A few sightings of non-stretched 4x3 content has finally showed up on TBS HD today, but the bad news is that so far it has only been during commercials. We can only hope that this is a prelude to no more stretch-o-vision on TBS-HD, but given the track record of TNT and TBS, we aren't holding our breath. As you can see, when it comes to stretching content, we don't see eye to eye with our Time Warner siblings.

[Thanks, Alan]

Generally speaking, we don't much cover forums 'round these parts, but the AV Science Forum -- better known as AVSForum -- is the place to go to converse about all things AV-related. In what can only be described as a dramatic bummer, the website suffered a "a major failure in the database and backup storage." Due to the catastrophe, "tens of thousands" of posts were lost over the past week, and the boards have been restored to how they looked on August 2nd, 2008. We get this weird feeling the administrators will be implementing enough backup solutions to keep things humming along 'til the end of time after having this happen, though.

[Thanks, Big Wizz]

Wow, how long have we been waiting for this? The Tiffany Network that practically invented football in HD, has been making way too many HD fans who follow the lower ranked teams in the NFL -- poor Browns' fans -- suffer through SD football just about every Sunday for as long as we can remember. Meanwhile the last broadcast network to go HD, would deliver almost every game in HD, every week. Well enough is enough, and the very credible Ken H from the AVS Forum has brought out his Magic 8 Ball -- which has a much track record then the one on our desk -- and confirmed that CBS is going to live up to its promise that for the 2008-2009 season every single NFL game on CBS will be presented in HD. All we can say is, about time.

Everyone loves to talk about how 1080p at 24 frames per second is the holy grail of the ultimate HD movie experience. But the truth is that even if you are watching a Blu-ray movie via HDMI with the latest player set to 24p, there's a good chance it's all for naught because your HDTV is just converting the signal to another frame rate. But not all TVs do this, some can actually do it right and instead of using 2:3 pulldown it can do something like a 3:3 conversion and display the signal at 72hz -- for example. The problem of course is how can you tell which TVs do it right and which do it wrong? Well, thankfully a resourceful member of the AVS Forum -- with some help of other members -- has comprised a list to save you the hassle. So if you're in the market for a new HDTV and you just have to watch your movies at the native frame rate, then head on over and pick one from the list of front projectors, rear projectors, LCDs, or plasmas.

If you love TiVo, then there is no substitute, but at $300 many find HD TiVos too rich for their blood, when compared to the price of their provider's DVR. The Comcast TiVo offers a good compromise of price and experience, but there are some key TiVo features missing. Well it appears now that at least one of the most useful features of a stand-alone TiVo is now available for the Comcast TiVo: 30 second skip. So instead of hitting; select, play, 3, 0, select like you do on a stand-alone, you hit; Rewind, Slow, Fast Forward, Play, 3, 0, Advance and you now have a 30 second skip button.

[Via TVSquad.com]

A few Netflix users at AVS have reported that customer service reps are blaming the Netflix HD movie backup on the studios. The story goes on to say that it's a conspiracy devised by the studios as a way to get you to buy rather than rent. We dropped a quick email to a studio exec, and after he got done laughing, he gave us a call and said, "However fans want Blu-ray, we'll deliver it." So there you go Netflix, no more excuses. Just start pumping up the stock of new releases so we don't have to wait as long to enjoy the latest movies in Hi-Def.

Format fanboys (and girls), we sure hope you've taken the time to cool your apparently heated jets, because AVS Forum is putting its foot down from here on out. Just days after the site shut down the HD DVD / Blu-ray boards due to the zaniness that was ensuing, it has reopened the forums for new postings -- but there's a laundry list of rules to go with it. Granted, the site does recommend finding a new home to vent your off-topic frustrations if you aren't down with the new regulations, but overall, we think they're pretty fair. Effectively immediately, users aren't allowed to throw out sales figures, troll others, attack statements or petition for one format or the other. For those who slip up and cross the newly drawn line, you will likely be banned and have your posts removed, so we'd recommend thinking thrice before pulling the trigger on a rage-filled writeup over there.

Not since the infamous PS3 crime wave of late 2006 have we seen anything like this. According to a notice posted on the heavily trafficked AVS Forum, the HD DVD and Blu-ray sections are being closed to new posts "for a short time," and the reasoning behind such a severe action may shock you. Apparently, a number of hot-headed posters have not only been dissin' supporters of (insert rival format here), but some have lashed out at other members with "physical threats that have involved police and possible legal action." While it's not exactly clear what pushed these extremists to the edge, there's no denying that the recent price drops on standalone HD DVD players have given the HD community as a whole a lot more to yap about, and we guess some folks just didn't know where to draw the line. The format war just took on a whole new meaning, and it's not one to be proud of.

[Via CNET, image courtesy of Olive-Drab]

Sounds crazy right? Seriously, how could a fiber optic network be out of bandwidth? In most networks, the last mile (in this case fiber) is the bottleneck, but despite what Verizon has told us, it appears there is a bottleneck further upstream -- at least according to a very well respected long time member of the AVSForum. Although Verizon is one of the first providers to bring fiber to the home, just like most cable co's, its television network is a QAM system. One of the biggest differences is that Verizon uses two Super Head Ends for the entire country where all the signals -- except locals -- are collected (via fiber and satellite) and then sent to various video hubs through the US and finally to central offices in each Verizon FiOS market. The problem lies in the the video hubs and central offices -- some of them can only support 103 QAM channels, which is considerably less than the 135 channels available between your local central office and your home. We have no idea why Verizon would build the core of its network this way, but we are lead to believe that a plan to upgrade is currently underway, and since it's Verizon's policy to deploy new HD channel nationally, everyone has to wait until the upgrades are completed. This is not to say that FiOS is already completely out of bandwidth, but we believe Verizon is feeling the pinch and is trying to reallocate bandwidth from analog channels to digital -- just like cable. We for one are just glad that Verizon dosen't do what most providers do, and re-compress the HD programming to find more bandwidth. Of course since Verizon isn't talking, there's no way to know if this is true, but it makes sense when you think about the number of HD channels added in the past six months while every other provider is adding channels in record numbers.

**UPDATE**
Verizon wasn't happy when we said "Verizon isn't talking", because they did respond to our email requesting information. What we meant is that they wouldn't tell us what needed to be upgraded and only said "it's just a matter of adding new equipment to increase capacity", which we already knew. What we didn't know, and they wouldn't talk about is, what exactly was needed to increase capacity and when? You can read the full rebuttal on their site.

Ahh, the anticipation of new HD channels. DirecTV has many new channels planned in the coming months and unfortunately we'll have to wait to enjoy them. One well respected AVSForum member got a little treat after work today when he noticed that all the new channel assignments were showing up in the guide. Before you go running to check your guide, you should know that this particular person has a card which enables him to view what the engineers see -- hence the name engineering mode. We're not sure if he works for DirecTV, or how he obtained this card, but we'll be following this closely 'till all the HD goodness is delivered. Check out the full list of channels and their assignments after the jump.

The fall television season is almost here and it brings with it a bevy of new shows, new seasons for old shows, and old favorites moving to new timeslots. Add to that the prospect of quick cancellations and you've got a situation that can be very hard to keep track of. Luckily the networks have made things easier for us this year by producing practically every prime time show in HD so you don't have to guess, with the exception of reality shows. The guys at AVSForum have put together a continuously updated list of summer/fall/winter shows, what's in HD and what isn't, what's premiering tomorrow (Prison Break, Vanished) and what we'll be waiting until September or October to see (The Office, The Nine). They've even got the new networks, The CW and MyNetworkTV listed, although Dancing with the Stars isn't indicated HD yet. Keep an eye on the daily listings as well, we'll continue to give you a heads up on all the new shows this fall.

StudioCanal, not well known in the US but one of the largest distributors of movies in the world will be releasing films on HD DVD, and now we have confirmation from Microsoft's Amir M. that they will be encoded in VC-1 at 24p, theoretically removing any possible barrier for their being played on US HD DVD players. The main benefit of this of course being that StudioCanal holds the European release rights to many movies currently limited to Blu-ray only distributors like Fox here in the U.S. Unless region coding is adopted by HD DVD, it could be very simple for aficionados to obtain copies of their favorite movies simply by importing them, and perhaps put additional pressure on distributors here to go multiformat to avoid losing sales to importers.

We are not aware of any plans yet announced by StudioCanal to release movies on Blu-ray, and with their Vivendi Universal connection plus Blu-ray region coding that may not give US buyers access to Universal content anyway. Of course we have to wait until the titles are actually released and whether or not region coding for HD DVD is finalized, but this could provide a big boost to HD DVD supporters who don't want to be locked out of some of their favorite movies.

[Thanks for the tip Glenn!]

For the second time this year, Xbox Live's Larry Hryb a.k.a. Major Nelson has a high definition expert, actually two, appear on his podcast to extol the virtues of HD DVD. However this time, unlike during the interview with Tyler the HDTV expert on 1080p back in February, Blu-ray and HD DVD are both available and on store shelves at the moment. The two experts appearing this week include Amir M., who many of you are already familiar with due to his frequent posts on AVSForum, and Kevin Collins, both work on Microsoft's efforts promoting iHD, VC-1 and HD DVD.

If you're familiar with Microsoft's stated reasoning for supporting HD DVD instead of remaining neutral or supporting Blu-ray there won't be a lot of new info here, but probably enough to make a listen worthwhile. Be warned that if you're a Blu-ray fanboy this isn't exactly the equal-time special, if you're expecting the Blu-ray side of things to be presented you'll need to look elsewhere. However being biased towards the HD DVD side (not mentioning reported issues with HD DVD players and promoting recent firmware upgrades as a benefit and not a side effect of rushing to launch for example) doesn't mean they aren't telling the truth. Their main points are clear, 30GB dual-layer HD DVD over 25GB single-layer Blu-ray, VC-1 HD DVD releases over MPEG-2 Blu-ray releases and already available iHD-enhanced titles over potentially limited BD-J support in current players.

No it's not June 25th, and yes that is a brand new Samsung BD-P1000 Blu-ray player you see sitting on some lucky shmucks kitchen table. Through the magic of early shipments and clueless retail employees, at least two guys were able to walk home with their high definition DVD players (after making the mandatory $999 charitable donation), and one of them was able to get several Blu-ray movies to boot.

Not much to report yet, although both have noted a couple glitches already, but it remains to be seen if that is a consistent problem. The one individual who was able to get hold of Blu-ray movies reported excellent PQ, loading time around half that of the Toshiba HD-XA1, although he preferred the Toshiba unit's much-maligned remote. If Blu-ray is your choice or you just feel like taking one for the team, you may want to stop by Best Buy on your lunch break. Those guys at Samsung really know how to debunk rumors of a delay, imagine that sitting next to your HDTV right now.

[Via Engadget]

Read - Just got Samsung Blu-ray player and 4 movies
Read - Blu-rays at BB - Just picked up mine @ AVS Forum

That's the latest buzz at AVS Forum, where poster PFC5 has posted this image of the mystery 1.3 update. However due to server problems it hasn't been distributed to very many others and we still don't know what it does, if anything. The original poster originally had a problem with his Toshiba displaying an RCA splashscreen, so that may be the only difference between this and the official 1.2 update now available for download. Otherwise, there's not much to say at the moment until early adopters get their hands on it and try it out.

Oddly, contrary to some reactions around the net regarding updates and bugfixes becoming commonplace in consumer electronics, many posters in the thread are encouraged by the indication Toshiba will provide frequent updates for issues discovered by the community. This isn't that surprising when you think back to the many problems early adopters often have to deal with without an official response or fix (anyone remember many of the early DVD players? Ouch.)

Earlier news on HD-A1/HD-XA1 firmware updates:
Problems with Toshiba's HD DVD player
Toshiba HD-XA1 HD DVD player firmware upgrade leaked
Toshiba HD-A1/HD-XA1 firmware update(officially) released

Thanks for the tip WiFiSpy!