The unit boasts 14 different tuners compared with the typically high-end set, which has about three. Its speakers are reportedly comparable to those of a high-end stereo system, and with its Cell chip and image-processing technology, it is capable of improving the resolution of a crappy YouTube video to near high-definition quality. Finally, in addition to displaying eight high-def broadcasts at once, the TV can record them–simultaneously. Oh, it can time-shift them if you’d like, too.

What is this TV among TVs, this holy grail of couch potatoans called? the Cell Regza 55X1. And it costs $11,115.

$11,115? For a TV? In this recession? When TV prices are declining?

Damn right. And Toshiba expects to sell about 1,000 of them a month in Japan before bringing them to market in the U.S. and Europe in 2010.

[Image credits: Toshiba and AVWatch]

And it’s not going to be getting one anytime soon, either, despite rumors that Microsoft is working on one and courting developers to port their iPhone apps over to it. Which is not to say that the company isn’t building an answer to Apple’s App Store–it is. Redmond is just building it for Windows Mobile, not Zune.

“We’re trying to get out of the business of building similar things in the company that don’t work together, and the Windows Mobile team is tackling the challenge of a mobile apps marketplace right now,” Zune marketing manager Brian Seitz told TechFlash. “We don’t necessarily line up perfectly with that, to take advantage of whatever ends up coming out of that from the Zune HD standpoint, but down the line if there’s a way that we can plug into what they’re doing, I’m sure we’ll look into whether that makes sense for the business.”

But by then, of course, it will be too late. Arguably, it’s too late already. As Apple gleefully noted during its annual music event last week, NPD pegs the company’s share of the portable media device market at nearly 74 percent. Meanwhile, Microsoft’s tops out at an estimated 1.1 percent.

Raising that share was already a Sisyphean task for Microsoft (MSFT), and it has only become more difficult now that Apple (AAPL) has introduced not just a new iPod nano with a built-in video camera and FM radio, but also a more inexpensive iPod touch.

Microsoft is pricing the 16GB Zune HD at $219.99 and the 32GB version at $289.99. But you can get a 32GB iPod touch for $299. And you can get an 8GB touch for $199. Now, granted, the touch offers only half the storage of the 16GB Zune HD, but it supports the iTunes App Store. And if you really want that extra 8GB, you can always buy an iPod nano, which shoots video and at $179.00, is $30 cheaper than the Zune HD.

Blu-ray is a bag of hurt.

– Apple CEO Steve Jobs, Oct. 2008

2009 may prove to be the year that Blu-ray caught on. Sales of the high-definition DVD players–sluggish throughout 2008–are surging in 2009. According to the latest metrics from the NPD Group sales of standalone Blu-ray disc players in the United States rose 72 percent from the first quarter of 2008, driven by an increasing awareness of the technology. As NPD notes in its report, Blu-ray disc video technology is moving further into the mainstream. Consumer awareness of Blu-ray in the United States has grown 90 percent, and purchase intent is up as well. Six percent of the people NPD spoke to said they would be “extremely or very likely” to buy a player in the next six months. Apparently now that the average selling price has plummeted 34 percent–from $393 in Q1 2008 to $261 in Q1 2009–consumers find it easier to get past the “my current DVD player is good enough” barrier.

“The rising penetration of high-definition televisions and lower Blu-ray player prices are broadening the format’s market opportunity,” Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis at NPD, said in a statement. “Even as options expand for accessing movies digitally, Blu-ray is carrying forward the widespread appeal of DVD into the high-definition marketplace.”

That said, Blu-ray titles are still being dramatically outsold by DVD–though sales are rising quickly.

[Image Credit: The Onion]

A couple thoughts: Odd, isn’t it, that we’ve seen two stories on an Apple/Verizon deal in as many days in two major news publications? They are presumably well-sourced and bullet-proof. Could be that “people familiar with the matter” are Apple execs simply using the media to put the screws to AT&T (T) in advance of the two companies’ iPhone contract renewal negotiations.

Or is it something else?

Perhaps these pieces are the first signs of the Apple’s cunning PR machine ramping up for some big announcements this summer. An Apple tablet/e-book reader is likely different enough from an iPhone that it wouldn’t interfere with AT&T’s exclusive deal on the device. And what of that “iPhone light” mentioned in the BusinessWeek story? Could it perhaps be an iPhone LTE? Or rather iPhone LiTE? A new device designed for the LTE (long term evolution) standard Verizon will begin supporting widely right around the time AT&T’s exclusive iPhone deal expires?

With the Apple TV Take Two, we think we have it right this time. I think we have a great product.”

–Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook, Jan. 23

Promises, promises, promises … When Apple (AAPL) debuted iTunes Movie Rentals this past January, the company pledged to offer “over 1,000 titles by the end of February, including over 100 titles in stunning high-definition video with 5.1 Dolby Digital surround sound.” Well, today’s March 4 and, as best I can tell, Apple hasn’t kept its promise. Browse iTunes this morning with the software’s “Power Search,” and you’ll find just 411 films for rent–91 of them available in high definition. That’s 589 short of the promised 1,000–a discrepancy of nearly 60%.

Seems Apple may not have Apple TV quite right yet after all–the Hollywood licensing part of it, anyway.

UPDATE: At the Apple shareholder meeting yesterday, CEO Steve Jobs confirmed the discrepancy, saying the company’s goal of 1,000 rental titles on iTunes was short by around 600.

“The high-definition landscape is rapidly changing, and consumers are looking for guidance on how to make the best high-definition buying decisions,” said Peter Faricy, vice president of movies and music at Amazon.com, who apparently didn’t receive Toshiba’s HD DVD press release until early this morning. “Our customers have clearly voiced their support for the Blu-ray format. … In order to best serve our customers, Amazon is recommending Blu-ray as the preferred digital format and will continue to carry the ‘Earth’s Largest Selection’ of Blu-ray products.”

Best Buy (BBY) has added insult to the injury Netflix gave HD DVD this morning, announcing plans to endorse Blu-ray over HD DVD. “Best Buy will recommend Blu-ray as the preferred format,” said Brian Dunn, Best Buy’s president and chief operating officer. “Our decision to shine a spotlight on Blu-ray Disc players and other Blu-ray products is a strong signal to our customers that we believe Blu-ray is the right format choice for them.”

And not for much longer, says Ted Sarandos, Netflix’s chief content officer. “The prolonged period of competition between two formats has prevented clear communication to the consumer regarding the richness of the high-def experience versus standard definition,” Sarandos said. “We’re now at the point where the industry can pursue the migration to a single format, bring clarity to the consumer and accelerate the adoption of high-def.”