What are these then?

Pioneer PDP-436XDE

So I got one of these delivered yesterday. Fantastic piece of kit, which looks superb, has a simple and intuitive interface and a great picture.

I'll give you a setup and reaction overview, but to be honest, I'm reserving judgement until the 20th June, when I get Sky HD installed - that will be the true test!

Construction of the pedastal base was simple, but reassuring - the base itself is very heavy and quite sturdy, but has a nice swivel feature, allowing the screen to be moved without any risk of damage.

The screen itself slides onto the base, and is held by four bolts. This then connects (in the XDE's case anyway) to the media box, which houses all the input and device connections. This sits below the screen, much like a cable box or DVD player, and connectes to the screen by a (provided) two plug cable.

The screen setup is very simple - tuning the TV is a two step process, once for analogue and once for Digital. Both are tuned automatically, and the set recognises and names each channel correctly.

Inputs are even simpler, with each one clearly labelled both on the media box and the remote control. There is no way of re-naming these, but the remote is simple to use and its very easy to navigate between these devices.

The inputs available include 2 HDMI ports, three Scarts (two of these RGB) a component interface, S-video and standard co-ax aerial ports. This provides up to 5 inputs directly into the screen, and so gives massive potential for a complete home media centre setup.

The remote control oozes quality, with a good heavy feel about it and a metal shell. The buttons are well laid out, and clearly labelled, with all the common buttons larger and easier to access than the lesser-used functions.

Overall this set looks and feels fantastic, and is well worth the money. With multiple HD-ready inputs, and a wide range of different inputs, the set is designed for the modern technology-embracing home. Simple to use, but providing very high quality pictures, I am definately a big fan of teh Pioneer PDP-436XDE, and would recommend to anyone looking for a quality, HD-Ready plasma.

Price war on Console HD DVD players?

According to The Register, Microsoft are wanting to ensure that a combination of the Xbox 360 and its' add-on HD-DVD player is cheaper than the PS3. Current guesses for the HD-DVD drive for the Xbox 360 put the price at £130.

Add into this rumours that Sony may not ship the cheaper PS3 to the UK market, and there is significant potential for Xbox to dominate the UK marketplace.

So if this is anything to go on, Sony have got a fair bit of work to do before they can produce a competitive next gen device and price for the UK consumers.

Homechoice to sell IPTV wholesale

Homechoice, the video-on-demand and LLU broadband provider in London (and Stevenage), is to start to offer it's on-demand video over broadband services wholesale. This would mean that other Internet service providers could offer their broadband customers on-demand TV and music programmes without having to develop the hardware and content agreements themselves.

This would have been a perfect move for Homechoice 2 years ago, but they were insistent on doing everything themselves. Now it appears that they have been unable to source the investment required for them to build their own LLU nationwide network, and need to get some new funds in sharpish.

This is a shame, because the Homechoice service has massive potential, and is easily the best video-on-demand service I've seen (and I'm not just saying that because I used to work there!). The Electronic Programme Guide (EPG) is very fluid and intuitive and some of the content is great.

The downside of the service has always revovled around three factors:
1) Availability - as they had to use their own LLU network, Homechoice was always very limited on the number of users it could sign up.
2) Content - there were some great items of content available, including some of the films, comedy series, and music videos, but there was a lot of dross too. The on-demand content wasn't refreshed often enough, and soon felt stale to the ongoing users (a bit like Sky Movies in that way - you've seen everything you want to see, and there is nothing new).
3) Technology - without a doubt, Homechoice used some good technologies, but it never quite hung together. The broadband was up-and-down like the proverbial tart's knickers, and the set-top box failure rate was very worrying.

Overall though, the service does still have potential, and it could still be saved. I hope it works out, if only for the good guys who are still working there....

Microsoft has a dig at Sony

Microsoft have responded to Sony's $600 pricetag for the PS3, by pointing out that many consumers will by an Xbox 360 and a Nintendo Wii for the same price instead. Microsoft Vice-President Peter Moore pointed out that many consumers will 'gravitate' to the lower priced new consoles from Sony's competitors.

How true this is will have to be seen. We all know that Sony has a massively loyal customer base on the Playstation, but their pricing of the PS3 doesn't help the cause.

It is also highly likely that the Xbox 360 will be reaching it's first price drop just before the PS3 launches, tempting those who were on the fence to plump for the better value (?) Xbox 360.

Christmas will be another very busy period for those games retailers and manufacturers!!

Xbox to have HD-DVD drive this year

Microsoft have announced that the Xbox 360 HD-DVD drive will be available by Christmas. They haven't said much more though. They have released pictures of the drive, but have given no information on if this will be available worldwide, what quantity will be available (given the launch fiasco), or what price it will be. They haven't even given any information on whether the drive supports the HDMI HDCP anti-piracy system.




They have said that the unit will play HD movies at 720p, but if it doesn't support HDCP, then many HD movies will be downgraded to standard definition.