Analog television extension approved by House; P2P boxes as vaporware; Chrome out of beta

House bill allows some analog messages after DTV switch [CNET News] 

A bill extending the date that television broadcasters can transmit analog signals for 30 days after next February's digital television transition has now been passed by the U.S. House of Representatives. The same piece of legislation had already been passed by the Senate, and it now heads to the President for his signature. Now, to be clear, the digital transition will still occur on February 17, 2009. If you watch television on an over-the-air signal via an antenna, it's important that you continue to make preparations to switch to digital television. The analog signals that broadcasters will transmit after February 17th will contain messages for those who didn't make the proper preparations that will advise them on the steps they need to take to receive the new digital television signals.

The early digital transition in Wilmington, NC proved that this extension is a critical ingredient in a successful national transition.  If the Wilmington experience is typical, millions of consumers will be unprepared for the transition on February 17 and will be looking for a speedy solution when they look for their favorite morning news show on February 18.

I'm starting to sound like a old record, but I want to remind Insight customers that all televisions connected to cable will work just fine after the transition. If your televisions are connected to Insight, relax. You're already prepared for next year's digital transition.

Whatever Happened To P2P Set-Top Boxes? [NewTeeVee] 

NewTeeVee profiles the dearth of promised peer-to-peer set top boxes for video delivery. Of the five companies working to develop a consumer-ready P2P set-top in this article, only two have delivered a box. One of those is only available in China and the other costs a hefty $1,299. The company with the most hyped P2P box hasn't been heard from since April. Basically, the promise of P2P video delivery directly to television hasn't been realized as it was promised. While some of these companies will continue to develop prototypes in the hopes of bringing a product to market, it appears that video delivery via web services like Hulu and set-top boxes by Netflix and Blockbuster are proving more popular with consumers.

Google’s Browser Sheds Its ‘Beta’ Label [NYT Bits Blog] 

Google's Chrome web browser was released as a beta version in September. Now, the company has announced that Chrome will be going official - without the beta label - starting this week. Google is known for keeping its products in beta version for extended periods after releasing them for public use. Gmail, Google's web mail product, was released in 2004, and still remains as a beta. 

According to Google, Chrome can now claim 10 million users, which is still less than one percent of all web users. Chrome's interface was designed as a completely new take on the browser interface, integrating many features that were developed to accommodate the idea that the web is becoming the equivalent of many users' operating system.

Neilsen says HDTV adoption in US doubled in past year [Ars Technica]

Neilsen has released numbers that indicate the number of American households with at least one high definition television has doubled since July 2007. According to Neilsen, 23.3 percent of households now own an HDTV, compared to 10 percent in July 2007. As far as HD programming, Neilsen says sports and sports commentary top the list of the most popular among viewers. With the 2008 presidential election, HD election coverage managed to come in third.

If you ask me, standard definition television is going the way of black and white.  It will be a lot sooner than many have anticipated that HD will be the standard format.  The cost of HDTV's continues to drop and more and more networks and program producers are converting to HD.  The challenge for cable operators is to continue to groom our networks to make room for all of the bandwidth-consuming HD networks as quickly as possible.