KEY POINTS:
If you want to sum up in two words where the multibillion-dollar consumer electronics industry is going all you need say is "high-definition".
All of the crowd-pleasing new gadgets at the industry's IFA trade show in Berlin that ended yesterday were either screens, players, home theatre systems or
personal media devices capable of playing high-definition video and audio. That means crisper, more like-life pictures and sound than you'll experience on your current tube-based TV.
But there also seemed to be a deep frustration in the consumer electronics industry that the hi-def world they want to deck out with impressive new devices isn't coming together as quickly as it would like.
It's not for lack of effort on the part of the TV, computer and hi-fi makers who spent a fortune buying floor space at IFA. It's just that the conventional options for receiving high-definition content are currently limited in most parts of the world and won't open up for a few years to come.
Unless you're a video game fan and want to see your Xbox or Playstation 3 games in their full definition glory, there's really no incentive yet to shell out on an HD TV.
Movies released on the discs cost in the $40-$50 range and there's limited selection, though hundreds of new titles are scheduled for release in the rival Blu-ray and HD-DVD formats in the run-up to Christmas.
The interactive features offered with HD players - such as book-marking your favourite scenes in movies and connecting via the web to download further content - are still in their early stages.
You can download high-definition movie trailers to your Playstation 3 console now, but not full-length movies. Even if you could, the several gigabytes of data transferred would blow out the average broadband monthly data cap.
High-definition TV broadcast is another story altogether. The digital free-to-air Freeview platform, which was launched as a satellite service in May, will also begin broadcasting from the TV broadcast towers of state-owned Kordia from March next year. The consortium of broadcasters aims to take the service high-definition next, though it's unclear yet what, if any, high-definition content will be available next year.
Sky TV is likely to be the first broadcaster of high-definition content, with the obvious focus likely to be on sports and movies. The added capacity available to Sky on the Optus D satellite means it can take several channels high-definition if it wants to. It will use high-definition set-top boxes and an HD version of its MySky recorder to allow customers to receive the higher-quality content, which it will likely charge a premium for.
The other avenue for delivering high-definition content is what's termed IPTV (internet protocol television).
Locally, Telecom admitted recently that IPTV isn't on the cards until 2009, simply because the network isn't in a position to support it.
Internet provider Orcon plans to offer IPTV services and is investing in building a video-ready VDSL network operating on Telecom's copper wires. The service is only suitable over relatively short distances from phone exchanges.
What does this all mean for the confused consumer? Well, the high-definition format war becomes even more of an issue for consumers, because Blu-ray and HD-DVD discs are likely to be the primary form of high-definition video content for the next few years.
Despite the rhetoric from both sides, no clear winner has emerged in that battle and with a price war looming, a good deal of blood will be shed before a high-definition victor emerges. The chances, therefore, of being left with a high-definition player that is obsolete in three or four years is very real for those buying a high-definition player now.
TV buyers, on the other hand, have more certainty. Any full HD (1080p) set - and dozens of them were unveiled at IFA - will get the best out of both Blu-ray and HD-DVD and have more than enough screen resolution to handle anything delivered as high-definition broadcasts or IPTV feeds in the next few years. The price of HD TV screens has plummeted in the past two years and analysts at IFA predict a further 30 per cent drop in price in the next year.
It seems, then, that the major compelling factor for buying a high-definition screen for mainstream consumers is simply that it is time to buy a new TV set because the old one is knackered. That's not something specific to kiwis.
Even in Europe, which has been a leader in IPTV services, less than 5 per cent of homes use IPTV services and there is growing outrage in countries like Germany that not enough is being done to stimulate the market.
All of that means a disconnect between the high-definition world presented at IFA and the mainstream options currently available. Only time and the will of broadcasters and network operators will change that.
* Peter Griffin attended IFA as a guest of Philips.
