Islands restaurants, known for its kitschy “Hawaii” decor, great burgers and fries, and surfing and extreme sports videos has gone high-definition.  The flat panel plasma TVs (from Panasonic) definitely created an updated feel in the restaurant without much effort.  Also, those great surfing and extreme sports videos became even more specular in widescreen high-definition.  Kudos to Islands.

This got me thinking about whether only this Islands (in Mira Mesa — a neighborhood in San Diego) did this, or whether some deal was struck with the whole chain.  If a deal was struck, who did it?  Panasonic, the content provider (Just Push Play), or some other distributor?  I, also, wonder whether the content is digitally distributed or whether they still rely on a DVD player.  Either way thinking about the whole solution, here’s what I see:

• Viewers — the television
• Distribution — digitally over broadband to an in store storage device so content can be rotated often
• Storage Devices
• Content
• Sales of adjacent products like videos, music, and an in-home version of the channel via the Internet

Oh how wonderful!  I like it!