Feature Articles

The Dawn of High Definition

By Daniel Lim - 9 Dec 2006

Closing Thoughts

Closing Thoughts

Using the latest equipment in the market available now to play games, watch movies and capture home videos in HD formats, our test run on these various aspects has unanimously conceded that the era of HD has dawned upon us. To sum it up, the HD experience is all about bringing clarity, details and sharpness that was previously lacking on SD resolutions. This is especially evident on large screen displays these days.

However for HD movie viewing, Blu-ray and HD DVD haven't really taken off in many parts of the world yet. To-date, most of the early adopters are shipping their players and movie titles from U.S. online stores. We estimate that it would probably take a few more months before we can see the paradigm shift from SD to HD in other parts of the globe. Also, the first-generation Blu-ray titles are still present in the channel as we obtained a new copy of the movie XXX, but it was still marred with noise and graininess. On the other hand, we got off to a good start with the sole HD DVD title we've tested.

For gamers, the visuals in the latest consoles also took a leap with games and hardware supporting HD resolutions, allowing the game designers to pack in far more detailed models and environments for a more immersive gaming experience. Expect more titles to come with full HD support as this is just the beginning.

Here's some of the next-generation content we've just sampled. They all support HD resolutions ranging from 720p, 1080i and 1080p. Already, there's a good list of titles than just these handful and there's still more to come as we head in to 2007. So stay tuned!

Besides ready content from the above-discussed forms, you can now also indulge in creating home videos in high-definition format with camcorders supporting 1080i resolutions like the Canon HV10, Sony HDR-SR1 and HDR-UX1. Based on our experience as we've shared, the image quality of HD camcorders undoubtedly supercedes those taken with regular camcorders as the details and clarity have notched up notably. Our personal choice where possible would of course be capturing videos in HD resolutions for the rich details, but beware that they eat up more space as well. That's something you would need to plan and balance out before shooting.

Without a doubt, HD is the next big upgrade trigger thing that will change the way we watch and play content in the future, but the rate it which it's penetrating worldwide isn't uniform yet as the equipment are generally still new and pricey. Thus not all regions would be able to bring in these goodies for consumers. Of course as with all technology, when it matures to become more affordable, it would reach an inflection point where the masses are willing to splurge for their justifiable benefits of HD. Once they ride the wave of HD technology and especially with HD content, it would be hard for them to fall back to SD content. Looking at how buying trends have been prevailing in developed and some of the developing countries, 2007 might be the year when HD capable hardware really takes off as people are getting more aware of the theoretical benefits; If HD content and variety does spike in the same year, this would surely be the case. After all, we are pretty sure this mini HD showcase we've put together has enticed you to venture into the HD world, if you've not already done so.

Join HWZ's Telegram channel here and catch all the latest tech news!
Our articles may contain affiliate links. If you buy through these links, we may earn a small commission.