HDTV Magazine Articles Archive (October, 2006)

The results are in. From August 22nd, 2006 through October 1st, 2006, HDTV Magazine conducted and sponsored The Fall 2006 HDTV Study. This article focuses on several key questions related to HDTV technology and how the results came out. The charts and data below reflect the preferences, buying habits, and general demographics of 1281 study respondents. These respondents took the survey either as a subscriber to our services, or by navigating from a link featured on our home page. As such, the audience for this survey are primarily either owners of HDTVs or those in the immediate market (within 3 months of purchase) for an HDTV.

I have read several on-line comments about the HR20, most concerning the user interface and/or the software instability. My first HR20 finally suffered a fatal brain injury indicated by a failure to turn-on, except after initiating the dreaded "reset" cycle. Perhaps its demise was exacerbated somewhat after I threw it across the room, but alas, I don't believe anything would have helped except a complete unit transplant.

The new unit is somewhat more stable (at least it turns-on). But, even after the latest shot of DirecTV software downloads, the new unit is as bug-ridden as an Alabama basement. I won't bore you with a litany of its problems, but, suffice it to say...

Kagan Research recently published their future view of pre-recorded media. They note with certainty that the halcyon days of double digit growth in rentals of DVD disks is over and the luxury of sell-through is past. Kagan characterizes the two high-definition DVD formats (HD DVD and Blu ray) as the only contest in town, but other technologies threaten to zip right past these old dowagers. One might be the likes of holographic technology.

"Holography breaks through the density limits of conventional storage by going beyond recording only on the surface, to recording through the full depth of the medium. Unlike other technologies that record one data bit at a time, holography allows a million bits of data to be written and read in parallel with a single flash of light. This enables transfer rates significantly higher than current optical storage devices." For more information: http://www.inphase-technologies.com/tech ...