3. HDTV Versus Other HD Content

For the most part, HD programming on live TV uses the lower resolutions available in the high def universe. Video games and movies are tailored to be much more visually explosive on formats like the Xbox 360 and Blu-ray Disc. On the gaming side, it’s a bit of an apples-to-oranges comparison: the content there is all created digitally, so programmers can literally tweak every pixel to make it look as awesome as possible. There are some games that clearly take advantage of this, like the Playstation 3’s Gran Turismo HD Concept mini-game, currently offered as a free download from the console. On the flip side, because of the real-time rendering environment of video games, video shown when you’re actually moving around is scaled back from what an HDTV could technically produce. As always, gaming graphics are a big double-edged sword for HD enthusiasts.

Gran Turismo HD on the PS3

Blu-ray and HD DVD movies are presented in 1080p. In several cases, the movie studios also go into their vaults and mess around with the video to optimize it for high definition. This is the kind of meticulous detail that’s overlooked for over-the-air HD content, which is usually either streaming live or a bland regurgitation of something recorded on HD video cameras. Watching the same movie on HBO HD and on Blu-ray Disc will actually result in a big difference, in obvious favor of the Blu-ray presentation.

The big flip side to all of this is the breadth of content available from over-the-air programming. Movies that don’t have any Blu-ray/HD DVD plans are always a quick TiVo search away on an HD cable channel, and there are dozens of hours of brand new content broadcast every week. For TV, it’s quantity over quality, and it’s really the only HD medium to offer that.