I know it’s Turkey Day, but if you’ve got a little time between dinner and family bonding, take a moment to check out Retrevo. I’ve written about Retrevo before, but the’ve undergone a complete makeover since I last visited. It used to be a good site for finding product manuals, and I loved it when they added the “deals” feature, but I would never have said it was the place to start your gadget research. Here’s what’s changed:

1. The homepage not only has a search bar, but a picture wheel of categories designed to take you right where you want to go: digital cameras, HDTVs, etc.
2. Click on any icon and Retrevo brings up a “Value Map” showing the range of available products mapped by price and features, as well as a window for selecting preferences in the product you’d like to find: price range, brand and features. At the bottom of the screen is a list of all the products in the chosen category, which shrinks as you enter your personal criteria.
3. Each listing automatically shows you the lowest price available and a thumbs up, thumbs sideways or thumbs down for value and community reaction. I found the community ratings a bit suspect, but that’s okay because once you’ve clicked on a product, Retrevo brings up its traditional menu of expert and user reviews (links to places like CNET and Amazon reviews) in addition to product documentation and available deals.

All in all, Retrevo is the best aggregator of consumer electronics information I’ve seen. I liked it before, but earlier versions of the site couldn’t hold a candle to what Retrevo offers today. If you’re planning to shop gadgets this holiday season, no site is going to make finding the information you need easier.

I’ve learned to take my camera with me whenever I hit the local King of Prussia mall — every few months something interesting pops up. This weekend it was a new Sony holiday display. Display is probably too mild a word as the footprint of this thing is probably two thirds the size of my house. The big showcase is the Sony Blu-ray theater, complete with Walt Disney and Pirates of the Caribbean branding. However, there are also a bunch of PS3 stations (still battling the Wii and the Xbox) with shoppers trying their luck at different games. Click to enlarge the additional pics:

The Discovery Channel and Discovery Communications have been on a tear lately. First there’s the company’s original programming, including the continued success of shows like MythBusters and Dirty Jobs (with Mike Rowe, target of many a man-crush). Then there’s the fact that Discovery is the poster child for HDTV, particularly with shows like the miniseries Planet Earth and more Discovery HD content available all the time.

Now it turns out that Discovery Communications is also a pro at multi-platform distribution. According to Rentrak (via Multichannel), video-on-demand access of Discovery programming grew 101% between September 2006 and September 2007. Most of the accessed programming was short-form, showing that Discovery can be flexible with its content, and much of it also was information-based in the areas of military, health and science.

And what about the Web? Discovery’s been successful there too with both tie-ins to product sales and new content initiatives like the cooperative effort with TreeHugger to produce Planet Green.

I liken Discovery to ESPN with its cross-platform success. Few other networks seem to have mastered the new world of media as well.

Following up on Mari’s HDTV holiday buying research, I’ve noticed an interesting strategy that television service providers are employing this fall to lure folks away from the CableCo: Verizon FiOS TV is offering new subscribers a free Sharp 19″ LCD HDTV and Dish Network is offering new or existing customers $800 off a variety of Sharp LCDs. These deals seem pretty compelling - especially for the mainstream who probably don’t have a strong DVR software preferences.

As someone helping relatives purchase HDTVs this holiday season, I thought it would be worthwhile to post some of the things I’ve learned:

1. Prices have dropped into the highly-reasonable range. You can easily get a 32″ HDTV display for under $1,000, and I’ve already seen Black Friday ads for sets over 40″ in the same range.
2. CNET Reviews is still the best place I’ve found for comprehensive HDTV coverage. Even if the site doesn’t have a review of the exact model you’re looking for, the editors often compare models to ones they have reviewed by the same brand, giving you a good sense of what you’re likely to get. (Samsung gets high marks.)
3. Among models of the same size range and comparable picture quality, some of the most common differentiators include the number of HDMI ports, whether or not there’s a USB port, and whether or not there’s a swivel stand.
4. Looking for the best-selling HDTVs? EngadgetHD points out that Samsung takes the cake with HDTVs overall in North America, squeezing out Vizio, which has dropped to second.
5. HD Guru has a great post on what to look for when you’re browsing HDTVs in person. Print it out and take it with you to the store.
6. EngadgetHD is a phenomenal source for overall HDTV info. Yeah, that’s kind of obvious, but if you’re looking to become an expert on HD beyond the holiday season, this will give you the wisdom you need.

I slept in last Friday and missed out on Walmart’s $99 HD DVD player. However, John tipped me off to a similar online deal through Best Buy for Business and I pulled the trigger. Between the stagnant order status page (”In Process”) and seeing 90,000 HD DVD units move last weekend, I figured I’d be out of luck. But… Best Buy has come through:

You are receiving this email because you recently ordered a Toshiba HD DVD Player (model: HD-A2) and your order was placed in a backorder status while we awaited additional inventory. Unfortunately, the manufacturer has discontinued this item and we are not anticipating receiving any more inventory. Because we value your business, we will be fulfilling your order with the next generation Toshiba HD DVD Player (model: HD-A3) that is replacing the HD-A2 in Toshiba’s lineup of HD DVD Players.

Nice job, Best Buy (and Toshiba?) — I’m impressed. 100% of the time, under similar circumstances, other (online) retailers have canceled my orders and left it at that.

At $100, the purchase was an easy decision to make… As Michael Gartenberg writes:

At that point, it’s not a competition between HD-DVD and Blue-Ray, it’s a competition (correctly so) between HD-DVD and DVD.

Since killing the HTPC and dumping the LG STB (HD tuner + DVD player), we haven’t had any DVD playback capabilities in the living room other than the noisy Xbox 360. So, with a cost similar to many upscaling DVD units, it’s a no brainer to get on board now with HD DVD… even if Blu-ray ultimately triumphs - which I wouldn’t wager on at this point. Once the dust settles after the holidays, enough units of both platforms may have saturated the market that the industry will be stuck supporting multiple formats.

Despite the numerous Verizon FiOS TV DVR updates, I’m most frequently questioned on their HD initiatives. Truly, content is king. Here’s a summary of Verizon’s HD announcement:

• Plans to double HD channel count next spring, with up to 150 HD channels by the end of of 2008.
• HD video-on-demand begins rolling out this year, with over 1,000 titles expected by the end of 2008.
• In-home HD streaming functionality scheduled for next year. Not clear if this will require new hardware.

(via EngadgetHD)

Guess where I’m headed tomorrow morning… Select Walmart stores will be carrying a limited quantity of the Toshiba HD-A2 HD DVD player for a low $98.87. At that price, I don’t care if Blu-ray ultimately crushes the HD DVD consortium. In fact, even if I can’t score a unit, the $165 Xbox 360 player (with many free HD DVD discs) is looking good. Especially since I need to replace my Xbox remote (long story). The Blueman Blu-ray Group could have ended this format war months ago if they had only dropped hardware prices - Now, who knows?

(Thanks, Kevin!)