Daniel,

I will be jumping in to both formats - already got a bunch of discs on pre-order and am now looking for a source for the players (I'm in the UK so need to export from the US).

Malcolm, you are absolutely right - the content is the most important aspect, however the impact of that content can be "lessened" by poor presentation, and in particular when that content is displayed on a large screen. HD video has the opportunity to remove many of the bottlenecks of DVD and allow us to go to large(r) screen projection without compromise to image quality. I find the (often poor) quality of DVD distracts me from my enjoyment of the material.

My audio system is based around a Mark Levinson Reference setup, Revel Salon speakers and TacT digital room-correction - a very capable system, and yet I still derive a huge amount of pleasure from the same material through my PC speakers when working. It's the content that is important to me.

However, I believe our eyes see problems more readily than our ears hear them, for instance lossy movie soundtracks have thus far not been a problem for me (though I am looking forward to lossless), but compression artefacts in SD material, drive me to distraction. DVDs have improved immensely from their earliest releases but the bitrate limits still conspire against them.

Having enjoyed HD DVHS material in my cinema I know how good HD looks compared to the best SD material, which is why I am so excited about the new formats and will be supporting them from day one.

Cheers,

Mark

My Music : My Cinema