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Studios, CE firms bankroll $25 million Tru Blu ad campaign

by Darren Murph posted Nov 7th 2008 at 6:45PM


The stakes are high for Blu-ray this holiday season. As we've stated before, it's the first such season where it's not competing directly with HD DVD, and coincidentally enough, also the first in which it is competing (at least to a small degree) with HD streaming. To that end, a number of studios and consumer electronics outfits have agreed to fund a $25 million marketing campaign dubbed Tru Blu, which involves airing persuasive commercials on channels that "attract heavily male audiences." With Blu-ray deck prices expected to reach the $150 area come Black Friday, we'd say BD still has a good chance of being successful this winter, but it's going to need every ounce of gusto it can muster.

ABC's World News Tonight and Nightline enter high definition tonight

by Richard Lawler posted Aug 25th 2008 at 2:51PM

ABC's push for HD evening news comes to a head tonight, when World News with Charles Gibson and Nightline both hit your screen in 720p from the Democratic National Convention. Besides covering both conventions in HD -- and there'll be plenty of that in the '08 campaign -- when they return to the studio in September the HD love continues. 20/20, Primetime and World News on the weekend will all be HDTV-ready shortly after. B & C reveals ABC News is deploying the same Sony XDCAMs -- full HD newsgathering is on hold 'til 2009 -- used to bring home high definition Survivor this fall, add in a tropical location and it would likely be hard to tell which one we're watching.

Election '08 coverage to include more HD

by Richard Lawler posted Apr 18th 2008 at 9:33PM

Even though this week's Democratic debate was unfortunately-SD on ABC, we can expect more reasons to pay attention to the potential candidates in the days to come. CNN's Election Express has already deployed an HD news truck to cover the campaign trail, but CBS is close behind. The Eye plans to hit the conventions in HD, but it will take a while to move the newscast beyond upconverted standard definition video. NBC and ABC will also have the conventions in HD, but while NBC says its field equipment is HD ready, ABC doesn't plan to move beyond 4x3 newsgathering until the end of the year. Check out the rest of the details on TV Technology, we can't tell you who to vote for, but we wouldn't make a decision based on anything said in 480i.

Hitachi takes skinny HDTVs on the road, your LCD wants to purge

by Richard Lawler posted Mar 4th 2008 at 8:37AM


Flat panel manufacturer's disgusting obsession with being thin is coming to a high-end location near you, thanks to Hitachi's "Thin is in Motion" campaign. Focused on its 1.5-inch thick ultra-thin family of LCDs, the company is sending four trucks around the country equipped with 32- and 37-inch display models on rotating pedestals (because who doesn't watch their HDTV from the back or side angle?) to show off how thin they are. We wouldn't advise showing these to impressionable "fat" panels, for fear of psychological damage.

Toshiba amps up marketing of HDTV, HD DVD in Australia

by Darren Murph posted Jul 28th 2007 at 6:07AM


The marketing campaigns that numerous companies are now embarking on will have an additional member, as Toshiba is reportedly buckling down and getting the message out about its HDTVs and HD DVD players, particularly Down Under. Reportedly, the company is aiming to sneak into the "top five of the flat-panel TV market," and it also began to increase its promotion efforts of HD DVD in Australia. Regardless of the recent Blu-ray "victories," Tosh apparently still feels confident that HD DVD will survive, and noted that it would "increase the number of HD DVD players from one to three models by Christmas" in select local markets, all while while hoping to ship bundles of HD DVD-equipped Qosimo laptops. Granted, Mark Whittard -- general manager of Toshiba's Information Systems Division -- wasn't oblivious to the market trends going on around him, and duly noted that Toshiba "had its work cut out" to achieve such numbers.

Sony launches HD marketing blitz in Europe

by Darren Murph posted Jul 12th 2007 at 9:57PM

Sony's no stranger to launching controversial marketing campaigns around the globe, and it looks like Europe will become the firm's next victim. As high-definition technology gains ground overseas, Sony is reportedly readying a "major Pan-European marketing campaign to demonstrate the breadth and depth of HD offerings and to educate consumers about the intricacies of HD." The advertising will be seen on television, in cinemas, in stores, and even online, meaning that you'll be hard pressed to evade the Apricot Poodle "Experiment" commercial (glimpsed on the right) unless you go Amish for a month or so. Of course, considering the recent reports of Blu-ray disparity, we bet Sony will do its part to back the BDA all the while.

[Via TechDigest]




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