Dell announced just this morning that they plan to release a 24-inch LCD TV to Japan. This new LCD features a cold-cathode fluorescent backlight and a S-PVA panel delivering high-quality visual output on a 24-inch display. The vivid colors of the LCD will be the dream of those who want a clear, high-quality picture; not to mention this little guy puts out 92-percent of the NTSC color scheme.

Other features of the LCD include an S-Video connection, VGA/DVI display, and four USB ports. The only other factor of importance is the cost: it’ll run you about $874. A US version has not yet been announced, but we all know Dell, and the US release cannot be too far off.

Blockbuster has announced that it will throw its support behind Blu-ray discs. The movie rental store decided last year to run a trial of HD DVD verses Blu-ray. The result may not be as surprising as you think: Blu-ray sales far outpaced HD DVD sales. From a business perspective, the decision to support Blu-ray was quite easy.

Now, the question to be asked is, will Blu-ray win the battle? The showdown is very similar to the old VCR versus Betamax. We all know why the VCR won the battle, so the next question to be asked is, will a certain film industry decide to support Blu-ray? If that happens, I can already hear the church bells tolling the death of HD DVDs. Not to mention, that those of you who actually spent the obscene amount of money on a PS3 just got a little reassurance that your investment may not have been too badly wasted.

Obviously it’s too early to see a clear-cut winner, but the ramifications of Blockbuster deciding on Blu-ray may quell the rise of HD DVD and propel Blu-ray into the future.

Via [Arstechnica]

If you’re looking for a more-advanced home theater experience, but you don’t want to spend thousands and hire a German engineer to set it up, you might want to check out the two new receivers Pioneer dropped today.

Dubbed the AX1AH and 1017AV respectively, the receivers plow up to 180 watts through a 7.1-channel surround sound system with the help of full Dolby TrueHD support or DTS HD Master Audio.  Even better, the devices feature HDMI 1.3 for video and upscales TV and movie players.

If that’s not enough, the system includes a USB port so you can plug your favorite digital music player into the device, as well as optical audio input, and Advanced MCACC support.

The more-powerful AX1AH will drop in June for $1,149, while the $772 1017AV will hit stores in July.

Via [Electronista]

Usher in the war of words. The HD DVD Promotional Group ramped up the rhetoric today by claiming the format controls 60 percent of the high-def media market. The Group claims its format is not only in the lead, but is growing ever so quickly with a new record of 75,000 discs sold in the last week of May.

According to reports, the spike in HD DVD growth is a result of significant price cuts on the HD-A2 player that saw the price reduced to $399. Even better the company claims, there is no slowdown in sales after the reduction.

Ironically, the Group chose to exclude any talk of video game platforms from the study, which could indicate two things: (1) the Xbox HD DVD players are not selling as well as expected and/or (2) Sony’s Playstation 3 was left out of the study to inflate HD DVD’s market share.

Either way, this sounds a bit fishy to me.

Via [Electronista]