The Hauppauge HD PVR USB add-on for PCs was supposed to start shipping May 1st, but it didn’t make it. Brent Evans over at Zatz Not Funny reports that Hauppauge tells him it has been delayed until mid-May at the earliest, as they work on driver issues. As he reports:

* For those with an online order # of 32700-33600 you’re first in line - your HD-PVR should ship by Mid-May 2008
* For those with an online order # of 33601-34600 you’re second in line - your HD-PVR should ship by the end of May 2008
* If you’re order number is after 34600, it will likely be after May 2008.

So if you’re waiting on your order, you’ll have to be a patient a while longer.

Blogger Christopher Price live-blogged his CableCARD install experience in his new TiVo HD today. While his experience is certainly not as bad as others have experienced, it still shows that the cable industry has some work to do on improvement the CableCARD install experience. The first card in his install failed, and Comcast had to provide a second card, which worked. It would really be helpful if the cable companies would update the cards to the latest firmware and test them before sending them into the field to customers. And give installers spare cards. Dead CableCARDs are too common (again, test them first!), and I’ve been burned by the installer needing to call around and hunt down another card too. It has to cost the cable MSOs as well, having installers wasting time waiting for cards, needing to run back to the office, etc. Why not make life better for everyone and give them some spares? (And did I say test them first?)

This time around Amazon Unbox is offering three top titles for $2.99 each: I Am Legend, Atonement, and No Reservations.

PlayTeeVee is getting ready to release their first online multi-player game for TiVo, and they’re looking for people to beta test it before release. If you have a broadband connected TiVo and you’re interested in testing it, email beta at playteevee dot com with your TeeVeeTag (which you create within the PlayTeeVee application) or your TiVo’s ID. See their blog for more details.

Ever since the death of HD DVD the question has been out the HD DVD exclusive studios would enter, or re-enter, the Blu-ray market. Universal announced their plans a couple of weeks ago, and now Paramount has announced their initial Blu-ray plans, which also includes DreamWorks Animation.

Their re-entry into the Blu-ray market will begin with Face/Off, Next, and Bee Movie on May 20th. Following those, two weeks later on June 3rd Cloverfield and There Will Be Blood hit. And then on June 24th their first day-and-date title, The Spiderwick Chronicles, streets.

I am a little surprised that their announcement didn’t mention bringing their existing Blu-ray titles back into production, but I would expect that to follow fairly quickly since the authoring work is done.

Picked up from High-Def Digest.

EDIT: Catching up on some more blogs (I’ve been busy with work the past couple of days) I see that after making their first announcement, Paramount made another one announcing the return of many legacy titles. Blades of Glory, which was pulled at the last minute when Paramount went HD DVD, so late that some copies still found their way to shelves, finally streets on May 20th. In addition many of the titles previously released on BD also hit May 20th: Aeon Flux, Babel, Black Snake Moan, Coming to America, Disturbia, Dreamgirls, Four Brothers, The Italian Job, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Sleepy Hollow, Trading Places, The Untouchables: Special Collector’s Edition, The Warriors: Ultimate Director’s Cut, U2: Rattle and Hum, We Were Soldiers, and World Trade Center.

Via Blu-ray.com.

Their press release:
Read the rest of this entry »