After a few months of covering HD DVD news and information, I’ve noticed that waiting an extra day or two to report on certain kinds of news items results in a more developed story with a lot more of the facts. Some times we find out that the initial report was incomplete or entirely wrong, and many other times, we get to hear a few more perspectives that help us understand things a lot better.

Here are some of the stories that came up recently, along with a short summary of my take on the topic, as well as links so you can formulate your own opinion:

• Transformers: debunking misconceptions about audio and video defects
• Wal-mart has a $198 Toshiba HD-A2 and Target, supposedly a staunch Blu-ray promoter, is the first and only vendor for Venturer’s HD DVD player
• Major Australian electronics chain stops being Blu-ray exclusive
• Microsoft might be coming out with an Xbox with built-in HD DVD
• Sony sells PS3 graphics and CPU production to Toshiba

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While Halo 3 makes the big video game headlines, in the HD DVD world it’s Transformers that’s wowing the reviewers. The movie is not winning praise for its storyline, but more for its overall entertainment value. On HD DVD, that value is bumped up a few extra notches because Paramount took the time to add a lot of cool bonus features.

In keeping with the spirit of Transformers mania, here are a few articles related to the disc and movie:

• Peter Cullen (voice of Optimus Prime) interview

Article starts by describing the disc features and concludes with a great interview of Peter Cullen.

• Scott Farrar interview, Visual Effects Supervisor and Second-Unit Director on Transformers
• Jeff Radoyeis and Annie Kaprielien, who were involved with the interactivity and bonus features
• More about the HD DVD’s features
• Optimus Prime will make a phone call to you and your friends
• The Bumblebee Camaro Sweepstakes — win one of three new 2009 Chevrolet Camaros styled after Bumblebee.

October 16 brings the long-awaited release of Transformers, exclusively on DVD and HD DVD. Many reviews abound on the web about the great disc this is, from its interactivity features to simpler things like (some) bonus material shot on HD instead of standard definition. Paramount’s decision to forgo Dolby True HD for the soundtrack was initially met with some criticism, however the reviews for the audio on this disc have been very positive. In other words, this is certainly one of those benchmark discs that goes a long way towards showing off your home theater.

Also out this week are The Reaping and Return to House on Haunted Hill, two horror movies for Halloween, and Angelina Jolie in A Mighty Heart.

One of the nice things about this week’s releases is that they’re all brand-new movies from 2007 instead of older catalog titles that the studios felt like reviving in HD. In the end, it’s great to have those oldies (and we’ll have plenty next week), but it’s also great to have the latest movies to watch at home too.

(All movie links go to Amazon.com ordering pages)

Transformers (2007) Shia LeBouf, Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson, John Turturro, John Voight Directed by Michael Bay Rated PG-13

A Mighty Heart (2007) Angelina Jolie, Dan Futterman Directed by Michael Winterbottom Rated R

The Reaping (2007) Hilary Swank, David Morissey Directed by Stephen Hopkins Rated R

Return to House on Haunted Hill (2007) Amanda Righetti, Erik Palladino, Cerina Vincent, Tom Riley Directed by Victor Garcia Rated R (read more about this disc’s unique navigational cinema features)

The biggest hit of the summer is coming to HD DVD this week. Transformers came out in theaters on July 4, and makes it debut on DVD and HD DVD on October 16. Fully loaded with state of the art computer generated robots and lots of explosions, Transformers is a special effects bonanza that’s a feast for the eyes and ears. The HD DVD version has some interesting HDi features (if you choose to enable them) such as on-screen display of information related to the various robots and their stats getting updated as they fight, as well as picture-in-picture commentary.

Transformers trailer:

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And now for some Transformers fun…

“Real” Transformers – Transformers costumes that actually work

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Studios have chosen the month of October to add to the library of horror discs on HD, and it’s quite possible that Return to House on Haunted Hill is the perfect release for a Halloween party. Exclusive on the high-def versions of the disc is the use of “navigational cinema” technology which gives the viewer a choice in selecting the movie’s storyline.

This isn’t like the bonus feature on some DVDs where you can view an alternate ending. Instead, this movie has a feature that allows you to select how the plot progresses. At various points in the story, the viewer is presented with a choice about what a particular character should do, such as “leave the room,” or “save this person’s life.” The movie then continues based on the viewer’s choice, and can lead to 96 possible storylines, leading to one of four endings.

This is not an implementation of HDi, however it does represent one of the ways that high-definition player technology can provide some new ways to enjoy movies. Return to House on Haunted Hill comes out on October 16, right on time for Halloween. Watch it with some friends and try out all of the 96 storylines together. I’m sure it’ll be awesome.

Here’s the movie trailer:

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Actors and filmmaker describe the branching:

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• Many more clips here at: ShockTillYouDrop.com
• Screamfest 2007 in Hollywood from October 12 to October 21
• Order Return to House on Haunted Hill at Amazon

Consumer education about HDTV is one of the hottest topics of the last few weeks. Executives from movie studios, manufacturers, retailers, and industry analysts have all come out saying that more needs to be done to educate consumers about their HDTV purchases. The number of choices to be made in setting up even a simple home theater are overwhelming to many consumers, and all parties involved need to spend a little bit of time to teach their prospective customers about the technology.

HD DVD and Blu-ray player manufacturers, and the studios need to demonstrate how a high-definition disc is better than DVD and why a consumer should make the switch. HDTV manufacturers and their retailers need to work on demystifying the numerous display choices available (plasma, LCD, rear projection, front projection, 720p, 1080i, 1080p, 24Hz, 120Hz, etc.), and they also need to explain that the HD experience only starts with the HDTV purchase, and requires some sort of additional investment in high-def content, whether it’s a high-def disc player or upgrading their cable or satellite subscription plan.

It’s in this setting that Amazon.com has launched their High-Def 101 initiative. At this microsite, Amazon provides definitions for HD terminology, FAQs about the technology, as well as shopping guides to match up a customer’s budget and needs with the right HD products. Some of these pages even include video demos.

Amazon’s vice president of movies and music, Peter Faricy, says, “Amazon High-Def 101 is a place where anyone can come to learn and ask questions about the complex HD landscape. We will continue to expand and evolve the site to meet our customers’ needs.”

Many of the elements of High-Def 101 have already been available at Amazon for a while, but it’s now organized into one easy to read page where you can follow up on more links to get the information you’re looking for, or start some serious shopping.

• Amazon High-Def 101

Earlier this week at the DVD conference in Los Angeles, Carl Pinto, vice president of product development and product management at Toshiba, predicted that notebook computers with HD DVD drives should cost $1,000 by Christmas. Until recently, an HD DVD-capable computer would cost at least $400 to $600 more because of the expense of the HD DVD drive and added requirements for better video cards and CPUs. Thanks to newer technology, the additional expense has been lowered dramatically, and Pinto says, “Our goal for the third quarter of 2008 is to bring that cost down to under $100.” Intel backed up this assertion last month at the Intel Developer Forum by announcing support for high-definition video decoding on their hardware.

A laptop is essentially a portable HDTV system, and there are many people who use them in this manner, whether they live in a small space or while traveling. Making HD DVD drives available (eventually as standard equipment) on notebooks and desktop computers is part of the strategy to ensure that you’re surrounded by HD DVD everywhere. Toshiba and HP have already been making HD DVD drives available on their products, and both of them joined Acer and others in announcing new HD DVD-equipped notebook and desktop PCs for October. (more…)

Slim pickings this week in the new HD DVD releases. All of those re-issued non-combo discs must have kept Warner so busy, they only scheduled one release.

Universal’s sole release is Evan Almighty, a sequel to Bruce Almighty, and it brings the debut of new features at the UniversalHiDef.com site, where viewers can take their HD DVD player online to look into making movie-related purchases of green-friendly items. Perhaps they were too busy at Universal working on these HDi features to put out at least a second or third disc.

All eyes in the HD DVD world are set on next week’s release slate which includes the long-awaited Transformers, a title that has topped the HD DVD best-sellers list on Amazon almost consistently for over a month.

(All movie links go to Amazon pages)

Evan Almighty (2007) Steve Carell, Lauren Graham, Morgan Freeman Directed by Tom Shadyac Rated PG

Twilight Zone (1983) Dan Aykroyd, Albert Brooks, Kathleen Quinlan, John Lithgow Directed by John Landis, Joe Dante, George Miller, Steven Spielberg Rated PG

It’s not one of those R-rated horror flicks, but Twilight Zone is still a pretty good October movie, right on time for an HD Halloween party. It would be great to have the original series box set on HD, but this 1983 movie provided a pretty good sampling of the quirkiness that made the show such a classic hit.

At its September 12 Steering Committe Meeting, the DVD Forum approved an extension of the HD DVD format to be implemented on red lasers instead of blue (HD DVD and Blu-ray utilize blue laser diodes). Earlier, we heard that HD VMD used traditional red laser technology to make multi-layer DVDs with upwards of 40GB of storage, but that’s not what this is about. Named HD REC, this format is more about using conventional DVD-R media to store HD content, and Toshiba demonstrated some recorders at CEATEC that implement this technology (and display the new logo).

DVD recorders (not the burners on your PC) allowing you to record TV broadcasts to DVD are a big deal in Japan, and Toshiba’s newly announced RD-X7, RD-A101 and RD-201 recorders bring the ability to record TV broadcasts in real-time. Toshiba says that a single-layer HD DVD-R disc can store about 6 hours of content, while a DVD-R disc can hold about 2. Recordings are stored in the MPEG4 format, which is pretty standard for HD DVD and Blu-ray discs.

Since it uses standard and freely available DVD-R discs, HD REC is an inexpensive way to make high-def recordings for home use. It’s not a replacement for blue laser discs for movie releases because DVD-Rs can only store about 9 gigabytes whereas HD DVD and Blu-ray movies are usually encoded in full 1080p glory, and include audio tracks and bonus materials that fill up the rest of their 25, 30 or 50 gigabyte discs. However, it’s more than enough for personal use.

• PCWorld article with picture