Follow-Up: HSN exclusive Honeywell LCDs sell out in a night

The power of shopping channels shouldn’t be doubted, as even so-so merchandise can sell out in mass quantities very quickly. I know several people who are HSN/QVC/Shopping Network fanatics, and they’ll buy anything the channels offer. Here’s a prime example of this curiosity at work.

The last model Honeywell LCDs were reviewed rather poorly all over the web, but a 42″ Full HD TV for $799 was too much for many people, and the item sold out 2,000+ stock in a single day. Let’s just hope they’ve made improvements to the TV since the last model year, as color reproduction, gamma, reliability and blacks were roundly panned in the last go-round. Otherwise, I suspect there will be a fair amount of returns for HSN to process.

The good side: larger 1080p TVs becoming available to the masses at a fairly accessible price, which is a good harbinger of things to come, hopefully.

Opinion Time: How do you feel about the DTV delay?

By now many of you have heard about the government voting to delay the DTV transition. We’re curious how our readers feel about the delay; do you agree with the delay? Even if it ends up costing stations and taxpayers millions of dollars? We’ve already expressed our views quite clearly about the issue, that we feel the delay is costly and unnecessary, and those who haven’t converted already TV probably isn’t a big priority for them.

On various other sites we’ve read, the majority feel exactly the same as us and are opposed to the delay. Of course, probably 40-50% of stations will attempt to switchover early anyway, so it may be a moot point. 

Feel free to register your opinions in comments here, and we’ll write about your responses later on.

LCD Overdrive: This kind is bad

There’s a lot of issues that still bedevil LCD and related TV formats (blurring, color reproduction, blacks just to name a few), but now the site bit-tech.net have written an article about one of the dark secrets of LCD TV’s that some manufacturers employ called “overdrive”. And this isn’t the good kind of overdrive.

This technique artificially boosts response times by pushing up the voltage that make the liquid crystals change “states”, thus updating the image onscreen. It does make the response time better without a lot of extra engineering, but like many shortcuts it has a downside, namely a nasty thing called “inverse ghosting.”

While many with average eyesight probably won’t see the issue clearly, if at all, once you see it, it’s there and you can’t ignore it. The article here gives lots of details and pictures, and explains the issue in detail. It’s something to look for when you buy your next LCD TV perhaps.

Pioneer ending HDTV production, selling off DVD business

In yet another business blow for the battered electronics industry, Pioneer, electronics giant, is ending all HDTV and TV production as of now.The Nikkei in Japan is reporting this despite a strong resurgance in profits from the company, it still posted over a billion in losses, and will shut down all TV production.

The DVD business it owns will be spun off and/or sold off in a deal with Sharp, and several thousands employees will be laid off in a plan it had begun to implement anyway to shut down plants in Europe.

Hey, it was bad enough news when they let LaserDisc die on the vine, but the company feared the worsening economic climate would push them towards more losses in the next quarter.

RIP Pioneer TV (and Laserdisc, a Pioneer player of which I owned in the 6th grade and was quite proud to own).

HSN gets exclusive on new Honeywell line of LCD HDTVs

HSN has scored an exclusive with their recent deal to sell Honeywell branded LCD TV models. It seems the home shopping networks have acquired some power in the industry of late.

The Altura ML line debuts in 32- and 42-inch sizes on Feb. 7th, and the older models of this were reviewed rather poorly across the net, so it’ll be interesting to see if they’ve fixed the various niggles with the set mentioned in the reviews, including poor black reproduction, and lousy gamma and image processing display issues.

The models will sell with a extra long 5 year manufacturers warranty as its big selling point, which is a good thing, but not if the display issues aren’t fixed. Price hasn’t been announced as of yet.

Frustrating but not shocking: DTV transition official date moved to June 12

In a bit of not surprising news really, the House voted to move the “hard date” for the DTV switchover to June 12th. It’s kind of sad for those of us who took the time and trouble to be ready for the switch (and those of us who want the best quality in our TV’s), but in an interesting twist, stations can file to go ahead and switch over on the Feb 17th date, and many have already.

The switchover in Feb. thing is expected to run around 50% or so, according to some reports, which makes the June 12th date not as important anyway.

HDTV lovers will be saddened a bit to see the future delayed, but with the unreadiness rate announced at still more than 5% (hard to believe given the media coverage), I can sort of understand a bit of a delay. We just hope it doesn’t get delayed anymore.

Speculation: Will some stations shut off analog regardless of the DTV ruling?

The House is currently debating the merits of delaying the DTV transition still, but it seems to be a fact that’s unavoidable: some stations are shutting down their analog transmitters regardless of the ruling, if only for financial reasons. Keeping two transmitters going is expensive, and the bottom line dictates the change stay Feb. 17th.

Broadcast Engineering interviewed WTVP-TV in Peoria, Illinois and the manager claims the station will save $7 – $10k every month in power costs, and has stated they will switch over on the Feb. date regardless. Two other stations in that same area, WEEK-TV and WHOI-TV have gone on record to say they will switch before the June date (assuming they’re permitted) regardless.

The current bill is rumored to contain a compromise that will allow certain stations to switch early if they wish to, and we assume for now that is still in the bill circulating in the House now. If that is the case, we can safely predict 50% of stations will switch early, if not on the Feb 17th date, and maybe more.

We hope the house makes up their mind soon on the fate of this bill. We’ll cover it, whatever happens, of course.

Feel lucky? Vizio launching big HDTV giveaway promotion

Vizio’s recently launched “If your TV doesn’t say Vizio…you spent too much” ad probably had viewers nodding at the V brand, displayed proudly at many Wal-Marts coast to coast, or perhaps wondering where the upstart manufacturer turned premium manufacturer got the bravery to call out their HDTV as an overpriced toy. The ad debuted during the Super Bowl (at a cost of $3 million) and also launched a 55″ HDTV giveaway with the ad.

Vizio is apparently giving away a million dollars worth of big dog 50,000:1 contrast ratio 55-inch XVT model LCDs in 28 weekly drawings, and this will continue until August 14.

This seems to be working, as many insiders have cited a 400% increase in site traffic since the ad, which is huge in this economy. We like free stuff, so we’ll be signing up for the drawing. We suppose this is one way to get people to your site, and maybe check out your selection while you’re there.

To participate in this amazing contest just visit Vizio.com.

FCC Chairman: Seamless DTV switch won’t happen

In a rather obvious statement, acting FCC Chairman Mike Copps recently stated he believed a perfect, smooth switch to DTV probably will not happen, whether it gets delayed or not, but extra time may help make it better.

He believes things are even worse than many feared, with some even with included DTV tuners possibly losing reception in some outlying areas, and the number that lose reception (that want it) could be in the millions. He did also state that he believes in the end, it’ll be worth it.

TV will be sharper and clearer, with better picture and sound, and it should impact HDTV as well, with increased clarity even on lesser quality TV’s, more HD channels and more choices. It’ll mean a whole new age for TV entertainment.

As it stands, Feb 17th is still the date of the switchover, and stations and broadcasters are working overtime to switch over and be as prepared as possible. At this point, it doesn’t look like a delay to June will happen, so people will need to be ready this month.

4 is better than 3: AT&T to offer new “quad-play” package

AT&T and DirecTV actually partnered up for HDTV and related TV services a few months back, but it’s now “official” and reps should know how to combine packages and features, and save you valuable cash. But there’s a new wrinkle that’s keeping things in the provider race interesting.

AT&T is now offering a “quad” plan that combines wireless with the typical triple play trio of TV, internet and phone, which could bust the industry open as vendors seek to lure new customers with ever-increasing new features. It’s the first of its kind (not the last, with several cable companies recently buying up some 700Mhz bandwidth), and it should be pretty popular with consumers, always looking to save money these days.

It’s almost a certainty other companies will follow with “quad-play” offerings of their own, which means competition, which in turn means good deals for all of us.

SoBe’s 3D HD Super Bowl commercial debuts online

Yes, most on the planet know the Super Bowl is on in a few hours, and the commercials are supposed to be cool, funny and high-priced.

SoBe has a pretty cool 3D commercial (filmed in HD, apparently) that’s scheduled to be shown during the game, and there’s a link to preview it online right now, if you’re game. Putting it online after spending $3 million for it seems counter-productive to us, but ..that’s why i’m not a CEO of a major company.

Here’s the link: 3D SoBe ad on YouTube in HD, and of course you need the glasses, which are quite easy to find in many grocery stores via obvious kiosks.

What’s your opinion on the 3D uprising of late? Is it gimmicky? Silly? Our opinion is that the whole red/blue, old-school glasses 3D was pretty played out in the 50′s/60′s, but who are we to argue trends? Enjoy the video.

HD Channel Expansion Roundup

Here’s yet another column we’re informing you about: The HD Channel Expansion roundup, where all the new HD content is covered on various cable and satellite systems.

Now that the DTV transition is happening and HD penetration is acheiving critical mass in many markets, they’ll be more channels available this year than ever before, especially Cox and Comcast, who plan on pretty big expansion of choices in many markets this year.

Many local channels all over  the country are going HD now, including WTKR in Virginia and KGNS in Texas. Comcast has also added more HD content via their On Demand service, and Cox has added more HD channels in Virginia. Comcast added 5 more HD channels in CT as well, including Spike HD.

It’s supposed to be a bumper crop this year, so revel in all the HD joy.

Full article here.

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