TVSquad

Do you hear that? That's the sound of "Taps" being played for HDTV players and recorders. Toshiba has announced that, "it will no longer develop, manufacture and market HD DVD players and recorders." Yes, it's true. Just like Beta was phased out in favor of VHS, HDTV has lost in its head to head battle with Blu-ray. As of March 2008, the manufacture of the hardware will cease, and production of HD DVD disk drives for PCs and games as well. The only exception, said Atsutoshi Nishida, President and CEO of Toshiba Corporation are laptops. "[Toshiba] continues to assess the position of notebook PCs with integrated HD DVD drives."

My TV set is dying.

I noticed it Thursday morning when I turned it on and Martha Stewart had two heads. She was also all blue/green and white and red. At first I thought it was some sort of Christmas-themed show, but this wasn't a "good thing," and when I changed the channel I saw that Rachael Ray looked the same, and so did the anchors on CNN.

I have a 52 inch Toshiba, and checking the instruction manual (which I had to dig out of storage - who the hell has trouble with their TVs this day and age?) I found out that the problem was the "Touch Focus." That sounds a lot like the title of a softcore porn movie, but it actually has to do with how the red/green/blue lines up in the spectrum. Following the instructions, I tried to fix it manually, but the Toshiba customer service rep on the phone says that's because it's too much out of line and I have to have a repairman come to the house. Either that or just get a new set, which is probably what we'll do.

You probably didn't know this but, according to research performed by Warner Brothers, there will be 25 to 28 million households with HDTV consoles by the end of this year. To all of you I have one thing to say: can you please send some bling my way so I can be added to that list of households? Oh, and add in about $130 so I can purchase The Sopranos Season 6 (Part 1) on hi-def DVD.

Yes, you heard me right! The Sopranos will be the first TV series to be released on the emerging HD-DVD format. HBO Video states that the hi-def set, which will average $129.99, $30 more than the standard DVD version, will arrive in stores on November 7th. HBO also said that a Blu-ray Disc version of Season 6 (Part 1) will be available next year.

For those of you still using those primitive low-def DVD players, HD-DVD and Blu-ray Disc are the next generation optical-disc formats competing for dominance in the the ever growing HDTV market. Currently, there are only two brands of HD-DVD machines in the market, and they are both made by the electronics giant Toshiba.