NewsNewshttp://www.htcurrents.com/news/2009-06-24T01:10:02ZSquarespaceBelkin Introduces new Gigabit Powerline HD Starter Kithttp://www.htcurrents.com/news/2009/6/23/belkin-introduces-new-gigabit-powerline-hd-starter-kit.htmlAra2009-06-24T01:02:26Z2009-06-24T01:02:26ZDTV Transition Goes Fairly Wellhttp://www.htcurrents.com/news/2009/6/14/dtv-transition-goes-fairly-well.htmlAra2009-06-14T15:29:27Z2009-06-14T15:29:27ZAll in all the transition went pretty smoothly. Its a pretty cool thing that the whole country is now receiving digital broadcasts through the air. Well that's not exactly true. There are a handful of stations, mostly in small markets that received waivers to continue with analog broadcasts. 

The largest percentage of calls to the FCC call center were resolved by telling the consumer to rescan for the channels. The next largest dealt with poor reception. These must have been people who bought converters on the last day. Talk about procrastinating. Their issues were resolved by telling them to buy a larger antenna. 

The FCC broke a record for the most calls received in one day with more than 315,000. They were expecting a busy day as they had 4,000 operators standing by to deal with the onslaught. The www.dtv.gov website saw a huge surge in page views with 3.1 million hits.

In spite of all the messages telling viewers to test the equipment beforehand, many thought the converter would not work until after the switch, partly causing the influx of calls and hits to the website. It came down to procrastination.

Even an HT Guy can have some minor issues. I knew that some of the stations in Los Angeles were going to go back to VHF (KABC, KCAL, and KTTV (Fox), KCOP) moved to 7, 9, 11, and 13 respectively. Since I have satellite I wasn't too concerned about it. I just need to get a new antenna up before the next TV season. In Los Angeles broadcasters have been telling viewers that they need a VFH/UHF antenna so no one should have been surprised.

Tell us how your transition went.

]]>LG Ships TVs with support for Netflix Built Inhttp://www.htcurrents.com/news/2009/6/11/lg-ships-tvs-with-support-for-netflix-built-in.htmlAra2009-06-11T20:20:07Z2009-06-11T20:20:07ZYou knew it was a matter of time before we'd see a TV with Netflix Watch it Now support built in. Today LG announced the availablility of two models, a 47 inch class LCD HDTV (model 47LH50) and 50 inch class plasma HDTV (model 50PS80). A 42 inch class LCD (model 42LH50) and 60-inch class plasma (model 60PS80) will be available this summer. 

Like the host of other products that support Netflix Watch I Now, you'll need a broadband connection and a Netflix account. You are required to manage your queue via the Netflix web site. 

LG 47LH50 47-Inch 1080p 120Hz Broadband LCD HDTV

 

LG 50PS80 50-Inch 1080p Plasma Broadband HDTV

 

]]>Digital Switchhttp://www.htcurrents.com/news/2009/6/11/digital-switch.htmlAra2009-06-11T14:50:52Z2009-06-11T14:50:52Z

]]>Toshiba Brings Industry-Leading Picture Quality to Home Theater With Its First Series of LED TVhttp://www.htcurrents.com/news/2009/6/10/toshiba-brings-industry-leading-picture-quality-to-home-thea.htmlAra2009-06-10T14:49:40Z2009-06-10T14:49:40ZPanasonic Introduces the World's Lightest* High Definition Camcordershttp://www.htcurrents.com/news/2009/6/8/panasonic-introduces-the-worlds-lightest-high-definition-cam.htmlAra2009-06-08T12:52:07Z2009-06-08T12:52:07ZVIZIO America's #1 HDTV Company Delivers NEW High Performance TV Collectionhttp://www.htcurrents.com/news/2009/6/8/vizio-americas-1-hdtv-company-delivers-new-high-performance.htmlAra2009-06-08T12:41:49Z2009-06-08T12:41:49ZAT&T Launches Nationwide In-Vehicle Sat TVhttp://www.htcurrents.com/news/2009/6/4/att-launches-nationwide-in-vehicle-sat-tv.htmlAra2009-06-04T20:03:36Z2009-06-04T20:03:36ZWe talked about AT&T's CruiseCast during our CES roundup back in January when it was just a a twinkle in the eye of marketing executives. Well on June first AT&T went live with the service. They also announced the full channel lineup (see below). The service requires an antenna on the roof of your vehicle about the size of a baseball cap and will integrate with many in car A/V systems. The system  (antenna and receiver) go for $1,299 and the monthly subscription fee is $28.

 

]]>YouTube XLhttp://www.htcurrents.com/news/2009/6/4/youtube-xl.htmlAra2009-06-04T12:44:29Z2009-06-04T12:44:29ZNot to be outdone by Hulu, YouYube has made available a version of its site made for computers connected to TVs. Its called YouTube XL. My understanding is that this GUI was intially designed for the Wii and the PS3. Its now available to all at (http://www.youtube.com/xl).

I would personally enjoy it more if I could control it with my remote control. Let us know what you think of it. Will this design get you to go to the site more often? Will this cut into your regular TV viewing habits?

 

 

]]>Antennas Direct profit up by more than 200%http://www.htcurrents.com/news/2009/6/3/antennas-direct-profit-up-by-more-than-200.htmlAra2009-06-03T13:23:43Z2009-06-03T13:23:43ZWe reviewd the Antennas Direct C2 antenna back in August of last year. At that time we were amazed that such a small antenna could pull in a signal from more than 50 miles away. So we weren't surprised that Antennas Direct just announced that sales for the company's first quarter of 2009 are up 224% over the first quarter of 2008. Of course the analog cutoff is not hurting either.

You can find Antennas Direct Products at Best Buy and the HT Guys Store.

CLEARSTREAM2 Antenna

Antennas Direct CLEARSTREAM4 Antenna

Terrestrial Digital C1 Clearstream Outdoor Medium Range Digital TV Antenna

 

 

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