Hotels that show off HD are nothing new, but in nothing-but-the-best Dubai, you just know that the dial has to get turned to 11. Guests at the 7-star (seriously) Movenpick Hotel in Dubai demand custom-tailored HD, and that's exactly what Anangran intends to deliver by deploying its FR-1000 Flow Manager devices. Five of the wonderboxes will serve up pristine HD and VOIP at up to 10Gb/s, customized to each guest's preferences. And if there's nothing good on, we're thinking guests can just look out the window at the Podium display.

Only in Dubai and the surrounding areas would a 4,000-square foot cinema-on-wheels be considered "portable." The 70-ton, six-story high screen -- which is nicely complemented by a 32-speaker digital surround sound system -- is prepared to show off theatrical masterpieces to some 2,000 onlookers at the Hydra Open Air Cinema UAE 2008. Said event is set to spend a dozen nights in both Abu Dhabi and Dubai during November and December, and organizers are fully expecting to make it an annual tradition. So, what are the chances we can get Star Wars going on this thing?

[Via AboutProjectors]

By this point, you should fully understand that "Dubai" and "world's largest" go hand-in-hand, so it's quite fitting that said city is receiving the planet's most humongous LED screen. Designed by UAE development company Tameer Holding, the 33-story high display will reportedly be "embedded on an intended commercial tower in the Majan district of Dubailand," where it will stand tall and blast out advertisements to onlookers some 1.5-kilometers away. Dubbed Podium, the building will also house 33 levels of "premium commercial office space, two floors dedicated to retail and four floors for parking." There's no word on when the project will be completed, but we don't suspect Tameer will be dragging its feet in getting this up.

[Via Coolbuzz]

Motorola already sent out its dutiful survey team to pick the brains of millennials (ages 16 to 27) in the US, but now those same folks have infiltrated nations across the pond. Somewhat surprisingly, the results were mighty similar, even though Europe is notorious for buying HDTVs and not the HDTV programming to go along with it. Still, some 78% of the 1,200 surveyed confirmed that they would prefer a TV program to restart the moment they switched over, leading us to believe that only 22% enjoy showing up to a movie that has already started. Also curious was the fact that 53% of respondents in the UAE said they "loved HD content," yet the region is just now starting to see high-def material from broadcasters. Anywho, the read link has lots and lots of numbers if you care to humor yourself, but the real comedy is in the Millennial Generation video after the jump.

Although broadcast HD may not hit the United Arab Emirates (UAE) until 2009, the nation's very first high-def channel is reportedly on track for a September launch. Yeah, as in next month. The Abu Dhabi Media Company (ADMC) is planning to launch an undisclosed HD station within weeks, and word has it that ADMC could begin "filming local football matches in the format from September." It all starts with one...

[Via AMEInfo]

In case you haven't heard, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is on a spending spree fueled by its goal to become the country with the bestest of everything. Naturally, that claim includes broadcast HDTV, right? Well, as we've seen in the U.S., there's more to getting HD off the ground than the infrastructure. Lots of channels with little content does not a happy HD populace make, and those are exactly the growing pains that UAE is experiencing. The country has spent some $5-billion on HD infrastructure that has been ready to roll for some 2.5-years, but it's been a, um, desert in terms of content. The market rollout with respect to HD-media is reversed from the situation we had in the U.S. -- the UAE is seeing HDM spark HD broadcast -- but it's still all about content. Our advice is to rely on early adopters until content reaches critical mass, and then the market will catch on. And trust us -- it's worth the wait.

Panasonic's fairly well-regarded DMP-BD30 Blu-ray player has been available here in America for months on end, but it's just now getting shipped en masse to the Middle East. Reportedly, the launch marks Panny's first foray into the Middle East's Blu-ray market, but with the DMP-BD50 just waiting to globetrot, we have all ideas it won't be the outfit's last. No word on pricing just yet.

Remember that hybrid Blu-ray camcorder Hitachi busted out late last summer? Lo and behold, that very unit has become the first of its kind to grace the markets in the United Arab Emirates. The flagship DZ-BD7HSW incorporates a 30GB hard drive along with BD recording capabilities to log hours upon hours of 1,920 x 1,080 footage of your stay in the Burj Al Arab, and for folks not keen on editing, it offers up a one-touch transfer function to get your HDD-stored material straight to Blu-ray Disc. Unfortunately, a price for the UAE isn't mentioned, but that's about all the reason you need to hop on over for a week and see for yourself, right?

It's no surprise to hear of consumer demand swaying decisions in America in regard to HD content, but it seems as if the cries for more high-def are making their way east. According to the Dubai World Trade Centre, "discerning consumers in the region are driving broadcasters to expedite their shift towards high definition transmission and upgrade their existing facilities at a faster pace." The 2007 industry report by the Satellite Industry Association also "indicated a huge upswing in consumer demand for more high definition (HD) content." As it stands, broadcasters in the Middle East are just starting to employ HD technology, but given the rate at which areas such as Dubai adopt newfangled technology, we wouldn't be surprised to see guests at the Burj Al Arab enjoying a hundred or so HD options in the not-too-distant future.

[Image courtesy of Volja]