The HDTV Tuner News...

Microsoft makes HDTV demands
Microsoft is getting serious about HDTV. It has apparently demanded, according to Team Xbox, that developers showing off games for the next version of the Xbox, known as Xbox 360, at games show E3, do so on displays with HDTV resolution.

It seems Microsoft is determined that visitors to E3 get to see the Xbox 360 at its very best. Read more at Team Xbox


Thursday March 17, 2005
Sony and Toshiba to discuss single HD standard
Sony and Toshiba are to get together to discuss the possibility of reaching an agreement over a single-standard for high definition DVD. Currently Sony is promoting its Blu-ray format as the next generation of optical storage, while Toshiba is one of the developers of HD-DVD.
Read more here


Thursday March 17, 2005
High street shops causing HDTV confusion in UK
The BBC is reporting that thousands of LCD, plasma and rear projection TVs are being sold in the uK as ‘HD’ when they are incapable of displaying high definition TV. The article, rightly points out that in order to qualify as ‘HD ready’ a television must have a maximum resolution of at least 720 lines, preferably 1080, and be able to receive video through an HDMI or DVI connection.It says that the reason for the mis-selling is that high street salespeople don’t understand what HDTV really is and this is causing confusion among consumers.
Read more here

Wednesday March 16, 2005
NTL trialling HDTV via ADSL in UK
NTL's full year results, published today, has revealed that it trialled a service which delivers HDTV over copper wire using the next generation of ADSL. This would mean HDTV would be delivered over NTL's phone line into customer's homes rather than the co-axial cable currently used for TV distribution. More information at ADSL Guide

Tuesday March 15, 2005
Blu-ray announcements ramp up
Three announcements at the Cebit show in Germany, bring Blu-ray recording a little bit closer. BenQ showed a new Blu-ray drive, Sonic announced compatibility with Blu-ray recorders in its software, and Apple joined the Blu-ray Disc Association.