Out of the many jobs in today's multi-billion dollar consumer electronics industry, the one we'd probably want least right now is writer of press releases for the HD DVD Promotional Group. After each major defection, these poor folks have to whip up a positive-sounding response to what everyone knows is very bad news -- but after yesterday's one-two punches by Netflix and Best Buy, even these paid cheerleaders are having trouble finding the right spin. Here's what they had to say, as reported by CNET:

"We have long held the belief that HD DVD is the best format for consumers based on quality and value, and with more than 1 million HD DVD players on the market, it's unfortunate to see Netflix make the decision to only stock Blu-ray titles going forward. While the Best Buy announcement says they will recommend Blu-ray, at least they will continue to carry HD DVD and offer consumers a choice at retail."

Doesn't sound like there's too much fight left there, does it? If the best you can do to support your dying format is to rehash the same canned argument and celebrate your remaining shelf space, well, there would seem to be a bigger problem than you're willing to admit. At this point, we're just curious to see how it will all end: after investing so much time, energy, money, and vitriol on this bitter format war, how does Toshiba move forward in a world almost completely dominated by its rival in blue?

[Via High-Def Digest]

In what can only be classified as yet another crushing blow to the embattled HD DVD camp, rent-by-mail giant Netflix has just announced its intention to only stock Blu-ray titles in the future. Netflix justified its decision by pointing out the fact that most Hollywood studios seem to be converging solely around the Sony-backed format -- a fact that's all too familiar to Toshiba and friends. With both Blockbuster and now the 'Flix having eschewed HD DVD for BD, it's gonna get harder and harder to even find a place to rent those former discs in the first place, let alone one that has a decent selection.

Update: It looks like all hope is not lost for HD DVD renters. Not only does Blockbuster Online still carry titles in the endangered format, but Netflix should continue offering a limited selection of discs until current stock is phased out around the end of the year.

Sony has announced the development of a new Blu-ray reader / writer module that is not only smaller than previous components, but promises to be cheaper as well due to a simplified manufacturing process. The new laser housing is less than three millimeters thick, according to the Japanese manufacturer and co-developer Nichia Corporation, enabling it to be incorporated into smaller devices such as portable players. Sony predicts that we'll first start seeing 9.5-millimeter laptop BD drives which employ the module later this year.

[Via Tech.co.uk, thanks Kiwi616]

Being an HBO subscriber is about to get a lot more appealing, as the Time Warner-owned pay channel giant is set to roll out a new service that allows subscribers to both download select content as well as view live feeds, all on their PCs. "HBO on Broadband," as the feature is called, will give HBO on Demand customers on Time Warner's Roadrunner network access to both the live east coast feed as well as numerous TV episodes and Hollywood films, although downloads expire after 12 weeks or less, and you can't natively transfer any of this video swag to a portable device. Mac support is also conspicuously absent here, but seeing how the offer is confined to Time Warner cable and broadband subscribers only in Wisconsin for now, anyway, it's quite possible that an OS X client (and 64-bit Windows one) will become available as more regions get switched on. [Disclosure: Engadget is part of the Time Warner family]

[Thanks, Judith]

With about a million TV converter box coupons having been ordered in the first 40 hours of availability, we're sure that there are more than a few of you out there wondering when you can you expect those $40 vouchers to arrive at your door. Well to save you the hassle of quitting your job in order to wait by the mailbox every day, we're here to let you know that the feds will begin mailing 'em out starting on February 17th -- exactly one year prior to the scheduled analog shutoff. Just remember, as Engadget HD noted yesterday, those of you with early, tuner-less HDTVs looking for a few bucks off a digital receiver will be out of luck, making your seven-year wait for these coupons seem a little silly now, eh?

If you're anything like us, your only New Year's resolution for this particular ride around the sun is to sign up for a converter box coupon in preparation for the 2009 digital TV transition -- even if, also like us, your only remaining analog set is gathering dust next to your laserdisc player in the basement. Still, a bargain is a bargain, so $40 off a product or products that we don't really need was more than enough motivation to race over to the official sign-up page only minutes after it went live. You, of course, still have a good 13 months to pick up one of these digital-to-analog converters from LG or friends, but since you're probably not in very good shape to do much else today, why not make the most of your incapacitation and hit the Read link to fill out your application.

[Thanks for the reminder, Travis C.]

After being hampered by habitual delays both legal and technical, it looks like the long-awaited über-tech of the display world may finally be on the cusp of reaching market, as Canon is reportedly developing a way to build surface-conduction electron-emitter display (SED) TVs without using contentious IP. Specifically, Japanese newspaper Asahi is reporting -- without citing sources -- that Canon is working on a "non-carbon" method of producing the sets that bypasses the Nano-Proprietary patents at the heart of that lawsuit. Still no hint on when we'll actually be able to install one of these models in our home theater, but the promise of unrivaled black levels, brightness, and contrast could well have us drinking the SED Kool-Aid for years to come.

[Via Bloomberg, thanks Dr. MORO]

It's no secret that Michael "Transformers" Bay prefers his high definition optical discs in the Blu variety, but what we didn't know was how convinced the man is that the whole format war is nothing but a stalling tactic, with Microsoft pulling all the strings. Responding to a commenter angry over Paramount's decision to burn Optimus and friends onto HD DVD only, Bay claims to have the inside track on the "corporate politics" at play here, suggesting that "Microsoft wants both formats to fail so they can be heroes and make the world move to digital downloads." He goes on to claim that Redmond has only been financially backing HD DVD over "superior Blu-ray" to create "confusion in the market" until such time as high def digital downloading goes prime time. In other words, if you believe Bay, Microsoft is backing a known loser in order to prolong a war it doesn't want anyone to win. Pretty wild theory, if you ask us -- hey, this guy should make movies.

[Thanks, Timothy and Kiwi616]

TiVo has just announced an agreement with multimedia software provider Nero AG that will bring its familiar interface and feature set to the PC. According to the joint announcement made today, Nero will embed the TiVo experience in its next generation of software, allowing the millions of us who rely on USB dongles for our TV to finally join the exclusive realm of Series1, 2, and 3 owners. Plus, as Zatz Not Funny! points out, Nero's international presence should help spread TiVo to the far corners of the Earth like some digital Happy Meal. Hopefully this new PC timeshifting solution -- release window: unknown -- will also convince other purveyors of home theater-only hardware-based services to finally bring their wares to the desktop. Yes, we're looking at you, Sling.

[Thanks, Dennis C.]

Details are still a bit thin, but it looks like SageTV -- developer of alternative media center software -- is poised to release an HD media extender for in-home placeshifting. The company, which already makes a standard definition wireless extender, revealed pics of the so-called STX-HD100 today, along with a few shots of the retail packaging which expose such features as HDMI, component, S-Video, and composite jacks as well as USB 2.0 Mass Storage Interface. Keep reading to check out another angle, and you can probably dig up a little more info by trawling around the SageTV forums, where it seems like quite a few folks have been waiting around on this product for some time now...

[Thanks, Matt C.]

We're sure you've been drooling over Sony's sexy little 11-inch XEL-1 OLED TV since the official launch last month, and though we thought that only the Japanese would be lucky enough to snap one up this year, Sony Electronics President Stan Glasgow has just revealed that US customers may actually have a shot at the 3-millimeter thick waif by holiday time. At a roundtable discussion this morning at the Sony Club in New York, Glasgow told the assembled journalists that "OLED could come [here] before the end of the year," but that the decision would be based significantly on foreign demand and panel supply -- an area where yields are still reportedly quite low. In other words, while you shouldn't go squirreling your ~$1,800 away just yet, you should start praying to the gods of consumer electronics that the XEL-1 hits Tokyo with little more than a whisper.

We like to have a lot of fun around here, but we also know that there are times to get serious and use our semi-prominent position to rally our readers around a good cause. Or in the case of the 2007 DonorsChoose blogger challenge, 25 good causes. Engadget has partnered with numerous different tech-centric programs around the country to help raise funds for the children that they serve, and with your assistance, we're hoping to collect a total of $25,000 to be distributed among these various organizations. The best part? As its name suggests, DonorsChoose allows you to allocate your donation however you please; so instead of contributing to the general "Engadget fund," you're actually giving directly to one or more programs impacting high-need public schools.

You have until October 31st to make a donation -- either by clicking here or on the Read link below -- and we sincerely hope that you'll consider helping out these projects that really do have a chance to give kids a better future. We'll keep you updated with Team Engadget's progress, and while it would be almost criminal to guarantee every reader a new HDTV if we meet our goals, well...

Read - Donate!
Read - Blogger challenge press release
Read - About DonorsChoose.org

We don't know if it's really the world's first true indoor HD LED scoreboard or not, but even if it's not, the quartet of new screens at the Verizon Center are getting pretty glowing early reviews. Mitsubishi Electric and ANC Sports Enterprises teamed up to install the four center hung, 25-foot by 14-foot Diamond Vision systems at the home of the Washington Capitals, along with over 1,000 linear feet of LED fascia to display scrolling info. At only 1,280 by 736 pixels, none of these screens is going to make the most out of your favorite Blu-ray flick, but they do make the arena a perfect venue for your next LAN party.

[Photo courtesy of Flickr member Jessfir]

Well you may have missed this particular feature in your rush to pick up Polk's I-Sonic Entertainment System 2 table radio, but like its upcoming iHD brother from JBL, the ES2 is one of the first HD Radio models to feature a new iTunes tagging option that lets users bookmark over-the-air tracks for later purchase. In a symbiotic program that should potentially benefit studios, consumers, and perhaps even the medium itself, Apple hooked up with HD Radio developer iBiquity to integrate a "Tag" button into future hardware releases, which when triggered loads metadata about the current song to memory for future transfer to a docked iPod. Once that iPod has been synced with iTunes, users will have the option of previewing and / or buying elements of the specific playlist that's been cobbled together. Le's just hope Universal and Apple make nice sooner rather than later, because the absence of a major label from iTunes certainly isn't gonna do anything to turn us into a nation of taggers.

In a huge blow to Toshiba, Universal, and the rest of the HD DVD devotees, rental giant Blockbuster has decided to stock only Blu-ray discs in the vast majority of its nationwide locations, although HD DVD titles will continue to be offered online and in the 250 (out of 1,450) stores that have been testing both formats since last year. Blockbuster VP Matthew Smith revealed to the AP that the decision to go with Blu-ray -- which will reportedly be announced tomorrow -- stemmed from an overwhelming customer preference for those titles in the test markets, accounting for over 70% of all HD discs rented. Interestingly enough, it seems that content -- and not price -- was the deciding factor for consumers, with Blu-ray-only hits such as the Spiderman and Pirates of the Caribbean films apparently outmatching equivalent HD DVD exclusives. While it's still a little too soon to declare Blu-ray the outright winner, this Blockbuster decision only contributes to the momentum that Sony's darling has had of late -- momentum that at this point, might be too difficult for the other guys to counter.

[Via AVS Forums, thanks Simple Panda]