But I rarely watch that station. Even now when they have a new high-definition studio and more and more HD programming.

I do have two news items of note to pass on regarding The Weather Channel. It’s now owned by NBC Universal, which includes not only the station, but their web-based business. According to Engadget, it’s a good move for NBC:

It of course behooves us to mention that NBC hasn’t been a numerical leader among the largest of television networks as of late. Some of its properties are no doubt doing well in their respective markets. But on the whole, its often been the bronzer amid grander content giants. The boost given by The Weather Channel will definitely go to help buff its industrial image. Netting a gem like Weather.com is no insignificant win by any means.

On the visual side of things, The Weather Channel has all-new high-definition cameras, production trucks and a studio ready for the upcoming hurricane season.

We’d rather not see a massive hurricane strike the U.S. of course, but if we do see action later this summer, at least we’ll experience it in crystal-clear HD.

Her talk show is a massive hit and it’s about time it joins the high-definition revolution. EngadgetHD is reporting that September 8th is the day that we’ll be able to see the show in their brand new, HD-friendly, state-of-the-art production studio.

Any show that goes to HD is always news-worthy in my opinion, I just can’t believe out of ALL the shows out there, Scrubs still isn’t high-def.

Two or three years ago, the Scrubs season finale was in HD. But since then, nothing.

Maybe a move to ABC will change that.

Anyways, hopefully all you Ellen fans will enjoy September 8th.

I’ve included you thus far in my high-definition DVD journey, so I may as well keep it going.

The deal is this: I’m having a kid in about eight months and my life is going to drastically change, especially in the financial department. After December 4th-ish, the chances of me buying a Blu-Ray player are slim to none.

Now is the time.

I got my $50 credit from Amazon.com for my ridiculous HD-DVD purchase back in December, so I want to put that to good use.

Also, what better way to spend my Federal Tax relief money that’s coming next month?

So now I need to know what Blu-Ray player I should get. Amazon has quite a few, but I’m just unsure which is going to be the best choice. I figure some of you already have a player and can tell me the right way to go.

I’m hoping to find one around $300-400, which will then be a bit lower with that $50 credit.

So help a brother out!

Fans will soon get an extra treat as Survivor will make the HD jump this summer when they film the 17th edition of the show. Survivor will be the first CBS reality show to make the HD jump, via Sony’s XDCAM production system. Executive producer Mark Burnett is calling it a “new era” for the show. Many others are saying, “it’s about time.”

A majority of the scripted television programs now routinely film in HD although many of the reality shows still do not. Survivor is one of the biggest shows that still films in the old 480i. With Survivor making the switch it seems that most other show of this nature will probably be forced to consider making the switch as well if they want to compete.

I usually end up falling asleep once I turn golf on, but some of you may not and if you stay awake for the entire tournament, you SHOULD try to watch it in style.

I stumbled across this yesterday when I wanted to see the leaderboard. Direct TV has put up a high definition Masters MIX channel that comes complete with a leaderboard and four picture-in-picture displays that are 16:9 ration (high-def) and a selectable audio feed.

The PIP displays show different holes and tournament highlights.

The HD version is on 706, the SD one is 701. The SD one is basically the same, and you should still be able to select the audio feed and also interact with the leaderboard and other such tools.

So if you plan on watching it this weekend and have Direct TV, then make sure you check out these channels. You can easily select one of the PIP displays and tune to that specific channel full screen too.

It’s pretty sweet.

Any PPV movies or programming you order from Direct TV will now expire in 24 hours.

In my previous blog post, I pointed out that my recent PPV movies suddenly came with an expiration date, and a few of which I lost entirely because I didn’t get to them before it was too late.

That obviously was just a taste of things to come.

I used to like to record PPV movies to watch at a later date whenever I felt like it, but that’s not going to work anymore. The only upside to this news is that I’ve noticed Direct TV’s high definition On Demand library growing a bit. In fact, you can go download and watch Once or Bourne Ultimatum right now.

Anyways, the main thing you need to know about this post: If you order a PPV movie, start watching it, and suddenly get tired and go to bed, you’d better finish it before 24 hours are up or you’ve lost $4.99.

The only caveat is that if you don’t ever start the movie, I don’t think you get charged at all.

So what do you think? Does this limitation upset you? For those of you who don’t have Direct TV, don’t think you are off the hook. It’s only a matter of time before your provider does the same thing.

Well, it only took three days, but the brand new ESPNewsHD channel has been added to your Direct TV lineup. I didn’t get a chance to check it out before I left for work this morning, but I plan on checking it out the second I get home.

Those of you who telecommute, go check it out and let us know what you think.

Direct TV also added Disney Channel HD and Toon Disney HD. That brings their HD channel total to 95, with a new satellite being launched later this year which is going to have capacity for a few hundred more.

If you don’t have DTV by now and you have an HD TV, you are really missing out on the good stuff.

Directed by Tom Hanks, co-produced by himself and Steven Spielberg, the 10-part miniseries won countless awards from Emmys to Golden Globes, and is considered to be among the best miniseries of all-time.

Good news for Blu-Ray fans out there, Band of Brothers is set to hit shelves sometime later this year. Up until now, the only way to see the series in high definition was to import now discontinued HD-DVDs from Japan.

I need to see this series and perhaps the Blu-Ray release will be a good time to get a player.

On a side note, according to Wikipedia, the creators of Brothers, including Hanks and Spielberg, are currently developing The Pacific, which focuses on the Pacific Theatre of Operations.

The first thing I did when I got up on Sunday morning, was let the dogs out and turn on the TV. Not sure if that is different than any other morning, but whatever.

It was time to see ESPNewsHD in the flesh!

I recorded the first two broadcasts of ESPNewsHD off ESPNHD since I don’t have the new channel yet, hopefully you guys did the same. If you didn’t, it also showed on ESPN2HD a few more times on Sunday.

My initial thoughts are that IT’S AWESOME. I loved the new studio, the HD picture that fits inside all the informative scrolling areas on the top, left and bottom. When an NBA game scrolled by, they had small headshots of players to go next to their stat line. Pretty nice.

Also liked that when the top line switched sports, the left area had an animation graphic that displayed that sport’s logo.

There was really only one thing that bothered me. They have sound effects when displaying a person’s name or other information that overlays the HD picture, and that little “swoosh” sound could get to be tiresome after awhile.

What did you guys think? Awesome?

I’m just hoping that the station shows up soon, because I need to see more of it!

Now, while I am reminding you guys that ESPNewsHD launches on Sunday, the odds that you are actually going to have a channel to look at that morning are slim. Apparently only 3.2 million homes will be getting the new channel at 8:00 AM EST on Sunday, a lot lower than the 17 million who got to see ESPNHD when it went live.

But do not worry…you can still catch a glimpse of the ESPNewsHD broadcast on your regular ESPNHD channel from 8 AM to 9 AM EST on Sunday morning. You will also be able to see it over on ESPN2HD at 11:30 AM and 11:30 PM EST.

It’s flat out going to rock and I’ve already set my DVR for Sunday morning’s initial broadcast.

Ah, who am I kidding…you know I’ll be up at 5 AM Arizona time to see it live, because I’m weird like that.