Australia's Seven, Nine and Ten -- the three free-to-air networks in the country -- are now free to launch new digital channels to supplement their current offerings, but on the whole, there's not much excitement about doing so. Thus far, the only one that has even announced plans to launch a new channel with distinct programming is Ten, which hopes to debut a 24-hour HD sports channel dubbed One. If everyone would follow suit, the commercial networks alone could offer a total of nine stations with unique programming. Sadly, the networks have known about this opportunity for two years now, but it seems to us that everyone might be waiting around for another to seriously approach the opportunity before they follow suit. Monkey see, monkey do, right?

Hard to believe that next month will mark the official (though not really) end of analog broadcast signals here in the US of A, but it's true. February 17th is within spitting distance, and we get the feeling that loads of voucher requesters will be filing into retail outlets in order to get their DTV converter box soon. Our question is simply this: are you already prepared, or have you yet to become DTV ready?

In an announcement that has many sports fans in the Orlando and Tampa Bay area saying "about time," Bright House Networks and Fox Sports Florida has finally signed a carrige agreement. This isn't a moment too soon either as there are about 77 Orlando Magic games on the schedule each season. Although there is no mention of the HD channel in the release, we can only assume it's an oversight. Of course we're not sure how anyone could forget something as important as the HD channel number. Either way the SD version will be on channel 50 and will require a subscription to the digital tier.

Beyerdynamic's "head tracking" Headzone Home (pictured) system has been available across the pond for quite some time, but the outfit has just announced that it, along with the Headzone Home HT and Headzone Game, are now headed stateside. The headzone tech promises a "virtual 5.1 experience," which links together the processor, headphone and Head tracking receiver, and while we don't doubt that this rig would sound pretty darn good, we're a bit scared by the omission of US price tag. You know, given that the Home setup ran well over $3,000 when it launched overseas.

During yet another holiday week, Verizon's FiOS TV expansions were expectedly slow. In fact, the only news on the FiOS front during the week that straddled 2008 and 2009 came from Chester, Pennsylvania. Up there, locals were alerted that the fiber-based service was available to over 3,600 households in areas "south of Interstate 95 and west of the Commodore Barry Bridge." We suspect the provider will be back into the swing of things during CES week, so hopefully we'll have a chance to pause from the madness and have a look next Saturday.

We hate to harsh on Toshiba here, we honestly do, but what in the world is it thinking? As if its clearly unimpressive Super Resolution Technology wasn't embarrassing enough, we're now hearing that the outfit is expected to release a line of prototype players at CES next week that tout SD card slots. Why, you ask? To accept the flash card movies that -- you guessed it -- no one on the entire planet is interested in. Okay, so maybe a handful of people (you know, the same characters who thought slotMusic was a solid idea) will buy in, but seriously, this has failure written all over it. The move comes hot on the heels of a Toshiba / Mod Systems tie-up to establish kiosks that sell films on SD cards, though we're still curious as to whether these SD card players will be of the standalone variety or integrated into upscaling DVD decks. We'll keep an open mind 'til we see the final product(s) at CES, but it'll take a belated Christmas miracle for this to be even halfway awesome.

[Via Video Business]

So, here's an interesting take. ABI Research is forecasting that the amount of online programs watched on the TV (as in, not on the computer monitor) will grow from 563 million viewers in 2008 to 941 million by 2013. There's no doubt that web-based content is catching on, though we suspect it'll need to be easily piped to the traditional television set for those in past generations to really take it seriously. To that end, it's anticipated that operators as well as console manufacturers and the like will make it increasingly easier to access internet TV via Netflix, Hulu and related portals. Can you imagine a day when your favorite programs, even NFL games, are beamed directly to a website that's easily accessible via a web-to-TV liaison such as the ZvBox? We know, bandwidth is a serious issue, but the concept alone should be enough to make traditional MSOs sweat.

[Via VideoBusiness, image courtesy of ZatzNotFunny]

The goods keep flowing from the doors at NAD, and now we've got two new multi-channel AV receivers to swoon over. The lower-end T 737 checks in with 40-watts of power per channel, a trio of surround modes, AM / FM tuner, XM / DAB compatibility and iPod support. The T 747 steps it up with a 60-watt per channel amp, internal decoding of the latest lossless audio codecs from Dolby and DTS and an auto-calibration function to ensure your setup is, um, set up correctly. Expect 'em to hit retail outlets in February / January (respectively) for $799 and $1,299 (also respectively).

Wallets all over the world are getting thin, and DisplaySearch says that displays will match that vanishing act in an effort to hang on to product differentiation. Calling for negative sales growth in 2009, the prognosticators still see sales of ultrathin (less than 40mm thick) displays reaching 14 million units in 2012, with the profile being even more important than LED backlights in product differentiation. We'll admit that styling is a big feature, and we rank thin profiles above the "Hertz race" we see spiraling out of control, but honestly we'd rather see emphasis on image quality -- LED backlighting included. Tell us your take, and try not to spill the beans on this "thin is in" trend to LaserVue.

[Via TGDaily]

We've already polled the audience this year to see if you all still visited the tried-and-true rental store on any sort of regular basis, and most everyone made clear that the act of driving out to rent a movie was simply old hat. A new writeup over at the Press of Atlantic City takes a look at how close these establishments are to caving to alternate forms of renting. These days, consumers have a copious amount of options: VOD via their pay-TV provider, Netflix (by mail and online streaming), Hulu, VUDU and tons more internet-based alternatives. It doesn't take long to realize that driving out to get a movie isn't required anymore. Interestingly enough, not everyone expects the mom 'n pop rental shops to close up in the coming years, with an increasingly aging population still sticking to their roots and doing things the ways they always have. What say you? How long does the B&M rental outlet model have before it's overtaken by newer methods?

If you were hoping that another no-name company would release a $400 Blu-ray player, then today is your lucky day as ezGear is very proud to share the details of its BluCobra Blu-ray Disc Player. The BluCobra -- love the name btw -- features 7.1 analog outputs, SACD, TrueHD, DTS-HD HR&MA and the cutting edge profile 1.1, otherwise known as Bonus View. Luckily Sony, Samsung, and Panasonic can rest easy until at least March when this beast is scheduled hits the streets. Oh, and just a little prediction, no way the BluCobra will sell for its MSRP.

Blu-ray sales in the UK didn't keep up their mind melting increases from earlier in the year, but considering the economic slowdown worldwide, a 378% jump from 2007 doesn't seem too disappointing. The British Video Association and Official Charts Company numbers point out a 1.9% lift in DVD sales as a whole in 2008, including 3.7 million on Blu-ray. The Dark Knight finished the year moving 281,000 Blu-ray copies as the UK's best selling HD release. We'll see how things proceed in '09, hopefully with cheaper players on the way.

What we're watching tonight:

• Fox (720p) presents the Sugar Bowl with Alabama/Utah at 8 p.m.
• MyNetworkTV (720p) has WWE SmackDown at 8 p.m.
• TLC (1080i) has Real Simple. Real Life at 7 p.m., followed by What Not to Wear at 9 p.m. and the season premiere of Miss America: Countdown to the Crown at 10 p.m.
• Sci Fi (1080i) airs Stargate Atlantis at 9 p.m. and Sanctuary at 10 p.m.
• History (720p) continues Seven Deadly Sins at 9 p.m.
• Cartoon Network (1080i) has Star Wars at 9 p.m.
• ESPNU (720p) airs Appalachian State/Texas college basketball at 9 p.m.

Ever wondered if anyone ever bothered to utilize that Digital Copy that so many films are shipping with these days? Warner Home Video did, so it engaged in a bit of research to find out who exactly was tapping in. In short, BD movie buyers accessed Digital Copy around twice as much as did DVD buyers, and it was found that the uptake rate is "measurably growing among Blu-ray consumers with successive Warner releases." Still, data shows that Digital Copy usage across the industry is still relatively rare, with title uptake across studio titles ranging between 5% and 13%. We found it particularly interesting that adding a copy of the film to a disc carried with it a substantial expense -- around $1.15 per unit -- so we wouldn't be surprised to see studios refine their strategies to ensure that consumers appreciate the addition.

The NFL may need to rethink blackout rules in the face of swank HDTV setups and tanking economy. Word is Arizona and Minnesota are both under the gun for possible local TV blackouts of playoff games if enough tickets aren't sold this afternoon. Breaking a string of sellouts for the 0-16 Lions is one thing, being 8,000 tickets short as the Vikings were or 3,700 out for the Cardinals at last count yesterday could leave flat screens dark in the Twin Cities and Tempe this weekend. C'mon folks, someone is going to have to actually go to the game, should we start drawing straws?

Read - Arizona gets another blackout deadline extension
Read - Vikings face possible blackout; thousands of playoff tickets still up for grabs