Microsoft will be dropping the price of their Xbox 360 HD DVD player from $199 to $179 come August 1st. While a $20 discount isn’t very compelling, they’re also offering five free HD DVD titles. But with a Netflix subscription, who cares? If they really want to move these, MS needs to bring them down to $129 or, better yet, $99. The tide may have turned… and I not wagering $179 on HD DVD.
(Thanks, Kevin!)
Chances are if you read this blog you already have digital cable, or satellite TV, or FiOS or U-verse, or some combination of the above. However, if you don’t, or if you’re looking to make a switch to digital cable, you can now get a combo deal on cable service plus an HD TV set.
A company called Broadband National has deals signed with Comcast, Time Warner and Charter to offer sweet rebates on HDTVs when you sign up for cable service. It looks like you can sign up for only digital cable, but I wouldn’t swear you don’t have to sign your life away for the full triple-play bundle. If you’re willing to deal with the service commitment, you can easily save in the range of $400-$500. Even without doing a combo deal, the Broadband National site still has (smaller) rebates worth checking out if you’re in the market for an HD display.
HDTV is booming, but not for the reasons you might expect. Apparently Americans aren’t getting high-def sets primarily to watch TV, but for gaming and screening DVDs. In fact, a recent CEA study found that only 44 percent of HDTV owners subscribe to HD programming from a cable or satellite TV provider. Of course that still leaves over-the-air HD signals, but according to the study, that’s not the biggest draw.
Given the DVD format wars, I have to admit I’m a bit surprised that high-def DVD watching is so popular. Clearly seeing Eddie Murphy in HD is more compelling than I realized.
It’s that time of year again. We’re more than halfway to the holiday shopping season and CES 2008, which means CE companies are starting to panic about what they can get on to store shelves or at least out of production in time to take advantage of the year’s biggest buying season and biggest PR event respectively. Without doing any in-depth research yet, here’s my list of what we might see around Black Friday time:
Retail Moxi DVR – Dave’s already covered this extensively, and I can’t wait to see how Digeo brings its two models to market. What are the price points? Who will sell them? Has Digeo had any problems with CableCARD certification?
Touchscreen iPod/Nano iPhone – The rumor is some iPod/Nano mash-up will come out later this year. I don’t think it will make my X’mas wish list. A touchscreen on a device smaller than the existing iPhone? I’d need tinier thumbs.
Toshiba’s latest firmware update, available via download or mail-order disc, for newer HD DVD players facilitates the viewing of movie-related web content and reportedly squashes the chroma bug. Blood Diamond is the first flick to to enable web access and according to High-Def Digest:
Taken as a whole, while the interface is certainly nice and slick, there really is nothing included among these web-enabled extras that couldn’t work just as well (or better) on the film’s official website. The only clear bonus is that you can access this material directly from the comfort of your couch
By the way, I really enjoyed Blood Diamond (even in SD, via Amazon Unbox on TiVo).
(via EngadgetHD)
