HD DVD might be taking another leap ahead on the interactivity front. The most recent firmware update for Toshiba's first-gen HD DVD players adds "support for certain anticipated network delivered content in future HD DVD discs." Those of you who can get your HD-A1 or HD -XA1 player to an Ethernet connection can download the update from the 'Net, or you can contact Toshiba to get the update on a disc.

Microsoft is going up-market with its Xbox 360 gaming console, unveiling the Xbox 360 Elite. At $479 the Elite is clad in black, which undoubtedly looks trick, adds an HDMI interface, and sticks a thumb in Sony's eye with a 120GB removable hard drive. The $299 Xbox 360 basic (like the $499 Sony PS3) features a 20GB hard drive. There is no integrated HD DVD drive, which means that having an Xbox 360 Elite and HD DVD playback is now $679, just about 80 bucks more than the $599 Sony PS3, which is a full-on Blu-ray Disc player. And even more curiously, Microsoft isn't including integrated Wi-Fi, which is a huge plus for the $599 (60GB hard drive) version of the PS3.

Reviewing Sharp's '62 and '92 series AQUOS sets has been an amazing experience- and I'm not even talking about image quality yet. As soon as web entries came up here and at our sister site for Home Theater magazine, declaring these reviews on the way, the emails started. The response to this news was a startling statement on the power of the flat panel. I've never received so much email about any pair of reviews, let alone two that weren't even written yet!

If you're a next-gen format with only three supporting studios total, and only one studio that's exclusive to your format, you could do worse than having that one exclusive studio be Universal. Following up on its promise to release over 100 HD DVD titles in 2007 Universal is releasing 13 catalog titles on the Toshiba-backed format this June. Count 'em- 13!