So you've got that new high definition television in the living room, your 120 gig TiVo recording all of your favorite shows and a cable box with more channels than a Roman aqueduct.

Think you've reached the pinnacle of home entertainment? The Consumer Electronics Show would beg to differ.

Some 3-D TV's popped up on the convention floor and the advent of the burgeoning technology is starting to create a bit of buzz that it could become the next step over HD TV.

Do you hear that? That's the sound of "Taps" being played for HDTV players and recorders. Toshiba has announced that, "it will no longer develop, manufacture and market HD DVD players and recorders." Yes, it's true. Just like Beta was phased out in favor of VHS, HDTV has lost in its head to head battle with Blu-ray. As of March 2008, the manufacture of the hardware will cease, and production of HD DVD disk drives for PCs and games as well. The only exception, said Atsutoshi Nishida, President and CEO of Toshiba Corporation are laptops. "[Toshiba] continues to assess the position of notebook PCs with integrated HD DVD drives."

Starting this spring, Warner Bros. will only release DVDs high definition DVDs on Blu-ray. That's a lot of DVDs only on Blu-ray for you HD DVD people (although Warner Bros. will continue to release DVDs in both formats until the end of May). Kevin Tsujihara, the President of Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group, says that the choice to go exclusively Blu-Rray is for the consumers: "Consumers have clearly chosen Blu-ray, and we believe that recognizing this preference is the right step in making this great home entertainment experience accessible to the widest possible audience."

Good news for owners of HD DVD systems. Not so good news for owners of Blue Ray DVD systems.

The rumored release of Battlestar Galactica - Season 1 finally has a date to it: December 4th. The 6-DVD set will be priced at about $100. The discs will be single-sided "HD-30's" with widescreen video, both Dolby HD Surround and Digital Plus 5.1, and subtitles in both English and French (how do you translate 'frak' into French? Fraque?). The set will have all of the original DVD extras as well as those specific to the HD release. You can find the detailed breakdown of features by clicking on this link.

Man, I am so not a technophile. All of this high definition DVD talk just puts me to sleep. On the other hand, I have to stay somewhat aware of new developments so I'm not found crying in my apartment several years from now trying to play a Blu-Ray disc on my standard DVD player.

Right now Blu-Ray and HD DVD are in a race to see which high definition format comes out the victor. Some studios have been releasing content on both forms, while others have stuck to only one or the other. Recently, Warner Bros. said it would introduce the Total HD Disc. This new disc will hold both the HD DVD and Blu-Ray format.

Is it possible that in our desire to forge ahead into the future we'll become so sick of trying to keep up with new ways of viewing the same old stuff that we'll actually just throw everything aside and start listening to transistor radio and attending operas? I'm hanging on to my old Victrola just in case.

Good news for Smallville fans who dig that whole "high definition" thing. The fifth season of the series will be released in the HD DVD format on November 28, so if you're willing to shell out a little more cash (it'll cost around eighty bucks), you can enjoy watching young Superman doing whatever it is he does on that show. Sorry, I've never seen a single episode. Not much of a comic book geek am I. But occasionally type like Yoda I do. The DVD will also include the usual extras such as deleted scenes and audio commentary, as well as special HD features. This is part of Warner's new Superman DVD campaign, which also includes HD DVD releases of the Superman movies.

Good news for animation fans who are into that whole "high definition" thing. The September 26th HD-DVD release of The Adventures of Robin Hood, the 1938 classic featuring Errol Flynn in the titular role, will also include three Warner Bros. shorts in high def: "Robin Hood Daffy," "Katnip College," and "Rabbit Hood." It would be nice if they actually released HD-DVDs of these and other cartoons, but I guess we'll have to take what we can get for now. At least you'll be able to see Bugs' make-up and all of Daffy's plastic surgery scars. Apparently a Blu-Ray disc will hit stores sometime next year. To be honest, I'm rather indifferent to seeing these cartoons in high def. To me, seeing them in high def is like listening to an old jazz song on a CD. There's nothing wrong with it, per se, but that's not really how it was meant to be experienced. Of course, these cartoons were originally created for movie screens, so I guess anything other than that would be "incorrect" so to speak.

[via Cartoon Brew]