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American Forces Network plots upgrade to HD in 2013
Soldiers are generally used to making sacrifices for their country, but in our opinion one has to draw the line somewhere. The American Forces Network delivers programming to military personnel all over the world, and unfortunately does not plan to convert its satellite broadcast to high definition until 2013 at the earliest for Pacific regions, and 2014 for Europe. At that point all broadcasts are expected to switch to HD, but until then soldiers will have to put up with the same often highly compressed video now available. More details are expected about the plan in the next 18-24 months, but for now the network is advising personnel to skip picking up that new TV since there's not much to watch on it yet. Perhaps if we found a military application for 1080i we could things sped up a bit - at the least, we think it'd improve morale.
HDNet premieres short comedy series 'The All-for-Nots' March 9
The All-for-Nots kick off a 24-city tour of America March 9, when their show premieres on HDNet at 7:45 p.m. A comedy series made up of 7-10 minute episodes, this fictional documentary -- sounds a lot like a Flight of the Conchords / The Office mash-up to us -- will serve as a lead in to the channel's Sunday Night Concert Series. EngadgetHD friend Mark Cuban thinks viewers will tune in via cellphone and Youtube networks where the episodes will be posted by its studio (Vuguru, notably founded by Michael Eisner's The Tornante Company), and catch up on the shorts in HD and 5.1 surround sound on the weekend. After quarterlife set a record for being yanked after one episode, we're not overly optimistic, but out of the ratings obsessed culture of network TV, maybe The AFN has a shot.
