HDTV – Page 4 – Digital-Lifestyles

Showline MCP 9350i Media PC Announced by Philips

Showline MCP 9350i Media PC Announced by Philips Philips has announced the Showline MCP 9350i, a media PC powered by Microsoft’s Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 platform.

The result of collaboration with Intel, the Philips media centre is based around an Intel Pentium 4 processor running at 3 GHz atop an Intel 945 chipset, with support for the soon-come high definition TV (HDTV).

Philip’s media PC is aimed at the living room/lounge, allowing punters to store and share photos, music and video in a single system.

Showline MCP 9350i Media PC Announced by Philips There are two integrated tuners onboard letting sofa-reclining types watch one channel while recording another on the 250 GB hard drive or to CD or DVD.

Housed in a stereo component form factor, the unit offers high-quality audio and video playback and a ton of connectivity options including a front-mounted flash memory card reader supporting SD/MMC cards, Memory Stick and CompactFlash cards, two USB 2.0 ports, a FireWire connector and Wi-Fi 802.11b/g wireless connectivity.

The Philips MCP9350i (snappy name fellas!) will also come pre-installed with Windows Media Manger, which serves up an electronic program guide (EPG) providing access to one-touch recording, access to music, video, photos and games as well as Internet browsing and online services.

Showline MCP 9350i Media PC Announced by Philips Philips’ Digital Natural Motion technology is employed to improve video quality and reduce stutter, with built in support for the UPnP protocol to allowing the unit to act as a media server for products in Philips’ Streamium range of media viewers.

The Philips Showline Media Center MCP9350i will be rolling out in Europe in October. Pricing is yet to be announced.

Philips

Unified DVD Format Trouble Confirmed

Unified DVD Format Trouble Confirmed Following reports yesterday of difficulty between Toshiba and Sony in agreeing on the Unified DVD format, bringing together HD-DVD and Blu-Ray, we’ve spoken to Sony and they have confirmed difficulties.

Disc capacity
Blu-Ray, surprise, surprise uses a blue laser, as does HD-DVD. They didn’t just like blue lasers because it fits in with their name, or even that it’s their favorite colour, the shorter wavelength of the blue light, 405nm, (think of its position in the rainbow relative to the red, 650nm) allowed for higher density of their disks. Current CD and DVD media uses red lasers.

The difference in capacity of the two formats is pretty large. A single layer disc yields quite a difference – HD-DVD provides 15GB, and Blu-Ray 25GB.

Blu-Ray are claiming that their eight layer disks can hold 200GB of content, a considerable amount in anyone’s book. They’ve also told us they’re working on ten and twelve layer disks, pushing storage even higher to 300Gb. HD-DVD holds 30GB on their dual layer disks.

Why extra capacity is a sticking point
Many may wonder why 200GB is needed for a disk (not you, dear reader, I’m sure). Well while the storage requirements of HD content has a small part to do with it, the obvious use is to provide near-endless ‘extra’ material to go with the film on the disk (even if the purchaser isn’t interested in it). Less obviously, is placing material on the disk that is locked.

Unified DVD Format Trouble Confirmed We think that Blu-Ray’s dogged pursuit for high capacity (possibly in the face of Unified DVD), and the fact that Sony are driving Blu-Ray is no coincidence.

Sony, having learnt its lesson during the Betamax/VHS wars, now own a serious amount of content and the studios want to make more. We imagine that the content side of Sony’s business is pushing hard to extra capacity for commercial reasons.

Think about it – what do media companies want to do? Reduce the involvement of the middle man, or cut it out completely. If they are able to sell a disk with one accessible film on it, plus a number of films on it that are locked, they’ve reduced their distribution costs, and importantly, kept percentage paid to the retailer to a minimum. To access the extra films, the purchaser simply has to contact the media owner.

An important part of the Blu-Ray standard is its online capabilities, so the unlocking could be requested and paid for through the player, or via the phone for the die hards. The great thing, at least in the eyes on the media owner, is that the additional income generated is nearly all profit.

Difference in programming One thing that appears to have been missed by most commendations on Unified DVD is the world of difference in the programmability of HD-DVD and Blu-Ray. As a player supporting both standards isn’t realistic, one of the sides would have to change completely. This leads to considerable additional cost for the media creator, forcing them to effectively have to programme the whole disc twice.

Unified DVD Format Trouble Confirmed Cover layer thickness difference
This is possibly the unbridgeable gap. Cover layer thickness – how close the information is written to the surface of the physical disc. Blu-Ray is 0.1mm and HD-DVD is 0.6mm. HD-DVD has plumbed for the 0.6mm, the same standard as current DVD’s. From our discussion, this appears to be an intractable difference.

The difference in layer thickness is one of the factors that makes manufacturing Blu-Ray discs more expensive, as the equipment used to create the disc has to be replaced.

Both sides have been busy gathering supporters of their own formats, in a not dissimilar way to two groups at school picking teams in the playground, trumpeting when another new chum joins their gang.

It will be a great shame if Unified DVD does fail. We all know what will happen – everyone suffers from the producers of the content to the consumer. At this time, it looks like we’re going to have to prepare for that.

HD-DVD
Blu-Ray

Unified DVD Format On Rocks

Sony, Toshiba Throw In Towel On Unified DVD Format Sony and Toshiba have failed to agree on a unified format for next-generation DVDs, according to a Japanese newspaper report today.

For three years, pressure groups led by Sony and Toshiba have jostled to have their respective technologies adopted as standard for next-gen DVD players, PC drives and optical discs.

Both formats are based around blue lasers, which have a shorter wavelength than red lasers used in current DVD equipment.

This allows discs to store data at higher densities, providing enough storage capacity for high-definition movies and television.

Toshiba teamed up with NEC and Sanyo to promote the HD DVD standard, while Sony and Matsushita (makers of Panasonic products) have been pushing a rival Blu-ray technology.

Sony, Toshiba Throw In Towel On Unified DVD Format Japan’s Yomiuri newspaper has reported that the two companies have now abandoned their efforts to develop a unified format, with negotiations falling through after both sides refused to budge.

It was hoped that the Japanese technology giants may have worked together to develop a new format before the launch of new products, but time appears to have run out.

Sony, Toshiba Throw In Towel On Unified DVD Format The newspaper report hasn’t been verified by either firm, although both have said that they have not ruled out the possibility of further talks at some point.

In the meantime, both companies will continue the development of products utilising the rival DVD formats.

Sony has announced that it intends to put a Blu-ray disc drive in its new PlayStation game console next year. Their Blu-ray technology is also backed by industry big boys Dell and Samsung.

Although pundits are predicting that producers of next-generation optical discs would eventually use one format, it looks like products based on the two competing standards will be around for a short while, potentially punishing earlier adopters and holding back consumer growth.

Blu-raydisc.info
HD DVD
Sony, Toshiba May Create Universal Blu-Ray/HD DVD Standard (April 2005)

3D TV: In Japan By 2020

You may think 3D TV is the kind of technology that will only ever appear in pages of a Dan Dare comic – a pipe dream.

Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications feel differently. They have stated that they plan to make it a commercial reality by 2020.

Japan is well advanced in TV technology – they’ve had HDTV for _ever_, so it makes sense that they start to purse what many feel should be the ultimate extension of TV.

Given their HD TV background, the 3D TV would be displayed at HD resolution, but it doesn’t stop there, they’d also have the sensation of touch and smell. This isn’t 3D with big clumpy glasses, but is watched with the naked eye.

There have been a number of research projects working on this over the last few years, indeed I was lucky enough to see one demonstrated last year. It was impressive.

A US company deepLight is claiming that they will be shipping displays in the first quarter of 2006, initially for commercial use, but as prices reduce home use will become practical.

Reuters interviewed Yoshiaki Takeuchi, director of research and development at the Ministry, giving an interesting example of, “Can you imagine hovering over your TV to watch Japan versus Brazil in the finals of the World Cup as if you are really there?”

3d TV forms part of a grand national project, formed around “universal communication,” which Reuters define as “a concept whereby information is shared smoothly and intelligently regardless of location or language.” Their serious about it too – the ministry will be requesting a budget of 1Bn Yen for the project.

deepLight
Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications

Sony, Toshiba May Create Universal Blu-Ray/HD DVD Standard

Sony, Toshiba To Create Universal Blu-Ray/HD DVD Standard After years of throwing pans at each other, Sony and Toshiba are set to kiss and make up and develop a universal standard for next-generation DVDs, according to a report in the Nihon Keizai Shimbun business daily.

The twin titans of technology have been busily promoting their own DVD formats, which are billed as offering “cinematic quality” images with the facility to include interactive entertainment.

The bad news is that the two systems are incompatible, so that a movie released on Toshiba’s format would not run on a Sony player and vice versa.

Mindful of the Betamax disaster of the 70s, the two companies have cuddled up in bed together and – after sharing a cigarette – are expected to shortly announce an accord on the joint development of a next-generation DVD.

When asked about the intimate details of the deal, a Sony Corp spokesman played coy, commenting, “as we have said before, we have been considering holding discussions with others over the next-generation DVD format.”

Toshiba were also in the mood to be all moody and mysterious, mumbling on about how “a single format would benefit consumers and we will continue to work toward that goal. We will continue necessary talks to achieve it.”

Next-generation DVD players use funky blue lasers to give a shorter wavelength than the red lasers currently used DVDs and CDs. The higher storage capacity lets the discs hold enough data to provide high-definition quality television pictures.

Sony, Toshiba To Create Universal Blu-Ray/HD DVD Standard Two competing formats developed out of this technology, with Sony and Matsushita (Panasonic), introducing the Blu-ray standard in February 2002, with Toshiba and NEC Corp. following with the HD DVD standard.

The format war has already started causing divisions within home appliance makers and movie companies, with companies like Apple, Dell, Samsung, Walt Disney, Sony Pictures and Samsung supporting Blu-ray with Paramount Pictures, Universal Pictures and Warner Brothers Studios coming out in support of HD DVD

The Nihon Keizai reported that Sony and Toshiba had stepped up closed-door negotiations around February to find a resolution to the problem.

After reaching a basic agreement that a unified standard would be desirable, they are now looking to develop a hybrid that takes advantage of each standard’s strengths, the newspaper added.

Sony and Toshiba have already started bending the ears of Walt Disney, AOL Time Warner and other Hollywood movie studios in a bid to win approval for a unified standard and pave the way for the signing of an agreement, the Nihon Keizai said.

And that’s good news for anyone with a large Betamax box in the attic.

Hddvd.org
Blu-ray.com
Toshiba
Sony

BSkyB Announces HDTV Partners

BSkyB Announces HDTV Partners British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB) has announced that it has signed a number of further contracts with technology and equipment suppliers ahead of the forthcoming launch of its High-Definition Television (HDTV) service.

Following last month’s announcement that Thomson would be the initial manufacturer of Sky’s HDTV set-top box, the latest agreements put BSkyB on track to launch HDTV in the UK and Ireland in 2006 – notably four years ahead of the BBC’s slothful launch date in 2010.

The agreement will see Sony constructing and equipping a new HDTV studio at BSkyB’s Isleworth headquarters and kitting out additional equipment for edit suites and dubbing facilities at the same site.

Lovers of spec sheets will be thrilled to learn that the Sony studio equipment will include the latest HDC-1500 studio cameras and over 60 HDCAM and HDCAM SR format VTRs, complemented by MVS-8000A series multiformat production switchers and DVS-8000 digital effects plus Sony HD LCD monitors.

Additionally, Sony will smooth BSkyB’s transition to HDTV production with a “this button does that” staff training package.

BSkyB will also be deploying Tandberg Television’s MPEG-4 part 10 (H.264/AVC) video encoding and distribution system for the launch of its HDTV service.

BSkyB Announces HDTV Partners The studio will be fitted out with Tandberg Television HD video head-end with statistical multiplexing with Tandberg EN5990 HD MPEG-4 AVC enabling efficient bandwidth utilisation and high picture quality.

If that roll out of spoddy specifications hasn’t got you excited enough, you’ll be pleased to learn that even more equipment lists will dispatched from BSkyB headquarters in due course. Whoopee!

Alun Webber, BSkyB’s Group Director of Engineering and Platform Technology, said “The launch of HDTV is the most significant development for BSkyB’s broadcast infrastructure since the launch of Sky digital in 1998. These supplier contracts keep us on track to launch HDTV in 2006 and ensure that Sky customers continue to receive the highest-quality viewing experience available.”

Sky is promising a full set of HDTV programming channel line-up when the service goes live, including sports, movies, entertainment and documentary programming.

The system will support both 720p and 1080i picture formats, with broadcasters being able to choose the format which is most appropriate to their individual requirements.

Initially, Sky’s HD receivers will have both a digital HDMI (High Definition Multimedia Interface) and an analogue component connector for viewing HD content.

BSkyB Announces HDTV Partners HDMI delivers the best possible picture quality to a HD display by maintaining an all-digital connection to DVI equipped displays possible using a suitable adapter cable.

Notably, when Sky’s HD content is viewed on a display using the receiver’s HDMI connector it will be protected by HDCP (High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection).

HDTV is already taking off in the States and with the BBC dragging its heels with their own implementation of HDTV, this move by Sky may prove to be a significant one.

Sky Drops Microsoft Windows Media For MPEG-4 On HDTV
Sky

Laguna DC551HD From Pace, HD STB With HDMI, Among Others

Laguna DC551HD From Pace, HD STB with HDMI Pace Micro Technology, a cutting edge UK digital set-top box provider tasked with developing emerging technologies across all television platforms, has trumpeted the launch of a number of STB’s and PVR’s, including the Laguna DC551HD and DC 501 Chicago all-digital set-top box.

The Laguna DC551HD is a high definition set-top box (HD STB) that comes with HDMI as standard. HDMI is being insisted on by many content owners as the means of interconnecting HD equipment, ensuring the content remains encrypted as it passes between devices, in an effort to reduce unauthorised content copying. It also boasts support for an optional 1394 5C protected interface to let people move content from the box – in a controlled fashion, of course.

Laguna DC551HD From Pace, HD STB with HDMI Pace is also offering the Tahoe DC775 HD-DVR, claiming it to be the most advanced high definition DVR for North America, and the first cable set-top box to offer features based on next generation silicon. Interestingly it offers a number of ways to save video content to the 160Gb hard drive – Standard Definition (SD), High Def (HD) and enhanced analogue. With multi-room video distribution and support for high-speed data connections for home computers, wireless routers and VoIP included you might be wondering what isn’t included.

The ‘Chicago’ set-top box is an all-digital device with a common platform designed to operate on North American cable networks and the Chicago DC 501 claims to be the most powerful standard definition, all-digital box available, boasting an industry leading MIPS processor and it’s also the first in the industry to offer DSG and OCAP support as options.

Consumers burdened with Ye Olde analogue televisions won’t have to miss out on the digi-fun either as the box can hook up to such near-Neanderthal devices.

The Chicago DC 501’s innovative design allows the set-top box to stand vertically or lay horizontally, with a cunning infrared (IR) receiver extender allowing the box to be mounted remotely on a wall or discretely hidden away.

Pace Americas’ President Michael Pulli spun out the spiel, “We’re in a unique position as the only set-top box provider with licenses and technology to deploy boxes on all types of cable TV networks. This underscores a major part of our long-term strategy for the North American market, which is to develop set-top box solutions with a common platform that can easily be deployed on any network.”

Laguna DC551HD From Pace, HD STB with HDMI Pace Americas’ VP of Technology Chris Dinallo had clearly feasted on a diet of buzzwords before adding, “All-digital and digital simulcast are critical industry initiatives, and uniquely, Pace is proud to be the only set-top box provider that can support all-digital on both networks.”

“All-digital networks allow entertainment and communications to flow easily across many devices. Consumer demand, better picture quality, spectrum efficiency, competition, and the ability to offer more revenue generating services are all driving cable operators toward all digital,” Dinallo added.

The Chicago DC 501 is the first in a series of Chicago all-digital boxes to be released this year.

Other model announced include (ready for this, deep breath …) the Daytona DC755HD, Indiana DC511 and some further details on the PVR2Go, a Personal & Mobile Entertainment Device.

Pace Micro

‘Enron: the Smartest Guys in the Room’, Gets Simultaneous Cinema/HDTV Release

HDNet Movies Offer Simultaneous Cinema/HDTV Release For New Movie In a break with cinema-tradition, HDNet Movies viewers will be able to see Alex Gibney’s highly acclaimed documentary “Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room” on the very same day the movie premieres in US theatres.

Cackling wildly in the face of convention which dictates that cinema releases always come first, the film, which debuted in the Documentary Competition at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival, will appear on the US available HDNet Movies twice on opening night, 22 April at 8:00 pm and 11:00 pm EST.

After its one-day HDNet Movies premiere, the film will then be offered in traditional PPV, VOD and DVD windows.

“Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room” was produced by HDNet Films, the high-definition production division of Todd Wagner and Mark Cuban’s 2929 Entertainment, and is being distributed by 2929-owned Magnolia Pictures. Using insider accounts and incendiary corporate audio and videotapes, Alex Gibney, the films director shows the almost unimaginable personal excesses of the Enron hierarchy and the utter moral vacuum that posed as corporate philosophy. It is expected that audiences will be shocked by the avarice of Enron’s traders and their bosses.

Cuban is well known for trying to smash commonly accepted business standards and conventions. “We want to reward HDNet Movies subscribers with great movies,” table-thumped Mark Cuban, co-founder of HDNet and HDNet Movies. “Our feeling is that people who want to get out of the house and go to the theater will do so.

Those who can’t make it, rather than missing the water cooler talk on Monday, will be able to see the film, only on HDNet Movies.”

The company has also announced production on a new drama, “One Last Thing…,” starring Cynthia Nixon, Michael Angarano, Sunny Mabrey and Wyclef Jean which will also premiere on HDNet Movies under the same day-and-date model.

HDNet Movies

Samsung 82FS: Largest LCD TV Launched, 82inch – CeBIT 05

Samsung 82FS: Largest LCD TV Launched, 82inch After getting the world very excited about their yet (if ever) to be produced 102″ plasma (PDP) screen, Samsung has today just announced the availability of a 82″ LCD TV. It’s for people who don’t live in houses with lounges (or media-consumption-arenas as they may become to be known) that are the size of the Albert Hall.

It’s not possible to commercially produce a single 82inch panel, so they seamlessly combine four 40″ LCD panels. For all of you firsts followers, Samsung are also claiming it to be the worlds first screen to offer 180 degree of viewing angle, something that other companies are going to struggle to better – and even if they do, why would they?. If you’re interested, these are produced using Samsung’s seventh-generation LCD process.

Not surprisingly, it can display full HD (High Definition) 16:9, 1920 x 1080 resolution, with a contrast ratio of 10,000:1 and a response time of 8ms. With this, we’re day dreaming thoughts of video gaming on this beauty – live the action.

Samsung 82FS: Largest LCD TV Launched, 82inch If you’re looking for a slightly more pedestrian use for it, it’s fitted with an HDMI interface, so all of that HDCP-protected content can be displayed on it.

As a side note, it was interesting to see how many people were at the press conference. Seating capacity was 400 and there was about a hundred extra standing. Samsung has become a company that now demands press interest.

Samsung

Apple To Join Blu-ray – CeBIT 05

Apple To Join Blu-ray In a board meeting yesterday, Apple computers committed to join the Blu-ray Association and will occupy a seat on the main board.

In the battle of Blu-Ray vs HD-DVD disc formats, this is pretty big news. Although in the current percentage of computers sold, this isn’t a massive surprise, with Apple keen on pushing themselves (successfully) as a media company, this will have a significant impact on the success of the Blu-ray disc format.

Importantly Apple joinging will generate lots of news discussion about Blu-ray. On that note … did you know that pre-recorded Blu-ray discs were see through? Me neither, until I got my hands on one at the Sony press launch (see image at top of story).

Currently Dell and HP are the other two computer companies that sit on the board. Apple will be the 16th company to join the board, joining the 110 companies that have committed to Blu-ray.

Steve Jobs said “Apple is pleased to join Blue-ray Association board as part of our effort to drive consumer adoption of HD.” In return Apple will include the same HD video CoDec that Blu-ray uses in QuickTime 7.

There’s big money and effort being put behind the success of Blu-ray, and with a lot of content companies, CE companies and, computer companies getting behind it, it appears to be pulling ahead.

Apple To Join Blu-ray Blu-ray has been shipping in Japan now for quite some time. Sony’s BDZ-S77 (catchy name) was the first product to ship, and has been followed by other companies, some of which support the dual-layer 50Gb version.

During CeBIT, Philips and Sony have announced computer drives capable of burning Blu-ray disks, or “BD” as those in the know call it. The first Blu-ray consumer device to hit the market in US and European market will be the Sony Playstation 3.

Why does anyone need it? The quick and simple answer is HD TV. Because of the resolution of an HD picture, considerable amounts of storage are required. By 2008 12% of European homes will have HD-capable TV, and more importantly, at the same time, 3m homes to have HDTV service. Clearly HD is already big in Japan and in growing the US.

Blu-ray disc carry 25Gb per layer. There are two layers currently in market, single and dual layer. Others multi-layers discs are being brought to market and we understand that Sony has an eight layer, 200Gb disc running in the Lab.

Blu-ray