I see so many videoholics mouthing off about HDTV not teaching anyone what really matters that it pisses me off.

Here's some things I've learned now that I've bought my screen.

1) Size does matter. When I got my 50-inch home Maryam said two things: A) "Why did we wait so long?" (Cause you freaking wanted a stove instead of a screen!!!) B) "We should have gotten the 60 inch." (I took back the 50 inch and got the 60 and now the 60 is starting to look small). Lesson, get the biggest screen you can. Even if it's too big for your room.

2) Resolution. The marketing makes it sound like you want 1080p. The problem is nothing supports it yet. My Sony screen is 1080i. My HD-DVD is 1080i. My Xbox 360 is 1080i. The Sony camcorder Microsoft bought me is 1080i. The new Panasonic I'm getting is 1080i. And, when I went to CES I compared 1080i with 1080p and didn't see that much of a difference. Truth is if you buy a $4,000 screen you'll get 1080i today. At the end of the year you'll get 1080p (although Sony raised its prices on its "p" screens). 1080p promises a smoother image on rapidly moving content. But, 1080i is stunning. Absolutely stunning.

3) The DVD player you have matters. My Xbox has a DVD built in. But my HD-DVD is much sharper, even when playing regular old DVDs. Why? It has a better "scalar" built in. Make sure your is a scaling DVD. Go onto the forums and do some homework.  

4) Look at the resolution of your screen. Most stores only show low res HD on their screens. It makes all the screens look good, even cheaper ones. But, get them home and only screens that truly support 1080i or 1080p look good. My screen blows away most that my friends have. But in the stores they look about the same. Be careful buying stuff just by what it looks like in the stores.  You want one that says it supports at least 1920×1080 native resolution. Like the one I bought. 

5) Be prepared to be in debt. My screen? $3,799 at Best Buy. My HD-DVD? $500. My Xbox? $400. Cables and accessories? At least $300. Make sure you price shop even AFTER you buy your screen. I saved $600 by walking into Best Buy 29 days after I bought my screen to check the price.

6) Be prepared to be frustrated over lack of content. Comcast in Seattle area is pretty good — I hear it's a lot worse in most parts of the world. But, you'll find yourself watching the stupidest things simply because they are pretty. Like Discovery Channel's Sunrise Show.

7) Learn about cables. My TV has two HDMI connectors. I needed to get a new cable for my Xbox that supported HDTV (Xbox doesn't yet support HDMI, which makes me wonder if they'll come out with a new version soon that will). I had to get a new cable for my Comcast Cable box (it supports HDMI, which looks a lot nicer than the other kinds of cable I was using previous to getting the HDTV). Also my HD-DVD came with an HDMI cable.

Get surround sound and spend some money on your audio equipment. I already had a great surround sound system so didn't need to worry about it. But, lots of my friends don't have surround sound systems and it really makes a difference. Even moreso with a good HD set. I don't know why, but regular TV sounds a LOT nicer on my new TV than on my old one, even though my audio equipment hasn't changed. The audio tuner in the new TV is a LOT better and supports surround sound much better.

What else should people worry about HD?  

Audioholics wrote about why HD-DVD has already failed.

I have an HD-DVD. I spent my own $500 on it. I also bought a $4,000 HD screen from Sony (it's a lot sharper than any of the screens my friends have). So, that makes me an expert on HD. Heheh.

But, Audioholics totally is wrong about HD-DVD.

Let's take on each point.

1) No one likes false starts. This is bullshit. When I bought my first CD, there was only 100 CDs at Tower Records. And all the "audiophiles" said the format sucked. I remember those guys — I sold audio equipment to geeks in Silicon Valley and they'd come in and debate me about why vinyl is a superior format. I told them they were smoking good dope. CD's quietness would beat any of Vinyl's superiorness and I turned out right. Same will go for DVD-HD. My friends come over, I put on a HD-DVD and they are amazed. Even Chris Pirillo and Ponzi.

2) Format wars don't sell players. They are right here. I bought HD-DVD because it was half the price of Blueray and there are already more titles at the local Best Buy.

3) The new formats are not stunning leaps forward in tech. I think this is the biggest bullshit comment (see, I can swear now that I'm leaving Microsoft). Anyone who comes over and watches an HD-DVD says "wow." It's HUGE difference in sharpness over previous DVDs.

4) Studios are greedy, unmotivated, etc. Yeah. Agreed. The reason I tell my friends NOT to buy HD-DVD is all due to the studios. They haven't released any movies in either format yet. They are stupid. But, what will their stupidness cause? The increasing rise of Bittorrent!!! Why? Cause assholes like me with $4,000 screens aren't gonna put up with this forever. We're gonna look for content and if the studios don't get on board FAST I'm gonna go elsewhere. Calling Steve Jobs!!!

5) Playstation 3 can't save the world. Well, I agree there. I already bought an Xbox360. You think I'm going to buy another console just to get another format? You're smoking good dope!

6) Ignoring history. See #4. If you don't get me content, I'm gonna find it anyway. I can only watch so much of Discovery Channel's Sunrise Channel before I'll get bored.

7) That people like new tech but are confused by it. When you get your HDTV home, you gotta make changes. You'll need to buy a new DVD player (your old one, if it doesn't upscale to HD resolutions) is not gonna be good enough. You'll need to make sure you find the HD content on your cable box. Even if you have Xbox 360 you'll need to get the HD cable and make sure to switch it to "HD." (A coworker didn't have it on for months until it was pointed out to him and it made a HUGE difference).

Enthusiasts are getting tired and smarter. Oh, I'm not tired yet of wasting my money. But, we definitely are hooked into a smart community. That's a HUGE change.

9) A skeptical media doesn't help. This is TRUE. Do you know WHY they are skeptical? When I was a the local TV station I asked when they were gonna be HD-compatible (they aren't yet). Turns out in 2007 and they are PISSED. They wanted to buy a new satellite truck, but instead, will have to buy new HD equipment and cameras. Not cheap or easy. They are gonna drag their feet as long as possible.
10) Broadband and IPTV to compete. Hey, I thought these were the same thing. Actually, I got a tour of the IPTV facility Microsoft built down in Silicon Valley. They ARE the same thing, albeit IPTV means that the phone company is gonna bring you 30 megabit DSL lines to your house. What does that mean? Four continuous channels (soon six) of HD. Imagine watching a baseball game with four windows — all in HD, all at the same time. Now THAT will blow away HD-DVD!!

So, what sucks about HD-DVD. Not the resolution. Not the number of titles (although that does suck right now). Not the technology. What sucks? The freaking price!!!

I can buy a scaling DVD for about $100. But the HD-DVD cost $500. Sorry, that's prohibitive for most people. When it comes down to $200 wake me up. Until then it'll be a failure. If I had an extra $500 right now I'd buy an Xbox, not HD-DVD.

Why do I say that? Cause Xbox Live delivers more HD content right now than HD-DVD.

Like I said, it's all about HD. Pay attention studios, you are about to get shaken up! More on this topic on Memeorandum.

Joe Wilcox analyzes yesterday's announcement that Microsoft is getting into robotics with an SDK.

Update: Channel 9 has a video with the team.

Mary Jo Foley has been covering Microsoft for a long time and her blog is always interesting. Anyway, yesterday Andy Plesser caught up with her and she said my new venture is going to be huge. OK, OK, will SOMEONE please turn off the hype knob? 

Wrong quest, sorry Hugh.
It's the small ideas that will transform big companies.

RSS? It was a small idea five years ago. Except in Dave Winer's mind. Today it's in Sharepoint, Outlook, IE7, among other places.

Blogging? Bill Gates hadn't heard the word five years ago. Today he owns one of the most popular blog services and has 3,000 of the most-respected corporate bloggers.

Podcasting? Videochatting? Hey, Microsoft still hasn't gotten that small idea, but another big company has (that company is Apple, check out the ad that Maryam is standing next to).

Want a big idea for Microsoft? Go to BarCamp this weekend. Oh, wait, that's being held in Microsoft's SF offices. I wonder if Microsoft will get the small ideas that are gonna be discussed on its own turf? Calling Ray Ozzie, calling Ray Ozzie!

Microsoft's video strategist Todd Herman is interviewed over on Beet.tv. Says that companies need to understand how to use the new media. He also talks about a new video project, code-named "Warhol" which will be Microsoft's YouTube competitor. This hunger for new content is one of the reasons I went to Podtech.

Everyone wonders if their startup will be the next Microsoft. Here's this year's hottest startups, winners of the Under the Radar conference.

I'll be on the BBC in a little more than an hour as part of its "NewsNight" show. What are we talking about? Bill Gates.

What am I going to say? He's the smartest guy I've ever met. Read Joel Spolsky's "BillG review" meeting notes to get a little insight.

I've had two meetings with him in addition to the Channel 9 interview we did and that lunch that Arrington attended (I interviewed him once before I was an employee too).

In the meetings I observed how he dealt with things. First, he took lots of notes. Second, he figured out where we hadn't done our homework quicker than anyone else I'd ever known. Third, he asked more questions in a shorter amount of time (one meeting was scheduled to last 30 minutes, but went an hour-and-a-half, the other was scheduled for six minutes and I think it went to seven) than I've ever been asked in my life.

Some things I told him were repeated by him on stage word-for-word months later.

He is an extraordinary person. I doubt I'll ever meet someone like him again.

His attention to detail prepared me for the rest of my life. Last night we were presenting to a group of VC's and CTOs and CEOs and we were getting the same kind of treatment, but I noticed that there were 60 people in the room last night. I then understood why Microsoft often went up against the best in the industry and won.

Anyway, enough BS. If Bill were here he'd have called "bull" on me by the fourth sentence. My few minutes spent with him will always be among my most treasured memories. 

There are tons of other stories about Bill Gates over on TechMeme today.

There will be an interview up this afternoon with Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer on Channel 9.
News.com is reporting that Gates is stepping down from a full-time role. They are meeting right now with employees (I'm not listening cause I am speaking to a bunch of Venture Capitalists in Silicon Valley and am doing some other things).

You might have missed that Microsoft's stock has been in a freefall lately.

My friends have been asking me "why doesn't Wall Street believe Steve Ballmer?"

That's an easy one. Cause he didn't convince the grass roots influence networks first. Why have Google and Apple done so well in the last three years? Cause the grassroots loves them. That's the powerroot of the industry. Ideas here don't come from the big influencers and move down. No, they start on the street and move up. Anyone miss how Google got big? Not by throwing a press conference.

Ballmer should not listen to his PR team and instead should live the blogging way.

Huh?

Did you miss that I turned into an international news story that has gotten more attention than everything Microsoft announced at its big TechED conference this week?

How did I do that?

I talked with the grassroots FIRST. Against the advice, by the way, of a lot of PR people (they wanted me to break the news to Walt Mossberg or someone "important" first — they thought that's how I was going to get the biggest story going).

They all are wrong. I almost bought into it too. In fact, I did. On Saturday I talked with maybe 20 people and said "can you wait until Tuesday to talk about it?" I wanted to give the story to the Wall Street Journal too. Not to mention I wanted to tell my coworkers before the story hit. I didn't get that chance and I'm lucky, in hindsight, that I didn't. Because the story started on the grassroots first it got far far bigger than if I broke it on a big newspaper.

It's a lesson I'll never forget again.

Journalists need sources for stories and they need to convince editors that stories are important to pay attention to.

What was going on this weekend? Journalists were emailing TechMeme around to their editors and saying "something important is going on here." How do I know that? Cause when the journalists were calling that's what they told me. They saw a blog mob and that helped them sell the story.

Analysts, on the other hand, also watch what grass roots are saying. The wisdom of crowds. It drives a lot of buying decisions. Why is Google's stock higher than Yahoo's? (Yahoo does pretty much the same thing as Google and has more users, after all). Because the influential users all use Google. When I ask my audiences which email or search system they use they predominantly answer Google. That turns into hype. Hype sells advertising (advertisers want to reach the influential users, not the clueless ones). That turns into profits and profits turns into stock price.

So, why is Microsoft stock price in freefall? Cause Steve Ballmer didn't come to the grassroots and convince him that Microsoft's business strategy makes sense. We still haven't explained, for instance, to the grassroots why Windows Vista matters. Or why spending $2 billion on server farms will make any sense to them. Or why the Xbox is going to be profitable.
What would I do? I would show up unannounced at three conferences. BloggerCon, Gnomedex, and BlogHer. No PR team there to spin. No lawyers. No video crew. And focus on answering those three things. Windows Vista. Investments in server farms. Xbox profitability.

Just show up and let people on the grassroots get to know you and answer those questions over and over and over again (on Sunday I did about 40 interviews with everyone who was at VLoggerCon, no matter how small the audience they had). Answer their questions. Even the harshest stupidest Slashdot style questions.

Do that and you'll see the stock price go back up.

Oh, and by the way, I'm not selling my Microsoft stock. Why? Cause I already know the answers to those three questions and I'm quite confident in the future of Microsoft. It's just that I'm not the CEO of Microsoft.

Show up at Gnomedex, answer those three questions to anyone who'll ask, and you'll see the power of the Grassroots.

I learned the power on Sunday. Thanks to VLoggerCon for teaching me that. Oh, and I'm being talked about on GeekBrief.TV today (Cali was launching a campaign to replace Ballmer with me — hey, Steve, I'd give her your first interview!)