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ABC HD College Football Regional Coverage Maps

by Ben Drawbaugh, posted Sep 22nd 2006 at 9:49PM

ABC College Football Regional map
We're more excited than anyone that ABC started to cover college football games in our favorite format. One of the reasons it took so long was because of all the regional football games ABC covers. Regional games are by definition not covered nationaly so how is everyone supposed to know which games they will be able to watch? Our friends over at HDSportsguide.com have us covered and have posted maps and now we know which games we can expect to see in HD on Saturday.

Engadget HD Podcast 032 - 09.22.06

by Trent Wolbe, posted Sep 22nd 2006 at 5:25PM Featured Story

Sorry this one's a bit late -- we were busy, you know, relaunching as Engadget HD! In our first program as the Engadget HD Podcast, Ryan joins us to welcome Engadget HD to the Engadget team! Matt tells us about his busy CEDIA coverage and has a lot to say about everything he saw there: new certifications, new products, amazing picture quality, everything you wanted to know about CEDIA will be laid bare. TiVo is, of course, also brought up thanks to Ben's special experience with ordering of of TiVo.com.

Get the podcast

[iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes (MP3).
[RSS] Add the Engadget HD Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically
[MP3] Download the show (MP3).
[Vote] Vote for us on Podcast Alley!

Hosts: Ben Drawbaugh and Matt Burns.

Producer: Trent Wolbe

Format: 45:27, 20.9 MB, MP3

Program
Engadget HD @ CEDIA 2006
THX @ CEDIA - THX certification for video displays
HD DVD @ CEDIA - Promotional Tour
Runco @ CEDIA - plasmas that don't forget
Sony @ CEDIA - Pearl First Impressions
InFocus @ CEDIA - Screenplay 777 & IN78EX
Denon @ CEDIA - Rack full of non-HD DVD players
Sharp @ CEDIA - Blu-ray home theater in a box - BD-MPC10
2G HD DVD players announced - HD-A2 & HD-XA2: $499 & $999 - UPDATE
Blackmagic Design announces, HDMI Capture card for $249
Today show, Dancing with the Stars debut in HD, how did they look?
Why you shouldn't order your Series3 from TiVo.com
Weaknees has already upgraded their Series3 to 750GB
HD DirecTiVo 6.3 transmitted last night
Comcast offering over 100 hours of HD VOD beginning...today

LISTEN (MP3)

HD DVD and Blu-ray released on September 19th 2006

by Ben Drawbaugh, posted Sep 18th 2006 at 2:06PM

Jay and Siltent BobDisney's first Blu-ray titles hit the shelves tomorrow and needless to say we are less than impressed. There is only one title we're excited; Jay and Silent Bob Strike back. Sony has a few good titles this week and Universal releases the classic Backdraft.

With another studio releasing titles for Blu-ray and Fox right around the corner we'd expect Blu-ray to catch up to and surpass HD DVD in the shear number of titles, but after two months, we aren't so sure when this might happen.

This brings the total to HD DVD 71 vs Blu-ray 45.

Blu-ray

HD DVD


You can also check out our Google Calendars for all the dates.
HD DVD release schedule


Blu-ray release schedule

Accella @ CEDIA - First Mini HDMI cable

by Ben Drawbaugh, posted Sep 17th 2006 at 2:02PM

HDMI continues to gain acceptenace and the manufacturers of small CE devices want to play too. Although HDMI-mini was announced a few months ago a cable has finnally arived. Accella is showing this new cable at CEDIA and our man on the scene snaped these pics for your enjoyment. This new connector is intended for small CE devices like phones and cameras that are too small to fit a normal size HDMI cable.

Toshiba develops new compresion tech for HD DVD

by Ben Drawbaugh, posted Sep 16th 2006 at 7:34PM

Toshiba LogoToday's latest CODECs can do some amazing things in the quality vs size compromise, but anyone who has tried to encode their own knows how challenging it can be. Members of the Blu-ray camp have claimed they use MPEG2 for just that reason. To make using the latest CODECs easier, Toshiba has developed an encoder that can run on a PC and even encode in real time, which they say will make content creation even easier and faster.

Canadian telecommunications company upgrading for HDTV

by Ben Drawbaugh, posted Sep 16th 2006 at 5:33PM

TelusThe TelCos aren't the only one upgrading their networks, the Canadian Cable Cos have a lot of work to as well. It isn't all bad considering they only need to run fiber to their head ends vs to the customer premise. Telus Corp. plans to spend $600 million over the next three years to up grade 7000 head-ends which will enable them to offer more HD programming as well as faster Internet access.

ADSL2+ isn't up to the HD challenge

by Ben Drawbaugh, posted Sep 16th 2006 at 3:20PM

FiberTriple play is where it's at for telecommunications providers or at least where they want to be. Having one bill for all your telecommunications needs isn't only appealing to consumers, cable Cos want to get your phone business and Telcos want your TV business, but the question is how? Lucky for the Cable Co's they have used coax for their networks which is inherently better than the voice grade non-twisted pair the telcos have been using for years. While the telcos are rolling out fiber all over the country they are trying to use ADSL2+ to keep their customers happy in the mean time. This works pretty good for Internet access and even some TV, but not so great for HDTV, which of course the only thing that matters!

China to go HD OTA in 2008

by Ben Drawbaugh, posted Sep 16th 2006 at 1:48PM

China BuildingChina is all the rage these days, I mean they make all the great gadgets we love. Sure we design most of them, but someone has to assemble all that stuff. It is about time they are going to be able to enjoy OTA HD like we have for so long. The interesting part is that they have their own format called DMB-T and will be rolled out between 2006 and 2010, but no HD till 2008. Who wouldn't want to be the company to sell them 4.1 million OTA HD tuners?

Plasmon and Co use HD DVD variation to transport content

by Ben Drawbaugh, posted Sep 16th 2006 at 1:02PM

UDOEver wonder how content is physically transported between the studios and the pre-mastering facility? In the past they have used tape or even RAID devices, but tapes are fragile and sometimes break and we all know how much RAID devices can cost. Transporting media with moving parts can be a challenge in it self, especially when it is valuable. It appears that a few companies have figured out a way to use a HD DVD variation they call UDO-DMD or Ultra Density Optical Digital Master Disk, but you knew that right? They hope this will provide the security and dependability that the studios demand when transporting their content.

HD DirecTiVo 6.3 transmitted last night

by Ben Drawbaugh, posted Sep 14th 2006 at 10:32AM

TiVo Web 6.3 update
The update that all HD DirecTiVo fans have been waiting for was finally transmitted last night and now we're all waiting for our TiVo's to update. Although the update is downloaded via satellite, the update is kicked off when your TiVo phones home. Unfortunately all the calling in the world won't necessarily get you the update. DirecTV is rolling out the updates in their own way and there is no way to tell when they will activate it on your TiVo. Some at TiVoCommunity are lucky enough to have it already and are confirming the new folders and increased performance. Our friends over at Dealdatabase are figuring out ways to activate it themselves, but of course this requires that you already have a hacked TiVo with telnet enabled. They are also trying to figure out if it is possible to enable MRV with the new update.

Read - TiVoCommunity.com's 6.3 Update Thread
Read - DealDatabase.com's 6.3 Update Thread

HDBeat Podcast 031 - 09.13.06

by Trent Wolbe, posted Sep 13th 2006 at 11:00AM

If your the type of person who hates all the HD DVD vs Blu-ray talk on the podcast then this is the week for you. We literally talk about the war for about 10 minutes. The Series3 gets most of the time as we cover how great it should be(Ben won't shut up about it) and why. We also cover some of the alternatives and the type of person who might buy it(Matt can't afford it so he knocks it). We are required to cover some Apple news(it is in the blogger by laws) and the rest of the show is HD programming. Ben contradicts his geekdom by talking about how much he loves football one minute and how much he loves Star Trek in HD the next. Matt ends the show with a preview of CEDIA and we ask you guys to email us to let Matt know what can't be missed at the show.

Get the podcast

[iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes (MP3).
[RSS] Add the HD Beat Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically
[MP3] Download the show (MP3).
[Vote] Vote for us on Podcast Alley!

Hosts
Ben Drawbaugh and Matt Burns.

Producer
Trent Wolbe

Format
57:44, 26.5 MB, MP3

Program
The Series 3 has landed; UPDATE available on TiVo.com
Transfer current TiVo lifetime sub to Series 3
TiVo Series3: Worth $800?
DIRECTVs HR20 MPEG-4 DVR now available at Best Buy
Apple iTV set top box announced: 2007
24-inch iMac: Perfect synergy of computer and HDTV?
2006 NFL HD Schedule
DIRECTV pauses TNT HD in favor of high-def football
The NFL Today show to be in HD for the first time
'Jeopardy!' and 'Wheel of Fortune' going high-def tonight
WNBC to bring local high-def news to NY, NY
MTV's MHD is going stay MHD - no reality TV shows
Remastered high-def Star Trek details
What is it going to take to win the format war?
Blu-ray movies in VC-1: Up to par with HD DVD?
Disney's third wave of Blu-ray Discs


LISTEN (MP3)

Blackmagic Design announces, HDMI Capture card for $249

by Ben Drawbaugh, posted Sep 13th 2006 at 9:55AM

HDMI Capture Card
We all knew the time would come when the studios would have reason to enable HDCP and it appears that it may be time. Someone correct us if we're wrong, but this device, named Intensity, looks like it will enable consumers to record via HDMI and for only $249. Considering the costs of other HD recording options this is pretty resonably priced and will without a doubt put fear in studio execs everywhere. This doesn't come out until October, but we'll look forward to seeing it in action. It's interesting that it doesn't record component video, it might be worth picking up a converter to make sure you are covered.

[Via AVSForum.com]

The Series 3 has landed; UPDATE available on TiVo.com

by Ben Drawbaugh, posted Sep 12th 2006 at 7:11AM

TiVo Series 3
It appears that our buddy Dave Zatz has been holding out on his this entire time and has the scoop on the Series 3 at the price of his soul. We don't blame him, we would have sold our soul and his to get an early look like this at the Series 3. We forgive you Dave!

Almost everything we thought we knew about the Series 3 has became a reality, ALMOST, we have to take the good with the bad and here it is after the break.

Continue reading The Series 3 has landed; UPDATE available on TiVo.com

An interesting new product the HDHomeRun

by Ben Drawbaugh, posted Sep 11th 2006 at 8:05PM

HDHomeRun
File this under cool, umm what does it do? ... Ohh cool, but we hope they are better at designing electronics than using Photoshop. This is a ATSC tuner with a twist, you set this little guy up on your network and wire it to your OTA antenna and whala you can now watch HDTV on any PC in your house. It has two tuners and an IR receiver for commands, but we are left wondering how easy it will be to make our networked PC emit IR commands in another room. The cool part is that it is supposed to support DVR software and works on all platforms. The question is, if it is supposed to come out this week how come they don't have a real picture of it? On the other hand this is the same company that brought us the TiVo Cache card for those of us TiVo users who have been around long enough to remember when they were the essential.

If you want to try it out you can buy one from 9thtee online for $169, be sure to let us know how it works.



[Thanks, Frankie!]

'Jeopardy!' and 'Wheel of Fortune' going high-def tonight

by Ben Drawbaugh, posted Sep 11th 2006 at 4:18PM

JeopardyAlthough we don't cover these shows in our daily HDTV listings, tonight is the first night that Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune are supposed to go HD. We realize that many local affiliates are not setup for syndication, but we will be checking our local stations in hopes to catch some HD game shows. We look forward to checking back and seeing how many people were able to enjoy the shows in HD.




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