standard draws closer, could we be facing a future where anyone without credit or the desire to embrace technology faces becoming a second-class citizen? ‘Ugh – real money? No thanks, it’s filthy.’

WiMax wireless pushed to handle HD TV

Mobile WiMax continues to make rapid strides in the race to establish a long-range alternative to Wi-Fi, with the latest breakthrough being a demonstration of wireless high-def TV broadcasts.

Using a tweaked IEEE802.16e setup, Japan Radio Company (JRC) and Runcom Technologies recently showed HD TV video being transmitted at 30Mbps, which was more than enough throughput for the HD vids.

The two companies combined their wireless expertise to create a base station and user terminals using WiMax IEEE802.16e-2005 on the 2.5GHz portion of the spectrum.

Emphasising the significance being placed on WiMax to challenge other technologies, JRC general manager Fumio Murakami said: “Japan … is expecting superior performance from the WiMAX networks to compete with the existing broadband wireless networks in the country; The collaboration with a pioneer … such as Runcom supported JRC in its plan to demonstrate such performance to the leading operators in Japan.”

While any large-scale commercial deployment of WiMax specifically for video broadcasts remains uncertain, it’s clear that, whatever it is used to transmit, the standard has a bright future.