News written by Rich Fiscus (June, 2009)

The Blu-ray Disc Association is publicly calling out Harris Interactive for reporting more people own standalone HD DVD players than Blu-ray players. They're backed up by Tom Adams of Adams Media Research, who points to sales figures which would make it impossible.

"Some people believe a DVD player on an HDTV is high-def," said Adams. He added, "we have models that show those numbers just can't be true."

What neither the BDA or Adams appears to be challenging is the notion that people simply aren't looking for a replacement for DVD yet.

While sales of new releases have climbed, particularly over the last few months, sales of catalog titles have been consistently weak. The practice of releasing some high profile movies on Blu-ray before they're available on DVD even brings studio confidence in new releases into question.

There's no question that HD DVD is dead and DVD sales are slowing. It's debatable what that means for the future of Blu-ray.

The judge who presided over the now infamous Pirate Bay trial was not biased according to a ruling from Sweden's Court of Appeals.

Defense lawyers alleged Judge Tomas Norstrom's membership in multiple organizations which advocate increasing the scope of copyright law should have disqualified him from hearing the Pirate Bay case. Although they were critical of Norstrom for failing to disclose these associations earlier, appellate court judges disagreed that there was any bias.

"We have reached the conclusion that we do not agree with the conflict of interest claim," said appeals court judge Anders Eka.

Christian Engström of the Pirate Party, who was recently elected to represent Sweden in the European Parliament, was critical of the decision. He said "This is part of a pattern. It show that the Swedish legal system is no longer to be trusted when it comes to copyright cases. It's a travesty of justice quite simply."

An appeal of the guilty verdict is still ongoing, but it may be years before a final decision is reached.

The results of a new survey by Harris Interactive show that despite winning the hi-def format war Blu-ray isn't showing any real signs it will become a mainstream success. In fact they indicate more people own standalone HD DVD players (11%) than Blu-ray players (7%).

When you factor in PS3 game consoles and the Xbox 360 add on HD DVD drive the numbers shift to favor Blu-ray, but it's not as big a margin as you might expect. Even including these numbers, Blu-ray only holds a 2% lead (16% vs 14%).

Clearly those numbers don't look right if you assume people are buying these players for their compatibility with the high definition format of their choice.

Unless the format of their choice is upscaled DVD. And in fact that's what most people who responded to the survey seem to be indicating.

Even though respondents said they would buy fewer standard definition discs this year than last, they aren't planning to convert those purchases to Blu-ray titles.

Barely more than a fifth of Blu-ray owners surveyed are replacing the titles in their DVD collection with Blu-ray versions. More than 40% are waiting for disc prices to drop before they expand their collection of high definition discs.

The Windows version of boxee, a media center program based on the open source XBMC media player, has entered public alpha. Boxee has been available for Linux, OS X, and Apple TV for some time, but the Windows version has been in closed testing.

Boxee is unique among media center applications because it's primarily oriented toward viewing online content. In fact it doesn't even support TV tuner peripherals, but can connect to a great deal of TV content found online.

One notable exception is Hulu. After a decision by one or more of Hulu's content owners earlier this year, they have actively worked to block Boxee users from using their service.

Boxee for Windows is expected to move from alpha to beta status some time later this year.

To download your own copy you need to register at the Boxee website first. If you would like to give feedback to Boxee's developers we have a sticky thread on our forum for just that purpose.

You can also read our Boxee preview from earlier this year for more information.

After years of planning and preparation, the remaining full power TV stations in the US will be turning off analog broadcasts and switching to all digital tranmission. The switch was supposed to be made on February 17 of this year, but was delayed due to problems with the government's voucher program.

Although most broadcasters have had a digital signal for months or even years, many have been using temporary frequencies until their permanent locations on the dial are freed up today. If you suddenly stop receiving one or more channels make sure to re-scan.

If you need help with DTV reception the FCC has a hotline at 1-888-CALL-FCC (1-888-225-5322). In addition, the FCC is requiring TV stations to have their own support lines available, which they have been publicizing during their programming for several months.

If don't know the number for your local broadcaster you can call the FCC hotline and they should be able to transfer you.

For general information you can also consult the last section of our guide Preparing for the US DTV Transition, which gives an overview of some reception issues and how to address them.

Judge Tomas Norström wasn't biased against the Pirate Bay according to a decision by a Swedish court earlier this week. Although it isn't the final word on the issue, the lower court's decision is expected to factor heavily into the Svea Court of Appeals' final ruling.

Frederik Neij, Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, Peter Sunde Kolmsioppi and Carl Lundstorm were found guilty of "assisting making available copyright material" in April. Their lawyers allege Judge Norström's membership in several intellectual property lobbying groups shows a bias against the defendants.

The lower court concluded he was telling the truth when he claimed he only joined these organizations to stay educated on legal issues. But does that claim hold any water?

Based on reports from Sweden it seems the judge only belongs to groups biased toward stronger intellectual property laws and stricter enforcement. If the goal is to stay educated wouldn't it make more sense to get both sides of the issues?

And how does a position on the board of an organization whose stated goal is "to work for the development, expansion and improvement concerning the protection of intellectual property" make you an unbiased observer?