While HD Radio is the hottest technology today, HD DVDs are another new technology that will soon allow you to view high definition movies on DVD right in your living room.

What are HD DVDs? It depends on whom you ask, as there are currently two competing HD DVD formats under development. Both support high def films but one goes by the easy to remember name, HD DVD. The other is called Blu-ray.

An HD DVD disk has a single layer capacity of 15GB and a dual-layer capacity of 30 GB. And Toshiba is developing a triple layer disk that will have a capacity of 45GB. However, this is still smaller than Blu-ray disks, which support 25GB for one layer, 50GB for two layers and 100GB for four layers.

This means that both formats will be able to play movies and programs recorded in high definition but, as you would imagine, the larger capacity disks will be able to support more additional information such as out-takes, director’s comments, interactive features, and even alternate high def versions of the same film.

In November of 2004, the DVD Forum decided that HD DVD would be the HD DVD successor to the DVD. On the other hand, the Blu-ray disk was developed outside of the DVD Forum, and was never submitted for consideration.

Why you should care

At this time, each of these formats requires a different HD DVD player - meaning that you will be able to play high definition movies recorded in HD DVD only in an HD DVD player and Blu-ray movies in only a Blu-ray player.

Both HD DVD and Blu-ray provide enough space to store crystal-clear, high-definition movies and both are expected to launch early next year.

Be sure to watch for future articles on HD-DVDs to get the latest news on this battle of the formats.

Are you familiar with HD Radio? This amazing, new technology makes AM radio sound as clear and static-free as today’s FM Radio … and makes FM radio sound as pure and crystal-clear as if you were listening to a CD. And, best of all, it’s free! To learn more about this new technology, just go my Web site, http://www.hd-radio-home.com, to get all the buzz. Douglas Hanna is a retired marketing executive and the author of numerous articles on HD radio and family finances.

Nominated for 25 Golden Globes and 110 Emmys, including 7 for Outstanding Drama Series, ER has long been one of the best prime-time shows on television. Premiering in September 1994 on NBC, the hour-long hospital drama vividly illustrates the intensity and fast-paced stress endemic to hospital emergency rooms across America. Brought into being by Michael Crichton - famous Hollywood insider, novelist, and brains behind such films as Jurassic Park, Twister, and Timeline - ER fulfills its creator’s ultimate vision (it took over a decade of pitching the show before network executives bit) for a close-to-life glimpse of the technology and the humanity omnipresent in the ER. Since its inception, many cast members have passed through the halls of ER, many of them having gone on to become big stars in Hollywood…

ER follows the exploits of a group of emergency room staff who work in a busy Chicago hospital. The show attempts to examine every detail of the ER experience. From the exhilaration of saving a life to the tedium caused by mountains of paperwork, all the highs and lows are covered. In the show’s first year, a number of regular faces staffed the ER. Doctors Mark Greene (Anthony Edwards), Peter Benton (Eriq La Salle), Douglas Ross (George Clooney), and Susan Lewis (Sherri Stringfield) were regulars in the ER along with Head Nurse Carol Hathaway (Julianna Margulies) and Benton’s medical student understudy (and later ER doctor), John Carter (Noah Wyle)… Any given episode tends to run multiple plot lines throughout the show, interweaving scenes in short snippets intended to heighten audience emotion and create the aura of a stress-laden atmosphere. The show’s high drama, coupled with subplots of the staffers’ personal lives and the display of cutting edge medical technology, combine to make ER one of most adrenaline-inducing programs in television history…

The ER DVD features a number of dramatic episodes including the series premiere “24 Hours” in which a long day in the ER is made longer when multiple casualties pour through the doors following the collapse of a building and medical students report for training (marking the first appearance for John Carter’s character). Meanwhile, Dr. Benton performs a heart surgery normally reserved only for senior staff members while the staff is struck with a personal tragedy when Head Nurse Carol Hathaway is brought in following a suicide attempt… Other notable episodes from Season 1 include “Blizzard” in which a major snowstorm first leads to an empty ER and then (following a 40-car pileup) one with overflowing capacity, and “House of Cards” in which, while trying to keep up with Carter, Deb nearly causes a patient’s death…

Below is a list of episodes included on the ER (Season 1) DVD:

Episode 1 (24 Hours: Part 1) Air Date: 09-19-1994
Episode 2 (24 Hours: Part 2) Air Date: 09-19-1994
Episode 3 (Day One) Air Date: 09-22-1994
Episode 4 (Going Home) Air Date: 09-29-1994
Episode 5 (Hit and Run) Air Date: 10-06-1994
Episode 6 (Into That Good Night) Air Date: 10-13-1994
Episode 7 (Chicago Heat) Air Date: 10-20-1994
Episode 8 (Another Perfect Day) Air Date: 11-03-1994
Episode 9 (9 Hours) Air Date: 11-10-1994
Episode 10 (ER Confidential) Air Date: 11-17-1994
Episode 11 (Blizzard) Air Date: 12-08-1994
Episode 12 (The Gift) Air Date: 12-15-1994
Episode 13 (Happy New Year) Air Date: 01-05-1995
Episode 14 (Luck of the Draw) Air Date: 01-12-1995
Episode 15 (Long Day’s Journey) Air Date: 01-19-1995
Episode 16 (Feb. 5, ‘95) Air Date: 02-02-1995
Episode 17 (Make of Two Hearts) Air Date: 02-09-1995
Episode 18 (The Birthday Party) Air Date: 02-16-1995
Episode 19 (Sleepless in Chicago) Air Date: 02-23-1995
Episode 20 (Love’s Labor Lost) Air Date: 03-09-1995
Episode 21 (Full Moon, Saturday Night) Air Date: 03-30-1995
Episode 22 (House of Cards) Air Date: 04-06-1995
Episode 23 (Men Plan, God Laughs) Air Date: 04-27-1995
Episode 24 (Love Among the Ruins) Air Date: 05-04-1995
Episode 25 (Motherhood) Air Date: 05-11-1995
Episode 26 (Everything Old is New Again) Air Date: 05-18-1995

About the Author

Britt Gillette is author of The DVD Report, a blog where you can find more reviews like this one of the ER (DVD).