Heroes

Is there anything easier than getting spoiled by a nice HDTV?  I curse every network that is not available in at least 720p in my area; thankfully, NBC is not one of them.  Once you’ve watched an episode of Heroes, or anything of equally cinematic value, it is just impossible to go back to standard definition.  This is part of the reason why my LOST season two DVD set has gone largely unwatched, and I have such little room left on my DVR.  Well, the producers of Heroes, with the blessings of NBC announced at Wizard World that they will be breaking even more ground with their runaway smash hit by producing the first full season box set of Heroes available In HD-DVD.

If you haven’t been keeping score, there is something of a format war brewing in the world of High Definition disks.  Two formats are vying for domination, HD-DVD and BluRay.  Technophiles have managed to find virtues in both formats, but having seen them side-by-side, I cannot say I see a lot of difference.  In the end, though, it isn’t even technology that wins these wars.  It is software.   Many moons ago when the studios decided to embrace VHS over the technically superior BetaMax format, the additional lines of resolution became entirely irrelevant to consumers who wanted to make sure they could choose from a diverse catalogue.

Heroes is, to my knowledge, the first television show to select a format.   However, in the end, this probably won’t matter much as many of the studios have made deals with electronics manufacturers to back specific formats.   Don’t worry though, players capable of playing both formats are beginning to become available; now if the pricing gets resolved, we’ll be all set.

The producers were very tight lipped about any extras the set might include other than the legendary 72-minute cut of the Heroes pilot.

-    Jon Lachonis, BuddyTV Senior Writer
-    (Image from NBC.com)