We already caught Panasonic gloating about its H.264 / MPEG-4 AVC-related Emmy earlier this year, but now the full list of award winners are getting their moment in the spotlight. TV Technology is reporting that a number of entities, outfits and agencies responsible for fostering growth in the high-def arena are set to accept Emmy awards on the eve of CES 2009. Some of the big winners are the Advisory Committee on Advanced Television Service, Advanced Television Systems Committee, the Advanced Television Test Center and the Advanced Television Evaluation Laboratory, all of which helped in "devising the standardization of the ATSC Digital System." Also of note, the Metropolitan Opera was gifted with an award for its achievement in HD "cinema-casting," and awards are headed to Toshiba, Sony, Panasonic, Hitachi, Philips, Molex, Japan Aviation Electronics and Intel (among others) for their work on HDMI. Glasses up to the victors!

You just have to love it, don't you? In a situation that reminds us all too much of Sony's SIXAXIS Emmy fiasco (minus the fiasco), Panasonic has taken it upon itself to boast (quite heavily) about an Emmy that it's merely connected to. You see, an Emmy Engineering Award will soon be given to the Joint Video Team Standards Committee, of which Panasonic is indeed a member. But still, it's the JVT getting the Emmy here, though Panny's doing an excellent job of taking credit. It's release on the matter proclaims that it had a whole lot to do with the creation and implementation of High Profile for H.264 / MPEG-4 AVC, a technology that enables HD images in the H.264 video coding system. What's next -- Panasonic accepting the award on JVT's behalf?

Merely three quarters after Vizio sets began showing up on Wal-Mart floors, the perennial low-cost HDTV leader has taken home Wally World's Electronics Supplier of the Year award. The self-proclaimed "fastest growing brand of flat panel HDTVs in North America" has a half dozen models on Wal-Mart shelves right now, and aside from continually delivering as promised, it probably didn't hurt to have its products "among the top selling flat-panels" at the retailer. Kudos Vizio -- just keep watchin' your back, okay?

Earlier this summer, The Departed and 007: Casino Royale swept up the spotlight at the first Entertainment Merchants Association's Home Entertainment Awards to hand out honors for high-definition titles, and now the first ever High-Def Disc Awards have doled out their own laundry list of victors. Presented by Home Media Magazine in cooperation with The Hollywood Reporter and the EMA, the awards were decided upon by a panel of critics / bloggers, and 300 was the only film to take home more than one award. Notably, of the two it won, one (Title of the Year) was on Blu-ray and the other (Best Bonus Feature) was on HD DVD. Other winners included Ratatouille for Best Animated Film, Transformers for Best Audio Quality and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest for Best Picture Quality. Hit the read link for the full rundown, and don't be shy in voicing your support / outrage at the selections.

[Via FormatWarCentral]

As if moving over 100,000 units wasn't enough, those involved with the making of The Departed have yet another reason to celebrate -- right alongside the equally successful crew involved with 007: Casino Royale, of course. At the first Entertainment Merchants Association's Home Entertainment Awards to hand out honors for high-definition titles, Scorsese's latest gem managed to take home the awards for HD DVD Title of the Year as well as DVD Rental Title of the Year, while the latest in the Bond series took home Blu-ray Title of the Year. Unfortunately, these two films (Casablanca notwithstanding, which nabbed the Hall of Fame Award) were the only notable winners residing on an HD format, but we'll be interested to see how all that changes on the next go 'round.

[Via HighDefDigest]

There is nothing new about us linking to ourselves, it is practically a Engadget commandment, but even we aren't so vain that we don't second guess writing a post for the sole purpose of linking to ourselves. But in the interest of our loyal Engadget HD fans who don't read classic Engadget, here goes (yeah, there are probably only two of you). Of all the Engadget awards, the one you guys just have to have your voice heard is: the HDTV of the year award. There are not many surprises on the list, but once again the age ol' battle of the best technology rages on and now is your chance to get behind your horse, so follow the link to stand up and be counted.

We guess they don't call it "Elite" for nuthin', as Pioneer's Elite Pro-FHD1 has been crowned the "Product of the Year" according to Sound and Vision Magazine and Ultimate AV. The firm's 50-inch, 1080p plasma was deemed a "technological milestone, complete with images that burst off the display for a near 3D effect," which are pretty strong words considering the smorgasbord of fantastic PDPs alone that came out last year. Of course, Mr. Mossberg would probably still argue that his Pioneer Elite PRO-1140HD was the better choice, but hey, he also tried to convince us that 1080p wasn't an important factor when scouting our your next set. Nevertheless, our hats are off to the folks at Pioneer, and while we're sure this beauty deserved its tiara, the $7,999 pricetag will still keep it out of all but the most affluent homes -- and Pioneer, don't count on next year's award coming easy, as you've already got some seriously stiff competition just a fortnight into the new year.

Sure we've already got the best of all the various gadgets shown off at CEDIA 2006, but what about putting it all together? We'd put some of the people in the HDBeat flickr group up against anyone, but check out how professional installers do it given budgets from 40k to several hundred thousand dollars. The 19 shown definitely take what is possible in a home theater to a whole new level. All we can do is recommend becoming fabulously wealthy, it is clearly worth the effort.

We love HD shows that go the extra mile to take advantage of HDTVs (My Name is Earl, The Office), or just have special effects and environments that look great in HD (24, Lost). At last night's 58th Emmy Awards Lost and Grey's Anatomy were shut out but all the others listed previously took home statues, as well as other HD productions like HBO's The Sopranos and Elizabeth I. Take a look at the full list of winners, it certainly appears the critics think there are shows worth watching in HD.

What we're watching: The Emmys are in standard-def tonight, which would be bad enough but since it also bumps preseason Sunday Night Football it is especially irksome. ABC & Fox decide to combat TV awards by showing movies, with Pirates of the Caribbean and Star Wars Episode II both kicking off at 7. The season finales of Deadwood, Entourage and Lucky Louie are all on deck for tonight so it might make sense to skip that 480i awards show, watch shows in HD that will probably grab a statue or two, and check out the liveblogged recap on TV Squad later.

Our traditional high-def listings continue below.

Even though CES is over, the IEEE International Conference on Consumer Electronics is just starting tomorrow in Las Vegas. There, the leaders of the team that created high definition television for Zenith will be honored with the 2006 IEEE Masaru Ibuka Consumer Electronics Award. Sponsored by Sony, the award is to recognize outstanding contributions in the field of consumer electronics.

Every time you turn on your high def TV, remember to thank Wayne Bretl, Richard Citta and Wayne Luplow, without whom none of this would have been possible.