“More, Next, More, Next”: HD-DVD

Okay, so you finally joined the third millennium and got a DVD player – in three years you’ll be out of date again:

Don’t panic; any future player also will handle the discs you buy today. But just as DVDs are of higher quality than TV, digital TV and high-definition programming have leapfrogged the quality of DVD. And as sales increase for digital TV sets, capable of displaying video two to three times better than that of DVD, the industry is wrangling over ways to keep up.

”The good news is, Hollywood is not trying to cheat consumers. The studios, artists and directors really want to get the home theater experience as good as possible,” says Richard Doherty of consulting firm The Envisioneering Group. ”As good as DVD was over VHS, high-definition (discs) will be an even higher jump in image quality.”

Beyond better video, HD-DVD discs may hold seven-channel soundtracks and more interactive bonuses, such as automatic software that, through a Net-linked home entertainment server, could connect online for additional language soundtracks and live chats with filmmakers and actors. ”Those are the kinds of areas we’re working on in defining the format,” says Erin Sullivan, with Panasonic’s entertainment technology laboratory in Hollywood. [USA Today]

Oh yeah, and you’ll have to add two more speakers to the surround sound system. Soon, entire homes will be built around entertainment systems, or maybe your home WILL be an entertainment system.