According to an Associated Press report, four major Hollywood studios have reached agreements with Access Integrated Technologies to help finance the conversion of up to 10,000 more movie theater screens to digital technology capable of projecting 3D images. The deal is worth up to $700 million. Hollywood has been enticed by digital technology for years, as it improves image fidelity and eliminates the production and handling costs of fragile film prints. And it also makes 3D possible.

The main appeal of 3D is that theaters can get more dollars per seat for the films. The new Hannah Montana 3D ...

Samsung has announced cancellation of its plans to build its new dual format HD DVD/Blu-ray player, the BD-UP5500 that was announced at CES 2008. Apparently, the company will continue to sell the BD-UP5000 hybrid player that was supposed to be replaced by the new model. The older set is available on Amazon for under $500 (plus shipping) as I write this, but this still is more than separate Blu-ray and HD DVD units.

The dual format concept may have been a logical idea in the face of the trench warfare between the competing standards, but it never stood a ...

I was probably one of the first to pick HD DVD as the winning format in the high definition video disc contest. It had the backing of enough of the Hollywood studios to be competitive. Warner Brothers had a clever multilayer design that would play in both DVD and HD DVD players. The Blu-ray camp did its best to drive the porn industry to HD DVD. Movies that were “exclusively” Blu-ray were available as HD DVD through European distributors. But the biggest reason of all was value; the HD DVD players cost about half as much as an equivalent ...

Monday’s press release from Netflix says it all: “Beginning today, all Netflix subscribers on unlimited rental plans, which start as low as $8.99 a month, will be able to stream as many movies and TV episodes as they want on their PCs, choosing from a library of over 6,000 familiar movies and TV episodes.”

Bang! No more walks to the mailbox for customers, and no more inventory or postage or pesky human handling of products for Netflix. Instant revolution in the movie rental business! Now, 6,000 titles may sound like a big number, but remember that this includes TV ...

For my last entry about CES 2008, I’ll say goodbye to the 37″ LCD HDTV market segment. It’s not really gone yet, but don’t expect it to last much longer. Many major manufacturers told me that they will not be coming out with new products in this size.

Why? The reason is simple; the difference in cost between a 37″ LCD HDTV panel and a 42″ one is not that much. The resulting prices for the finished products are too close to make it worth building both; consumers can get the price choice they want with just 32″ and ...

At CES 2008 in Las Vegas last week, JVC showed a new line of LCD HDTVs. The P Series includes four models, ranging in size from 32″ to 52″: LT-32P679, LT-42P789, LT-47P789, and LT-52P789. The smallest has Wide XGA resolution, but the other three are 1080p models. All have three HDMI inputs and a side-loading USB port that can play slide shows of digital photos.

But the special feature is the TeleDock. This is a tray that flips down in the front of the HDTV, revealing ...

CES 2008 ended last week, but the hits keep on coming. This is a monster of a show, and I’ve still got a number of interesting products and issues to cover. Normally, I don’t spend time on computer products here, but this display needs to be mentioned:

I saw an Ostendo Technologies prototype at the Texas Instruments booth with an NEC nameplate on it, and apparently Alienware had one at their booth with their own brand on it. The 42″ curved display has ...

It was only a prototype, and its appearance was telegraphed widely before it appeared, but it is still worth mentioning, if only to keep score in the “mine is bigger than yours” category. Panasonic showed a 150″ plasma monitor at CES 2008 in Las Vegas this week.

How big is a 150″ flat panel? It’s about 11 feet wide. Or you could take nine 50″ plasma and tile them in a 3-by-3 matrix, and you’d get a 150″ display. It’s big.

The real story here is not ...

If there was a surprise for me at CES 2008 this year, it was the number of companies pursuing 3D HDTV. It’s a reasonable strategy on two counts. First, these sets will be more expensive (simply because there’s more stuff and production costs in them), but it also is an opportunity to get better margins and be more profitable. Also, it’s a way to differentiate your product line in a time when it’s getting harder and harder to be different in any practical way.

Samsung and others have had 3D capabilities built into their rear-projection HDTVs for quite a ...

From what I’ve seen, 2008 is going to be a very good year for HDTV. The industry is not sitting still, and you can expect to see many interesting developments. I’ve found that there are four major themes that cover many of these changes: thin, wireless, the Internet, and green pitches. I’ll cover them quickly.

Thin: The flat panel makers know that the U.S. consumer wants to get a flat panel HDTV. One of the ways they are looking to differentiate their products from those of their competitors is to make the panels even thinner. Everyone is amazed at ...