I've been test driving an HD-DVD high definition video disc player this past week. I wasn't planning to go HD, but it turns out the HD-DVD player fell into my lap not a week after the beloved Panasonic DVD-RP62 finally gave out.
Prior to the test, I was unenthused about HD. After the test, little has changed.
As you may know, we are in the midst of a HD-DVD versus Blu-ray format war. The cautious person is advised to stay off the battlefield. If you think otherwise, ask the poor sods who bought into Betamax during the VCR format wars.
Also, the Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) functions proved as bothersome as I feared. All the things you hate about DVD are here—only worse. You can't skip unskipable content. Can't make backups. Won't play on my Linux computer. Can't do screenshots.
What's worse, because I run my video signals through component video cables to my A/V receiver, some disc vendors intentionally downgrade the content. So, in some cases, the device is no better than a plain old progressive scan DVD player.
Actually, it's worse, because the HD-DVD player is bigger, noiser and takes way way longer to start up than a conventional DVD player.
In the cases I did get high def video, I wasn't bowled over by the display. I suspect that resolution above 480p progressive video may be wasted on my 30" screen. At least, that's what happened when I ran 720p content. I may try again with 1080i. If I do, I'll let you know.
6:20pm update: Okay, I did the side-by-side comparison and I'll retract the above. 1080i is significantly better than 480p, even on my 30" television.
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