You remember the story about Goldilocks and the three bears, right? She would try out items at the bear residence, finding something of the mother or father bear’s too extreme in some way (too soft, too hot, etc.) and eventually settle on something of the child bear’s because it was somehow just right in the middle.

The Goldilocks story can be applied to consumer electronics pretty easily. You’re often faced with a bazillion choices when you go shopping. Some items are too expensive, and others are too cheap. Some have too many features, and others don’t have nearly enough. In the end, you purchase the one that’s just right for your needs. Something that fits into your budget and does what you needed it to do.

What are the problems with buying too much or too little of something? Well, buying the ultra-super-duper model means you better hope to enjoy all of those features before your friends pick up the same thing at half price a few months later. On the other end of the pricing spectrum, it’s always a great feeling to get a good bargain, but it’s never fun to end up with poor quality or insufficient features. After making several mistakes at both ends of the pricing and quality game, people tend to arrive at the strategy of getting something that costs a little more than the cheapest model, and is just a few features shy of the most expensive one.

The last few days saw a couple of articles that reinforce the zen-like practice of walking the middle ground when it comes to consumer electronics. One was a study of the warranty and service policies on some of the lowest-priced HDTVs, and another was a performance test of HDMI cables. (more…)

Just a couple of weeks ahead of the release of 300, Microsoft announced a $20 price drop on the Xbox 360 HD DVD player add-on. Microsoft has been very involved with the internet-based interactivity aspect of HD DVD, and 300 will boast some of the newest uses for that technology. The boxed set of Heroes: Season 1 on HD DVD is another of the titles that Microsoft has and will be promoting on their Xbox LIVE marketplace, as announced in their press release. The other enticing bit of news about the now $179 HD DVD add-on is that Toshiba’s 5 free movies offer will be extended to the Xbox 360 HD DVD player as well.

This new price drop accompanies a highly rumoured (and likely to be true) $50 price reduction on the Xbox 360 itself. Though Microsoft has not officially announced the new 360 pricing, this Hollywood Reporter article suggests that it might take effect on August 8.

The new pricing is likely to ensure that there is even less reason for someone not to play Halo 3 when it comes out towards the end of September. It’s also right on time for back-to-school purchasing as students head off to college. Though gaming and HD entertainment won’t be on their parent’s minds, it’s definitely an essential aspect of many students’ lives.

UPDATE: This deal nets you 6 movies, since King Kong is already included in every box.

UPDATE: If you don’t have a 360 yet, then consider Amazon’s $599 360 Elite High-Def Bundle which consists of the 360 Elite, the movie 300, and the HD DVD player.

UPDATE: Here’s a (slightly boring) video demonstrating an Xbox 360 HD DVD player being used on a PC (google “xbox 360 HD DVD on PC” for more information on using these with your PC):

(click here to view the video at YouTube in case it’s not showing up above)

Unlike the other famous spy who shares his initials, Jason Bourne lives exclusively on HD DVD and doesn’t suffer from that “why don’t they just shoot him in the first two minutes of the movie?” syndrome.

The Bourne Ultimatum, is the last of the Bourne books by Robert Ludlum (though Eric Van Lustbader continued the series with two more titles). The first two Ludlum books have already been made into movies, and the third is about to hit movie theaters shortly. The Bourne movies have been great action-packed thrillers. The second movie, The Bourne Supremacy was actually the first to appear on HD DVD. As part of the hype for the new Bourne Ultimatum movie, Universal just released the first one, The Bourne Identity on HD DVD this week.

In an earlier posting, I described how Planet Earth was my choice for a movie that was made to show off HD. Action movies are probably the next best bet, and these Bourne discs are among your better choices. I say that because they are good movies, and the HD just enhances the enjoyment. I’m sure there are sci-fi movies with lots of computer-generated graphics that might be even better in terms of visuals, but as a complete movie experience, you’re not going to be done wrong with these Bourne titles.

Bourne Supremacy HD DVD trailer:

(click here if the video doesn’t appear above)

IMAX is such a wonderful way to watch movies! IMAX does for movie theaters what HDTV does for TV. I recently had the opporunity to watch the latest Harry Potter movie in IMAX 3D format. This wasn’t 3D with the cheap red and blue glasses, it was with the polarized kind. When I got home, I looked into adding a Potter movie to my HD collection, and I was surprised to see that Warner Bros. had NOTHING! The Amazon page for these wasn’t for pre-ordering, it was of the “email me when this thing becomes available” variety. (Go see for yourself:link)

The Harry Potter books hold a special place in my household because we’ve been reading them to and with our boys over the years, and we even waited in line for the midnight release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows last Friday. As I write this, I’m only a third of the way into the book, and thank goodness comments aren’t enabled at the site or else I’m sure someone would post a spoiler.

During the past week, Warner Bros. decided to take advantage of the Harry Potter mania and announced a 5-disc HD DVD set consisting of all the Harry Potter movies made so far, including the recent Order of the Phoenix. No date was announced, but applying some common sense, I’m sure the set will be out by November, just in time for Christmas. I’m sure it’ll be a huge hit because it’s going to be the only truly family-friendly HD disc set. (The Matrix Trilogy set was fun and all that, but it’s R-rated, and try explaining the story to your non-Ph.D mother — what? Your mom doesn’t have a Ph.D either?)

I’ll definitely keep you updated as more information becomes available. Now, if you’ll excuse me… I need to get back to my Deathly Hallows book before people at work and elsewhere on the internet spoil the ending for me.

UPDATE: It turns out that Harry Potter has already been available on HD in his native country of Great Britain: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is available at Amazon’s British site. HD DVD discs are “region-free” meaning that you don’t have to worry that a disc made or sold in Japan or Europe won’t play in the USA. I’ve never ordered a disc from overseas, but it looks like if you’re a die-hard fan, then you can get a head start on the Harry Potter in HD collection afterall.

Part 2 of my update is that I did finish the book a couple of days after originally writing this post, and I can’t wait to see what the Deathly Hallows movie will be like. I’m also going to be interested to see how certain characters are portrayed in the Half-Blood Prince movie.

UPDATE: Warner Home Video has set a Dec. 11, 2007 release date for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix on HD DVD. More information to be posted as it becomes available.

I saw my first HDTV demonstrations over twenty years ago at the CES (Consumer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas, and years later as I waited for connecting flights from the airport in Tokyo. The demonstrations were always of nature scenes. That’s because nature is something we can all relate to. We’ve seen and experienced flowers and trees, and most of us have seen animals at a zoo. We can take these real-life images and experiences and very easily compare them to things we’re shown on HDTV. The closer it is to our own real-life experience, or our estimation of what that experience would be, the better the HDTV must be.

The first disc I got for my HD DVD was Planet Earth. I had already seen it playing at stores I’d been to, and I knew it would be a great way for me to easily see what full-on high-defintion 1080p video was all about. I could have chosen an action movie, but those movies are more about a theatrical experience, and the best HD portions may be several scenes apart. I wanted something that would demonstrate what HD is all about in every second of footage, and I was not disappointed. You may have seen Planet Earth on Discovery HD, but I can assure you that your video quality was not nearly as good as the images you’ll get on HD DVD. Cable and satellite broadcasts are always overly compressed — it’s just a fact of life for those technologies. Some providers might have better image quality than others, but they still fall short of what you can get from your HD DVD.

Here are a few scenes from Planet Earth, unfortunately in extremely low defintion: (more…)

I was just about to write and remind you about the expiring 5 free HD DVD movies offer, but the good news is that Toshiba just announced the extension of this program through the end of September! You now have until September 30 to purchase your HD DVD player and mail in your selection of 5 free movies:

• Our original post about the movies
• PDF file with the offer claim form

Combine this with the recently lowered $299 and $399 prices on the HD-A2 and HD-A20, respectively, and you have even less reason to prevent yourself from fully enjoying that HDTV and home theater of yours.

UPDATE: The offer now also applies to the Xbox 360 HD DVD add-on player which was just reduced to $179.

Did you know that the PS2 is still selling more units than the Xbox 360 or PS3? And that the Wii outsells the Xbox 360 and PS3 as well? A large part of the success of these items lies in their affordability. Most people want a quick and simple solution, and they’re not overly involved with or attached to brands or certain technologies. If you want to get a videogame system to keep an elementary school-aged kid busy over the summer, then you can get a new PS2 for real cheap, and your kids can choose from thousands of new and used games. In the end, your child (probably a young one — because I’m sure an older one child would want a 360 or PS3) gets a game system, and you get to keep more of your money for other expenses… like a mortgage.

The same thing applies to HD DVD and Blu-ray adoption. Despite monthly claims from Blu-ray and HD DVD representatives that “our side outsells the other guys,” the reality is that people are still buying standard and enhanced DVD players (those that up-convert standard DVD output to HDTV) in large numbers almost as if they are unaware of or don’t care about the high-definition formats.

In a Reuters news story, Steve Nickerson, a Warner Bros. spokesperson, pointed out that price-sensitivity is very important in regard to the success of the high-definition DVD formats. Nickerson said, “you can’t get to mass-market consumption until you get to mass-market pricing.”

In the same article, Olivier Van Wynendaele, spokesperson for the European HD DVD group, revealed that surveys indicate 70% of consumers would buy a high-definition player once prices fall below $200. He didn’t answer when Toshiba would cut their prices to that level, but he did acknowledge that this kind of pricing was coming in the future.

I’m sure that even Blu-ray players will one day sell at those price levels, but the question is how long are YOU going to wait for that happen? I think it depends on whether you have the $300 today to get an HD DVD player (or $500 for Blu-ray), AND how fed up you may be about not getting the ultimate and total use of your HDTV set.

As for me? I have a Wii and you can already guess which high-definition DVD format I own. I am not uninterested in getting a PS3 or 360, but my family gets enough fun and usage from our Wii that we’re not missing much by not having those other systems. The same is true about our DVD format choice.

Owners of HDTVs are always looking for more and better ways to enjoy their high-definition video and home theater setups. Aside from content on DVDs, choices are limited to whatever is availabe on free local HD broadcasts and the paid programming available from the cable or satellite company. These broadcasts suffer from a problem of quality vs. quantity. For example, my cable company offers numerous HD channels in their HD package, but two are variations of a single channel (ESPN), or channels that I don’t watch more than about once a week or once a month. Of the 18 HD channels available to me, 8 are free even without cable.

I know that more HD cable programming is available, but not on my carrier. This leaves satellite as an alternative. I’m not quite ready to dump my cable (mainly because I’m also using it for my internet and phone service), but DirectTV’s successful addition of a satellite to their system bodes well for all of us whether we use satellite or not. This new satellite allows DirectTV to stay on track with their plan to provide 100 HD channels by the end of the year. It forces cable companies to take notice and make their own HDTV offerings more interesting, or risk losing customers.

I’m not sure whether I’ll switch to satellite at some point or not, but more competition for my cable company certainly means that I can eventually expect them to increase the quality and quantity of programming in their HD package as well. If they don’t, then I’m probably going to have a dish on my roof next year.

UPDATE: Looks likeCox Communications has gotten the message, as they recently embarked on providing 50 HD channels by the end of 2007, and 100 by the end of 2008.

Without good audio, your home theater experience is incomplete and isn’t much more than just eye candy. Add some quality sound, and your movie experience ends up being a lot more immersive. It feels like you’re right there inside the movie, instead of just observing from the outside.

Unlike Bollywood, it’s counterpart in India, Hollywood tends to crank out only a handful of musicals each decade. Three such musicals are available on HD DVD, and one of them makes particularly great use of your player’s audio technology. That special movie is The Phantom of the Opera (Special Edition). Phantom is based on Andrew Lloyd Weber’s very successful Broadway musical, and the disc features Dolby TrueHD audio. TrueHD is a “lossless” audio format, which means that you get to hear things exactly the way they were recorded in the studio master. All HD DVD players are required to support TrueHD, but not all movies have been using it. Luckily, Phantom of the Opera happens to be one of the growing list of discs featuring a TrueHD soundtrack. Assuming that you’ve got a good enough sound system, be prepared to be very impressed by Phantom’s music and sound effects.

Prince’s Purple Rain, coming on July 24, will also feature a TrueHD soundtrack.

While the next two movies do not feature TrueHD, they’re still going to give you a great musical experience. Ray is the biography of singer Ray Charles. Jamie Foxx’s performance in this movie earned him an Academy Award for Best Actor in 2005.

Jamie Foxx also happens to be on another musical HD DVD disc, Dreamgirls (Two-Disc Showstopper Edition), which is based on a Broadway musical of the same name. This time, it was Foxx’s co-star Jennifer Hudson, who won the 2007 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, and the movie won another award for Sound Mixing.

People have their own musical tastes, and if your tastes happen to include any of the movies and musical styles mentioned above, then you might want to give these movies a try. At the very least, you’ll have some good material to show off your audio. And if you’re still building that audio system up, then you now know about a few discs to use in your tests.