2008 CABLE SHOW: McSlarrow Sees Successful DTV Transition

NEW ORLEANS—When the cable industry holds its 2009 convention in Washington, D.C., TV stations' transition to digital will be over and cable operators will have played a key role in the success of that effort, National Cable & Telecommunications Association president Kyle McSlarrow said Sunday.

"I am confident our industry will have played a key role in its success…not simply because we stepped up to help with a $200 million consumer education campaign…but because we are working constructively with broadcasters, government agencies and other stakeholders to ensure its success," McSlarrow said in a keynote address at his industry's annual convention.

All full-power TV stations must turn off their analog signals on Feb. 17, 2009. Cable homes with analog TV sets not connected to the pay-TV service need to take action to prevent those sets from going dark.


Read More

Low-priced alternative to cable

If you're fed up with cable or satellite TV service, you may have another, potentially cheaper choice in the next few years, thanks to a new start-up.

Belmont, Calif.-based Sezmi plans to offer a fairly standard TV lineup with a combination of broadcast, standard cable and premium channels along with Internet-based video.

But it's the way the company plans to distribute its offerings that is unusual and could make it cheaper. It will partner with local TV stations to serve up much of the content, and use consumers' existing high-speed Internet connections to deliver the rest.

That means Sezmi won't have to launch any new satellites or roll out any new cables, both of which can cost millions or even billions of dollars. Without those and other overhead costs, the company thinks it can roll out its service quickly and charge customers half what they would pay for cable or satellite services.


Read More

Open Your Eyes to a Brilliant Home Theatre Experience With the New BRAVIA V4000 Series

The sleek, exquisitely designed BRAVIA(TM) V4000 series LCD TV makes a bigger, better home cinema experience even more accessible. This feature-packed television delivers exhilarating Full HD picture quality and seamless connectivity that's sure to excite home theatre fans.

The stylish BRAVIA V4000 series is available initially in three screen sizes: 40-inch, 46-inch and 52-inch. Other screen sizes will be available from later this year.

The BRAVIA(TM) 4000 series features elegant, understated looks inspired by Sony's innovative draw the LINE design concept. A sophisticated evolution from previous-generation TV designs, this minimalist philosophy accentuates the beautiful HD pictures being displayed without dominating your living space -- even at larger screen sizes.

Featuring an integrated DVB-C/DVB-T tuner*, the V4000 complements a 1080p Full HD LCD panel with an array of advanced signal processing technologies by Sony.


Read More

Macrovision's TV Guide and Sunflower Broadband Collaborate on Set-Top Box Clickstream Measurement

Macrovision Solutions Corporation (NASDAQ:MVSND) and leading independent cable operator Sunflower Broadband today announced the planned deployment of a set-top box clickstream measurement solution for its TV Guide Interactive(R) i-Guide(TM), one of the cable industry's most widely-deployed interactive programming guides (IPG). The collaboration marks the first planned clickstream deployment for Macrovision(R) and Sunflower Broadband(TM) to collect valuable IPG usage data that can be used to make consumers' television experience more enjoyable.

.


Read More

Digital TV Conversion Conversation

Fort Wayne, IN (Indiana's NewsCenter) -- Nine months from Saturday, television as we know it will change.You may have seen public service announcements featuring the four general managers of TV stations in Fort Wayne.The spot is part of a national awareness campaign about the conversion to digital television.Jerry Giesler\Indiana's NewsCenter GM: " This is the biggest sea change that has occurred in tv viewing habits since we went to color."Indiana's NewsCenter already broadcasts a digital signal, alongside the regular analog one.But Congress has mandated that next February, all TV stations must exclusively broadcast a digital signal, to free up the analog signals for emergency responders to use.If you have cable, satellite, or Verizon Fios, you won't notice a difference.But if you still use an antenna to watch TV, like thousands of people in northeast Indiana do, you'll have to buy a converter box to be able to get the new digital signal.Coupons for the boxes are available on the internet and through the mail.And people are getting the message.Jerry Giesler\Indiana's NewsCenter GM: " As I check the websites, thousands and thousands of people from northeastern Indiana are applying for certificates that give them a discount on converter boxes.



Read More

Samsung Electronics Offers a Glimpse of the Future for TV Displays at . SID 2008

SID 2008 19/05/2008 02:00:00 Business Wire Demonstrating its world leadership in display technologies, Samsung Electronics Co.
will exhibit innovative new products ranging from large-screen LCD panels for televisions and digital information displays, to the most advanced mobile products, at the Society for Information Display (SID) International Symposium, Seminar and Exhibition on May 18-23.
At SID 2008, Samsung will unveil the industry s first 82-inch LCD TV panel with an ultra-definition (3,840 x 2,160 pixels) resolution at a 120Hz refresh rate.
It displays ultra-definition (UD) resolution at 120 frames per second, minimizing the blurring that is sometimes experienced at 60Hz.
A red/green/blue LED backlight has been added to raise true color saturation to 150 percent, based on the NISC standard of 100 percent.


Read More

Review: Zenith DTT900 digital TV box

The Zenith DTT900 is one of the digital TV boxes that shoppers can buy with a $40 DTV converter box coupon from the U.S. government, and it's worth a serious look. On arguably the most important features - reception and video quality - the DTT900 performs strongly, outperforming the other boxes we've looked at so far.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10, very good

The good: Solid video quality and reception; easy-to-use design, especially for digital TV amateurs; good aspect ratio controls for handling widescreen programs on standard TVs; attractive design; remote can control the TV's power.

The bad: Program guide is very basic; small remote control buttons aren't ideal for seniors; audio quality is subpar.

The bottom line: The Zenith DTT900 DTV converter box has an easy-to-use design and solid video quality, but buyers should be aware of cheaper - and possibly better - alternatives coming in the future.


Read More