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CHIBA, Japan--Nissan is going to come out with more hybrid cars and completely electric vehicles in a few years.

But it's less excited about ethanol and biodiesel.

Nissan's Minoru Shinohara amid the Ceatec crowds.

(Credit: Michael Kanellos/CNET News.com)

Technically speaking, designing an ethanol or biodiesel car is fairly straightforward, said Minoru Shinohara, senior vice president and general manager of the Technology Development Division at Nissan, during a meeting at the Ceatec show here this week.

The problem is the cost of the fuel. Both biodiesel and ethanol cost more than regular gas, when changes in mileage and other factors are calculated.

"The most important thing is availability of fuel," Shinohara said. In the future, he speculated, biofuel cars could account for 10 percent to 20 percent of all cars sold. It's a large percentage, but nowhere close to a majority.

There are also the political and societal questions, he added. Do you have to use cropland that might be better used in growing food? Do you have to cut down tropical forests?

It's the opposite with cars that run on electricity. The societal questions are easy. The tough part is coming up with a battery that is small enough and cheap enough to put into a car.

Electric cars probably won't be replacements for current petroleum cars. Batteries can't provide a range that gas-powered cars can. Instead, manufacturers will tout them as second cars or town cars designed for ordinary, short commutes. Getting consumers to understand, and act on, the town car concept is going to take a lot of marketing and work, Shinohara said.

"They (electric cars) are not a replacement for traditional vehicles," he said.

Nissan's electric plans are already under way. The company currently sells some hybrid vehicles that rely on components and technology from Toyota. It will come out with cars based on its own hybrid system in 2010. (Nissan got a good share of the buzz at last month's Frankfurt auto show with its electric-powered concept car, the Mixim.)

The first mass-produced electric car from Nissan will then likely follow in 2011 or 2012, Shinohara added. It will likely be a city car. He's a lot less excited about the concept about plug-in hybrids--again, it's the price/benefit equation.

The basis of these future hybrids and electrics will likely come from batteries from a joint venture formed earlier this year between Nissan and NEC.

CHIBA, Japan--Dolby, the sound company, is getting into TVs.

The company is at Ceatec, the large Japanese trade show taking place here this week, to promote Dolby Contrast and Dolby Vision, two technologies (one currently real, one on the drawing board) to extend its reach into digital TV and cinema.

Both Dolby Contrast and Dolby Vision are essentially ways to apply the dimmer switch concept to light emitting diodes. LEDs are being increasingly used as the backlight in flat panel LCD TVs. Dolby Contrast allows the TV to dynamically adjust. One LED could go completely black while its neighbor could be full or high, or the two could offer light that creates slightly different shades of tan. "You get much better blacks," said Gaven Wang, senior video product manager at Dolby.

Dolby Contrast can be used on current LEDs while Dolby Vision is more of a long-term technology that will apply to LEDs that emit more lumens, or light, per watt.

Black has always been a problem for LCDs. As a result, the Dolby technology could heighten the competition with plasma. Plasma TVs do well with black, unlike conventional LCDs.

The technology, according to analyst Richard Doherty of Envisioneering, could even create a third category of displays. Interestingly, NXP Semiconductor, formerly Philips Semiconductor, has come up with a technology that functions differently but with similar results.

The problem now lies in finding customers. Dolby has no signed contracts yet to announce but hopes TVs employing the technology will come out next year or in 2009. The fact that Dolby is at Ceatec, where many of the world's largest TV makers are showing off their latest goods, shows, however, that the company is seeking the right people.

Dolby didn't invent this technology itself. It acquired it from a company called Brightside that it bought. But Dolby is no stranger to video. Founder Ray Dolby started out by developing a system for removing noise and artifacts out of black-and-white video footage. The industry went to color and Dolby went to black and white.

Dolby also demonstrated its 3D cinema technology. Theater owners pay about $26,000 for the system, which revolves around doing a software upgrade to digital servers. That price tag is relatively cheap, according to Dolby. The company's 3D technology will get a full international airing when Beowulf premieres later this year. Many 3D theaters will use Dolby's tech.

CHIBA, Japan--The decisive battle between Blu-ray and HD DVD is at hand, says a prominent Panasonic exec.

Blu-ray manufacturers are going to start cutting prices and go out on a promotional binge this holiday season, Matsushita Electric Industrial's Kazuhiro Tsuga said during a briefing with reporters at Ceatec, a large tech trade show that started here Tuesday. At Matsushita, which is best known for its Panasonic brand name, Tsuga is an executive officer who oversees networking efforts, some home electronics technologies and overseas labs, and other areas.

By the end of the Christmas season or the end of the first quarter, the writing will be on the wall. The format war in earnest may last only another year, he predicted.

"The BD (Blu-ray disc) companies will try to do our best to promote Blu-ray," he said. "The studios want us to put money in to promote it."

He added: "By the end of the year, you will see good products with very good promotion."

The Blu-ray coalition is also working on ways to cut the price of slim Blu-ray drives and recorders to allow the technology to infiltrate notebooks and PCs.

And wouldn't you know it--Matsushita has new Blu-ray players on the way. The three models will handle 18 hours of full-HD programs on a dual-layer disc and will go on sale November 1 in Japan, according to Reuters.

Tsuga's no fan of combo players that conjoin Blu-ray and HD DVD features. Last year, he called the idea "stupid, stupid." He pretty much repeated the comment this year and said that Matsushita still has no plans for such a device.

He downplayed Paramount Pictures' commitment to release movies on HD DVD exclusively, saying it only lasts for 18 months, and argues that studios are going with HD DVD "because big money came" to them. (Microsoft, Toshiba and Intel are the main backers of HD DVD.)