There aren't many around that're bigger fans of free over-the-air HD than us, but we're also really big fans of wireless technologies. So when we originally heard that the FCC was considering commandeering broadcast DTV spectrum for wireless broadband we weren't so keen on the idea. But then we saw this Multichannel News story and it really got us thinking about the ramifications of killing free HD as we know it. The fact is that HD via ATSC only works in applications where the antenna is stationary, which means that cable or satellite work just as well, but of course aren't free. Which means that the only real benefit of broadcast DTV is it is free. This makes us wonder, considering only 10 percent of Amercia relies soly on over-the-air TV, is this really the best use of this valuable wireless spectrum? Or would it be better to use it for wireless broadband? Just think, ATSC uses a 15 year old modulation technology and still manages to pump almost 20 Mbps across one channel. If we freed even part of this for wireless broadband, we could have as much throughput as we wanted to our phones and laptops almost anywhere in the country. So we want to know.

What would the FCC have to do in order to make you happy to give up your free HD? Would free basic cable (with HD of course) make it ok? Or maybe some restrictions are wireless broadband that would make it more affordable for consumers? Maybe just reducing the number of channels in each area by restricting their use to actual public benefits (no infomercials etc) would be a good compromise.

Ultimately we believe that DVRs are going to eventually invalidate non-live linear TV as we know it -- and broadcast TV and its affiliate model along with it. In fact this buyout by the FCC might be the perfect exit strategy for them. The question is will it take 5 years or 25? And will the public or corporate America come out better off as a result.

Have you always wanted to go to Blu-con but never made it? Us either, but our friends at HD Nation did and shot some great HD footage which includes some interesting tidbits about transferring movies to Blu-ray. The highlight is listening to Martin Scorsese talk excitedly about transferring classics to Blu-ray, where he discusses things like the factors that influence him to modify audio and video. A great example is where he talks about upgrading the mono audio from Taxi Driver by going back to the original stereo score and mono dialog and remastering for the first time ever. So if you always wondered why some get so excited about seeing classics on Blu-ray, or you just can't get enough Blu-ray, don't hesitate to check it out.

If you're like us and you don't think it's possible to own enough HDTV calibration discs, then you've probably already bought the Spears & Munsil High Definition Benchmark Blu-ray Disc. Otherwise you might be looking at all the different options and since you only want to buy one, you're trying to figure out which one. Well, we've played with most of them and although we're hard pressed to decide on which is our favorite, we really like this one. To find out why, click through.

A good idea is worthless without adoption and we're glad to hear that ZillionTV has signed Paramount, which means that all six major studios are on board. Of course we still don't know how much we're actually going to like ZillionTV because although streaming content for free or ad-supported sounds like a new approach, who knows how it'll work. We do think we'd love the choice of either watching ads or paying if that is what's actually going to happen. According to HMM, at least in regards to Paramount, some content will be available for rent or purchase while other content will be ad-supported. If this is going to be the case for all the content, then we're sure the ZillionTV will look great in our attic sitting next to our Moviebeam.

It isn't often that we specifically call out another site for writing things that are just not true, but this one we can't let go. In an article about Blu-ray's Managed Copy, Ars Technica's Nate Anderson posts that Blu-ray's Managed Copy is a "stinker" because you might have to pay to make a copy and claims that the HD DVD version was better because it was free. Other than the fact that this is just not true, the part that really struck out to us was that he linked back to the Ars archive to support his statement, but must've missed the part of the source that states "No, as Jordi Rebbas told me, studios have to offer managed copy, but they have the option of charging for it." Lucky for us, both Intel and Microsoft exposed the real difference in Managed Copy between the two formats, which was that initially on Blu-ray the studios could choose whether or not each title was copyable, so in other words it wasn't mandatory. The BDA eventually caved and as we've said before, Managed Copy on Blu-ray is mandatory. Another related note is that Managed Copy was never implemented on HD DVD either, as it was also dependent on the finalization of AACS, but what was different was that the Discs did contain data that pointed to what was expected to become authentication servers. So in theory, if the format would've survived, even the initial Discs would've been copyable when it was implemented. Of course we'll never get to find out if it would've worked, but at least they did plan ahead a little, which is more than you can say for Blu-ray.

Although Moxi hasn't really taken a piece of our heart, it has kept its promise of updates with the third one due just before the holiday season. The most notable news today from Moxi's new owner Arris though is a new three tuner HD DVR, which we believe is the first to break the two tuner barrier (that isn't PC based). The new model is only available bundled with either one, or two Moxi Mates for $799 or $999. You can still buy the dual tuner version by itself which now retails for $499 instead of $799 -- don't forget, Moxi doesn't charge service fees -- and the Moxi Mate itself is now $299 instead of $399. The bad news it that the no interest payment options are off the table. The best news for existing Moxi owners is that the Fall update brings Live TV streaming to the Moxi Mate as well as new recording defaults, but we continue to wait for the ability to customize the Recorded TV list. All in all, Moxi has made much progress since we did our review, but our biggest gripe goes unaddressed, but then again we really didn't expect Moxi to redesign the entire UI just because we didn't like it.

It's Monday, and we know that getting the week started can be tough. We're here to help by letting you peek into the recording booth when the Engadget HD podcast goes to tape on Monday, November 9thth at 6:30PM ET. Think of it as a kind of time machine that will help you power through your day by reviewing what happened in the week HD-wise. Embedded Ustream tools and a list of topics after the break.

Big week for Pixar fans as the latest animated feature, Up, is released, along with the Pixar classic Monster, Inc. Warner continues to release catalogs, but with the size of its catalog, it could probably release four a week every week and still never finish. For the most part this is a good week for Blu-ray but we know you are with us when we say that next week is what we're really waiting for as Star Trek was probably the best movie to hit the theaters this year and it hits Blu-ray next Tuesday.

• Up (Walt Disney)
• Monsters, Inc. (Walt Disney)
• The Ugly Truth (Sony)
• Godzilla (Sony)
• Heat (Warner)
• Logan's Run (Warner)
• Watchmen: The Ultimate Cut (Warner)
• The Negotiator (Warner)
• Mamma Mia! (Gift Set) (Universal)
• Near Dark (Lionsgate)
• Red Heat (Lionsgate)
• Spread (Anchor Bay)
• World's Most Beautiful Sunrises & Sunsets (Digital Enviroments)
• Ballast (Kino)
• The Echo (Image)
• The General (Kino)
• Kingdoms Of The Coast (Razor)
• The Line (Maya)

The egg had to come before the chicken right? Well either way, one of 'em came first and in the case of the latest Blu-ray feature, Managed Copy, the Blu-ray Discs will come before the hardware. Less than five months since AACS was finalized and the details of Managed Copy were revealed and so far we've only seen one demo and not a single product announcement. This doesn't surprise us, but AACS-LA is apparently surprised because although all Blu-ray Discs sold after December 4th have no choice but to allow at least one copy to be made, the requirement to label the packaging as such has been postponed until Spring of next year. We'd expect at least a few products that support Managed Copy to be announced at CES and although we highly doubt any stand-alone Blu-ray players will sport this feature anytime soon, we do have our hopes on PC software and expect a few movie jukebox devices like Kaleidescape -- that we won't be able to afford -- will be announced at the big show in Vegas.

Oh what a wonderful week it is now that baseball is officially over -- enjoy it while it lasts though as we heard that spring training was going to start in December this year. Big college football game this weekend as two top ten teams meet in Alabama and we'll all get to see if Alabama deserves its number three spot. Also this week are a few NFL divisional games as the Ravens take on the Bengals and Dallas travels to Philly, both of which are playing really good right now.

CFB
# 9 LSU at #3 Alabama CBS 3:30 Sat
# 16 Ohio State at #11 Penn State ABC 3:30 PM Sat
#24 Oklahoma at Nebraska ABC 8:00 PM Sat

NFL
Baltimore Ravens at Cincinnati Bengals 1:00 PM CBS Sun
Dallas Cowboys at Philadelphia Eagles 8:20 PM NBC Sun
Pittsburgh Steelers at Denver Broncos 8:30 PM ESPN Mon

NHL
Los Angeles Kings at Chicago Blackhawks Vs 8:00 PM Mon
Pittsburgh Penguins at Boston Bruins Vs 7:00 PM Tues

NBA
Chicago Bulls at Cleveland Cavaliers TNT 8:00 PM Thurs
San Antonio Spurs at Portland Trail Blazers ESPN 10:30 PM Fri

The ratings are in and ABC's V was the highest rated series premier this season with a rating of 5.0, a 13 share which equals 13.9 million viewers. Of course this doesn't mean that many actually liked it and since we were pretty split here at Engadget HD, we wanted to know what you thought of this new Si-Fi show.

Nothing shocking here as a judge has dismissed a lawsuit against cable companies for not offering cable channels a la carte. We always find this whole a la carte issue interesting because in reality customers aren't really asking for less channels as much as they're asking for lower prices. So while we're usually against new laws to regulate businesses, we do think that something should be done to reign in on all the tying that content providers do, as well as other restrictions. So what customers should really be doing is asking congress to prevent ESPN (for example) from holding back on the main offering in order to force programmers to carry the completely useless ESPNews or ESPN Classic. Or maybe, the entire you can't carry our channel unless its on the basic tier silliness. No, no, la carte channels aren't the answer, but real competition is.

[Via TechDirt]

This is a really interesting report of the affects of the digital transition on ratings. Like the fact that "TV stations that transitioned to digital only experienced an 8 percent share decline immediately following the analog shut-off." But even more interesting is this that same number goes up to 13 percent if the broadcaster switched from UHF to VHF because of reception problems -- no wonder some broadcasters are going back to UHF. The other thing that piqued our interest was that cable companies seemed to be the real winners here as 18.2 percent of those facing the decision to buy a converter box, just ordered cable instead -- little do they know that they are just putting off getting a box.

[Via TVB]

Anyone who has had a Harmony Remote knows the "is this device on" hell that follows if an IR code is missed while an Activity is firing off. To address that and the whole hidden equipment craze, Logitech now offers a IR repeater called the Logitech Harmony IR Extender System that is available for $59. The way this works is there's one table top IR receiver that you place in the open, and then three IR blasters that you place in front of the devices you want to control -- of course this will require that you hide your equipment as otherwise the devices would receive the same IR signal twice. Not a bad deal at the price, but we do wonder if it is compatible with our own stick on IR emitters. We doubt this is as good as the RF version of the Harmony, but no doubt it's cheaper if you already own the remote.

It's Monday, and we know that getting the week started can be tough. We're here to help by letting you peek into the recording booth when the Engadget HD podcast goes to tape on Monday, October 5th at 6:30PM ET. Think of it as a kind of time machine that will help you power through your day by reviewing what happened in the week HD-wise. Embedded Ustream tools and a list of topics after the break.

**UPDATE** And we're done, thanks everyone!