Most people’s attention has been diverted by the $99 HD DVD player deals, but there have actually been a few other things happening in the HD DVD world this week such as the Shrek commercials, a new HD DVD drive from ASUS, and a new DVR from Toshiba that records HD.

ASUS Introduces “Quietest Ever” HD DVD Drive
HTPC (home theater PC) enthusiasts will find plenty to like about the ASUS HR-0205T which generates only 21.1dB of noise while reading HD DVD discs. Pricing and a release date have not been announced.

Toshiba Introduces Vardia RD-A301 DVR in Japan
Originally demonstrated at the CEATEC show just a month ago, the RD-A301 is a digital video recorder (DVR) with a 300GB hard drive, and burns HD video to standard DVD-R discs. The RD-A301 will come out in December, and include a Transformers HD DVD disc in the box. What Toshiba’s doing here is introducing a popular item (a DVR) with the added feature that it can burn HD on standard DVD media, and it also happens to play HD DVD discs. The RD-A301 is only available in Japan at the moment.

Shrek HD DVD Promotion Begins
Two commercials featuring Shrek characters will start airing this week, publicizing both the availability of Shrek the Third on HD DVD, as well as the enhanced picture quality viewers can expect. In one commercial, Donkey is on the phone bemoaning that his wife is very upset that her scaly skin comes across too clearly and is not flattering on HD DVD. In the other spot, the Gingerbread Man character complains that the HD DVD version makes him look too delicious.

Shrek the Third comes out on DVD and HD DVD on November 13, and these commercials will play through the holiday season. We’ll have more to say about the HD DVD itself in the days ahead, and I’m sure we’ll have a link to these commercials shortly.

UPDATE: Here are the commercials:

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