While we love the way competition helps to bring down prices, format wars can just bring us headaches. Paramount Pictures, Universal Pictures and Warner Brothers have all announced their support for HD DVD, which was developed by Toshiba and NEC; while Blu-Ray will have Dell, Philips, Sony and Twentieth Century Fox in their corner. It's still too early to tell, but it sounds like Blu-Ray will emerge victorious, especially since the PS3 will support it out of the box, and it holds about a third more data. The downside is that unlike HD DVD, the hardware would be more expensive and incompatible with current players.

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Gallery: Blu-Ray versus HD DVD.  Round 1

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Most readers already know how fond I am of my PVR device, and to so to hear this kind of news this morning, I'm just left completely disgusted. According to a report on USA Today, TiVo is planning on introducing static ad images on their players, when users skip through commercials. It's a valid concern for advertisers, without whom we would not have TV programs in the first place. But as one user already points out: "I'm already paying $12.95 a month (to avoid commercials)." Half the fun of a PVR is not putting up with ads. I simply don't watch them anymore these days, allowing me to catch a 1-hour show in about 40 minutes. First we have to put up with annoying Fanta videos before our $10.50 movies, and now this.

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Gallery: TiVo Plans Pop-up Ads When Users Fast-Foward Commercials

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Comcast is finally set to begin rolling out new cable boxes with Microsoft's Foundation Edition 1.7 software beginning tomorrow to approximately 1 million subscribers in Washington state. Comcast and Microsoft inked the agreement last May, which saw Comcast grant Microsoft the rights to have their set top box software running on 5 million Comcast boxes. The new boxes will allow for much more functionality than you will find on just about any other box. For example, each one will come with a 120 GB internal hard drive and will have advanced DVR functions. This thing can do just about everything a standard TiVo can do, plus more. The dual tuner boxes will allow you to record two shows at once, and they WILL record high definition broadcasts as well. On Demand programming will also be available beginning tomorrow. As for Microsoft, they have just been itching to get into the living rooms of every American home. Along with the XBOX, and Media Center PC's, this is just another channel for them to do so. A Microsoft representative also stated that there is a possibility of having Comcast boxes and Media Center PC's communicate with each other in the future. You can check out the many features of the Foundation Edition 1.7 software by viewing this video.

Read More | Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Gallery: Comcast to Roll Out New Services Tomorrow

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The line between personal computer and home entertainment system appear to be more blurred as each day passes. This is no exception with the all new HP z545 Digital Entertainment Center. At first glance it is a normal home entertainment receiver, upon further inspection, it houses Windows XP Media Center, an Intel Pentium 4 3.0Ghz w/HT, 512MB RAM, and ATI RADEON X300 SE Graphics Card with 128MB RAM, a 200GB hard drive AND a 160GB Personal Media Drive, a Dual Layer 16x DVD-+R/RW drive. Catch your breath, and we will continue. There is also an integrated Personal Video Recorder with dual TV tuners, a 9-in-1 memory card reader, 2 USB 2.0 ports, a FireWire port, gigabit ethernet, 802.11b/g wi-fi built in, and high-definition audio with 7.1 surround sound...phew!

With all this in a stylish case designed beautifully to blend in with the rest of your components in your entertainment room, the HP z545 Digital Entertainment Center definitely seems to be at the forefront of the living room media hub race, at least here in the US.

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Compare Pricing | HPshopping.com

Gallery: HP z545 Digital Entertainment Center

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Get ready for an extensive advertising blitz from these two powerhouses this holiday season. In an effort to promote their new Media Center PC's, the two companies will be launching a new site, digitaljoy.com, which demonstrates how a PC can be the hub of an entertainment center. Part of the plan is a $1,400 PC that looks like a DVD player and a device that beams digital photos, video and music through the home over radio waves. It may not catch on fully this year, one analyst observes, but it's a first step in letting consumers know what's possible.

Read More | Seattle Times

Gallery: Microsoft and Intel: In Your Living Room

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There are more and more adding wireless networks to their homes, as the technology has come down in price quite a bit. After taking that plunge, most try to make future purchases based on whether the device has integrated Wi-Fi or not. It's understandable, as you have invested in the technology in the first place. Philips is finally ready to release their Streamium HDTV. What does one have to do with the other? The Streamium 23PF9976i is an HDTV with integrated 802.11g Wi-Fi.

Philips claims the TV is "future proof" as well. This simply means that the TV will check Philips servers for updates on codecs and other features throughout its lifetime. Sounds nice, but that's not all the Wi-Fi does. The main attraction of this unit is that it can stream audio (MP3, MP3 Pro, PCM, WAV), video (MPEG-1/2/4, DivX, XviD), and photos (JPEG, GIF, BMP, PNG ) over your network and display them on its 23-inch high definition screen. It also boasts a built-in FM tuner, and if that isn't enough, you can stream internet radio as well.

So what's the price? So far, Philips hasn't made it public. We can expect an announcement soon, though, as the Streamium HDTV is set to be released in November. While 23-inches might seem small, it is the perfect compliment to your Streamium Boombox. Right.

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Gallery: Philips Streamium HDTV 23PF9976i

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Those of you who are of the mentality that smaller is better, may want to rethink that philosophy - at least as it pertains to camcorders. We all know that high definition is where it's at in terms of jaw-dropping visual quality. How nice would it be to be able to record our home movies in the same vein? Sony has just introduced the world to the HDR-FX1 High Definition Camcorder. Why should you care? Put simply, it enters another consumer level high def recorder into the market, and that brings prices down. This bad boy records in 1080i, and when compared to a regular camcorder, the difference is immediately apparent. A test recording of written text from a book showed that even the fine print was legible on the HDR-FX1 in comparison to the same recording on a normal camcorder where the text was blurry and illegible.

The HDR-FX1 weighs a good 4.4 pounds, and is set to go on sale next month in Japan for about 400,000 yen. That equates to roughly $3,600 USD. The recorder should be available in the States by the end of 2004.

Gallery: Sony HDR-FX1: Consumer High Definition Camcorder

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We're slowly getting there, but this year's Olympics will only be seen with some limitations for HD subscribers, estimated to be around 2.5 million people. Interestingly, there are about 5 million HDTV sets out there without HD receivers. In other words, people are buying the sets, but aren't yet flocking to a cable or satellite HD subscription. You can find out more about how HDTV's work here.

Read More | Wired News

Gallery: HDTV Olympic Coverage is Slow-Going

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When the free iPods site became known, many were quick to write it off as a scam, even after proof was presented to show otherwise. Soon after, the free flatscreens promotion started, and again people cried foul. Well, to all the doubters (along with the hopefuls), Gear Live brings you proof of the validity of this promotion. Click for more.

Click to continue reading Sony Wega Received: Free Flat Screens Proves To Be True

Gallery: Sony Wega Received: Free Flat Screens Proves To Be True

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This machine will forever change how you watch TV.

That's a pretty bold statement, I know. And to make things bolder: Since TV is so closely tied to our lives, this product will also change your life overall. There, I said it. In the past couple of months, I've concluded that no one should be without some form of DVR in their homes. While TiVo and ReplayTV are perhaps more widely recognized, you simply can't deny the convenience and flexibility that comes out of this box, called the "Explorer 8000" directly from the folks at Scientific Atlanta and Time Warner. Click the link for Hector's review.

Click to continue reading Time Warner Explorer 8000 DVR Review

Gallery: Time Warner Explorer 8000 DVR Review

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