Nah, Comcast wasn't shedding any tears after announcing its Q1 2008 earnings, but DirecTV must be grinning from ear-to-ear. Aside from seeing its earnings rise 10-percent and revenues climb 17-percent, the satcaster also managed to grab 275,000 net subscriber additions. Analysts were quite pleased with the exceptionally low churn rate, as many of its subscribers seem to be staying put. And with close to a hundred HD channels on tap, who can blame them? It was also noted that average revenue per subscriber crept up from $73.40 to $79.70, and an increasing demand for high-definition programming and DVRs were largely to thank. Is making the switch from cable to satellite worth it? Seems that quite a few folks said yes with their wallets this past quarter.

[Via BloggingStocks]

Yeah, you heard us. We're bored with looking at all these "other surveys," it's time to have our own. We've seen that sales of Blu-ray players have been relatively disappointing thus far in 2008, even after the format war was over. We've heard that heightened prices, occasional shortages and Profile confusion were the causes. But we're interested to see if you -- the most diehard of them all -- have paid attention to any of that. Are movie / HD lovers still buying now that there's one true winner? And if so, are you snapping up the safe bet (read: PlayStation 3), waiting for a Profile 2.0 deck or grabbing up another standalone unit in order to not miss a minute of that 1080p glory? Let us have it below.

As we poked and prodded through the ups and downs of the format war, we noticed a recurring theme -- HD DVD seemed to have things going in its favor on more than one occasion. Consumers adored the low priced hardware, studios were coming on board and Sony's PlayStation 3 (along with all the other Blu-ray players) was priced extraordinarily high. Not to mention Sony's absolutely awful track record with formats. In a recent interview with ABI Principal Analyst Steve Wilson, BetaNews found that he believed that the outcome of the format war wouldn't necessarily benefit the consumer. Besides being more expensive and less developed, some Blu-ray players have had quite the time performing as advertised. According to ABI, "it wasn't customers' likes or dislikes that powered the fatal blow in the format war, it was Warner Bros.' decision to switch allegiance to Blu-ray, along with subsequent moves to dump HD DVD by major retailers such as Wal-Mart, Netflix and Blockbuster." Frankly, we can't argue with that one iota.

[Thanks, Andrew]

Ready for your fortnightly (give or take a few days) dose of analyst conjecture in the drawn out format war? According to new numbers from NPD Group, just 11-percent of HDTV owners surveyed "strongly intend to buy a Blu-ray or HD DVD player by next spring," and moreover, nearly 75-percent of those consumers noted that standard DVD was "good enough for them." Ross Rubin, director for industry analysis at NPD, even went so far as to say that both players may "emerge as a premium, luxury item," rather than a successor to DVD. All in all, we'd agree that the average joe / jane isn't apt to pick a side in a deadlocked battle when prices are still comparatively high (for players and titles alike), and considering that the war is still so close after 1.5 years of feuding, it seems increasingly likely that a bona fide winner may not actually emerge. 'Course, we tend to think that one side will eventually gain the upper hand, but as of now, your guess is as good as ours as to which camp that will be.

It's one thing to fret over the estimated $1.5 billion Congress has to set aside to pay for the "coupon program" to aid Americans in the analog-to-digital transition of 2009, but now lawmakers are "worried that too few of us know that the analog TVs we have been using for years could become big cathode-ray paperweights after February 18, 2009." Essentially, those in power feel that "too little is being done to get the message across," and that quite a few disgruntled individuals could be smacked with a reality check of gigantic proportions if no one tells them beforehand. According to a poll released by the Association for Public Television Stations earlier this year, some 61-percent of those surveyed had "no idea" the shutoff would even take place, so we'd expect a commercial blitz to give your fast-forward finger a workout in the coming months.

What do you typically get when you mix hot demand and a generous supply of competitors willing to offload their surplus? Apparently you get a frustrated and whiny mega-corporation, at least based on a recent report about Sony's reaction to the recent decreases in LCD / plasma prices. While we all knew Black Friday was bringing deals to the HDTV market like never before seen, and we discovered that new sets were topping wish lists galore, is it really any surprise that LCD TV prices are dropping "between 25- and 30-percent this year?" According to Sony, those figures are about "7-percent more" than the firm anticipated, and considering the coinage it's losing on each PS3 sold (and subsequent fines), we're sure the company has plenty of reason to frown. Notably, Jay Vandenbree -- president of consumer sales for Sony Electronics -- stated that the firm would "stay competitive, but wouldn't do anything that damages the industry long term." He also added that Sony (being that big gorilla that it is) had a "responsibility" to not accelerate price declines. Although we're sure it's staying far, far away from getting itself into one of these price fixing predicaments, we don't suspect there's a whole lot Sony can do to outgun the Vizios of the world this holiday season, and just like everything else, balance will eventually be restored.

Ah, Black Friday. Two incredibly delightful sounding words in the ears of bargain hunters everywhere, and this year's episode promises to emphasize HDTVs more than ever. With the big day looming, certain retailers have already disclosed attractive pricing on LCD and plasma sets, including the magical "$999" price point for 42-inch displays (albeit probably ED). Best Buy is hoping that the increase in volume will lead to increased demand for in-home installations, and with a new wave of gaming consoles hitting the market just a week earlier, HDTV sales could see a huge boost from gamers looking to take advantage of that 720p/1080i/1080p bliss. LCDs seem to be the biggest draw this year, as plasma pricing has hit a bit of a wall, while LCD technology continues to get cheaper. Marketing analysts have also predicted that consumers may see the stellar one-day deals as good reason to upgrade their old sets in order to take advantage of Blu-ray / HD DVD technology, and have also noted that this year is likely the "last hurrah" for EDTV sets. Regardless, getting your hands on any of the hotter deals will likely be a chore, and if you're not exactly keen with lining up outside a retailer's door at 3:00AM, just hold tight for that soon-to-come Cyber Monday, cool?