Is this holiday season going to the year of HDTV? The Washington Times has an article stating that it will be a big year for HDTV. The Consumer Electronics Association predicts 7M HDTV televisions will be sold this season.
That’s still only a 25% of all televisions sales this season, but it’s still a big number. Next holiday season will be the big Kahuna, at least if prices continue to drop.
(Hat Tip: TVPredictions.com)
GotApex.com has posted a review of the Plextor ConvertX PVR. They seemed happy with the product, only knocking it for its high price. Here’s the money quote:
“Make it $129 bucks, or heck, 100 as long as I’m wishing, and you got a perfect score. As it is, 8.5 of 10.”
Additional Info:
TVHarmony Product Tracker: Plextor PX-TV402U
(Hat tip: Design Technica)
Given my nasty head cold and the upcoming holidays (the two always seem to travel in tandem), posting will be light through the rest of the week. There are plenty of product reviews and analysis on tap after the Thanksgiving holiday, so enjoy your turkey and visit us next week. If you are a glutton for information, you might want to try out the TVHarmony News Tracker which is continually updated from Yahoo RSS feeds.
Happy Thanksgiving!
It looks like I’ll have to change my review of BeyondTV to be a 3 part series since according to Build Your Own PVR, Beyond Media will be released any day now. The software is finalized and they are in production and should be available some time next week.
This is exciting news, indeed.
Wired has a short review of the new Plextor ConvertX for the Mac. They tested the product on an older Mac below the minimum specifications but still thought it was a handy tool for Mac users.
Additional Info:
TVHarmony Product Tracker: Plextor PX-TV402U
Ploosh! has an excellent round-up on the Intellectual Property Protection Act (IPPA) making its way through Congress. I need to read up on it more before I can comment on it, but from the things other people are writing, it sounds horrible.
Build Your Own PVR just hit a major milestone, registering their 1,000th BYOPVR member. As I’ve mentioned in the past, BYOPVR is not only a great news and information site, but also a helpful resource for people trying to get their questions answered about DVR technology.
They’ve also been very kind in linking to TVHarmony.com and helping us build more regular readers here. Behind the scenes, they’ve given us a lot technical support and advice, and they definitely deserve all the success and recognition that they’ve received.
Congratulations!
BeyondTV 3.5 offers a great combination of features and power, yet remains one of the easiest DVR products I’ve installed and used. As the first part of a two part series, I’ll describe the BeyondTV 3.5 product, and in part two, I’ll describe how other products like BeyondTV Link and MediaMVP can be used to distribute video throughout a household.
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I recently viewed a broadcast on PBS from Frontline called The Persuaders which focused on consumer marketing and branding. The whole show is worth watching if you are into that kind of thing and it is available online here. As a side note, I learned that I never want to participate in one of Clotaire Rapaille’s zany regression focus groups to figure out the root cause of why I use Crest toothpaste.
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Ever wonder who uses Microsoft’s MSN TV product, a device that connects your television to Internet content? Well, just ask the guys down at your local senior center.
I always thought it would be a useful device for older people, but I was shocked by this quote from Andy Sheldon, senior director of product marketing for MSN TV:
“Our average user is 57 years old. These people are getting to the age where they don’t want to deal with complicated ways of connecting to the Web.”
Given how quickly time is flying these days, it won’t be all that long before I’ll find myself donning a wide brim hat, hopping in my Buick, and slowly driving home in the fast lane so I can email the grandkids on my television.
(Hat Tip: TVPredictions.com)
