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January 15, 2009

TOP STORY

• WBAL Launches HD Newscasts
  Hearst-Argyle Television’s WBAL-TV in Baltimore has launched local newscasts in high-definition. more » » » 

NEWS

• Memory-Tech Uses CodecSys for Archival Product
  Japanese storage and media management firm Memory-Tech Corp. is using Broadcast International’s CodecSys video encoding software for its video archiving product, KaleiDA-Turbo. more » » » 
• 3D Sports Finds Wider Audience With BCS Game
  In the latest example of the growing buzz over 3D high-definition, attendees of the Consumer Electronics Show and paying customers in over 80 theaters around the country watched a 3D production of the University of Florida Gators beating the Oklahoma Sooners in the BCS Championship game. more » » » 

Q&A

• Q&A: Bob Kelly, PRECO
  PRECO business development manager Bob Kelly says broadcasters are being hit “square between the eyes” by the economic downturn and growing competition from the Internet and other alternative distribution systems for news and programming. He talked with HD Update about the impact of those issues on the transition to high-def production and broadcasting. more » » » 

BRIEFING ROOM

• On the Floor at the Consumer Electronics Show
  This extensive look at the HD developments at the Consumer Electronics Show covers a variety of new products and trends, including Panasonic’s push for 3D HD standards; LG’s plans for streaming and wireless HD and Sony’s New Bravia HDTV that is designed to make web video easier to access. On the 3D front, Panasonic is pushing a 3D HD standard for 1080-line-progressive (1080p) pictures and is working with the Blu-ray, HDMI and MPEG standards organizations to nail down a standard this year so it can start building 3D-capable plasma sets in 2010. more » » » 
• Tech & Engineering Emmy Winners Presented
  The National Academy of TV Arts and Sciences handed out the 2009 Technology and Engineering Emmy Awards, including a number of awards for work in the HD space. During the ceremony, which took place during CES, Tandberg Television and DirecTV won the Pioneering Development of MPEG-4AVC systems for HDTV Awards; The Metropolitan Opera Association won the Ongoing Live Global HD Cinemacasting Award; Silicon Image, Thomson, Toshiba, Sony Electronics, Matsushita, Hitachi, Philips, Molex, Japan Aviation Electronics, and Intel won the HDMI Development Awards; and the Video Coding Expert Group and Moving Picture Experts Group won the MPEG-4 AVC Standard Awards. more » » » 
• Sony’s Stringer Gives Peek At 3-D Entertainment
  Sony chairman and CEO Howard Stringer showed off big-screen 3-D video as part of his CES keynote address Thursday, and said the technology is “closer than you think” to becoming a standard feature of the entertainment industry. The first 3D clip he showed was a short from Pixar Animation Studio’s Cars, followed by highlights from last week’s Orange Bowl pitting Virginia Tech and Cincinnati. “It’s paving the way toward the national availability of 3-D,” Stringer said. “This is a lot closer than you think.” more » » » 
• Verizon Touts 100-Plus HD Channels
  Verizon’s FiOS TV now provides 100 or more high-definition channels in all 14 states where the TV service is offered. The telco first topped 100 HD channels with its October 2008 launch New York City and has steadily ramped up HD lineups in other regions. It now beats the lineups of major cable competitors -- none of which has hit the triple-digit mark– and is now on a competitive footing with the high-def channel counts of DirecTV and Dish Network. The telco also announced that it has added remote DVR-scheduling features for Home Media DVR subscribers. more » » » 
• Blu-ray Sales Made Market Strides In 2008
  The Blu-ray Disc format took huge steps forward in the final weeks of 2008 to help the format continue to shine as one of the more successful new CE product launches in recent history, said Andy Parsons, Blu-ray Disc promotions group chairman. Parsons cited DisplaySearch estimates showing 10.7 million stand-alone Blu-ray Disc players and PlayStation 3 gaming consoles had shipped to retail since the launch of the Blu-ray Disc format 2.5 years ago. For 2009 Tom Adams, principal of Adams Media Research, said his firm is calling for Blu-ray Disc player sales to probably double or triple in 2009. more » » » 

AROUND THE WEB

• CES 2009: HD For The Mainstream
  CNET reports that manufactures at CES were focused on more mainstream HD sets that could lure in reluctant consumers, a major change from past markets, where TV makers battled to see who can launch the largest screen or thinnest set. While there was still an element of that this year in Vegas, the top-tier television manufacturers also more focused on finding HDTV that would appeal to the mainstream consumer in a down economy. This focus on the mass market is particularly important given the fact that DisplaySearch projects that revenues for TV manufacturers will fall from $76 million in 2008 to only $64 billion in 2009. more » » » 
• 3D Returns Home
  Reuters reports that television makers are scrambling to lay the groundwork for 3-D TV, hoping that these sets would hit the market as soon as 2010, when the global economy may begin to recover. Now that flat-panel TVs -- once the belles of the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas -- have become de-rigueur in many homes around the globe, the world's top TV manufacturers are searching for the next big idea to spark consumer demand and are hoping that spark will be 3D HD. But a number of issue with standards and the availability of content must be resolved. more » » » 
• Recession Stalls Blu-Ray Payoff
  Dow Jones reports that manufacturers of Blu-ray high definition video products can’t seem to catch a break. After a bruising battle to become the de facto high definition video standard in 2008, Blu-ray makers hopes for a big payoff after the end of the format wars have been dampened by the recession. Even though sales of Blu-ray players and movies produced using the format were among the bright spots of the holiday shopping season at the end of 2008, the sales growth was largely the result of the heavy discounting retailers offered on players. Wal-Mart Stores Inc., for example, offered Blu-ray players for $129, which is a discount of more than 50%. more » » » 
• CES: What's Ahead In TV TECHNOLOGY?
  The Los Angeles Times reports that your viewing future includes 3-D, wireless and ultra-thin sets and a way to use your cell phone as a video projector. Judging from what was on display at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the paper noted that 3D images from Panasonic looked “fantastic” but that the basic “hurdle of home 3-D remains: the glasses that transform the blurry images on the screen to 3-D. Every time you'd head to the kitchen for a snack, turn to a friend to chat or do any other activity apart from watching the program, you'd have to take off the glasses to see the real world.” more » » » 
• Samsung Uses LEDs For A Thinner HD Television
  The New York Times reports that “thin is in — and not just for people. Samsung is hoping to capitalize on consumer interest in ever-sleeker displays with a new line of LCD HDTVs that are barely one inch thick. The company was able to lose the love handles by changing the light source behind the LCD screens of the sets. Gone are cold-cathode fluorescent lamps, replaced by tiny LEDs. The new technology, to be available later this year, produces pictures with whiter whites and deeper blacks, Samsung says, while using 40 percent less electricity than typical LCD TVs.” more » » » 

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