Comcast offering over 100 hours of HD VOD beginning...today
Cable executives have talked about the importance of high definition video-on-demand, and today Comcast is putting some muscle behind those words. Besides making 100 hours of HD programming available on VOD beginning today, they also announced they will have at least 20 hours of high-def content from Starz available each month. Today, viewers will be able to watch The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe on HD VOD before it airs on Starz HD. Doubling up on the Comcast HD news, in an interview yesterday with TV Predictions, president Steve Burke announced they plan to release a Panasonic DVR in 2007 with double the current recording capacity, and increase the number of HD channels to 35 by the end of next year. He also noted that the TiVo package is on track to release before the end of this year, for people who can't quite stomach the price of a TiVo Series3 DVR. If the quality is up to par, forget fighting off IPTV and satellite, this may be enough to put even a new Blu-ray or HD DVD player purchase on hold, it's not like Narnia is out yet on Blu-ray anyway.Read: Comcast Launches Unprecedented HD Programming Initiative to Offer 100 Hours of High-Definition Video-On-Demand Programming
Read: Comcast's Steve Burke On HDTV
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Big Sam @ Sep 15th 2006 12:15PM
Perfect timing... Dallas is Time Warner now
Subwoofer @ Sep 15th 2006 1:19PM
This is great news. I watched The Terminator in HD the other week and it was amazing. The last line of this article really states what the future of HD viewing is (IMO). If they can get everyone a digital receiver that can access terabytes of storage, then there is no need to have any type of physical media. Imagine if you could browse IMDB and pick out any movie that they have listed and watch it within minutes.
Down with HD-DVD and Blu-Ray....up with On-Demand
tv @ Sep 15th 2006 1:40PM
I don't have (Comcast) cable. Are you saying all this time (Comcast or Anyone's) VOD offerings were never in HD? That blows.. It sounds like a great deal, but I doubt you'd be able to 'keep' this stuff forever or copy it off etc..
Just my nickel..
sunman @ Sep 15th 2006 2:44PM
Funny... in part two of the Steve Burke interview on Sept 13, 2006, Steve Burke says "We have no plans to charge for an HD tier."
Just two weeks ago, in my last Comcast bill, it said they would start charging $5.95 for the HD channels. I live in the Pittsburgh market.
Matt W. @ Sep 15th 2006 2:56PM
As I've said before, Comcast in NJ recently added Universal HD, so the expansion of the HD lineup has begun. However, as I've said before, until HGTV and Food Network are added to the HD lineup, I'll be hard pressed to convince my wife to let me get another HD set.
BTW, what would make HD even better, not to mention easier for someone like my wife, they should map the network affiliates HD stream where the SD stream appears in the lineup on all HD boxes. In other words, everytime I tune to WNBC 4, I get HD rather than having to tune to 2XX. I have so many friends who've bought HD sets -- primarily for bragging rights -- but continue to watch the SD signal because they don't know where the HD channel is on their box.
Bernie @ Sep 15th 2006 3:41PM
Very interesting comment from Comcast's Burke:
TVP: Some HD enthusiasts have reported a decrease in the picture quality of your HD channels, the most notable being pixelation in scenes with fast motion. Does Comcast compress or reduce the resolution of HD offerings or have any plans to do so in the future?
SB: Unlike DIRECTV, we pass through HD signals directly to our customers as they are distributed to us by programmers.
WASD John @ Sep 15th 2006 3:49PM
I wodner how long it will take Cox in New Orleans to add HD VOD, and more HD channels. 35 HD channels would be a dream come true! We have been getting some nice High Speed internet upgrades and we are now at 12Mbps download with 1Mbps upload. The fact that they have upgraded the High Speed internet twice within 6 months leads me to believe that all of the rebuilding of New Orleans network is going to start to really pay off soon! At least that is what I hope.
rocko @ Sep 15th 2006 11:52PM
yea, but the bad part is is that your cable provider is called Cox.
Comcast on the other hand........well, they're just comcastic
BiG? @ Sep 18th 2006 2:00AM
Neat trick. Well timed with the release of TiVo 3. A reason to stay with comcasts set-top?