I've never been all that impressed with the picture quality of LCD flat panels. I'm primarily a nighttime, controlled light environment movie watcher, and the poor blacks and lack of contrast just do me in with these things. On top of that, many LCDs have a "painted" digital look that never suspends disbelief, and the worst of the bunch have response time issues that make motion blur.

Blockbuster has a promotion that it apparently thinks is so good that it's worth doing twice. Last Sunday through Wednesday current Netflix subscribers that brought in the tear away flaps from a Netlfix movie rental envelope were given a free movie rental at Blockbuster. According the AP story on the promo, this is the second time Blockbuster has run this offer, the first being a two week stint in the Dallas area last December.

A report from Informa Telecoms and Media estimates that the number of HDTV households will grow to over 150 million worldwide by 2011 from just under 50 million as of the end of 2006. The US leads the pack by a long shot, currently comprising 58% of the worldwide totals, followed by Japan with 20% of world HDTV households.

Could it be that Apple, Amazon and Netflix might face their toughest competition in the movie download space from a brick and mortar retail chain? Wal-Mart is entering the movie download business with deals in place with six of Hollywood's major studios, a claim no other download site can match currently. Disney, Fox, Paramount, Sony, Universal and Warner have all signed on to sell movies and TV shows with the retailing giant.