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:
The Discovery HD trailer:

A good overview of some of the better footage set to a Jacob Miller song:

An excerpt about Angel Falls:

Amazon has a 14-minute video about the making of Planet Earth. I couldn’t directly include the video here, but click this to see it for yourself.

The show broadcast in the USA had Sigourney Weaver’s narration, instead of David Attenborough, and Discovery offers it thorugh their own direct shopping site. However, word is that it’s a 1080i video transfer, and is actually missing some features from the BBC set.

As you get into the world of HDTV and high-definition discs, you’re going to want to get some discs that will show off your HD. In that regard, I am very sure that Planet Earth will not fail to please. It’s been the top-selling HD disc for this very reason.