This time next year the World Cup Finals in South Africa will be hurtling towards their conclusion. The prospect of the World Cup is likely to encourage many TV viewers to switch to High Definition, and with less than a year to go, anyone signing up for a 12-month HD contract now will still be High-Deffed up when the tournament kicks off on 11 June 2010. So it’s not too early to start thinking about HD. But what are the options?

The 2010 World Cup WILL definitely be transmitted in HD, as this was a requirement of the bid. In the UK, all matches will be shared between BBC and ITV, both of which have HD services. So, in order to watch the World Cup in HD you’ll need access to both BBC HD and ITV HD.

The first bit of kit you’ll need is an HD Ready TV. I could bore you here with talk of HDCP enablement and 1280×780 minimums, but basically as long as it says “HD Ready” on it your telly is good to go. The following TVs are all suitable. My personal recommendation is to try a Toshiba Regza – great value, and a brilliant, crisp picture.

Next up, you need to choose an HD provider. The three current HD providers in the UK are Sky, Virgin Media and Freesat. In addition, Freeview HD launches later this year. At the moment the only provider that offers both BBC HD and ITV HD is Freesat. However, this is likely to change before the World Cup gets underway. In the following comparisons I’ve assumed that anyone who wants HD is also going to want PVR (Personal Video Recorder, like Sky+) functionality:

Sky is currently offering its HD box (which also offers full Sky+ functionality) for £49 with free installation when you join Sky TV on a minimum package at £16.50 per month, plus the HD pack at £9.75 per month. So it’s going to cost you £49 up front, and £26.25 per month. However, while the service does currently offer BBC HD, it does not officially offer ITV HD yet. ITV HD is actually available via Sky HD, but you’ll need to manually add the channel to receive it (see this video). The fact that this “test” broadcast is being made strongly suggests that ITV HD will officially appear on Sky HD very soon.
Pros: Good hardware with Sky+, premium channel availability.
Cons: ITV HD not officially available – yet.
12-Month Cost: £364
(£49 + £26.25×12)

To see the £49 Sky HD deal, including a free £25 Tesco voucher on sign-up, click here, then click “Sky+HD Box”:

Virgin Media requires users to take a Virgin phone line at £11 per month. After that you can get a V+ HD box installed for £69, and your monthly bill for the smallest available package will be £19 per month. Like Sky, Virgin doesn’t yet broadcast ITV HD. However, having recently teamed up with ITV to launch the ITV player, it seems likely that Virgin will start broadcasting ITV HD sooner rather than later.
Pros: No dish, cheaper than Sky.
Cons: No ITV HD yet, not available in all areas, phone line requirement.
12-Month Cost: £297
(£69 + £19×12, phone line cost not included as this is likely to be similar to current line provider)

Freesat requires a digital set-top box (or a Freesat-enabled TV) connected to a mini-dish, and is free to view, with no monthly subscription. As such, it is the cheapest option. Also, as the only provider currently carrying both BBC HD and ITV HD it is the only provider that you can completely bank on to show all World Cup 2010 matches in HD. You can pick up a Freesat receiver for around £100, but expect to pay £250 if you want PVR digital recording functions (like Sky+). If you don’t already have a dish you’ll need to buy one of those, and pay for installation. Humax and Foxsat are recommended Freesat receiver manufacturers.
Pros: BBC HD and ITV HD already onboard.
Cons: No premium TV channels e.g. Sky Sports.
12 Month Price: £390 with PVR function (£220 without)
(£105 reciever + £50 mini dish + £75 installation (or £250 reveiver/PVR + £50 mini dish + £75 installation)

Here’s a selection of popular Freesat receivers, suitable dishes, and Foxsat-enabled TVs:

Freeview HD is coming to the UK soon, and will be available to some viewers by World Cup 2010. Freeview HD transmissions will begin on 2 December 2009 from Winter Hill, covering much of the Granada region, including Manchester and Liverpool. Freeview HD will broadcast BBC HD and ITV HD, plus Channel 4 and Channel 5. The HD channels will broadcast in 720p resolution (Sky, Freesat and Virgin Media offer a higher quality 1080i resolution). You cannot receive Freeview HD on existing HD receivers, and will need to buy a new HD set top box, likely to cost something similar to a Freesat box – around £100, or £250 for a PVR. Free to air, there will be no monthly fee.
Pros: No monthly subscription.
Cons: Limited regional availibility, low resolution.
12-Month Cost: £250 with PVR (£100 without) (Estimates)

Conclusions: If you want a cast iron guarantee that you’ll have both BBC HD and ITV HD next June then you’ll need to go with Freesat. Unless you live in the Granada region, where Freeview HD is another, less expensive, option. Other regions are also likely to receive Freeview HD transmissions before the World Cup gets underway, but with a relatively low resolution, is Freeview HD a senseless upgrade? And, although both Freesat and Freeview HD are free-to-air, neither are particularly cheap to buy into, particularly considering Freesat’s dish and installation.

Personally, I’m gambling on Sky. It seems highly likely that ITV HD will join BBC HD on the platform sooner rather than later. Although more expensive than Virgin Media, Sky HD is actually less expensive over the first 12 months than Freesat – although the Sky subscription would obviously be ongoing. And Sky offers the best hardware with it’s second-to-none Sky+ functionality. (After 12 months the box is yours, whether you continue to subscribe or not – with Virgin the box is rented.) You also have the option of subscribing to Sky Sports and ESPN to watch even more football in HD. Take into account the £25 Tesco voucher in this offer and you’re paying £339 for your first year. Add Sky Sports and it’s £579. About the price of a season ticket at an underperforming football club…

Paul Football, Technology

For a few weeks now you’ve been able to download the ebook edition of The Rocketbelt Caper absolutely free and gratis in a variety of nifty formats. The book is officially released as a US trade paperback today.

Several authors give away ebook editions of their work in the hope of generating some publicity, possibly some sales, maybe some goodwill, and hopefully a wider readership. But what would happen if an author also gave away the paerback edition of his book? There’s only one way to find out…

From today, for a limited period while initial stocks (i.e. one crate) last, you can get the brand new US paperback edition of The Rocketbelt Caper direct from this website for free. All I ask is that you contribute the cost of shipping the book to your door, wherever you might be in the world.

If you haven’t already read about The Rocketbelt Caper, it tells the true story of three men who set out to build an amazing jetpack called the Rocketbelt 2000. Their obsession with the rocketbelt shattered their friendship and set in motion an astonishing chain of events involving theft, deception, assault, a bizarre kidnapping, a ten million dollar lawsuit and a horrifically brutal murder.

The book also uncovers the history of the rocketbelt, from sci-fi to reality, involving Buck Rogers, James Bond, Nazi scientists and the US Army. You can read more about the book, watch videos and see photos here.

Why am I offering the book for free? Hopefully it will generate some publicity around the launch of the US edition. But mainly because I want it to be read by as many people as possible. Please order it or download it, read it and – hopefully – enjoy it. If you don’t enjoy it, well I’m sorry about that, but – hey – at least it was free.

You can get The Rocketbelt Caper ebook and paperback FREE here.

The US paperback is also available from all good bookstores from today, priced $11.95.

Paul Books, The Rocketbelt Caper

TV Ad Music, the website that helps you identify the music used in television commercials, is currently running a summer special featuring a run down of the top ten most popular ads so far this year.

I compiled the list, based on stats for visits, searches and downloads, and supplied pithy comments, with help from TV Ad Music’s Keith. Even if you skip the ads with Sky+ there’ll be tunes you recognise, and the likes of Don Thomas and The Seeds are well worth checking out.

You can see the TV Ad Music Summer Special here.

Paul Websites

During my time at Tonto Books I worked on The Non-Beardy Beer Book, a compendium of irreverent booze reviews. You can get the book here. Launching this week is the Non Beardy Beer website.

The site is an interactive review database featuring the UK’s favourite beers, lagers and ciders. New beers are added two or three times a week, and you can post comments and submit your own reviews. I designed the site, and also wrote some of the reviews. Please drink responsibly…

Paul Websites

Anvil! The Story of Anvil: DVD Review
American Movie: DVD Review

Watching Anvil! The Story of Anvil, the feature documentary about a hapless Canadian heavy metal band, at the weekend I couldn’t help but be reminded of one of my all-time favourite documentaries – American Movie.

Anvil! catches up with the titular rockers some 25 years after they flirted with stardom. We see footage from 1984 of the band playing packed stadiums alongside the likes of Whitesnake and Bon Jovi. Talking heads like Lars Ulrich, Slash and Lemmy explain how influential Anvil were, and how they were expected to be huge stars. “These guys were gonna turn the music industry upside down,” says Ulrich. But that next quite happened.

Cut to the present, and frontman Steve “Lips” Kudlow”, now in his 50s, delivers school meal for a living. But by night he and best mate and drummer Robb Reiner are still rocking out as Anvil – albeit in front of modest crowds in local bars. The chance to embark on a European tour reignites their dream. Can Anvil make a comeback?

Cue scenes of the band travelling around the arse end of Europe in a Winnebago, playing in front of a handful of people in basement clubs, arguing with venues over payment, missing trains, falling out with each other, and generally having their dream thoroughly stamped on.

It’s obviously full of Spinal Tap-esque moments and lines, but it’s more than just a freak show. Both Lips and Robb are eccentric characters, but they also come across as very likeable. “I started out with Robb when we were 14 years old, and we said we’re gonna do it til we’re old men,” says Lips. “And we really meant that.”

What emerges is something of a “bromance”, to use a current Hollywood buzzword. Director Sacha Gervasi was an Anvil fan as a teenager, and here he offers an affectionate, and often very funny, account of two friends who just don’t know when to stop the rock.

Chris Smith’s American Movie, released in 1999, follows independent filmmaker Mark Borchardt as he attempt to make his great American movie Northwestern. Mark, lanky and lank-haired, lives about one step above a trailer park in a run-down part of Milwaukee, and is utterly obsessed with movies.

Before he can get started on Northwestern he needs to complete the horror movie Coven, which he insists rhymes with “woven”. Trouble is he has no money, a dysfunctional family, oddball friends, and a host of personal demons.

Marks’ best friend is Mike Schank, an affable drug casualty (he happily tells the story of a brain-damaging overdose) with a permanent grin and the loyalty of a puppy dog. “We used to do a lot of partying together, but I don’t party anymore,” explains Mike.

The friendship between Mark and Mike is central to the movie – like Anvil! it’s a “bromance”. Throw into the mix Mark’s decrepit but loveable Uncle Bill, with his bizarre improvised poems to his dead wife, and you have a trio of unforgettable characters.

American Movie is fascinating, hilarious, touching and genuinely uplifting, all soundtracked by Mike Schank’s gentle acoustic guitar rendition of Mr Bojangles. Probably the best feature documentary you’ll ever see.

Anvil! 7/10
American Movie 10/10

Get Anvil! on DVD
Get American Movie on DVD

Paul Film