L.A. Law: High Def in Hollywood

Two lawyers are sitting in a bar. One turns to the other and asks, "Want a sneak peak at the latest Hollywood blockbuster?" Sounds like the opening to a great joke. This one isn't a joking matter. A petition filed with the FCC by the MPAA (you know, the folks who put ratings on films) is asking the FCC to go back on a previous ruling to protect Hollywood's rights. Poor, poor, Hollywood. This is one of those good news/bad news stories. It's been a long week, let's do the good news first. Hollywood is talking with major cable and satellite systems about offering video-on-demand HD movies significantly earlier than the movie's DVD or Blu-ray release, timed much closer to the theatrical release. That's it for the good news.

Blu-ray Still Singing the Blues

It's a little bit ironic, don't you think? After all the dust in the consumer electronics war between HD DVD and Blu-ray settled, it appears that not many people really cared at all. In a survey by Harris Interactive, only 9% of people who don't own Blu-ray already have any plans to buy a player in the next year, although a majority knew the format debate was over. This counters all speculation that consumers were waiting for the war to end. As it turns out, they didn't give a damn.

DTS Ditching Theaters, Staying Home

If you ever doubted how important the home theater market is, take a gander at this news flash. DTS, a leading innovator in surround sound, is ditching the movie business and concentrating solely on the home theater biz. They've officially sold their Digital Cinema business to Beaufort California, Inc. This news follows the earlier sale of Digital Images last month. Surprisingly, neither sale was for outrageous amounts: $7.5 million for the Digital Image business, and only $3.3 mill for the Cinema division. Here's what the CEO of DTS had to say about the sale.

iPod in the Sky with Singapore Air

Flying first class has never been this classy. Singapore Airlines, known for their luxurious seating, gourmet in-flight dining, and gorgeous flight attendants is making news again. On their all-business class planes flying from New York and LA to Singapore, your entertainment options are becoming even better. The airplanes have been equipped with iPod/iPhone docks right in the seats. To watch the videos from the iPods or any other inflight option, they've installed 15.4-inch LCD widescreen displays. Panasonic Avionics installed personal portable players in addition to the docks. Singapore also supplies active noise-canceling headphones. What's an important safety feature of this arrangement?

Who Needs Dinner When I Can Buy a TV?

Honey, pass the Puppy Chow and hand me the remote.

In a time of economic woes, Wal-Mart has posted earnings that are up 6.9%. While many folks are struggling to make their house payments, where's the profit coming from? Oddly enough, it's the economic problems that are driving the sales. When times are tough, the tough go shopping! Seriously. As times get tougher, discount stores see increased sales, and Wal-Mart is certainly the most popular discount store that folks are flocking to. What's even more surprising is what they're spending their limited funds on.

More Sling

Audio and video placeshifting technology: That's what Sling Media does, and does well. If you just got back from the ISS (motto: "Urine doesn't taste so bad!") you might not know about SlingBox. Slingbox "slings" AV signals. It connects to a standard audio/video source and streams the content to your computer using a high-speed broadband connection. Your computer runs Sling's software client. In other words, you can access any video source (such as your cable box or satellite receiver) from any broadband-wired PC - whether it's across the room or across the world - for no subscription fees. Even better, you can sling video to Internet-capable mobile devices (such as a web-enabled, Windows mobile-powered cell phone). Place-shifting — excellent!

Now, Sling Media is upping the ante.

A Lifetime of TiVo

Woohoo!!! Celebrate good times, come on! Let's celebrate! TiVo's Lifetime Service is back! For fans of the TiVo service, this can be great news. Plus, unlike what others are reporting, a quick phone call to TiVo customer service revealed that the cost will be $299, for the lifetime of the unit. The price was $399, but during this rollout phase and continuing indefinitely, the price looks to be holding at $299. What's the catch?

Samsung: Singing the Blues at 240Hz

There have been plenty of new developments in plasma displays lately, but here's some interesting news from Samsung in the LCD world. Samsung just revealed the world's first LCD screen driven at 240Hz. The new "Blue Phase" LCD panel is a huge leap toward giving LCD images a more natural movement. Current LCD screens are driven at 120Hz, so do the math: the new screens respond twice as fast. This reduces the need to overdrive the the 120Hz circuits. What are the other advantages to going Blue?

Toshiba's Turning Green

Toshiba changed their stripes when Blu-ray demolished HD DVD. So, in addition to abandoning red, they're going green. Methanol fuel, produced naturally from a variety of sources, is the main component in Toshiba's Direct Methanol Fuel Cells. Toshiba also announced a new Toshiba television on an entirely new platform, slated for the retail shelves by the end of 2009. The new microprocessor at the core of the TV is called the Cell, and the new television is called, appropriately enough, Cell TV. Standby. Science lesson coming up.

Women and Children First

The Korea Times is reporting that Samsung and LG will stop making Blu-ray/HD DVD combo players. This is another blow to the fast-sinking HD DVD luxury liner. Cutting their losses, and also cutting the throats of early adopters who adopted the wrong baby, Samsung and LG will pull the plug on their combo players, able to play both Blu-ray and HD DVD discs. Instead, they will focus on Blu-ray from now on. This means that if you have a huge stack of HD DVDs, you have several fewer options for playing your "legacy" discs.