(ARA) - This holiday season, high definition (HD) video is taking center stage. With HDTV sets now available for less than $1000 and HD programming widely offered by cable and satellite providers, many consumers are ready to take the plunge. Whether or not an HDTV set is on this year’s wish list for your family, there’s no denying that HD is here to stay.

What many people may not realize is that the transition to HD isn’t limited to HDTV sets and broadcast programming. In fact, new technology is making it possible to capture and record your own home movies in HD. To get started, you’ll need a high definition camcorder, sometimes referred to as an HDV camcorder. With HDV camcorders commanding around $1,500, they’re not exactly inexpensive, but as with all new technologies, prices quickly fall.

Imagine capturing the holiday festivities in stunning HD quality to later enjoy on your HDTV set. Soon you will. By connecting your HDV camcorder to your computer, you’ll be able to create professional quality edits, titles, fades, special effects and much more with a click of a mouse. Once your home movie is ready for sharing with family and friends, you’ll need to save your footage and somehow offload it from your PC.

That’s where Blu-ray comes into the picture. Launched earlier this, Blu-ray Discs offer up to a whopping 50 gigabytes of capacity. That’s over 10 times more capacity than today’s 4.7 gigabyte recordable DVDs. As wonderful as they are, DVDs don’t have enough storage capacity to handle HD video, but Blu-ray Discs do. In fact, you could store up to four hours worth of HD quality home videos on a 50 gigabyte recordable Blu-ray Disc.

“Many computers purchased in the next few years will come with a Blu-ray recording drive pre-installed, much like most of today’s computers are equipped with a DVD burner,” commented Bruce Youmans, vice president of product research and development at TDK, the first company to introduce recordable Blu-ray Discs. “That will encourage a large number of consumers to experiment with making their own HD videos.”

Of course, you’ll need a way to play your home burned Blu-ray Discs on your HDTV. The final piece of the puzzle is a Blu-ray player. Several Blu-ray players are already on the market and numerous others are slated for launch. Every week, Hollywood studios are releasing more and more titles on pre-recorded Blu-ray Discs, so it’s easy to see how this new format could become the hub of your entertainment universe.

From capturing and editing your home movies, to saving and viewing your creations in remarkable quality, the HD revolution is in full swing. If you haven’t already, it’s time to go HD with your holiday wish list.

Courtesy of ARA Content

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