Considering that everybody is buying panels from everybody else these days, we're thrilled to announce that one more cute couple is joining the fray. Sanyo has recently announced that it has "started buying liquid crystal display panels from Sharp for use in its flat TVs sold in North America." According to Sanyo spokesman Hiroyuki Okamoto, the two firms are also pondering "joint development of kitchen appliances such as microwave ovens," but no further details were immediately available. LCD HDTVs and blenders -- a match made in heaven.

[Thanks, Atiba]

Just in case you haven't been schooled enough by HD research articles of late, here comes another to toss around inside that skull of yours. Based on a forecast by Informa Telecoms & Media, around 4-percent of worldwide households (read: not just homes with HDTVs) will "actively watch HD programming" before 2009 dawns. Just to put that into perspective, only 2-percent of homes globally were tuning into HDTV at the end of 2007. According to Simon Murray, principal media analyst at the company, a "major contributing factor is that set and set-top box prices have fallen substantially in the last two years," and it should come as no surprise that HD adoption has been highest in North America. Per usual, an HD study couldn't conclude without some reference to 2012, and sure enough, Informa is expecting around 179 million worldwide abodes (16-percent, give or take) to have HD programming in less than four years.

[Image courtesy of AT&T]

Given that "only half" of US HDTV owners currently subscribe to any sort of pay-HDTV package, yet forecasts are suggesting that 100 million homes will be ponying up for said programming in just four short years, we're curious to know how long you HD junkies in the crowd have been hooked. Relatively speaking, HD content has exploded in just the past couple of years, but early adopters are apt to recall a time when just fetching a feed HD feeds was enough to make one's month year. Pretty simply -- how long have you been paying for HD content, and if you're more the OTA type, how long has your antenna been pulling in 720p / 1080i signals?

[Image courtesy of AT&T]

We'll be honest -- we US-based HDTV owners are taking advantage of our set entirely more so than those in Europe, but considering the (relative) smorgasbord of high-def options that we have here in the States, the latest data from ABI Research is quite disheartening. Reportedly, some 41-percent of American TV owners possess an HDTV, but out of those, just 56-percent subscribe to a HD programming package. Of course, we're well aware that OTA consumption is on the rise, but still, that figure is simply abysmal (though not at all shocking). The report goes on to mention that while 45-percent of respondents admitted to using pay-per-view, most did so just one time per month. Additionally, 46-percent asserted that they were "unsatisfied" with their carrier, with the primary gripes being high prices and lame customer service. Still, we're glad to see that HD recognition is on the rise here in the US, but we have a seriously long way to go before 100 million homes are signed on to high-def programming services.

[Image courtesy of AT&T]

Alright, so it was mildly humorous at first -- now it's just downright freaky. For the fourth time in just a few months, a report is emerging that forecasts numbers for 2012. Not 2011, not 2013, just 2012. Nevertheless, the latest research doled out by Pike & Fischer asserts that "up to 103 million households will be paying their multichannel video provider for some form of HD service or rental equipment" by 2012. As it stands, around 47 million US homes will be coughing up for HD programming by the end of 2008, which should be a 17 million domicile increase from 2007 if everything goes as predicted. Needless to say, we've no doubts that HD consumption has nowhere to go but up, but even we are taken aback by the $2.6 billion in annual revenue that content providers are expected to garner in just four short years.

Forget income tax rebate checks -- what are you doing with that bonus that should be arriving between May and August of this year? Apparently, 1 in 5 of you will be spending at least a portion of your economic stimulus rebate check on consumer electronics. Granted, this "research" was dug up and put out by the Consumer Electronics Association, but all in all, it actually sounds about right. After all, shipments for flat-panels have already been on the rise this year despite a softening economy, and according to the CEA, "computers, televisions and mobile phones" are the items most likely to be targeted. More specifically, some 39-percent will purportedly use their extra income on a TV, but for their own sake, we certainly hope they set aside enough to purchase HD service to go along with it.

[Image courtesy of Crutchfield]

We can't say we've really spent any huge amount of time wondering just how converged kitchen devices can become, but apparently, the designers at Pandigital have. Announced today, the Kitchen HDTV / Digital Cookbook / Digital Photo Frame (really, that's the name) stays true to itself in three big ways: acting as a 15-inch 720p HDTV (ATSC / NTSC tuner included), a digital cookbook (with pre-loaded recipes and space for more) and a digital photo frame. Packed within, you'll find half a gigabyte of memory, a built-in alarm clock and an integrated 6-in-1 media card reader. And considering all that sauce you'll be slinging, you'll be thrilled to know that it's sealed with glass and boasts interchangeable faceplates to fit varying moods. Heck, this thing even handles Motion JPEG, MPEG4 and AVI files -- not a bad way to spice up your kitchen (and spend $399.99), eh?

Considering that NSR thinks that we'll have access to 900 HD channels via satellite by 2012, we're not exactly sure why we'll even need to download high-def media in four years. All jesting aside, a recent report put forth by Parks Associates suggests that around 33 million US households will have 10Mbps+ broadband by 2012, essentially enabling an equal amount of homes to easily stream high-definition video. At the end of 2007, just 5.7 million -- or nine-percent of broadband-enabled domiciles -- had such speeds. Granted, just because speeds creep up doesn't mean that consumers will soon be ditching their packaged media and resorting to streams, but with cable companies gearing up for DOCSIS 3.0 rollouts, we'd say these figures aren't too far fetched.

[Via US News]

Earlier this year, we saw reports that hinted at "flat" DVD sales for the remainder of 2007, so it follows logic to hear that standalone DVD players are seeing a similar fate. Reportedly, around 80-percent of US consumers have a DVD player somewhere in their domicile, which reinforces the fact that the market is pretty well saturated. Furthermore, sales of the aforementioned units have "declined 15-percent for the 12 months ending September 2007," and that's coming off of a 24-percent slide the year before. As for DVD recorders, things aren't look too much brighter; sales of these gizmos were also down 15-percent during the year ending September 2007, which is quite a change from the 50-percent uptick it saw during the same window last year. Still, none of this should come as a surprise to anyone remotely paying attention, as the age of HD films has officially arrived -- even though we've yet to choose a single format to lead us down glory road. Nevertheless, we still foresee quite a few people picking up incredibly inexpensive DVD players as gifts this holiday season, but we highly doubt you'll need to throw down on anyone in aisle five this year to get your hands on one.

[Image courtesy of NY Times]

Just days after the HD DVD camp trumpeted the fact that 90,000 standalone players were sold in a single weekend after price cuts enabled the units to suddenly fit into quite a few budgets, the same team is now boasting that nearly 500,000 players have been moved to date. Granted, we're taking these numbers with a throw of salt, but according to Home Media Magazine, the recent price slashing has created around 100,000 new HD DVD owners, which, combined with the 320,000 or so units already in homes adds up to around 420,000. Apparently, backers of the format are surmising that the half million mark could be broken by the time Black Friday has made its mark. 'Course, these numbers mean little in the grand scheme of things, but you can bet it'll get people talking.

Go on, you New Yorker you, give yourself a much deserved pat on the back. According to recent findings from The Nielsen Company, NY residents are "leading the nation in adopting high-definition television." Reportedly, some 17.5-percent of households in NYC are pulling in HD content of some kind. Notably, Los Angeles has the highest amount of HD-equipped homes, but only 17.1-percent of 'em are actually putting their equipment to good use and receiving an HD station. Taking home the bronze is Washington, D.C., with 16.8-percent of its domiciles enjoying HD programming. Nationwide, 13.7-percent of dwellings are HD-capable, but only 11.3-percent (that's 12.7 million homes) are actually receiving HD signals in some form or another. Seems like we've got quite a ways to go to hit that 50 million mark by next year.