Amidst IFA 2008 madness in Berlin, yesterday I spent an interesting evening with George Mead, LG's head of marketing, and several other technology bloggers at Craven Cottage (home to Fulham FC)
We were shown a few of LG's LCD TVs coming to the UK this autumn. On looks and features alone, LG should have no problems increasing their market share in the UK, but of course it has a lot to do with marketing and brand perception too.
Slimline Scarlet
Successor to the Scarlet launched a few months ago, this 42 incher (42LG6100) is the world's thinnest LCD TV with digital tuner integrated, at just 45mm thin. Yes, the Sony BRAVIA ZX1 is a thinner display but it has a separate tuner, as does the Sharp AQUOS ZX1.
Not surprisingly, it's red backed, with LG's unique power "button" design.
Other specs include 50,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, 5ms response time, 100Hz TruMotion for smoother video, 10-bit colour reproduction, digital tuner, 3:2 and 2:2 pull down modes plus 24p Real Cinema mode. It also has two 10W speakers, SRS TruSurround XT, and Clear Voice for drawing out dialogue.
It has four HDMI ports (three rear, one side) plus a host of other ports, and features LG's Intelligent Sensor, which allows the TV to automatically control brightness, contrast, and other visual settings depending on the ambient light in the room.
The Slimline Scarlet is already available in the UK, retailing for somewhere around the £850 mark.
When HD DVD fell by the wayside, it was very easy -- particularly for Sony fans -- to declare a landslide victory for Blu-ray. The only problem is that Blu-ray really isn't doing all that well yet.
Three pieces of research which have been published over the past week have added to the pile of anecdotal evidence suggesting that Blu-ray just isn't ready for prime time yet.
First up, ABI Research's "Consumer Video Technologies Forecasts" report states that "the state of the Blu-ray player market is not all that encouraging" and relies heavily on the success of the PS3.
Last week I wrote about the Hauupage WinTV Nova-S USB2 satellite receiver, which is supposed to offer access to freesat (freesat launched on 6th May 2008)
An email I received from freesat's PR company this morning suggests the company sees things rather differently.
The official statement from freesat reads:
"freesat would like to clarify that the Hauppauge free-to-air USB2 satellite tuner is not a freesat licensed product and as such will not receive freesat services. freesat licensed products can be identified by the freesat logo and are subject to a stringent test and conformance regime. For more information, please see www.freesat.co.uk"
Velocix, a leading Digital Asset Delivery Network, has announced that it now supports Adobe Flash Media Server 3 across its network, meaning that it can offer more efficient global delivery of live and on-demand video.
Yesterday I spoke with John Dillon, Chief Marketing Officer at Velocix, about some of the issues surrounding delivery of high quality video over the Internet, and how his company is working to improve the situation.
Internet not designed for Video
One of the key issues surrounding rich multimedia delivery over the Net is that the infrastructure was never designed to handle such huge file sizes.
Most of the Web is still made up from fairly static pages containing text and images, which doesn't place a real strain on the servers and networks which have to deliver it to Internet users.
Video, on the other hand -- particularly live streaming video being pushed out to thousands of users simultaneously -- is another matter.
1. Toshiba and Sony both supported Betamax
It's the way of most long-established technology companies. They'll often collaborate with each other the one minute, then hack bits off each other the next. Sometimes it happens at the same time.
2. HD DVD capacity a non-issue
One reason Betamax lost out to VHS was the much shorter recording time afforded by the cassettes. It took Sony too long to figure out how to extend that.
Though HD DVD has a lower capacity, in reality it's ample space for entertainment uses. In any case, many Blu-ray discs still utilise only a single layer, whereas HD DVDs often utilise both.
One of the problems of a technology like high-definition evolving at such a rapid rate is the constant changing of standards and the terminology that accompanies them.
First we had 1080i and 720p HD video formats and then we moved to so-called Full HD or 1080p, which provides the highest resolution using progressive scan as used by both Blu-ray and HD-DVD players.
But the confusion doesn’t end there as 1080p can now be distinguished between two formats – 1080p/60 and the latest 1080p/24. The final numbers refer to the frame rate that each one uses, but what does it all mean?
With terrestrial broadcasters including the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 voicing their commitment to high-definition services recently it appears as if HD programming could soon be available in the mainstream – but there are still a few obstacles to overcome.
High-definition broadcasts take up substantially more bandwidth than typical standard-definition does, which makes the prospect of using the best available Freeview platform extremely unlikely in the near future.
So, how are terrestrial broadcasters planning to deliver HD programming to consumers?
Despite the fact that Sky and Virgin Media are at loggerheads when it comes to content and revenue, it seems that their two CEOs can agree when it comes to the idea of opening up part of the current terrestrial TV spectrum for broadcasters to launch high definition channels.
Sky's James Murdoch and Virgin Media's Malcolm Wall have both expressed their opposition to the five main terrestrial channels being "gifted" space on the frequencies freed up after analogue switch off is completed in 2012.
“You have people paying for this and to suddenly say it has crossed the threshold of public necessity is preposterous," said Murdoch at the Royal Television Society Cambridge Convention last week.
High-definition disc formats have been battling it out for a year now and, despite conflicting claims from both camps, we're still no closer to crowning a clear winner.
Recently, both Blu-ray and HD-DVD have been announcing all sorts of promotional campaigns and incentives, especially in the US, to try and claim the lucrative winning spot on the HD podium. But are these encouragements really going to have a massive impact on the outcome?
At face value, Blockbuster's decision to almost exclusively stock Blu-ray films in its US stores may not seem that significant. But there are potential repercussions that could justify claims that this is the beginning of the end for the high-definition format war.
If the claims and counter claims emanating from the US in recent weeks are to be believed then the format war between HD-DVD and Blu-ray has been decided. Trouble is, both camps claim to in the best position – which has only led to more confusion.
So, what's really going on?
US high-definition guru, Philip Swann, believes that Blockbuster's decision to back Blu-ray is the beginning of the end for HD-DVD – unless it can pull off at least one of his three suggested steps for survival.
In his video post on tvpredictions.com, Swann discusses three possible actions that HD-DVD supporters like Toshiba can take to fend off these latest developments across the pond.
A recent report by the investment bank UBS suggests that Virgin Media customers are fed up with the service they're receiving, and given the choice would happily switch to Sky, perceiving it to offer a better service.
The survey of one thousand UK households showed that 45% of Virgin's customers would switch if they could, while 10% planned to quit as a direct result of the dropping of Sky's premium channels.
The report also suggested that Virgin Media was experiencing an "identity crisis", with its triple-play unique selling point having been taken away by Sky's new voice and broadband offerings.
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