We don't have any hard details yet, but word on the street is that Samsung is planning on pairing up its 6.5mm (.2-inch) thick LCD HDTV with an equally svelte Blu-ray deck just 39mm (1.5 inches) thick. We'll find out more during Wednesday's press event, we're sure -- any bets on whether "thin BD players" will be this year's "thin displays?"

The last Philips Prestigo universal remote we saw was that gigantic SR-M80145 "tablet," but it looks like the company's toned it down with the sexy new Prestigo SRT9320. The company's new top-of-the-line IR-only clicker has a 2.8-inch color touchscreen and can be programmed to control up to 20 devices entirely from the remote itself without using a PC -- which can be a blessing or a curse, depending on your setup and macro situation. It's all yours for $249 sometime in the first quarter of twenty-oh-nine.

[Via Electronista]

TiVo was nice enough to hit us with the Netflix-enabling Fall Service Update a little early, and we're pretty impressed so far -- check out all the deets over on Engadget Classic!

Allegations of LCD price-fixing have been swirling around for years now, and it looks like at least some of the companies involved have dirt on their hands -- LG, Sharp and Chunghwa Picture Tubes have all just pled guilty to price-fixing in a case filed by the US Department of Justice and will pay a combined $585m fine. LG's taking the biggest hit at $400m for conspiring to fix prices from September 2001 to June 2006, while Sharp's on the hook for $120m for jacking prices on panels sold to Dell, Motorola and Apple during the same time frame. Naughty, naughty. It also sounds like this plea agreement is more than just a sterile attempt to cut losses -- Sharp's exec staff is taking a 10 to 30 percent pay cut for three months as punishment to reassure its shareholders. Sounds like a plan -- how about refunding some of that cash to us chumps out here buying your overpriced products?

There's some hysterical outrage out there right now over the New Xbox Experience's HD Netflix HDCP restrictions -- apparently it only works with HDCP-compliant digital displays, which is prompting a lot of hand-wringing about copyright restrictions and whether older 360s will get "locked out." Well, we're here to make it all better -- that's our NXE-equipped 360 connected over component, happily playing back HD Netflix at 1080i. See? Works fine. The problem is that some older LCD monitors don't support HDCP over DVI, so if you're in the minority of people using an HDMI to DVI adapter to drive an older display that doesn't do HDCP, HD Netflix won't work, since it can't authenticate. That's not the best situation, but DVI isn't a default supported 360 output, so we wouldn't expect 100 percent compatibility -- and besides, you can always run VGA. We're waiting on official confirmation from Microsoft of all this -- we want to get things absolutely right -- but in the meantime you can console yourself with another shot of HD Heroes over component after the break.

Update: Yes, it works with movies too -- we just tried it with The Orphanage, and it looked great. Pic after the break.

No, it's not the hot new LaserVue set, but we've gotten to play with Mitsubishi's new LT-52149 120Hz LCD with integrated soundbar for a week or so now, and while we're impressed with the soundbar's simulated surround, the picture quality just isn't there on the $3,799 display. First off, we're not at all sold on the value of 120Hz dejuddering -- it makes everything look like it was shot on VHS on a soap opera set. We're totally unclear on who likes this, since we think it's pretty nasty. It does work well with sports programming, but for the most part we just left it off and didn't miss it. We also saw some gradient banding issues on HD content, and SD looked terrible, leading us to believe the built-in scaler isn't all that great -- an issue on a large 1080p set where almost everything has be scaled or deinterlaced in some way. That said, there's always a chance we didn't spend enough time tweaking settings, since Mitsu lets you get pretty deep -- we liked the PerfectColor adjustments, and the discrete brightness and backlight controls were much appreciated. Speaking of which, the backlight is one of the brightest we've ever seen, and it makes a huge impression when you first see the display -- it's incredibly vibrant. Too bad the image quality didn't hold up to harsher scrutiny -- the integrated soundbar is super easy to set up, sounds good, and would have made this set a perfect choice for rooms where traditional surround systems don't work. As it is, however, we just can't see dropping nearly four grand on a less-than-perfect picture. Check the gallery for some more hands-on shots.

LaCie launched the original LaCinema media drive back in January, and the company is now extending the line of media-playback drives with the LaCinema Rugged. Built in a tasteful black version of the same rubber-coated chassis as LaCie's standard rugged drives, the new unit comes in capacities up to 500GB and features 1080i HDMI output of a variety of codecs, including XviD. The LaCinema remote appears to be redesigned, and the menu system is apparently graphical and pretty, which is always nice. Not a bad way to do playback on the go, we suppose -- now if LaCie would just bring the £219 ($357) drive to the States, we'd be all set.

[Via Pocket-lint]

It's been over a year and half since Sling first announced the SlingCatcher, but the mythical streamer is finally, finally here -- it's now officially for sale on Sling's site and at other major retailers. You already know most of the details about the $299 box -- Slingbox playback, SlingProjector computer streaming, extensive codec support including XviD, eventual Sling.com content delivery -- so we'll just let you hit the order page, but rest assured we'll be tearing this thing apart when our test unit arrives.

Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime sat down with VentureBeat on the heels of last week's DSi announcement, and while he didn't drop any major bombshells, he did put the kibosh on those Wii HD rumors, saying that they were "pure rumor and speculation" and that Nintendo wouldn't show off upcoming models to devs as the rumors claimed. Reggie also downplayed the talk that Nintendo is going head to head against Apple, saying that Ninty's always "viewed ourselves as competing in a larger entertainment space." That's the end of that for now, we suppose -- but Reggie didn't close the door on either rumor entirely, and his closing comment that Nintendo's good fortunes "makes us the most paranoid people in the world"certainly keeps possibilities open. Hit the read link for the full interview.

After seemingly endless delays, it looks like the SlingCatcher is finally making its way into the world, as evidenced by this grainy unboxing at the SlingCommunity forums. Sure, it looks exactly the same as the prepro boxes we've toyed with, but we won't lie -- we've been waiting for this box with breathless anticipation ever since it was announced at CES 2007, and combined with the recent launch of the Sling 2.0 software, the Slingbox PRO-HD, and the seemingly-imminent launch of the Sling.com video portal, Sling's ending the year strong. Click on for a few more pics, and don't worry -- we'll be blowing this thing out as soon as we get our hands on one.

[Thanks, Christopher]

The internals of AT&T's org chart aren't really hot news, but the company just reshuffled all its consumer services into a new division headed by Ralph De La Vega, who used to head up AT&T Wireless. Ralph now also oversees internet, TV and landline phones in addition to wireless, so he's got a bunch more on his plate -- the goal is be more aggressive bundling up more quadruple-play packages, which hopefully means lower pricing. We'll see -- we've heard these promises before.

We knew Hollywood wouldn't let RealNetworks sell its RealDVD DVD-ripping-and-archiving software without a fight, and right on schedule, the six major studios have filed a lawsuit seeking to prevent it from being sold. Of course, RealNetworks has been planning on hiding behind that Kaleidescape ruling all along, but straight CSS circumvention isn't really what's at the heart of the suit: according to the studio's request for a restraining order, consumers won't be able to contain themselves in the face of RealDVD's voodoo magic and will start ripping rental DVDs en masse -- seriously, the suit calls the incentive to do so "all but overwhelming." Here's a hint, guys: if you believe the temptation to do something is that strong, it probably means you can get people to pay to do it -- and you should probably be working out a business model that embraces consumers instead of funding new BMWs for your lawyers while actual piracy tears down the fragile house of cards your entire industry is built on. Or you know, whatever.

Sure, sure, the format war is over, but we never expected HD DVD to just disappear overnight, and it looks like the combination of deeply-discounted hardware, cheap media, and a weak economy are keeping Red alive even as Toshiba pretends no one really wants true HD anyway. Players are going for as little as $60 with movies available for $10, and retailers like Buy.com say that "sales are still very strong." Of course, eventually all this stock has to run out, so we doubt this'll be a long-lasting phenomenon, but hey -- stranger things have happened.

Rejoice, HTPC fans -- that partnership between Nero and TiVo has finally borne fruit in the form of Nero's new LiquidTV / TiVo PC DVR package, which brings the TiVo interface and featureset to Windows. The $199 package comes with a year of TiVo service, a Hauppage USB ATSC tuner, an IR receiver, and a Nero-branded TiVo remote, and does exactly as you'd expect -- it's TiVo on your PC. There are some interesting PC-specific features bolted on the usual kit -- you can navigate using the keyboard and mouse (there are even some nifty contextual menus) and you can export directly to iPod and PSP-compatible .mp4 from within the interface -- but for the most part it's the same TiVo experience you're used to, including streaming shows to and from other TiVos and TiVo PCs. If you're already running an HTPC setup, you can get the TiVo PC software and a year of service for $99, but your Media Center remote might be a little wonky without a remap, and Nero reps didn't make any promises about CableCARD compatibility apart from "it should work if Windows recognizes it." Obviously we'd like to see that firmed up a bit -- and maybe get some tru2way support in the deal -- but it's definitely a start. Should be available now.

Toshiba's going to have to eventually wake up and realize that consumers want to watch actual HD content on their HD displays instead of just upscaled SD, but until that happens we'd better get used to seeing a lot more devices featuring the company's Super Resolution Technology / XDE upscaling tech -- we've already got REGZA HDTVs and the XD-E500 DVD player, and now it's three new Vardia DVRs. The ¥140,000 ($1,339) RD-X8 (pictured) is the top of the line unit with Deep Color HDMI output, a 1TB drive, dual-layer burner, and MPEG-4 / H.264 support, while the ¥100,000 ($956) RD-S503 and ¥80,000 ($765) RD-S303 are 500GB / 320GB models that drop the Deep Color outputs. No word on whether these will make the jump to the States, but without CableCARD slots we doubt they'll be in huge demand.

[Via Electronista]