HD DVD sports many nice new features not available on DVD such as:
- Menu access without leaving the movie
- HDi, In-Home Experience, and U-Control for PiP Video Comentary and enhanced interaction
- Chapter Bookmarking
- Chapter "sharing" with friends across the net (upcoming this summer)
- Visual timeline shown when FF, RW, or pausing movie to show where in the movie you are
etc. etc.
Seriously, the HD video and audio for HD DVD is completely awesome. But I'm honestly more stoked about the OTHER extra features that HD DVD can give you that SD DVD cannot. It's really a shame it's not talked about as much as teh aud/vid aspect of the format.
As someone who has always loved the audio commentary found on most DVDs, getting VIDEO commentary is even more exciting! Watch how they made a particular scene, view storyboards, etc etc all without leaving the movie!
And it goes even further! Imagine the screen being like in a football game. Y'know how they will circle different players, and draw arrows, and such overtop the picture as they talk about the game? Well HDi for HD DVD makes this possible in your movies, too.
The best example I've seen so far is on my copy of "Harry Potter 4". The two guys who play the Weasley twins "host" the video commentary, and all the while joke about how their characters are the most important ones in the film. The screen actually has a visual countdown from 10 to 1 to countdown to where the two actors first show up in the movie. And later on, they even circle themselves in another scene in order to point themselves out. Sure it may sound a bit annoying, but it really does a lot to show the potential this format has.
Btw, Blu-ray is incapable of doing the same
But seriously, the differences from DVD to HD DVD are every bit as drastic as from VHS to DVD. Most people just aren't aware of it yet, because they haven't had the opportunity to really explore the new format. Remember...the majority of people originally thought VHS was "just as good" as DVD, too.
