First, Best Buy automatically upgraded me to a newer (more pricey) HD DVD model at no extra cost when their stock was depleted. And now, it looks like I’ll be getting a $50 gift card for my troubles. Despite representing 50% the original value of my player which actually sold on ebay for more than I paid.

With Blu-ray declaring victory over HD-DVD in the high definition movie format war, Best Buy, the nation’s largest consumer electronics retailer, is giving $50 gift cards to customers who purchased an HD-DVD player or HD-DVD attachment [...] Through this program, Best Buy will distribute more than $10 million in gift cards to customers across the country. [...] Best Buy will proactively mail cards to all customers that the company can identify as having purchased an HD-DVD player. Members of the Best Buy Reward Zone program, customers who purchased Performance Service Plans or who made their purchase on BestBuy.com should look for their gift cards in the mail by May 1.

Looks like we’ll really see a resurgence of CableCARD televisions later this year. Unlike the first generation of one-way communication and single tuning sets, the new generation will employ OCAP tru2way. According to Home Theater Magazine:

all Panasonic PDP and LCD sets incorporate ATSC tuners and some will soon incorporate OCAP two-way cable cards allowing for on-demand services without a set-top cable box.

Being a minimalist, the clutter-free aspect of TVs like these appeal to me. Though, I’m not sure if I’m willing to forgo DVR functionality for the sake of neatness. But I bet my mom is.

Yet to be addressed: How will these televisions deal with SDV… Built-in switching capabilities or will they also need a tuning resolver accessory?

We’ve discussed this unit a few times in the comments, and I finally managed to get my hands on the Gefen HD DVR ($999). It was announced last summer, and Gefen intended to ship prior to the end of 2007. I’m not actually sure if they made their target, but they’re definitely shipping now in 2008.

The first things you need to know are that Gefen doesn’t provide an EPG (that I could find) and there’s no network connectivity. Recording is initiated while viewing live content or via scheduling. No pausing of live television either. Really, this is nothing more than a glorified VCR. But where things get interesting is the advertised ability to record high definition content via HDMI. To the best of my knowledge, HDMI and HDCP licensing specifically prohibits recording… Which is why we haven’t seen any other devices like this.

HTPC guru “AVeNVy” and I confirmed the Gefen DVR records (HBO via CableCARD!) from a Motorola HDCP set-top box over HDMI in 720p and 1080i. The unit has both an internal hard drive and a SD card reader. Until we dropped STB output to 480i, we couldn’t record onto my SD card. Therefore, it appears HD content is restricted to the unit’s hard drive. However, we removed four screws and voided the warranty to determine that recordings (H.264 MPEG-4) are unprotected on the DVR’s 2.5″ drive (and play fine in Windows).

What’s going on here… Licensing loophole, software bug, ignorance, arrogance, my own limited understanding? Hm.

Click on thumbnails for a larger view:

I’m setting up my SageTV HD100 and a key component is the HDMI cable used to connect the HD media extender to the LCD television. One thing I learned long ago was to not buy theater cables from the big-box retailers, including Best Buy, Circuit City,Walmart , etc. Instead, I save myself a bundle by purchasing online. Why not cave to convenience and purchase at the store? Despite what the kid at the store tells you, those Monster Cable and lesser known “high quality” cables are being sold at huge margins and no noticeable differences in performance.

Best Buy sells the fancy packaged, 16′ Monster Cable - Ultra Series 800 HDMI A/V Cable (not rated for in-wall installation) for the low, low price of $149.99. While Monoprice.com, my favorite cable vendor, sells a HDMI Tin-Plated Copper CL2 Rated (For In-Wall Installation) Cable (22AWG) - 30ft (Gold Plated) for $36.87. Feel free to include shipping fees, and you’re still way below the big-box cost. Delivery is very quick and you’ll end up with a better cable for less. Another retailer with good, inexpensive cables is Newegg.com.

Next time you have a home theater project, do your homework and shop around to save in places you didn’t expect. Trust me, you’ll need that money later for something else in your theater.

Check out more of Brent’s reflections on tech, gadgets, software and media at Brent Evans Geek Tonic.

Let’s say I win the lottery. Not just a little jackpot, but a really big one. If that happens, this is the home theater I might want to put in my mansion. It costs about $6 million and includes a gigantic, Snowmatte laboratory-grade screen, Sony ultra-high-resolution (4,096-by-2,160) SRX-S110 digital projector, a 8.8-channel audio system with THREE center-channel speakers, SIXTEEN 18-inch Snell Subs, and the list goes on and on. In the end, the setup powers 11,315 high-quality watts in the room designed for the sole purpose of being the ultimate home theater. Is it overkill? Heck yes, but who’s going to judge you when it’s your cash?

Check out more of Brent’s reflections on tech, gadgets, software and media at Brent Evans Geek Tonic.

With the exception of ~1 million owners, the HD DVD story pretty much concluded today when Toshiba pulled the plug:

Toshiba Corporation today announced that it has undertaken a thorough review of its overall strategy for HD DVD and has decided it will no longer develop, manufacture and market HD DVD players and recorders. Toshiba will begin to reduce shipments of HD DVD players and recorders to retail channels, aiming for cessation of these businesses by the end of March 2008. Toshiba also plans to end volume production of HD DVD disk drives for such applications as PCs and games in the same timeframe

The tipping point came just prior to CES when Warner Brothers gave up on HD DVD. And it’s be all downhill for Toshiba ever since. However, we won’t see mass market adoption of Blu-ray until the hardware prices creep down. Not to mention that most folks are perfectly content with DVDs - they include surround sound, hold up well on HD sets, play on all modern computers and in minivans, plus they can be ripped. Having said that, industry will now focus on educating the consumer - moms don’t know what Blu-ray is. While digital downloads and expanded VOD/PPV offerings are gaining momentum, there’ll always be a retail market for optical video discs.

If you weren’t already convinced the next-gen optical disc battle was over, Wal-Mart has announced their intentions to dump HD DVD and exclusively stock Blu-ray. There’s also murmurs that Toshiba is about ready to throw in the towel… The quicker they do so, the better - a single format and less consumer confusion will lead to higher adoption rates and ultimately lower hardware prices.