Crave

Natali Del Conte fills Justin's diminutive shoes today, and boy it could not be more appropriate with today's stories. Big news of the day is daytime talk show goddess Oprah Winfrey's plans to end "The Oprah Winfrey Show," and we're hoping our very own Natali Del Conte will take over.

(Credit: Harpo Productions)

According to WholeFitness.com, staring at breasts for 10 minutes will prolong a man's life by 5 years. Yes, this could possibly be the greatest piece of health care news ever, and we're hoping they incorporate it into the current legislation.

After some really awesome voicemails, we finally get into some tech talk with high-definition primetime entertainment. The majority of shows have switched over to high-definition broadcasts, but we're particularly disappointed that "Family Guy" and "American Dad" aren't available in high definition yet. Jeff gets really disappointed to learn that almost all cartoons are animated in South Korea. Guess that makes "American Dad" even more ironic. Included in the same list is "America's Top Model." Wilson is particularly disappointed.

Jeff will be out next week, so hopefully it won't be Wilson alone curled up in a snuggie talking about Apple and washing machines. In the meantime, be sure to keep sending in those voicemails as we prep for Thanksgiving. If you're in the New York metropolitan area, be sure to check out Ms. Del Conte on WCBS as she hosts the local news for Black Friday.

You don't see many iPod video docks these days--and for good reason. Starting in 2007, Apple locked down video accessory support for the iPod, while simultaneously releasing a product that made such accessories arguably obsolete: the Apple TV.

Click for a photo gallery of the DLO HomeDock HD.

(Credit: Corinne Schulze/CNET Networks)

Even in their heyday, iPod video accessories have always been a tough sell due to the inherent limitations of iPod video resolution. The boom in high-definition TV sales over the past few years hasn't helped the cause either. Upscaled or not, who wants to watch the iPod's default 320x240 video resolution on their 40-inch plasma TV?

DLO's HomeDock HD makes a valiant effort to pull the iPod video dock back from the brink of extinction, offering HDMI output, iPod Touch support, an RF remote with a 75-foot range, and built-in video upscaling. Too bad it costs $30 more than an Apple TV and is only half as useful. I mean, if the point is to get your iTunes media library on your high definition TV, why not cut out the go-between (the iPod), save some money, and get the added benefit of hard drive storage and media streaming?

To be fair, there is a market for the DLO HomeDock HD: folks who aren't wired for Wi-Fi or Ethernet (I sometimes have to remind myself these people exist) or have standard definition televisions not supported by Apple TV. Maybe I'm crazy, but that doesn't sound like a consumer who's ready to throw $250 on an AV iPod dock.

To find out more, read my full review of the DLO HomeDock HD over on CNET Reviews.

After two years of telling us, wireless HD video systems makers are now showing us how this works in actual products.

A few weeks ago, we brought you a demonstration of how the WirelessHD video standard works, and now competing standard WHDi is up.

Noam Geri, VP of marketing for Amimon, the chip company that's behind the WHDi wireless standard, gives a brief overview in the video below.

WHDi is already in use, just not in the U.S. quite yet. Sharp is selling a wireless video adapter for its Aquos X-series LCD TV in Japan already, and Sony is selling a WHDi-enabled Bravia in Japan and Europe.

More recently, Mitsubishi said it would be using WHDI, which sends uncompressed, high-definition video signals over the unlicensed 5-gigahertz band throughout an entire home, in a wireless TV it's making for the Japanese market this fall.

Besides TVs, companies like Belkin and Gefen are also making wireless transmitter/receivers for multiple audio and video sources using Amimon's chipset.

Belkin's FlyWire was originally due in October, but has been pushed back to January, where it will have a lot of company at CES. The people behind both the WHDi and WirelessHD standards say there will be many more companies showing products for the U.S. market at the super-size electronics show.

Here, Geri shows off a Blu-ray Disc of Lost displaying wirelessly on a Samsung monitor at a speed of 1.5Gbps.

Right now I think the No. 1 thing worth watching on Hulu is the stellar Season 2 premiere of AMC's Mad Men--regrettably, the NBC-News Corp. joint venture hasn't been able to secure the rights to any other episodes of the ad-industry drama.

But there's more that's new on Hulu, the company said in an e-mail statement Tuesday. It's revamping its high-definition offerings in a new release of its "HD Gallery" section, with episodes of current NBC shows like 24, 30 Rock, Heroes, and The Office. As part of a special promotion, they're temporarily ad-free.

It's the first time the site has offered full-length TV shows in the 720p format, the statement explained. But it's important to keep in mind that not all hi-def Web video is created equal.

Even makeup has entered the age of high definition. To our surprise, Samsung recently teamed with makeup-services provider Make Up For Ever to present a workshop that paired makeup with HDTVs.

(Credit: Make Up For Ever)

The rationale? The new demands of digital technology, where high definition tends to amplify details up to six times more than standard definition. This basically translates to talc-based makeup now accentuating, instead of hiding, those pimples, pigmentation, eyebags, enlarged pores and, horror of horrors, wrinkles when viewed on high-def TV.

This can be brutal not just for professional actors and actresses, but also for brides obsessed with their appearance before the unforgiving clarity of high-definition. So moving with the times, Make Up For Ever has developed a new line of HD cosmetics for the digital era.

Since we're a Web-based tech site, the workshop, held at Samsung's flagship Vivocity store in Singapore, probably didn't rock our boat much since anything screened on a tiny video window virtually allowed our presenters to get away with all kinds of facial blemishes.

Still, with high definition the shape of things to come, and with even cameras now offering 720p HD video-recording capability, it'd just be a matter of time before our cameraman goes HD and we'll have to gird ourselves for a high-definition close-up.

(Via Crave Asia)

Looks like it wasn't the HD DVD/Blu-ray battle that was keeping potential customers away from high-definition video players after all.

The NPD Group released some of its retail sales tracking data Wednesday that showed sales of Blu-ray standalone players (not a PlayStation 3, combo player, or PC with Blu-ray drive) had mostly decreased since the beginning of the year.

Standalone Blu-ray player unit sales in the U.S. decreased 40 percent from January to February and saw a very slight increase (2 percent) between February and March, according to NPD.

HD DVD players fared even worse--player unit sales dropped 13 percent from January to February, and 65 percent from February to March--which was expected. Toshiba stopped production of HD DVD units in February, and the format's promotional group disbanded in March.

So what does this mean for Blu-ray player vendors? Why haven't sales experienced any sort of substantial uptick without a competitor? Prices offer one clue. Blu-ray player prices were at their peak for the year in mid-March, around $400. During the holiday shopping season the average price had been closer to $300.

But more likely is what NPD's high-def video analysts have been harping on for a while: that DVD is "good enough" for most consumers. And that the picture offered by a Blu-ray Disc and accompanying player doesn't appear so overwhelmingly better than a standard DVD and an upconverting player that many consumers can't justify the dramatically increased cost.

To that point, sales of significantly less expensive upconverting DVD players have actually increased 5 percent over the first quarter of 2008, compared with the same quarter a year ago. Standard DVD player sales dropped 39 percent over the same period.

Blu-ray player prices are going to have to drop dramatically, to around $200 probably, to make themselves more attractive to consumers outside of the early adopter/home theater enthusiast crowd. Sony, one of the largest producers of Blu-ray players, says $200 players aren't likely until next year at the earliest.

It's becoming clear that early adopters of the HD DVD video format will find fewer and fewer products that will play their discs.

Samsung will halt its plans to release the combination HD DVD/Blu-ray player, the BD-UP5500, introduced in January at the Consumer Electronics Show. Samsung issued a statement late Wednesday, saying that though the product "remains a practical solution...the window of opportunity is smaller than it was before. In light of recent announcements, Samsung will not introduce the BD-UP5500 Duo HD Player."

Samsung pulls the plug on its latest combo drive before its release.

(Credit: Samsung)

The announcement doesn't come as much of a shock. Even at its launch there were questions whether the product was relevant, and if so, for how long, since just a few days earlier Warner Bros. made its bombshell announcement that it would support Blu-ray exclusively, effectively dooming the HD DVD format.

There are very few options left for owners of HD DVD discs. Last month Toshiba decided to bow out, followed soon by Microsoft's announcement it would no longer produce external HD DVD drives for its Xbox 360 video game console. Samsung has one other combo player and LG Electronics still makes two combo players.

Samsung will, however, keep moving ahead with plans to release its next Blu-ray only player, the BD-P1500, which is still on track for a spring release.

SAN FRANCISCO--Though times may be tough for other TV manufacturers, Sony says it isn't feeling a thing yet in its electronics division here in the U.S.

At a press briefing with reporters here Wednesday evening, Sony Electronics President Stan Glasgow said that despite indications of a weakening U.S. economy, all is well with the Japanese electronics giant.

"I don't think consumers buying consumer electronics yet feel that," Glasgow said. "Sony did particularly well during the holidays. It was the best in the history of Sony Electronics in the U.S."

A boon to Sony's bottom line has been the growth of its Sony Style stores, both brick-and-mortar outlets, and its online presence. Glasgow said Sony Style experienced a 34 percent growth in sales over the 2007 holiday shopping season.

Another high point was its TV business. According to data collected by market research company DisplaySearch, Sony lead all LCD TV manufacturers in the fourth quarter of 2007 with 12.3 percent of worldwide shipments, considered a major comeback for the company.

One of the things that appeared to help Sony in 2007 was its expansion of specific television models made to sell in Wal-Mart Stores and Target. Glasgow said the company is expanding that commitment to supplying those retailers with 40 percent more variety of TV models this year.

Glasgow kept the gloating to a minimum, however, when it came to Blu-ray's recent victory in the format spat with HD DVD. As one of the leading investors and supporters of Blu-ray, Sony does see prices dropping on standalone Blu-ray players over the next couple years, but it will be 2009 before a $199 unit becomes a reality, he said. Price drops will happen, but it needs to be done in an orderly fashion, Glasgow said.

"I don't see any reason to do it stupidly and lose money," he said.

In the meantime, Sony is "in discussions" with a number of partners in order to get them on the Blu-ray bandwagon. An Microsoft Xbox 360 console with Blu-ray is certainly "a possibility," he said.

But perish the thought that Sony will take trade-ins of now-obsolete HD DVD players. "Sony is not going to make up for Toshiba's sins," Glasgow said emphatically.

Other tidbits gleaned from the evening:

• Though 11-inch OLEDs are the largest size Sony is offering right now, bigger screen sizes are on the way--some day. But there are currently limits on exactly how big Sony can make them right now. Glasgow specifically said that there are major obstacles (mostly to do with the physics of creating the panels) to make OLED screens larger than 30 inches. "It would take another significant investment to get bigger than that," he said.


• Sony is apparently unfazed by Amazon.com's recent entrance into the electronic book reader market. "The Kindle has helped," Glasgow said. "I think the (Sony) Reader market needed a boost. We're selling more since the Kindle came to market."

Patience, HD video fans. Those of you hoping that the defeat of HD DVD would usher in a new era of lower-priced Blu-ray players will have to wait at least until the next calendar year.

In comments made to reporters at a New York press gathering Wednesday morning, Sony Electronics President Stan Glasgow said, "I don't think $200 is going to happen this year. Next year $200 could happen. We'll be at a $300 rate this year; $299 will happen this year," according to Gizmodo.

There's been quite a bit of media discussion over whether or not Sony and other Blu-ray supporters will start cutting prices on standalone players in the aftermath of HD DVD's death. Seeing as how the answer is "no" from Sony for now, that decreases the likelihood that Blu-ray will make major inroads with mainstream consumers, as a plurality cite price as the biggest barrier to their purchase of an HD video player.

At the same event, Glasgow also dished on other Sony-related news:

• Even in the face of a downturn in the U.S. economy, Glasgow says Sony's electronics sales are still going swimmingly. He said the company expects to sell 5 million Blu-ray players by the end of 2008. The company unveiled two new models last week.

• Sony has no plans to make digital converter boxes for next year's digital TV switchover, and will leave that to the lower-tier CE companies.

Glasgow will be in San Francisco to chat up West Coast reporters Wednesday night. Check back here for updates and additional comments from him.