Business News Holding

Category: hdtv

  • New chip will lead to cheaper Blu-ray players

    NEC promises chip will increase functionality of Blu-ray players while driving down prices

    NEC is banking on the world’s first chip that combines signal processors with memory that controls graphics, audio and other functions to double its sales of Blu-ray hardware in the next two years.

    The company expects the EMMA3PF chip to raise its revenue from Blu-ray products to US$378 million in the year ending March 2011.

    NEC plans to increase its share of Blu-ray products by offering deep price cuts, which other companies have started and are necessary for the market to grow.

    It hopes to challenge rivals such as Panasonic, Broadcom and Sigma and capture 40 per cent of the market by March 2009. Market share is predicted to rise to half in March 2011.

    Shigeo Niitsu, associate vice president of NEC Electronics, said they had “gained an edge” over competitors with the new chip.
    “We will do what it takes to keep pace with market price falls of 30 per cent to 40 per cent to keep our lead,” he said.
    The chips will start sample shipments in September – we would like to hear your views on whether they really will drive Blu-ray player prices down.

  • Sony adds HD downloads to PS3

    High Definition choice on game consoles boosted as Sony launches an HD movie download service for the Play Station 3 in the US

    Sony has signed up the major studios, including Fox, Disney and Warner, to offer HD movies on its US download service.
    The downloads can be transferred from the console to the Play Station Portable handheld device.

    This latest development follows Microsoft’s announcement that it will add a NetFlix movie streaming service to its XBox 360 video game console.

    While the NetFlix service will not include high-def movies, Microsoft does offer HD TV shows and movies on its XBox Live (link to other story) service.

    The rivalry between the console makers is good news for consumers.

    Microsoft has said it will triple the storage capacity of the Xbox 360 and sell the consoles with 60-gigabytes of storage starting in early August in the US and Canada.

    Meanwhile Sony is to introduce an 80GB Play Station 3 for US$399 in September.

    Jack Tretton, president of Sony Computer Entertainment, said the new 80Gb console was “perfectly suited for high-definition downloads of games, movies and more”.

    However, the new movie download service does not permit viewers to purchase HD programmes.
    PS3 owners can rent movies in HD, but they can only purchase them in standard-def.

    The HD-rental only policy is understood to have been the decision of the Hollywood studios, perhaps fuelled by the concern that PS3 owners could illegally copy and sell the high-def movies.

  • "Best way to buy a Blu-ray player" isn't getting cheaper

    Sony resists PS3 price cut despite rival Xbox 360 dropping by US$50


    Sony’s Play Station 3, with its integrated Blu-ray disc (BD) player, has given many millions of consumers their first taste of the high definition format.

    But hopes that the makers of the US$399 video game console would give Blu-ray a further boost have been dashed by Sony chairman Howard Stringer.
    Prices of stand-alone BD devices are widely regarded as remaining too high to persuade many viewers to ditch their DVD players.

    The Sony chief claims Microsoft’s decision to cut the price of its Xbox 360 by US$50 is evidence that it’s falling behind the PS3 in overall sales.

    Microsoft has no intention of adding a Blu-ray drive to the Xbox. David Gosen, the company’s vice president of strategic marketing for Europe, said they weren’t looking towards Blu-ray as a long-term format.
    Instead Microsoft will concentrate on distributing media through its Netflix rental service in the US, which should also be pushed into Europe in due course.

    However, after trailing Microsoft’s console in 2007, sales data from the NPD Group show that PS3’s US sales have surpassed the XBox for the first five months of this year, although both consoles still trail Nintendo’s Wii.
    The Wii had sales of 2.8 million units during the five months through to May, according to the NPD Group. Sony sold 1.2 million PS3 consoles and Microsoft sold 1.12 million Xbox 360s.

    New exclusive games, such as Metal Gear Solid 4, and the rise of Sony’s Blu-ray as the dominant high-definition DVD player have been instrumental in giving PS3 its lead.

    Stringer said: “We’re selling a lot of PlayStation 3s now and it’s still the best way to buy a Blu-ray player.’”
    But speaking after reports that Microsoft was cutting the price of its 20-gigabyte Xbox 360 from US$349 to US$299 while supplies last, he said: “We’re not considering lowering the price.
    “We don’t have to be nervous about what Xbox 360 does. We’re in fine shape.”

    As well as a price drop, Microsoft have just announced that Universal, and NBC Universal programming, is coming to Xbox Live, delivering The Office, Monk, Battlestar Galactica, The Mummy, Bourne Supremacy and others to the service.
    Xbox Live Video Marketplace now claims over 10,000 movies and TV shows on the marketplace, which it says puts it as the number one HD provider.
    MGM and Constantin are pushing things forward in Europe, having just added 700 new titles to the library.

  • Blu-ray disc prices could fall in line with DVD

    Warner Brothers is to reduce cost of Blu-ray movies in a development that could see discs being sold for the same price as DVDs

    Warner Home Video is to launch aggressive pricing initiatives for the fourth quarter of 2008, including its most comprehensive Blu-ray Disc promotion yet.

    From September and continuing into the first-quarter of 2009, Warner will offer a Blu-ray point-of-sale rebate programme in which retailers will be able to order participating catalogue titles for around US$11.

    Among the featured titles are The Fugitive, Enter the Dragon, Clockwork Orange, The Shining, The Aviator, Road Warrior and Swordfish.

    The strategy could result in Blu-ray discs at retail being on a par with current DVD prices.

    Even including a retail mark-up, the price paid by consumers should be significantly less than the titles’ current average of US$20 to US$25 retail price at outlets such as Amazon.com and Best Buy.

    The scheme will work by allowing retailers to buy the titles at their present pricing but obtain rebate money back upon the sale of each unit, reducing the cost to around US$11 for retailers.

  • Sky's HDTV sports coverage set to get boost

    The addition of Eurosport’s HD channel to Sky HD would mean major sporting events such as the Tour de France and Olympics broadcast in high def

    Eurosport could be returning to UK screens after a three year gap if negotiations currently being held with Sky are succesful.
    The sports network is expected to add its HD channel to the Sky HD platform within the next few days.

    It is understood to be currently testing at 28 degrees East alongside Eurosport News.
    A Eurosport spokesman said: “We’ve been negotiating with Sky and are very keen to launch our service in the UK.”

    Speaking to Broadband TV News he said that the cross promotion on Eurosport’s standard definition channels had encouraged a number of viewer enquiries.

    The channel is expected to be made available to subscribers to Sky’s HD Mix.
    Eurosport launched its high definition service on May 25, 2008 and is currently broadcasting live HD coverage of the Tour de France.

    The channel has picked up significant carriage in France, Poland, Israel, the Benelux and Scandinavia.
    After the channel’s original launch it was replaced by Eurosport 2, which was launched in 2005.
    This channel included some Eurosport News programming, but continued as a standalone operation in other markets.

    Speaking before the launch of Eurosport’s HD service in May, Laurent-Eric Le Lay, the network’s group chairman, said he wanted to provide as much high def coverage as possible.
    As well as this year’s French Open-Roland Garros tennis Grand Slam the channel’s HD offerings include the Tour de France and the Beijing Olympics.
    “Sport, especially live is spectacular in high definition; it transforms the viewing experience for sports fans,” he said.

  • Competition spurs Cablevision to boost HD channels

    Cablevision Systems Corp will give customers another 15 free high definition channels as it faces stiffer competition from satellite TV providers and Verizon Communications Inc.

    New York-based cable operator Cablevision is to add mainstream HD channels including Discovery, Viacom Inc’s Nickelodeon, FX, FOX News, AMC and The Weather Channel to its line-up in an increasingly competitive market.
    The addition of 15 more channels brings its HD offering up to 60 channels.

    Cablevision says that more than 1.1 million of its digital cable subscribers have at least one high-definition TV and HD-enabled set-top box.

    This latest expansion of HD programming by the company, which has more than 3 million subscribers, is in response to competition from satellite rivals DIRECTV Group and DISH Network Corp, as well as a growing threat from Verizon’s expanding FiOS TV service.

    Industry analysts contend that the satellite TV providers have an “HD advantage” because customers think they offer more and better quality HD services than cable.

    DIRECTV has said it will have capacity for more than 150 HD channels by the end of this year and currently has 95. DISH has around 80 HD channels.

    Verizon, which is in a fierce battle for TV subscribers with Cablevision in New York’s Long Island, currently offers 30 HD channels on its FiOS TV service and said it would add another 30 in the next couple of months.
    The phone company said it would also have capacity for 150 HD channels by year-end.

    Cablevision said in June 2007 it would have the capacity to carry more than 500 HD channels by the end of 2007, but this has not translated to an equivalent amount of HD television programming.

  • UK viewers reluctant to pay for HDTV

    Digital revolution sweeps UK but viewers appear unwilling to pay for limited range of HD channels

    UK households with digital televisions as their main set now account for 87.2 per cent of the total, according to a study by Ofcom.
    The survey by the independent communications industry regulator revealed how the digital TV market is divided up between the three main forms – digital terrestrial television (DTT), satellite and cable television.

    Unsurprisingly, DTT’s freeview is the most popular, with 9.6 million homes using a digital tuner to receive an expanded range of terrestrial channels – up 1.3 million in the last 12 months.

    Sky has signed up 332,000 new subscribers to its satellite services over the past twelve months and now hase 8.3 million customers, while Sky+ received an additional 262,000 subscribers.
    However, the figures for SkyHD are only up by 43,000 to 465,000 subscribers.

    With the HD market still developing in much of Europe, programming choices are much more limited than in the US, where competition is leading to a rapid expansion of channels.
    The narrower choice of HD channels in the UK is seen as contributing to viewers’ hesitance to pay for HD services currently on offer.


    Ofcom’s Digital Progress Report also shows that Virgin Media cable subscribers now amount to over 3.5 million, up by 36,800 in the first quarter of this year.
    Cable viewers subscribing to Virgin’s digital video recorder service known as V+ -which can also be used to watch HD services – now amount to 364,200..
    Almost half of Virgin Media customers (48 per cent) were using its video on demand service, with viewing up 10 per cent on the previous quarter.

  • Soaps at the fore of switch to HD

    British soaps lead the changeover to high definition – Emmerdale makes the transition

    Emmerdale has become the British network ITV’s first soap production to be recorded in high def.
    It joins Channel 4’s Hollyoaks and the BBC’s Doctors, while the long-running Coronation Street is expected to make the change from SD shortly.

    ITV Productions spent half a million pounds on new studio cameras and lenses for Emmerdale’s leap to HD, investing in eight Ikegami HDK-79EXIII HD cameras with Canon HD lenses.

    It was reported that stars of the soap were concerned about the show’s transition, worried that the new HD video would draw attention to facial wrinkles.
    Lucy Pargeter – Chastity Dingle on the soap – said: “We all held our breath because we’d heard all the horror stories. However, it was fine – if you don’t look too closely.”

    A number of different HD cameras and lenses were tested over a six-month period from June 2007. Different technologies from manufacturers were mixed and matched and trials were done using on-screen talent and the Emmerdale sets.

  • Glorious HDTV – no strings attached

    Belkin announces wireless HD transmitter that gives 1080p resolution to any HDTV in the home

    It seems such a shame to have a wonderful sleek new HDTV only to be restricted in where you can place – or suffer an unsightly trail of cable and clutter.

    Now Belkin have come up with a solution – albeit at a price – that wirelessly connects devices such as Blu-ray players, receivers, video-game consoles, and set-top boxes to HDTVs and projectors, transmitting a high-definition 1080p True Cinema picture resolution.

    The FlyWire wireless HDMI hub, which uses the 5GHz band to output a full 1080p signal, cost US$999.99 for the full version, which can broadcast around a typical home.

    There’s also a smaller single-room alternative – the FlyWire R1 – which comes in at US$699.99.
    Hanoz Gandhi, VP of Products for Belkin, said the device the limitations as to where HDTVs can be placed and a room littered with cables.

    The company says that as FlyWire does not compress video, it transmits content without lag – definitely a must for gaming.
    FlyWire’s SD card slot also allows for upgrade and expansion options.

    Inputs include three HDMI, two component and one composite. There is also an HDMI output.
    It automatically finds a clear channel to operate on, so minimising interference with other wireless devices.
    FlyWire will be available this October, with the R1 expected in early 2009. UK availability and pricing is still to be announced.

  • HDTV to follow lead of smartphone

    In the same way that mobiles will all soon be “smartphones”, HDTV will simply become “TV”

    BY 2015 nobody will refer to “high definition” TV because HD will be the standard form of free television everywhere.
    But the HD broadcast offering in Europe will largely remain patchy during the intervening transition period, according to a report by Screen Digest.
    The study says HDTV will mainly develop as a pay TV product in Europe over the next five years – and mostly as a satellite product.

    A major factor for this is the lack of HD on free-to-air platforms, with only Sweden having already launched HD on free DTT and only France and the UK likely to follow in the short-mid-term.

    The report says that despite its name, Freesat HD has a disappointing HD line-up and is not likely to make a strong market impact in the UK.
    Other barriers to HDTV uptake are a lack of local HD channels in many countries, with pay TV operators relying mostly on US HD channels supply so far.
    The study concludes that a number of European pay TV operators “lack of ambition” when it comes to HDTV.

    In the report, HDTV 2008: Global Uptake, Strategies and Business Models, three critical success factors that will support the successful migration to HDTV are identified:
    – penetration of HD-ready displays
    – supply of HD content and HD channels
    – the availability of HD broadcast on a variety of television platforms.

    The report shows that all these are now cleared for a sustainable migration to HD in the long term.
    But it adds: “In the next five years, HDTV will mainly develop as a pay TV product in Europe, and mostly a satellite product.
    “However after analogue switch-offs are completed between 2010 and 2012, and digital free-to-air platforms are upgraded to more advanced technologies, they will end-up with more bandwidth capacity and become more widely accessible.”

    This, says the report, will kick-start the next phase of HDTV migration as HD becomes the mainstream and ultimately, the standard form of free television around the middle of next decade.

    There is a clear connection between the depth of the HD offerings and the take up of HD by subscribers, according to the study.
    It says that HD has not been pushed hard enough yet by many of Europe’s pay TV operators despite being used heavily as a marketing tool.
    The problem is that this isn’t followed through with the delivery of HD channels.
    Premiere in Germany still only offers two HD channels and its HD uptake is sluggish.
    By contrast BSkyB has now 17 HD channels covering all genres, and on the back of this has signed up almost 500,000 subscribers in less than two years – the fastest take-up of any new BSkyB product.
    The report says that in European pay TV markets that show signs of maturity, operators can use HD to drive ARPU, increase loyalty and reduce churn rates.
    HDTV can also drive pay TV acquisition, as new owners of HD-ready sets are frustrated by the lack of free HD sources.
    “Pay TV operators should therefore seize this window of opportunity before free TV eventually accommodates more HD,” says the report.

    The report also says that small and medium sized pay-TV operators might benefit from reduced costs of transmission and release bigger capacity by migrating their subscribers to MPEG4 at an early stage.

    Click here to view the report summary and its key findings