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Mark Kersey’s HDTV News Blog
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EchoStar to Acquire VOOM Satellite Assets
EchoStar announced late this afternoon that it has acquired the Rainbow 1 satellite system from Cablevision subsidiary Rainbow DBS for $200 million. VOOM’s 26,000 customers will continue to receive service during a transition period, although neither they nor VOOM programming and equipment were part of the transaction. Here’s the official statement:
“EchoStar Communications Corporation announced today that it has agreed to purchase certain satellite assets from Rainbow DBS Co., a subsidiary of Cablevision Systems Corporation, for $200 million.
Specifically, EchoStar has agreed to purchase Rainbow 1, a direct broadcast satellite (DBS) located at 61.5 degrees West Longitude, together with the rights to 11 DBS frequencies at that location. The satellite includes 13 frequencies, up to 12 of which can be operated in "spot beam" mode.
The EchoStar III satellite also located at 61.5 degrees West Longitude broadcasts DISH Network TV programming to hundreds of thousands of consumers today using DBS spectrum controlled by EchoStar at that location. EchoStar is assessing how the Rainbow satellite's flexibility can best be utilized to enhance DISH Network's existing service. Also, as part of the transaction with Cablevision, EchoStar will acquire ground facilities and related assets in Black Hawk, S.D. The transaction is subject to review by the Federal Communications Commission and other regulatory agencies.”
Posted by Mark Kersey, Jan. 20, 2004 6:07pm UPDATED Jan. 21, 2004 9:53am
Scientific-Atlanta Shipped 193K HD-DVRs in Q4
Set-top box manufacturer Scientific-Atlanta reported in its quarterly earnings yesterday that it shipped 193,000 high-definition DVR boxes in the last quarter of ‘04 (the company’s fiscal year second quarter), up 29% from the prior period.
Overall, S-A shipped 449,000 DVRs -- both SD and HD -- in the quarter. By comparison, industry pioneer TiVo added 419,000 customers in Q3. Posted by Mark Kersey, Jan. 21, 2004 9:49am
RCA Lowers Price of Thin DLPs
I missed this one at CES, but RCA announced in Las Vegas that it has lowered the suggested retail price of its 61” Scenium wall-mountable DLP rear-projection HDTV from $9,999 to $6,999. Additionally, it is launching a new 50” version of the same DLP for an MSRP of $4,999. Both models are less than 7 inches thick and are designed to compete with plasma and LCD flat-panel displays. The product line won a “Best of Innovations” award at this year’s CES. Posted by Mark Kersey, Jan. 20, 2004 2:08pm
Wineguard Intros New Indoor OTA Antennas
Wineguard announced at CES the introduction of its new SharpShooter line of indoor over-the-air antennas designed for metropolitan and suburban customers whose line of sight to the digital signal transmission tower is blocked. According to Wineguard, the SharpShooter allows the customer or installer to aim the antenna properly to choose the cleanest reflected digital signal off a wall in the room or a building across the street. This is made possible by the SharpShooter’s ability to selectively look at each bounced multi-path signal, one at a time and by design, reject all unwanted multi-path signals.
The SharpShooter is about 27 inches wide and has a transmission range of 30 miles. Posted by Mark Kersey, Jan. 20, 2004 2:04pm
GRAMMY Awards to Air in HD on Feb. 13th
The Grammys will once again air in high-def this year, with the music awards show being broadcast on Feb. 13th on CBS. Queen Latifah will be the host, while U2, Green Day, Tim McGraw and Alicia Keyes will perform. Posted by Mark Kersey, Jan. 20, 2004 1:59pm
For Sale: VOOM
The New York Tmes reports this morning that Cablevision CEO James Dolan prevailed in an intra-family dispute over the future of VOOM, persuading Cablevision’s board to put the upstart satellite provider up for sale. VOOM has long been the pet project of James’ father Chuck, who is Cablevision’s chairman and founder, and in a spin-off plan that was shelved late last year, James’ brother Thomas was to have become VOOM’s CEO. According to the NYT, James was able to persuade the board’s outside directors (that is, those with a last name other than Dolan or not otherwise close to the family patriarch) that the losses incurred by VOOM over the last year no longer warrant keeping the satellite company afloat with Cablevision dollars. The full story is here.
So what does this mean for VOOM? A sale to DIRECTV seems unlikely given the company’s recent launch of two new satellites and plans for two more by 2007, thereby dramatically increasing available bandwidth for new HD channels. That leaves EchoStar, whose DISH Network service could make better use of VOOM’s orbital slots. However, given that EchoStar could be the only interested buyer (and even its interest is somewhat muted), it seems unlikely that Cablevision will be able to come close to recouping its investment in VOOM. No word on what would happen to VOOM’s existing 26,000 customers, but they would likely get absorbed into the operations of the acquiring company. Cablevision did not issue a formal statement following yesterday’s board decision. Posted by Mark Kersey, Jan. 19, 2004 11:11am
EchoStar, DIRECTV Dueling Over HD Locals
EchoStar, parent company of the DISH Network satellite service, filed a brief with the FCC regarding rival DIRECTV’s plans to introduce HD local channels over its satellite system later this year. In the filing, EchoStar said the FCC should be “skeptical” of DIRECTV’s plans because, among other things, the Ka-band satellites it plans to utilize for the HD locals are subject to rain fade in large parts of the U.S. and are unproven for the type of program delivery DIRECTV has announced.
EchoStar also attempted to persuade the FCC that mandating HD local channel carriage by satellite operators is unwise and may result in other channels being bumped from customers’ lineups.
Although EchoStar and DIRECTV compete head-to-head in the satellite TV business, the former’s assault against the latter is interesting given that their real enemy are the cable companies. The message behind Echo’s filing seems to be that if DIRECTV wants to invest in the satellite capacity to launch HD channels, fine, but that the FCC should not require DISH to do likewise. My prediction: if DISH doesn’t devise a better strategy for offering HD locals around the country, it will suffer a tremendous number of subscriber defections over time as more of its customers make the switch to HD. DISH already lags DIRECTV in signing carriage agreements for owned and operated local networks, as DIRECTV has such deals with each of the big four (ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX), while DISH only has come to terms with CBS. Posted by Mark Kersey, Jan. 19, 2004 11:05am
HDNet to Broadast First NASCAR Race on Jan. 30
HDNet said this week that it will broadcast the first NASCAR race of the 2005 season from the Phoenix on Jan. 30th at 5:30pm EST. According to HDNet, coverage of "NASCAR Grand National Division on HDNet: From Phoenix International Raceway," hosted by the HDNet broadcast team of Rick Benjamin, Pat Patterson and Kandace Krueger, will include the "United Rentals 100" NASCAR Grand National Division, West Series race as well as the "Copper World Classic 75" NASCAR AutoZone Elite Division, Southwest Series race. The Grand National Division race will feature some of the most skilled drivers from the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series, including Kenny Schrader and Kevin Harvick. Posted by Mark Kersey, Jan. 19, 2004 11:01am
Time Warner Rolling Out HD Video On Demand
Time Warner has made HD On Demand service available in some of its markets including San Diego and Minneapolis, and will roll it out shortly in others such as Cincinnati. I don’t have a lot of details yet, but apparently movies such as Shrek 2 are available for $3.95 each. Will post more info as I get it (if anyone knows more, please e-mail me). Posted by Mark Kersey, Jan. 18, 2004 12:14pm
Cablevision’s Board Meeting Today to Discuss Fate of VOOM
The Wall Street Journal reports that the board of directors of Cablevision, parent company of VOOM, is meeting today to debate what to do about their flailing satellite provider. The Journal’s Peter Grant and Martin Peers write that Cablevision’s chairman and founder, Chuck Dolan (who also started HBO), wants to keep VOOM going, while his son James -- Cablevision’s CEO -- believes it’s time to either shut VOOM down or sell it off. According to the WSJ, son James has the support of a majority of Cablevision’s 14-person board, but the elder Dolan retains heavy influence over the group. Company insiders said that it is not clear that the meeting today will actually result in a decision or will merely continue the debate.
Wall Street analysts have sided with the younger Dolan in this dispute for quite some time, believing VOOM to be a drain on Cablevision’s stock price. VOOM ended the third quarter of ‘04 with just 26,000 subscribers and posted a loss of $75 million in the period. Cablevision’s stock has rallied in the past when various developments surfaced indicating that the end of VOOM was near, but the share price today is down 45 cents. Posted by Mark Kersey, Jan. 18, 2004 10:47am
HDNet Celebrates MLK Day with Black College Football
HDNet is showing today’s HBCU All-Star Classic college football game in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Coverage begins at 4:30pm EST and kickoff is at 5pm. The game was created with the goal of raising the profile of top NFL prospects from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and employs an East vs. West format. 96 NFL prospects from 44 HBCUs will compete, with coaching staffs consisting of current and retired NFL players and coaches. Posted by Mark Kersey, Jan. 17, 2004 12:59pm
Sony LCDs Selling Briskly, But Problems Elsewhere
Sony reported last week that sales in its TV Group were disappointing in the fourth quarter, largely due to CRT and plasma price declines. LCD sales exceeded expectations (some model lines were sold out of inventory), but the costs of both sales and manufacturing continued to weigh on the division. In an interview with Reuters, Sony TV Group president Makoto Kogure said that his company’s joint LCD venture with Samsung Electronics should help with LCD costs, as Sony currently buys LCD panels from third-party suppliers and then assembles its LCD TVs. Sony claims to have 26% of the domestic flat-panel market in December, but came up short in meeting its goal of 35%. The company also said it owns 50% of the U.S. microdisplay RPT category, up from 37% a year ago. Posted by Mark Kersey, Jan. 17, 2004 12:51pm
Samsung Sees LCD Demand Decline
Samsung Electronics said on Friday that sales of LCD flat-panel displays were weaker than expected in the most recent quarter, due primarily to a supply glut that resulted in a 10% decline in prices. The company, however, predicts that prices will recover, perhaps as quickly as next quarter, and believes that its LCD fortunes will improve once its S.LCD joint venture with Sony comes online later this year. Posted by Mark Kersey, Jan. 17, 2004 12:48pm
Sharp to Put Another $1.5 Billion into LCDs
Sharp said last week that it is investing $1.5 billion into a new LCD flat-panel manufacturing plant in Kameyama City, Japan that will focus on panels that are 40+ inches. Sharp will begin building the new facility this summer and new flat-panels are expected to be in production by October ‘06. Sharp said in a release that the new plant will produce eight 40-inch panels or six 50-inch panels per substrate sheet, with a capacity of 15,000 substrate sheets per month.
Incidentally, I was amused by CNET’s take on the announcement: “LCDs tend to have better screen quality than plasma TVs but are generatlly more expensive in the 40-inch and bigger sizes.” I love it when the media reports opinions (like LCD picture quality vis-a-vis plasma) as though they are facts. I happen to prefer plasma to LCD flat-panel, but that is my opinion. Others prefer LCD, which I respect. However, for anyone to state unequivocally that one of the technologies offers better screen quality than the other is downright misleading. Posted by Mark Kersey, Jan. 17, 2004 12:45pm
Comcast Study: Super Bowl Fans Want Their HDTV
Comcast published the results of a study it commissioned on Friday showing that Super Bowl fans increasingly consider HDTV a key factor in choosing where they will watch the big game. According to the study, the importance of watching the game in HD is almost as important as the food that’s served (34% vs. 37% of respondents rating critical elements of the Super Bowl experience). Fans listed the game (33%), the halftime show (25%) and instant replays (17%) as the things they most looked forward to watching in high-def. Men placed cheerleaders second (21%), only after the game itself (38%), while women preferred the halftime show (37%) more than the game (28%).
Comcast repeated its mistake of an earlier press release in stating that 1080i resolution is better for big screens than 720p, apparently forgetting that plasmas, LCD flat-panels and DLPs are all optimized for progressive scan resolution. Posted by Mark Kersey, Jan. 17, 2004 12:38pm
CES RECAP
CES was a great experience for technophiles like myself and I hope that some of you were able to attend. Here are some of the more noteworthy new product launches and developments that were announced in Las Vegas this year. Posted by Mark Kersey, Jan. 10, 2004 3:43pm UPDATED Jan. 11, 4:20pm
DIRECTV to Offer HD Locals in 12 Markets by End of Year; Adds ABC in O&O Markets
DIRECTV said on Thursday that it will offer local channels in high-definition to subscribers in the top 12 U.S. markets in the second half of this year. The new channels are made possible by the deployment of Spaceway 1 and 2, the company’s newest satellites in orbit. The first 12 markets to receive the high-def locals are: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, San Francisco, Dallas, Washington D.C., Atlanta, Detroit, Houston and Tampa. According to DIRECTV, these 12 DMAs represent nearly 36 million homes or one-third of all U.S. TV households.
DIRECTV also demonstrated the first live satellite HD transmission of MPEG-4 programming. MPEG-4 offers great compression technology than the current generation of MPEG-2, which combined with the launch of two additional DIRECTV satellites will enable the company to offer 1,500 local and 150 national HD channels by the end of 2007.
The company also announced earlier in the week that it was adding the national HD feeds of the ABC network for subscribers who live in ABC owned and operated (O&O) markets. Those markets are: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Houston, San Francisco, Raleigh-Durham, Fresno, Flint and Toledo.
Incidentally, DIRECTV debuted its homegrown DVR service courtesy of News Corp. sister company NDS, but the new DVR does NOT record in high-def.
Sharp Ups Ante in LCD Flat-Panel Battle
Sharp Electronics rolled out a mammoth 65-inch LCD flat-panel AQUOS LC-HDTV at CES, which it claims is the world’s largest. Pricing and availability have not yet been determined, but the giant LCDs were shown in both titanium and piano-black finishes and also come with a CableCard slot.
Sharp also announced its first foray into rear-projection HDTVs with its 56- and 65-inch DLPs (models 56DR650 and 65DR650). They offer 150-degree viewing angles, a 1200:1 contrast ratio and built-in digital tuners. The 56-incher will be available in March for an MSRP of $3,299.95 and the 65-inch model will be available in May for $3,799.95.
DISH Network Intros LCD Flat-Panels, New HD-DVR
EchoStar used CES to unveil its new LCD flat-panel HDTVs bundled with DISH Network HD satellite dish, receiver and installation. DISH’s 30-inch LCD bundle costs $1,599 while the 40-inch goes for $3,999. Both offer detachable speakers, although it is unclear at this point which OEM EchoStar is using for the DISH-branded LCDs. New DISH customers can also recieve six free months of the HD Pak that includes ESPN HD, Discovery HD Theater, HDNet, HDNet Movies and TNT HD.
DISH Network also showed off its new DISH Player-DVR 942 set-top box that enables multi-room high-definition digital video recording. The 942 replaces the much maligned 921 HD-DVR that was plagued with technical glitches, and contains a 250 GB hard drive that can record up to 25 hours of HD content. Its dual-tuner allows for the ability to view independent programs -- one in high-def and one in standard-def -- on two TVs at the same time. The 942 will be available in the first quarter and will carry an MSRP of $749.
ESPN2 HD Launches
ESPN officially took the wraps off of ESPN2 HD, the network’s second high-def channel, with a tripleheader broadcast of college basketball last Thursday. According to the company, it has carriage deals with DIRECTV and Adelphia, although I’ve found no evidence that either company has actually launched ESPN2 HD yet. (DIRECTV reps at CES couldn’t tell me when the new channel would go live on their system.) ESPN HD and ESPN2 HD will offer 82 total live events in high-def during the first 83 days of this year.
Samsung, LG Debut 1080p DLPs
Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics each had 1080p DLP HDTVs on display at the Texas Instruments DLP technology exhibit. LG showed off its 62-inch digital cable-ready 62SY2D with a native resolution of 1920x1080p that features a 120-watt bulb for brighter images. Samsung exhibited its new 56-inch HLP5688W that will be available for purchase in February or March at an MSRP of $5,200. Samsung’s new DLP also is digital cable-ready via CableCard technology and boasts a 3000:1 contrast ratio to go with its 1920x1080p resolution. It features a pedestal base that eliminates the need for a separate stand.
Other manufacturers unveiled new DLP HDTVs including InFocus, Mitsubishi, Optoma, Panasonic, SIM2, Thomson/RCA and Toshiba. Most utilize TI’s HD2+ DLP chip that produces 720 progressive lines of resolution.
Interestingly, LG also makes a 1080p 71-inch LCoS rear-projection HDTV that should be available this summer.
Pioneer Intros New Plasmas with First Surface Pure Color Filter Technology
Pioneer’s 2005 lineup of plasma displays includes four models that utilize the company’s First Surface Pure Color Filter technology to vastly improves brightness and picture quality. To demonstrate the advantages of its new screen technology, Pioneer showed a plasma with its screen divided in half, one half using the company’s traditional screens and the other using the First Surface Pure Color Filter. The latter was markedly brighter and sharper, offering a noticeable improvement in picture quality. For ‘05, Pioneer is offering 43- and 50-inch versions of two models, a single-body style that has all the audio/video inputs built in to the display and one that retains the company’s traditional external media receiver to handle the processing and connections. There is no price difference between the two display styles.
Mitsubishi, LG Show Off HDTVs With Built-In DVR
Mitsubishi teamed up with Dolby Digital to incorporate an HD-DVR into its WD-62825 Diamond DLP HDTV. The unit comes with a 120 GB hard drive that records up to 12 hours in high-def and up to 72 hours of standard definition programming. External storage can be attached via IEEE 1394 (Firewire).
LG Electronics displayed all nine of its plasmas in its exhibit, with the highlights being its 71-inch monster with 1920x1080p resolution (retail: $70,000) and two models with built-in high-definition DVRs. The 50- and 60-inch units (models 50PY2DR and 60PY2DR) both come with a 160 GB hard drive DVR that utilizes TV Guide On Screen for its programming functions. They are both digital cable-ready via CableCard and boast 5000:1 contrast ratio, and come with an included 9-in-2 multi memory card reader. Retail availability is set for March.
Digeo Set to Roll Out Upgraded Moxi HD-DVR
Digeo occupied space in the Motorola exhibit where it showed off the enhanced version of its Motorola-built, Moxi-powered HD-DVR. The new device allows for multi-room networking via the use of clients in other rooms that connect to the main set-top box. The upgraded set-top has a 160 GB hard drive (the current generation has half that), which should allow for 15-20 hours of high-def recording. Some of the software glitches that I detailed in my Dec. 22nd review are in the process of being fixed as well. No word yet on when my cable company -- Adelphia -- will make the new Motorola/Moxi set-top box available to customers.
Samsung Inks 2-Way Accords with Time Warner Cable, Charter
Samsung announced that it has signed separate agreements with Time Warner Cable and Charter Communications to begin writing specifications for developing two-way digital cable consumer devices. The agreements are based on the CableLabs Open Cable Applications Platform (OCAP) standard, with the Charter partnership specifically utilizing XHT, a home networking technology that incorporates the use of Firewire/IEEE 1394. The current generation of CableCards is based on OCAP and came about as a result of Plug & Play agreements between consumer electronics manufacturers and the cable industry.
CableCard is a technology that eliminates the need for a separate high-def cable set-top box by using a credit-card sized digital decoder that gets inserted directly into a slot on the television’s back side. Some consumer electronics watchers believe that the cable industry is dragging its feet in making consumers aware of CableCard technology because the current generation is uni-directional, meaning that advanced services such as video on demand cannot be utilized. Talks between the CE industry and cable companies on the development of two-way CableCard technology have been slow to produce any real breakthroughs.
Scientific-Atlanta Unveils Multi-Room HD-DVR with DVD Recorder
Set-top box manufacturer Scientific-Atlanta provided me with a briefing and demonstration of its new Explorer 8300 multi-room high-def DVR that also will soon contain a DVD recorder for content portability. One interesting fact about the 8300’s multi-room set up is that it enables cable providers to utilize older SA set-top boxes as slave client devices in peripheral rooms running off of the master 8300 box in the living room. External hard-drives can also be added to the 8300 MR-DVR for additional storage capacity. The Minneapolis division of Time Warner Cable has already begun deploying the 8300, with other cable systems expected to follow in the coming months. DVD recording functionality will be added later this year with built-in copy protection for content providers.
SA also showed off an HDTV retail demonstration that enables cable providers to better compete with satellite rivals in the retail channel. The essence of this retail solution is an SA HD-DVR to which cable companies can record high-def programming for display on HDTVs for sale in retail stores. The front of the set-top box is stripped of all user functionality (buttoms, timers, etc.) so that it can only be controlled by the cable provider. In my opinion, this should be a big help to cable companies in signing up new HD subscribers in retail, something in which the satellite providers have always enjoyed an enormous lead. Additionally, this SA retail demo unit will also be a big asset to retailers and HDTV manufacturers who can use it to show a variety of eye-pleasing high-def programming, which can only help in their efforts to sell more HDTVs.
My Interview with Brillian CEO Vinny Sollitto
Brillian CEO Vinny Sollitto graciously sat down with me at his company’s suite atop the Las Vegas Hilton to discuss the future of his company and LCoS technology. After a difficult 2004 due primarily to to his company’s main supplier, JDS Uniphase, being unable to cost-effectively ship the light engines that power Brillian’s LCoS HDTVs, Mr. Sollitto is upbeat about 2005. As part of a $5.1 million settlement with JDS Uniphase, Brillian acquired the licenses to produce its own light engines, which it will do it limited quantity in the first half of the year. During that time, Brillian will target the very high-end retail channel, and when production ramps up in the second half of ‘05, the company will seek out other OEMs to produce LCoS HDTVs.
Mr. Sollitto believes that Sony’s launch of its 70-inch Qualia HDTV -- which is also based on LCoS technology -- will help his company tremendously by validating a three-chip LCoS product strategy. According to Mr. Sollitto, LCoS offers better picture rendering than DLP, and that “if DLP is good, LCoS is great.” He says that his company could hit 13% operating profit margins on volume of just 30,000 LCoS TVs a year and that once LCoS manufacturing hits volume, they’ll start to see quite a bit of cost improvement.
Brillian showed off its three-megapixel 720p and new six-megapixel 1080p Gen II LCoS HDTV monitors, both of which offered excellent picture quality. The 65-inch 1080p model in particular exhibited very high black levels, and the company’s loop of high-def sports programming from ESPN HD looked exceptional on this unit.
Optoma Branches Out Into Plasma and DLP RPTs
Optoma, which is TI’s largest customer for DLP technology in front-projectors, announced at CES that it is now selling rear-projection DLP HDTVs and plasma displays. The company’s 50-inch plasma (model SP50A) offers 1366x768p resolution, a 3000:1 contrast ratio and an MSRP of $5,999. The 50-inch DLP microdisplay (model HD504) uses DarkChip3 technology from TI and offers 720p resolution along with a 2500:1 contrast ratio. It’s 14.8 inches deep and weighs 90 pounds; pricing has not yet been announced but availability is scheduled for May/June. Both the Optoma plasma and DLP RPT will only be available through certified A/V dealers, not in typical retail channels.
VOOM Provides a Few HD-DVR Details
VOOM debuted its new digital satellite receiver with an on-board high-def digital video recorder, the Motorola DSR550, at CES, although the user interface was not available for demonstration. No details on when VOOM’s HD-DVR will be available, but it will be upgradeable for MPEG-4 and will curiously continue VOOM’s support of DVI rather than the more advanced HDMI. No word on hard-drive size or pricing yet.
Sorting Through the CES Announcements
I’m trying to make some headway in sorting through the hundreds of new product announcements that have come out of the Consumer Electronics Show so far. As a heads-up, this week’s HDTV Scoop will be sent out on Monday instead of Friday so I can recap the weekend’s high-def headlines in all their splendor after I get back from CES. Have a great weekend and go Chargers! Posted by Mark Kersey, Jan. 6, 2004 6:06pm
Buy a Samsung Plasma, Get a Free DVD Player
Samsung is encouraging sales of its plasma TVs by offering consumers who buy one a free HD-841 DVD player that upconverts DVDs to HD-like resolution of your choice: 720p, 768p (ideal for plasmas) or 1080i. The offer expires Jan. 23rd and more details are available here:
http://product.samsung.com/cgi-bin/nabc/campaign/plasma_offer/b2c_optin_plasma offer.jsp Posted by Mark Kersey, Jan. 4, 2004 10:13am
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