Sidebar: Now Playing on Blu-ray and HD DVD
Photograph: Marc SimonDim the lights, kick back with some popcorn, and get ready to enjoy movies as never before. Once you see the difference high-definition video makes, you'll find it difficult to go back to watching standard-def DVD.
Don't expect these early discs to have a slew of whiz-bang extra features, however. High-def discs (which run $20 to $40 a pop) carry a premium--but you're paying mostly for the improved image quality. Some discs provide high-end audio, and a few supply extra features in 1080p; but too many of the high-def discs simply have the same extras and 5.1-channel Dolby Digital or DTS Surround sound tracks as their DVD counterparts. Audio options vary among titles, and even the same title may not get the same audio treatment across formats. The Blu-ray Disc version of The Phantom of the Opera, for example, has only 5.1-channel Dolby Digital audio, while the HD DVD version provides 5.1-channel Dolby TrueHD.
The extras offered with movies depend greatly on what the disc's format currently supports. Movies in both formats introduce pop-up menus, which let you do things like select scenes without exiting the movie. Other features, such as on-demand picture-in-picture commentaries you can turn on at will, are on only HD DVD movie discs right now, largely because Blu-ray players can't handle them. HD DVD discs currently have more-innovative extra features than Blu-ray ones do. For additional information on the extras, see "Blu-ray, HD DVD: Which Movies Do You Want to Watch?"
Melissa J. Perenson
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