Sure, everyone’s heard of Blu-ray and seen the players at Best Buy and of course, heard the term HDTV thrown around.  What does high definition really mean though?  Ask most families and the results are rather frightening.  A study done in 2008 showed that nearly 75% of HDTV owners were unaware that in order to actually take advantage of their brand new $2000 purchase they would, in addition, require a source capable of delivering high definition content, such as HD movies, HD video games, or HD television.  Just ask my mother-in-law, who loved to watch the hockey game in wonderful 480i, stretched image across her brand new 50″ Samsung LCD.  *Shudder*

The recent, required transition to Digital TV has perhaps been an eye opening experience for people used to plugging in their sets and simply flipping through the channels.  Is an additional box required in order to truly enjoy everything your HDTV set has to offer? Sure, why not?  The price is right, with most companies offering rental of units at very reasonable prices, sometimes for no fee at all.  Blu-ray players are dropping in price rather fast, with good quality units available for $200 and Blu-ray movies available at nearly every store that carries DVDs.

Last but not least, there are videogame machines which are now doubling as HD content delivery machines.  Units are available such as the PlayStation 3 and most notably the XBOX 360, which apparentely is the most profitable source of HD movie content in the world.  Who would have ever thought?  The ability to ‘rent’ HD movies has become so easy thanks to the XBOX 360, it’s not really a big surprise.

Let’s hope the HD revolution (albeit a slow one) continues to grow and with the demand for HD content increasing, so must the quality of service.