My thoughts on the HD DVD demo tour

[zombie]

I went to the HD DVD demonstration at American TV in Waukesha, WI this morning and FWIW, here's my thoughts on the matter:

They had the $799 unit hooked up to a 1080p Toshiba that was $6999. When I first walked in the split screen HD DVD/DVD comparison was on. They showed a few images and a narrator explained the difference in clarity. For my eyes, the differences were minimal and I was less than impressed. Then the Toshiba guy came over and started talking to me. We watched the split screen together and he kept saying "amazing picture" over and over. I asked if I could see the movie clips and he changed the disc title. First was a trailer for Dukes Of Hazzard which looked decent but still not impressive. Then he played a clip from Corpse Bride. That started to get my attention. I've been very curious as to how much better animated material can look in HD over SD. It looked very nice. Then was the Kong trailer - WOW! The level of detail was superb! I was now as impressed as I think I could have been. I immediately wondered why the split screen wasn't as impressive. Anyway, I asked if the rep knew when Universal and Paramount would give street dates for their launch titles. He grabbed a printout from hdtvmagazine.com that was just the same old list without dates that we've all already seen. He told me that about 40 movies would be available when the player goes on sale on 3/28. I bit my tongue on that one. He asked what I thought of the demo and I told him the Kong trailer looked great but the rest was just okay. I thanked him for taking time to talk to me and left. In summary, the Kong trailer proved to me that HD can definitely look great on HD DVD. I hope a Blu-ray tour is forthcoming.