So I did pick up an HD-DVD, but both my Mac and my XBox do such an awesome job of upconverting DVDs that I wasn’t sure this whole next generation optical format war was even worth it. You can see lots of screen captures online, but those are usually under optimum conditions, and often biased. I wanted a real-life comparison, under normal home-viewing conditions — a real, human comparison.

So I set up a little tri-pod, put my Batman Begins DVD in my XBox, and my new Batman Begins HD-DVD in the XBox HD-DVD player, found the same scene on both, and took a picture. I didn’t get quite the same frame, but its close enough. Don’t look at actor — look at the stuff around him. The keyboard, for example, or the other things on the desk.

Even to my unscientific eye, HD-DVD does look significantly sharper and more detailed. What do you think? Click the picture for a larger version, and excuse the moire effect — that’s the fault of the camera, not the source…

So I bought an HD-DVD player. I know, I know, HD-DVD lost the war, stopped production and all the movie studios dropped out, but… it was $50, came with 6 free movies (5 of them after a mail-in), the remote control for the XBox360, and it functions as a bootable USB optical drive for most computers. How could I say no?

Seriously though, I will go Blu eventually, but right now the players cost way too much, the spec implementation hasn’t matured, and neither of those huge problems is looking to be solved this year. I’m frankly surprised and dismayed that HD-DVD lost. Every decision Toshiba made was pro-consumer: they drove the price down fast, they had a solid and stable spec, they had good hardware from good partners, and… well, they’re not Sony.

At any rate, I’ll enjoy my 6 HD movies, and maybe pick up a couple more when the media goes on clearance, just to tide me over until Blu-ray gets affordable and functional. Personally I’m a big supporter of VoD, having had good experiences with iTunes and the XBox Live Marketplace, but realistically downloaded “HD” isn’t quite as nice as what comes off a physical disc — not yet anyway.