77% of Broadcast Engineers Looking For New Jobs

The Review of Salary Trends Survey 2006 in the Digital Broadcast and New Media Sectors reports that 77% of broadcast engineers and 75% of web developers say that they are actively looking for new employment or will be within the next 12 months.

PCR Recruitment, a specialist consultancy providing recruitment and selection services across the digital broadcast and new media sectors, undertook this latest review of employment and salary trends in recognition of the strong growth in the digital broadcast and new media sectors.

”Because the broadcast and new media industry is a rapidly changing sector we wanted to get a better overall picture of what is happening and take a close look at the technical skills most in demand,” said Judith Blair, Managing Director at PCR. “Broadcast engineers figure top of the list for permanent vacancies, while project managers, web developers and business analysts are also in demand but with more of a bias toward contract vacancies.”

In addition to the high level of movement within the industry, PCR’s survey revealed that around 96% of technical staff are now educated to degree level or above, and that women make up less than 20% of employees or contractors in the roles surveyed. However, women figured most prominently in the role of business analyst.

“Over the next 12 months we expect to see further impact of the rapid growth in web and mobile TV, in parallel with the shift to digital broadcasting,” adds Blair. “This will drive the demand for core skills such as content and digital asset management, networking, and database administration, as well as client-end web developer skills such as Java, AJAX, CSS, and .Net experience.”

www.pcrweb.co.uk

Sony Announce 4K Camera System

The Hollywood Reporter has unveiled Sony's plans for its 4K digital camera and image storage system at ShowEast, where it also demonstrated the new, high-brightness 4K SRX-R 220 projector.

Sony estimates that ..."it will take two to three years to release the camera and system".

"4K has four times the pixels of 2K, " Sony SXRD Systems marketing manager Andre Floyd said. "The pixels are much smaller and much closer together, so you have to get very close to the screen to distinguish them." Sony's ultimate goal, Flyd said, is to have 4K cameras shooting 4K films with an exact match in resolution.

Thanks for The Hollywood Reporter for the info

Microsoft Have Shipped Six Million XBox 360s

Microsoft Corp. is six million XBox 360 units sold on the way to the 10 million they have forecast for the end of the year. The 10 milion target is seen as significant because that's when the games publishers see a platform with legs and commit more to it.

The console break down for territories was 3.6 million units in North America, 1.7 million in Europe and about 700,000 to other regions.

Microsoft posted an 11 percent rise in fiscal first- quarter profit yesterday and said its entertainment and devices division that includes Xbox 360 cut its first-quarter loss to $96 million from $173 million a year earlier. They've always said that the division would be in profit in 2007.

Manufacturing costs are reducing for the console and soon there will be a drop in retail price due to component costs and CPU and graphics chip marrying on one chip device.

Technicolor's TIGER AVC Encoder

Technicolor Content Services has announced the introduction of its new proprietary TIGER AVC encoding system for high-quality compression of high-definition video for use in HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc products. The new solution, co-developed by Thomson Corporate Research laboratories and Technicolor, is now being used at Technicolor Content Services’ DVD compression and authoring facility in Burbank, Calif.

The new TIGER AVC encoder is a "strategic response to client demands for the highest-quality images to support the two new high-definition DVD formats".

”As a result of our close partnership with Thomson’s Technology division, Technicolor is providing its clients with unique, industry-leading tools for advanced video encoding based on MPEG4-H.264/AVC technology" said Chris Carey, chief technology officer for the Services division of Thomson."

The company has five HD DVD replication lines, and four Blu-ray Disc replication lines, in place to meet current studio and consumer requirements.

BBC Gets UK's First Live HD Show

Uping the ante on the HD broadcast front the BBC has announced that the remainder of their hit Saturday night show, Strictly Come Dancing, will be simulcast in HD on their HD Trial Channel.

The broadcasts will be the first time BBC Television's Studio One has been used for a live HD show since it was outfitted for HD.

The new Studio One is cabled to support up to 16 cameras, with four HD fibre optic feeds from the gallery to the studio floor. It is also equipped with a fully digital Studer Vista 8 sound desk, 5.1 sound monitoring and Dolby E encoding and decoding. Incoming standard definition sources will be up-converted to HD and output can be converted to standard definition if required.

The BBC's HD Trial is due to end in March next year and as yet no news of its extension or termination has been announced.

History Channel HD Launches

The worldwide debut of a high definition service for The History Channel will start transmission tomorrow.  The channel will broadcast daily from 8am until 2am on Sky channel number 545 and all programmes on the channel will be in high definition.

The History Channel HD will be programmed by The History Channel UK and will offer a separate schedule to the standard definition channel. 
 
The schedule will include a wide range of programmes in HD, including UK premieres of Engineering an Empire, Warrior Empire: The Mughals, and The Sahara, as well as HD versions of The Plague, The Crusades: Crescent & The Cross, and Beyond the Da Vinci Code. 

Richard Melman, UK Channel Director said: “We’re delighted and proud to launch The History Channel HD in the UK. The stunning quality of the pictures adds a new dimension to our programmes.  The channel is entirely scheduled with programmes originated in high definition. From the grains of sand that make up the Sahara to the gold leaf of the ancient manuscripts. This is the future of History.”
 
Comment: just right for first adopters but how much upconverted content will there be?

Big Endorsement for HD DVD

AIMMA comprises of 37 North American media manufacturing owners and operators. Membership is open to all North American media manufacturers regardless of size or medium manufactured. AIMMA member companies comprise the majority of the non-theatrical replication and duplication capacity in the region’s market.

The AIMMA meeting included presentations by speakers representing both HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc. Member discussion focused on the economics and efficiencies of transitioning to either format, including equipment costs and installation timing.

“Given that the HD DVD manufacturing process uses essentially the same equipment as existing DVD production, the format is far more compatible with the companies in our organisation than the Blu-ray Disc format,” said Ray Zerrusen, AIMMA president and president of member company OEM. “In a marketplace facing increasingly squeezed margins, HD DVD is the logical choice for our membership, providing a lower cost of entry and shorter ramp-up timing” he continued.

www.aimma.org

2D Image Automatically to 3D

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have managed to teach a computer to recognise and transform a 2D image into 3D.

Video demo: If no video window go to:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuoljANz4EA

Lost Moves To Sky HD

The new seasons of LOST will now be seen exclusively on Sky One & Sky One HD in the UK. Season three started on ABC in the US on October 4 but there was no news of when it will start airing on Sky One.

This is a bitter blow to Channel 4, the incumbent broadcaster, has it anything to with Lost being aired in HD in the US and up to now not in the UK?

More Details of PlayStation 3 Network

Sony US' marketing for the PlayStation 3 continues its crescendo with more details on one of the jewels in the crown of the next-gen games console, the PlayStation Network. This is where the PS3 communities will flourish and online gaming will continue to gain friends. The service reportedly uses a navigation system already available on Sony's hand held game player, the PSP (not sure why yet!).

Predictably Microsoft this week also announced that four million of us are playing on XBox Live, their own online service. They have also announced the long awaited Gears Of War game is to be released on November 17, the same day PS3 launches.

The PlayStation Network will do most of what Xbox Live does (chat, buy games, download music, video etc..) but with one big addition, it will have an internet browser, whose we don't know.

Online play, chat and other features will be free to users. Sony say downloadable games will cost less than $15 at launch.

Sony has also announced that the first 500,000 systems shipped in North America will include the Bluray of "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby," starring Will Ferrell... well you can't have everything.

First Dual HD DVD/Bluray Player

VidaBox known for media center systems has announced what they're calling the world’s first dual HD-DVD & Blu-Ray Media Center product lines. The Dual HD upgrade allows the rack-mountable, premium LUX and MAX systems to play both high definition disc formats.

In addition to being able to play both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD discs at their native 1080p high-definition resolution, the new LUX and MAX Dual HD systems will also feature HDCP-compliant outputs and dual analogue and dual HDTV tuners to record up to four TV shows at once.

PC specs are up to AMD 4600+ dual core processors with 8GB of RAM and a 7950GT video card, and up to 3,000GB and 3,750 GB of protected storage on the MAX™ and LUX™, respectively.

http://www.vidabox.com/Products/LUX/LUX_more_images.htm

Video Gamers Get Electronically Measured

Nielsen Media Research, a specialist company in measuring media audiences usually in television, has announced that it is launching GamePlay Metrics, a new rating service for video games.

The all-electronic ratings service will establish new metrics for the buying and selling of advertising in video games, while also tracking the activities of gamers across other media platforms, such as TV and the Internet.

This new data will enable the video game industry to develop an advertising business model to offset the steep development costs of new titles for next-generation consoles. The metrics will also give advertisers a greater level of precision for targeting the digital consumer.

Nielsen's new measurement service promises to provide advertisers, agencies, hardware manufacturers and game developers with independent, quantitative demographic data for negotiating the buying and selling of in-game and around-game advertising.

Nielsen's GamePlay Metrics service will also provide advertisers with analysis on how video game play affects or complements the use of other electronic media. For example, the data will show what television programmes gamers watch when they're not playing games. This unified data source increases the precision of advertisers' target marketing, and enables them to allocate their ad dollars in a more efficient manner.

“The value of an entertainment medium is directly proportional to how well it is measured,” said Jeff Herrmann, Vice President of Nielsen Wireless and Interactive Services. “A reliable and accurate standard of measurement for video gaming will drive advertising investment in this medium and help convert video game advertising from a discretionary advertising experiment to a must-have option.”

"For games to gain prominence as both a medium and a communication platform, the gaming industry must deliver the tools brands need to leverage it most effectively," said Saneel Radia, Group Director at Play, the gaming division of Denuo.

Collecting Video Game Data
Nielsen's national television sample of more than 10,000 households currently collects information on video game use through existing People Meter technology. GamePlay Metrics will use a patented approach to harvest this existing information from current and next-generation video game consoles within these sample households.

The new service will passively record the titles of games while capturing key demographic detail about players. Moreover, because it is based on Nielsen's national TV ratings sample, Nielsen GamePlay Metrics also will provide advertisers with valuable data on what TV programmes are consumed by active gamers.

Nielsen GamePlay Metrics will begin providing video game ratings data in mid-2007. Subscribing clients will receive, on a weekly basis, easy-to-access ratings charts and rankings which show the most-played video games. Clients will be given necessary elements titles, platform, genre, daypart and demographics - from which to base their advertising and planning decisions.

Off-The-Air HDTV on your Laptop

A glimpse of what Freeview HD could be like comes from a company in the USA called AutumnWave with their OnAir GT mobile HDTV device.

More than 1,500 TV stations in the US are now broadcasting HD signals over the air. This means anybody with an HD tuner should be able to watch high definition broadcasts. Also more and more laptops have HDTV graphics abilities so the impetus is there.

The OnAir GT from AutumnWave claims to be the first ever mobile HDTV device to allow on-the-go consumers to receive high definition over-the-air.

The OnAir GT, together with its included software, allows consumers to watch high definition television anywhere a receivable broadcast signal exists. The GT model is small enough to fit in a laptop case and is USB-powered, requiring no external power supply.

http://www.autumnwave.com/images/stories/USBHDTV-GT/gallery/3_GT_package_contents.jpg

PRICE: The manufacturer’s suggested retail price is $179.

http://www.autumnwave.com/Assets/PDF/OnAirHDTV-GTFactSheet.pdf

History Channel HD To Launch

Launching as 'The World's First History Channel in HD' History Channel HD comes to Telewest and possibly Sky HD next month with programmes like Engineering an Empire: Egypt which is from the forthcoming Winter schedule.

Sanyo/Epson Launch 7inch 1920x1080 Screen

Sanyo and Epson have launch a 7.1inch LCD screen with true HD measurements of 1920x1080 bringing HD to the mobile world of media players, mobile tv and phones.

The screen features something called 'Animated Picture Processing Technology' with 'AME (Auto-Movie-Enhancement)' which, the companies claim, results in a low electric power consumption design an absolute must for mobile devices. The screen's 'Super Kousei' detail also promises to give the screen near 180º viewing angle.

There is no indication of when the product will be seen in mobile devices but get ready for companies like Archos and Apple to be first to offer an 'HDTV' premium price mobile device.

PlayStation 3 Commercial

For American consumption for their November 17 launch is the advertising agencies attempt to build excitement for this late and expensive next-gen games console.

No details just a feeling from the ad that the PS3 is a gift from the gods although not so much a gift but a few hundred dollars worth of pocket money from the young lads featured.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0QxoKnU5Zg

Sony Announce 300pc Increase in HD Camera Sales in Europe

At Sportel in Monaco Sony announced some figures for their newest HD cameras and an impressive 300pc increase in sales since 2004.

The figures include 150 HDC-1500 cameras sold since April this year and 50 HDC-3300 'Super slow motion' systems since September.

The UK has taken most of the 1500s with 130. Clients include Arqiva who have equipped two HD OBs with 20 HDC-1500s and two slow mo cameras. CTV has bought 14 1500s and two 3300s; Observe has bought four 1500s and one 3300.

In the rental market Presteigne has bought 29 Sony HD systems; Finepoint has bought eight 1500s, four HDC-950s and two 3300s. Telegenic has bought 14 1500s and Arena OB six.

An article about the use of HD at the Ryder Cup is at www.definitionmagazine.com's home page

2560x1440 LCD TV in 2007

Chi Mei Optoelectronics (CMO), has announced plans for a consumer-grade, high-resolution 47in Quad High Definition (QHD, 2560 x 1440) LCD TV panel slated for mass production in Q2 2007.

Continuing on the success of its 56-inch Quad Full High Definition (QFHD) panel (3840 x 2160) which has boasted the highest resolution of any LCD TV panel in the world, its new 47in panel features a 16:9 aspect ratio and a 3.68 million pixel display (2560 x 1440).

CMO’s 47in QuadHD LCD TV panel is 1.78 times bigger than the highest pixel count available for digital TV panel with 2.07 million pixels (1920 x 1080), and is four times bigger than the 920,000 pixel count for 1280 x 720 HD panels.

Quoted specs include a brightness of 450 nits, contrast ratio of 1500:1, colour saturation rate of 90% (NTSC) and a response time of 6.5 ms.

CE Products to Reach $150 Billion in 2007

CEA President and CEO Gary Shapiro told the Industry Forum in San Francisco yesterday that sales of consumer electronic products will reach nearly $150 billion in 2007. Also, CEA Senior VP of Events and Conferences Karen Chupka announced the lineup for keynote addresses for January's convention, which include Microsoft's Bill Gates and Dell's Michael Dell.

Gary's analysis produced some interesting lifestyle stats for US households. Each US household will buy $1500 worth of CE products next year equating to 26 products in each house.

Also 24pc of all gifts purchased will be CE products equating to $21.7 billion and an astonishing 15pc increase on last year's figures.

Just In Case You Missed It - RED 4K Demo

A little late but just in case you wanted to get an idea of what Red were doing with their camera here's a YouTube rendition of 4K from the audience at the RAI Centre main auditorium in Amsterdam at last month's IBC Convention.

You do get a feeling of what the material looks like and how carefully it was shot. It was all very jovial and then it ended, no Q&A, just lots of happy smilers.

Another HD Web Media Player

An America company called Vircas (www.vircas.com) joins IM (www.im.com) and Australian company Vividas (www.vividas.com) in the $ 2 billion race to bring streaming HD to the web.

Vividas has a suite of products which include PPV (Pay Per View) and a HD encoder. The player is agnostic to platforms and uses a 'sniffer' technology to play out (has a look what you have to play out on).

Vircas believe that offering HD is the way forward for pay per view as people will pay for the quality. They have proprietary technology with extensive DRM.

Unfortunately Vircas describe HD as anything above 720x540 which is nobody's description of any HD we know except if you halve the vertical res.

One of their selling points is that using their streaming enables you to do away with DVDs for your distribution - is this the beginning of the end for the physical media of DVD?

In Six Years HD Opticals Disc Will Rule

A Californian research firm has bodly claimed that by 2012 high definition DVD discs will have a higher market share than SD DVDs. They also say that by 2009 high definition DVD revenue will grow to $2.6 billion.

The company goes on to say that Blu Ray and HD DVD sales will account for 13.6pc of video sell through revenue this year!53.7pc in 2012 and 68.7pc in 2015 with $18 billion in revenue.

Our opinion is that these crystal ball gazers have forgotten the onslaught of online distribution which is just about to hit with companies like Apple with iTV at the forefront. PVRs have proved that consumers quite enjoy downloading content to hard drives and as hard drives get bigger and consequently cheaper more downloading will stay on the drive and not be moved off to video or DVD-Rs

iTunes for HD movies is months away...

Microsoft's Talks Up HD DVD by Dancing

Most sensible people who are interested in getting the next generation DVD player, HD DVD or Blu Ray, will wait until the prices come down, but those who have an XBox 360 and £130 will be watching HD DVD very soon.

The Microsoft marketing machine has put out a video to illustrate the increase in quality of the new drive they are selling at the end of the year. HD DVD has six times the resolution of normal DVDs so there are six dancers.

USA PS3 Pre-orders 'Already Ordered'

GameStop Corp. in the USA, one of the two countries which Sony is to launch PlayStation 3 this year has said that its 3,600 GameStop and EB Games stores have sold out their quota of pre-orders for Sony's new PlayStation 3 video game console.

Each store had no less than eight and no more than 13 of the next-gen players available on pre-order.

Sony will officially start selling the PS3 on November 17 in the United States and Japan and March 2007 in Europe.

According to Reuters Sony has allotted 400,000 PS3 units for its US launch, compared with its PlayStation 2 launch supply of just under 500,000.

HD Comment: - So Sony will no doubt feel the heat of customer fustration when they can't get their console as Microsoft did with their Xbox 360 launch. However the PS3 may be the product that finally finds the convergence that TV & computer companies have been looking for. In the wake of Google's $1.7 Billion purchase of what seems nothing more than 'You've Been Framed' X 1000 with their acquisition of YouTube, the PS3 with its in-built browser might find some extra friends.

New Display Technology: Laser TV

Lasers have long been recognised for their potential as illumination sources for projection applications due to their wide colour gamut and high light energy efficiency. Historically, however, they have lacked the power, small form factor and cost performance to realise laser-based projection display.

Necsel lasers from US company Novalux overcome these obstacles, making them ideal light sources for next-generation devices.

Necsel lasers are housed in an innovative package smaller than a matchbox. All Necsel light sources produce colour-saturated output, allowing them to reach a larger colour space than competitive lighting technologies. And Necsel lasers provide bright, speckle-free output, resulting in clear, vibrant images unattainable by any other light source. Necsel technology also reduces a light engine’s component count, dropping overall device cost. Additional advantages include long lifetime, instant-on and low étendue.

"If you look at any screen today, the colour content is roughly about 30-35 per cent of what the eye can see," says Novalux CEO Jean-Michel Pelaprat. "But for the very first time with a laser TV we'll be able to see 90 per cent of what the eye can see. All of a sudden what you see is a lifelike image on display."

Laser TV is due to be available next year.

www.novalux.com

Blinkx Online Video Search redefines channel hopping

Blinkx.tv is the channel hoppers dream as it has already indexed (remembered) more than six million hours of audio, video and TV programming and has made those hours searchable.

Blinkx are just about to announce a deal with Microsoft to use Blinkx technology to power the video search on some parts of its MSN Internet sites and Live.com. This potentially makes Blinkx the biggest video search engine on the web.

Blinkx already powers video search for ITN and Times Online. It also indexes video for Sky News and Reuters. Google's new company acquisition YouTube is also a customer.

Microsoft has agreed to pay Blinkx an outright licensing fee based on how much use visitors to Microsoft Web sites make of the Blinkx service.

www.blinkx.tv

HD Content for Rent on Web

Instant Media are a company who are pioneering the use of high definition over the internet. They have just released their latest player software IM 1.2 which adds an integrated ecommerce engine so you can buy, rent or subscribe to content from their library.

They use what is called the iHD format which is 720p, 2048kps WMV HD (played via your Windows Media 10 player on WinXP only).

IM quote that their research shows in four years time 139 million people will have the bandwidth to receive IPTV (Internet Protocol TV). IM subscribers total about 600,000 with about 550 channels of content from companies like CBS, NBC and the BBC.


www.im.com

Poland Gets HDTV

A Polish high definition TV digital platform will launch next month and will simply be known as 'N'.

'N' comes from Polish commercial broadcaster the ITI group. Artur Budzieszewski program director of Platform N says that the platform will offer a wide selection of film channels, on demand movies as well as sports in high definition..

'We can be proud, because we have something for everyone’s taste, the best of the market has to offer and more. We have lined up a package of new channels. It’s an offer which is a novelty in terms of format and content.’ On offer are channels for the entire family, including a channel for toddlers.

Currently Poland has two commercial digital platforms. Cyfra Plus offering Canal+ and HBO prime movie channels, and Polsat. Both platforms offer several packages with over 100 channels. Poland’s public broadcaster TVP plans on launching its own platform soon. Boguslaw Chrabota from Polsat says that, with tiny exceptions, 'N' will offer the same channels which are already available in Poland.

Broadcast analyst Stanislaw Piatek thinks that the time is ripe for a new offer. He believes that there is potential demand for high definition TV in Poland but, a varied new selection of channels are equally important.

‘I think there is some room for such offerings. Certainly they have to add something in terms of programming, completely new programmes to the market. Will it be enough, to attract the viewers, this is the big question.’

Info from: http://www.polskieradio.pl/polonia/article.asp?tId=42574&j=2

BBC HD Trial - Content coming up!

The BBC has released more details of their Autumn schedule for their high definition trial. Content includes the new dramas Robin Hood and Torchwood and also the second lot of Planet Earth programmes.

More details starting from last weekend.

Saturday October 7
16.45 – 19.05pm
Match of the Day: England Vs Macedonia - Euro 2008 qualifier
Gary Lineker presents live coverage of England's Euro 2008 qualifier against Macedonia at Old Trafford. (Simulcast with BBC ONE)

19.05-19.50pm and 19.50-20.35pm (rpt)
Robin Hood – Will You Tolerate This? Ep1
Robin of Locksley heads home from the Crusades to find his people starving and brutalised under the tyrannical rule of the new Sheriff.(Simulcast with BBC ONE and repeated at 19.50pm)

Sunday October 8
22.00-23.25pm
My Summer Of Love
Teenage Mona and Tamsin meet on the moors, above their quiet Yorkshire village and begin an intense, unlikely friendship. Directed by Pawal Pawlikowski. BBC Films 2004. (simulcast with BBC TWO)

Tuesday October 10
21.00-22.00pm.
The Amazing Mrs Pritchard, ep2 (Simulcast with BBC ONE, ep1 rpt at 22.00)
Drama series about a supermarket manager who decides to stand for election.

23.05pm
BBC One Sessions – Corinne Bailey Rae
Corinne Bailey Rae appears with a 10-piece string section for the first time in this unique BBC One Session from LSO St Luke's for special readings of songs from her self-titled debut album. (simulcast with BBC ONE)

Friday October 13
21.00-21.50pm
Galapagos ep3
With a blend of iconic drama reconstruction, spectacular aerial photography and stunning natural history sequences, this programme unravels the hidden side of Galapagos, and why it is such a fascinating showcase for evolution. (Simulcast with BBC TWO)

More October first showings on BBC HD:

Torchwood
The new drama from writer Russell T Davies, Torchwood is a sci-fi crime thriller which tells the story of a crack squad of secret agents, setting their own rules and operating above the law to protect the public from both human and alien threats.  Starring John Barrowman and Eve Myles. (Simulcast with BBC THREE from late October)

Sinchronicity
Set on the streets of Manchester, Sinchronicity is a stylish, strange and sexy comedy drama asking the question that haunts us all: "What if...?" (previously shown on BBC THREE)

Billy Elliot : Award-winning BBC Film (2000)

November first showings on BBC HD:

Planet Earth part two
Six episodes complete the series, covering the polar regions, plains, forests, jungles, shallow seas and deep oceans. (Simulcast with BBC ONE)

Great British Summer
Alan Titchmarsh narrates this new series exploring British people's relationship with the sunniest season. Events across the British Isles – from baking-hot days on the beach to the stoic acceptance of a washed-out Wimbledon – reveal just why summer is held with such great affection in the British psyche. (Simulcast with BBC ONE)

Into the West
A sweeping epic covering the period from 1825 to 1892, Into The West weaves together the compelling experiences of two multi-generational families - one pioneer and the other plains- dwelling Native American - each telling the dramatic stories of the development of the West from their distinct viewpoints.

The six by 90 minute mini-series is produced by Turner Network Television (TNT) in association with DreamWorks Television and executive producer Steven Spielberg. (Simulcast with BBC TWO)

Jam and Jerusalem
Set in a small West Country village, comedy Jam and Jerusalem stars Sue Johnston as local practice nurse Sal who, along with best friend Tip, the surgery's receptionist with an intricate knowledge of everyone's ailments, lives a busy life at the centre of their community. Written by Jennifer Saunders and also starring Pauline McLynn (as Tip), Joanna Lumley, Dawn French, Maggie Steed, David Mitchell, Sally Phillips and Doreen Mantle.

The Innocence Project
A vibrant and original pre-watershed series which follows a group of bright and ambitious law students.  (simulcast with BBC ONE)

Secret Life of Mrs Beeton (Previously shown on BBC FOUR)
Fear of Fanny (Previously shown on BBC FOUR)

Unplaced:

Highlights of the Electric Proms including The Who, James Brown, The Good, the Bad and The Queen, Kasabian and the Guillemots with the BBC Symphony Orchestra will feature on BBC HD later in the year. (To be shown first on BBC ONE and BBC THREE)

Lead Balloon
Jack Dee stars as Rick Spleen, a successful but disillusioned and world-weary stand-up comedian and writer who spends too much time hosting corporate events.  (To be shown first on BBC FOUR)

First Three 50GB Blu Ray Titles

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (SPHE) has announced the arrival of its first three 50GB dual-layer Blu-ray Discs in the USA. The comedy Click, starring Adam Sandler, will be available on store shelves October 10.

Black Hawk Down, featuring new Blu-Wizard technology and will be available on November 14.

Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, will hits shelves December 12.

Blu-Wizard is explained a little bit by SPHE's President: "As consumers make the leap to Blu-ray's incredible high-definition picture and theatre quality audio, they want access to a diverse selection of content packed with added-value features and reference titles like Ridley Scott's powerful war epic Black Hawk Down, that will add to their growing Blu-ray Disc libraries".

So Blu-Wizard is just more stuff on the disc. I can't help thinking that interactive Blu Ray discs might be encroaching on what the Internet does better, more information on a certain subject and now with more video to watch. It's early days though...

George Lucas To Stop Film Making for Cinema

Phillip Swann over at TV Predictions.com has picked up on an interview Star Wars creator George Lucas has given to Variety Magazine saying he's leaving the movie business to concentrate on television.

Apparently Lucas has told the magazine that : "... film's future will be small budget movies distributed over the Internet and viewed in Home Theaters equipped with high-def sets".

"We don't want to make movies. We're about to get into television. As far as Lucasfilm is concerned, we've moved away from the feature-film thing because it's too expensive and it's too risky," Lucas said.

Lucas has admitted that he will make the TV series Clone Wars but has never turned his back on the cinematic experience in this way before. Remember back in 2002 when he made headlines at a Sony NAB Convention when he said that he will 'never use film again' with his experience of HD. This announcement is in the same 'significance' bracket.

He went on to say...

"I don't think anything's going to be a habit anymore, I think people are going to be drawn to a certain medium in their leisure time and they're going to do it because there is a desire to do it at that particular moment in time. Everything is going to be a matter of choice. I think that's going to be a huge revolution."

Our experience of watching Revenge of the Sith last weekend would bear this out - the quality of this all HD movie was stunning and becomes even more stunning the larger the HDTV you watch it on.

Thanks to:

http://www.tvpredictions.com/lucashd100506.htm

BT Announce more 'SD' Film Deals

BT Vision announced today the conclusion of a deal with Lionsgate Entertainment for it new SD VOD IPTV service starting soon. Access to this giant library will bring films like Reservoir Dogs, Jeepers Creepers, Dirty Dancing & Dune.

The BT service will start with films, music and television on-demand with interactive services and Freeview through a software platform powered by Microsoft (Web TV) and a set top box from Philips. Also announced are 'near live' FA Premier League matches from 2007/8 season.

HD reaction is that this seems to be a 'posh' freeview box with extra 'to pay' VOD content. You have to make a choice of your triple play package, phone, internet, tv. BT will be pricey and you can buy a Freeview box for about £20. Will the content be enough for conversion from an already buoyant Freeview service?

High Definition Wannabee #11

The phrase High Definition continues to mean allsorts to all kinds of people who want to describe 'a new way of doing something'. Latest is High Definition LipoSelection!

Pitch reads: "The very latest technique in ultrasound body contouring, the biggest thing in cosmetic surgery since breast implants'.

Interested? Go to:

www.millardplasticsurgery.com

Sharp's 8K LCD Monitor

CEATEC - Sharp has introduced an HDTV monitor for professional use at the Tokyo consumer fair Ceatec. The pixel count is 4096 x 2160 so over eight million pixels.

The screen wouldn't get a lot of use by the professional who won't be working in 8k for a few years yet and the price would be prohibitive, even 4k is cutting edge, but this demonstrates where Sharp is going and the technology will find a home in the consumer market sometime in the future.

Other Sharp news in the UK is the launch of their 1920x1080p HDTVs. Sharp were one of the first to produce a 'full HD rez' HDTV with their 45in but it wasn't that good and wouldn't take some formats on input. But the new range of four models have all new panels - they are:

37" - Aquos LC-37XD1E
42" - Aquos LC-42XD1E
46" - Aquos LC-46XD1E
52" - Aquos LC-52XD1E

Full HD means no scaling and loads more pixels, again in our experience the difference isn't as marked as perhaps it should be on HD broadcasting, put uncompressed HD through it and you will see the difference.

The new models have a high gloss black finish (like Samsung) and all have DVB-T Freeview tuners inside.

Claimed contrast ratio is 2,000:1 on the LC-46XD1E and LC-52XD1E (10,000:1 with Dynamic Contrast Enhancement). Sharp has also introduced a 4 millisecond (ms) response time on the 46" and 52".

The Aquos LC-42XD1E and LC-37XD1E offer the usuall 6ms response time and 1,200:1 contrast ratio (6,000:1 with DCE).

In addition, each model is equipped with Sharp's truD anti-judder technology for picture, contrast and sharpness enhancement, as well as potentially smoother, more vivid playback from DVDs and HDTV sources. This function is selectable from the remote control.

Each model comes with a low-reflection Advanced Super View Black TFT LCD panel for enhanced picture quality, with brightness at 450cd/m2. All the new sets have a 176 degree viewing angle (horizontally and vertically), don't know yet if this is achieved by sub pixels at right angles as with Samsung's new sets.

Connections include the standard two HDMI digital interfaces with HDCP support, two Scart connections, AV/S-Video In, Audio Out, PC In and headphones. All models can be controlled from a PC via the RS-232C interface or used as a monitor via the analogue PC input (RGB analogue). An adapter cable for a VGA component input is included in the accessories.

Sharp make a point of their eco-friendliness and we will too:

Sharp's native Full HD (1080p) LCD TVs will be manufactured at its new 8th Generation manufacturing plant, which opened in August 2006 in Kameyama, Japan, following an investment of 2.5 billion Euros. The Kameyama II plant, which has set new standards in eco-friendly production, is the world's first LCD TV factory with a vertical production process, i.e. both the manufacturing of LCD panels, as well as final assembly of the TVs, takes place there. One third of the required electricity is generated by CHP (cogeneration) power stations based on natural gas. The heat in the process is used for air conditioning, generating hot water and producing steam. In addition, 780 translucent photovoltaic solar panels producing 48,000 kilowatt-hours per year support the production of energy at the factory. The plant reduces CO2 emissions by around 40% compared with conventional models. Furthermore, all the waste water is collected from the production process and recycled with water purification technology.

The Sharp Aquos LC-42XD1E, LC-46XD1E and LC-52XD1E will be available in the UK from electrical retailers in October 2006. The Aquos LC-37XD1E will be available in November 2006.

Panasonic AVC HD Camcorder

CEATEC - Panasonic were showing one of their first efforts with the new compression technology AVC HD based on MPEG4 AVC/H.264 technology. The camcorder records to SD cards achieving a vertical resolution of 1080i at bit rates from 13Mbps down to 6Mbps so with a 4GB SD you can get around 55 minutes with the lowest bit rate.

The camcorder is a 3 CCD model with the usual Leica lens and 12X zoom and with HDMI out, which can take the raw signal avoiding compression so you get full signal.

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Hitachi Talk Up Blu Ray Camcorder

More from CEATEC – Hitachi has made news by talking about making an HD camcorder with a Blu Ray optical disk inside within two years. They have a history of incorporating optical disk technology into cameras but don't have the market pressure to produce huge numbers.

The drive they are interested in doesn't exist yet as it is 4 cm smaller than standard but the design is on the drawing board. These 8 cm disks will still hold enough for an HD machine.

Blu Ray Recorders in Japan By Xmas

Sony and Matsushita have announced at Japan's CEATEC show that they will have Blu Ray recorders for the consumer in the shops in Japan by Xmas this year. The models will ship with large hard drives (up to 500 GB) but will be pricey at around £1500 at the top end.

The Panasonic branded models will have a smaller hard drive, around 200GB, but at a similar price.

Both companies have said that they have no plans to ship these recorders to the US or Europe in the short term but will concentrate on the player-only options for now.

Toshiba also showed their HD DVD model that was more expensive maybe because of its near one terabyte of storage.

The keeping of HD content in your library is the one big flaw in the whole HD revolution. Because of HDCP rights protection and the fear of piracy we will have to wait for these recorders to start building an HDTV library.

Will Sky brand their own Blu Ray recorder nearer the time?

Roll Out Of SED Next-Gen HDTVs

If you're wondering when to invest in a flat panel display then here is some news that will either annoy you or settle you.

You may have heard of the technology SED which stands for Surface-conduction electron-emitter display. This technology is more of an evolution of the CRT than LCD/Plasma as electrons are still fired at a screen to create images. However, instead of coming out of a large electron gun, the electrons are fired from several thousand nano particles.

One advantage is that SED televisions are much thinner than CRT televisions, they also have a huge contrast ratio of over 100,000:1 and consume much less power.

The falling price of LCD/Plasmas was seen to be the reason that SED was delayed to 2007 but now Canon and Toshiba, the inventors of this techology, have announced that the first products will appear next year with full production in 2008 in time for the Olympics.

It isn't known yet whether this techology will be licensed to other manufacturers.

Our advice is to buy an HDTV now that you can live with for three years and then look at SED.

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BBC Launching HDTV Channel In US?

A report in this week's US based Multichannel News has a quote from Darren Childs BBC Worldwide's MD of global channels "We're working very hard now to try and get a BBC HD service launched ... the BBC is going to be one of the biggest producers of HD content in the world in three years and it just seems natural for us to have a strong presence in one of the biggest HD markets in the world as well".

Come next March when the UK's BBC HD trial supposedly ends, hearing of a new BBC HD channel in the US that none of us can get won't go down well with the license payer, especially if 'lack of funds' is the reason for the trial to stop.

Reply on this from Amy Castle, BBC Global Channels: "At present we are in the process of launching BBC Entertainment in Asia and CBeebies and BBC Entertainment in India. We intend to launch BBC Knowledge and BBC Lifestyle soon in these and other regions, and are working on the BBC HD proposition for global audiences".

Sky HD - More news

Now Sky HD owners are getting used to the extra resolution on their HDTVs there are a couple of questions about the actual box emerging.

Q. Why can't I record more HD on my Sky+ box? At the moment if you record about eight HD films you will fill up your box (Star Wars III took 12 percent of the recording capacity on its own).

A. Sky have partitioned the drive so another 140GB of storage is sitting waiting for their Video On Demand service when it gets the green light.

Q. Also what is the Ethernet connection for at the back?

A. This again is for future projects including an element to video on demand but there are no specific details as yet.

Q. What about the SATA drive connections? Are there plans to link the Sky HD box up to computer systems?

A. Not yet although Sky has been working with Microsoft to launch a Media Center version of 'Sky By Broadband'.

Star Wars on Sky HD

Over the last three weekends Sky and Sky HD have shown the 'prequel' Star Wars episodes culminating with the full HD of Star Wars III Revenge of the Sith last weekend.

These have been superb presentations especially Part III which was easily the best film and as it was shot on a Sony f950 in 24p looked fantastic. What was especially interesting was the blend of CGI and live action. In other films like Spiderman 2 you can certainly 'see' the join but with SW3 it was digital cinematography at its very best with a 'no apology' 2 1/2 hours of superb advert-free high definition entertainment.

Whether or not Sky ramped up the data rate for the films is unknown but there seemed to be no sign of any compression artifacts which are so prevalent on other programming.

SW3 is the one film I want to keep in HD but as yet Sky have not confirmed that any recording from the Sky+ hard drive in HD is possible to an HD DVD or Blu Ray recordable drive. At the moment all you get is a blanket down rez through the RF output.