Just when you thought we’d finally reached something of a plateau on home video with the DVD, companies have introduced two forms of High Definition DVDs. Now I don’t know what it is, but I’ve always had this thing in me that makes sure I’m part of the introduction of a new piece of technology. Doesn’t matter what it is, I mean, I made my mom spend $400 on a Sega Saturn at launch (which I still have and LOVE), not to mention a Mini Disc player, I’ve been through a couple generations of iPods, and had I been old enough, I would’ve probably had a Betamax as well.

I did the DVD scene pretty early as well, the first player I got was priced higher than any of the high end models now. At that point I think Best Buy had one rack of DVDs. Now you’d think that since CDs have been around for about two decades that the same would be for our DVDs, I mean they were a huge upgrade from VHS so what can possibly be coming that would cast them aside?

I give to you the DVD, in high definition. Not only that but there are two versions, HD DVD and Blu-ray. Each are they’re own entity, something like PS2 and Xbox. I won’t pretend to know all the details about it but basically Sony and a bunch of studios developed Blu-ray and Toshiba and a bunch of electronics companies developed HD DVD. Each have their own set of exclusive movie studios so it’s a little sloppy as far as that goes, chances are no matter which format you choose, you’re going to miss some of your favorite movies.

So let’s not dwell on the negative, is this thing the real deal, is there really a need for it? Well, perhaps we don’t NEED it, but in all honestly the format is a great jump in quality. I went with Toshiba’s HD-A1 HD DVD player. In addition to playing HD DVDs it (as well as the other players out there) actually up the resolution of your current standard DVDs. That being said, when I popped in an older DVD and compared it to an HD DVD I was pretty surprised. I tried out the first Spider-Man flick, I figured this is new enough and filled with enough effects to give me a good idea of what a nicely upconverted DVD will look like, and while it looked ok, next to some of the HD titles I’ve watched it might as well be on a nice VHS player.

So the bottom line, it’s a little soon to be honest, I was just getting really into my DVD collection and I WAS happy with the quality of DVDs. Now they feel inferior and I’m looking for the latest HD DVD to get my fix. I don’t think you’re average Joe out there is going to be concerned with this new format for awhile, but for the tech / movie junkies I think you’ll definitely enjoy this new format.

- James