Once upon a time, a smattering of new HD channels in one major metropolitan area was a huge deal. Nowadays, it's almost expected that one area or another will experience some HD expansion each week. In order to keep things nice and tidy around here, we deliver high-def expansions, market expansions and anything else dealing with HD channel growth right here. If we missed an area that you're familiar with, drop us a line in comments so everyone can catch up. The more the merrier, we say!

Read - DISH Network(R) Adds 30 HD Channels in Hawaii
Read - DISH Network(R) Adds 30 HD Channels in Alaska
Read - DIRECTV to Deliver Local HD Programming to Customers in Lafayette, Ind.
Read - Comcast digital switch update: Bellevue's next, Seattle in fall
Read - FashionTV(R) Introduces New 24/7 FTV(R) HD Channel in the U.S. on DISH Network(R)
Read - National Geographic Channels International Co-Produces Alaskan Killer Shark With Off The Fence Productions
Read - Cox Launches WRIC in HD to Customers in King and Queen County, New Kent, and West Point
Fox News Chicago switched to HD (Thanks, Garst)
Read - Time Warner Cable North East Ohio new HD Channels (Thanks, Justin)
Read - Special Preview: ABC Family HD, Disney HD, HBO2 HD and BET HD (Thanks, Gary)
Read - KMSP Fox 9 news in Minneapolis now in HD (Thanks, Nathan)

Once upon a time, a smattering of new HD channels in one major metropolitan area was a huge deal. Nowadays, it's almost expected that one area or another will experience some HD expansion each week. In order to keep things nice and tidy around here, we deliver high-def expansions, market expansions and anything else dealing with HD channel growth right here. If we missed an area that you're familiar with, drop us a line in comments so everyone can catch up. The more the merrier, we say!

Read - DIRECTV Delivers Local HD Programming to Customers in Harrisonburg, Va.
Read - Telemundo 47 Now Available In HD On Time Warner Cable New York
Read - Bright House Connects With YES 'National' In Orlando
Read - Time Warner adds HD movie channel, expands HD tier 33%
Read - Some Oceanic Time Warner customers can soon watch Smithsonian Networks (Hawaii)

Sure, if you want a great look at nature in HD, Discovery HD Theater has a marathon of Planet Earth going on right now (no seriously, if you haven't seen it, forget the NCAA tournament, Tiger on the links and LeBron's 60 Minutes half court shot, click over right now and watch) but brand new this evening Nature on PBS has an all new look at active volcanoes with Kilauea: Mountain of Fire. The first of this site filmed specifically for high definition broadcasts, Hawaii Magazine certainly seemed impressed by peeks into the vent from the air, underwater lava flows and hikes into the world's largest and deepest lava tube (whatever that may be) promise to give an all new appreciation of natures power for anyone not already peeping Ian McShane on Kings.

We'd say there's just a month left before most of the USA switches off its analog signals in favor of digital, but given the whole voucher fiasco, that may end up being inaccurate. Whatever the case, the wonderful state of Hawaii has decided to get a jump on everyone else by going digital this past week. The reason? Broadcasters and park rangers wanted to ensure that analog transmission towers on the slopes of Maui's Haleakala volcano (pictured) were down before the nesting season of the dark-rumped petrel. As expected, hundreds of calls have been pouring in from unprepared residents, but it seems that officials are taking it all in stride and helping frustrated viewers get the converter boxes they need. For the birds, it's all worth it.

Sure University of Hawaii games are still stuck in SD, but Hawaiian viewers are getting another local HD source this year, as KHNL has moved into new digs and started dishing out high definition news every night on the 22nd. Check the video after the jump for a glimpse at the finished newsroom and its many HDTVs, or just stop by the corner of Waiakamilo Road and Kalani Street and say hello.

Technological progress marches forward, assimilating all those who resist -- we know this well in our line of work, but sometimes you've got to stand up and say, "The line must be drawn here! This far, no further!" Take the digital TV transition in the United States for example: all the analog TV signals will be shut off in February. It won't be pretty, but it'll be progress. Hawaii, though, has a dilemma: it just so happens that the analog towers that'll be torn down are awfully close to the nests of the state's adorable and endangered petrel birds, whose nesting season also occurs in February. Hence Hawaii's digital switch will occur a month early on January 15th, so you 17,000 affected Hawaiians have that much less time to grab converter boxes, or you'll end up watching the next season of Lost in person on your beautiful beaches instead of your ancient tube televisions.

We can say with a straight face that there's hardly a time in Hawaii where watching HDTV trumps being out and about amidst paradise, but even those who can't spend enough time on pristine beaches need to kick back and catch some high-def entertainment every now and then. Oceanic Time Warner Cable has just announced that customers on the islands of Oahu (pictured) and Kauai will soon (read: this week) be treated to four new HD stations: Hallmark Movie Channel HD (1453), FOX Business HD (1108), Big Ten Network HD (1248) and Travel Channel HD (1325). When the additions are made, Oceanic TWC will offer a full 42 stations in Hawaii, giving you one less reason to resist the urge of buying that one-way ticket to OGG / HNL / KOA / etc.

Warrior football fans will need to watch their next QB to put up incredible college numbers and proceed to a career as practice squad NFL QB in standard def for the next season or two. Local station KFVE/KHNL just doesn't see it being feasible to put its PPV University of Hawaii games in HD yet (although the local cable channel on Oceanic already shows high school games in HD). The good news (we guess) is that HD is on the way, someday, unfortunately the cost of the necessary new facilities -- despite the Hula Bowl managing to go HD -- has put it on the back burner at the moment.

There's simply no question that the beauty of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park (above) can only truly be appreciated after a winding drive down from Kailua Kona (or Hilo, for those who love the rain), but for folks without weeks on end to spare waiting to see lava flow from some of those majestic creations, a forthcoming film should give you the next best look. Volcanographer Mick Kalber has assembled an hour-long movie entitled Kilauea's Flow to Waikupanaha, and while we'd generally brush something like this off, a recent writeup about it most definitely caught our eye. We thought we had already seen HD DVD's last hurrah back in March, but if KHNL-8 is to be believed, the forthcoming flick will be available on Blu-ray and HD DVD. Granted, there's no release date mentioned, but given that red has been decomposing for months now, we're tempted to believe someone was simply misinformed.

Not that we don't already enjoy the occasional HDTV program filmed in Hawaii, but now the local PBS affiliate is getting in the game. Apparently part of Sony & PBS's partnership, PBS Hawaii is launching it first locally produced HD show Long Story Short with Leslie Wilcox February 19. We hope Engadget HD readers in Hawaii can get the show via OTA or cable (actually, it's snowing at the EHD offices, so we really wouldn't feel that bad if they have to do without a little HDTV right now), but it won't be in our listings because we hate PBS.

That ESPN is airing a college football game in HD isn't news, that the game is in Hawaii and will look just as good as Lost on your HDTV, is. Due to the cost of shipping the necessary equipment to the islands, the Pro Bowl and other games relegated to 480i. Even this year, the Hawaii Bowl on December 24th will be the only ESPN bowl game not in HD, but on January 14th the 2007 Hula Bowl college all-star game will be in high definition. The reason for the switch? A poll after a recent college game on ESPN indicated 13% of viewers watched it in HD, and 32% of those people said the fact it was in HD influenced their decision to watch it. Whether or not HDTV is a viable business model for broadcasters may still be open to interpretation for some, ESPN is putting its money where its mouth is and making this happen by paying another company to ship the necessary equipment by air in time for the game. Here's hoping this attitude extends to the Pro Bowl and other sporting events in 2007.

Blah blah blah, high definition makes everything better, blah blah blah. Don't you ever just get tired of reading and talking about how great HD is, and how so many things are captured and broadcast better because of high-def equipment? Nope, we don't either. Today its whale watchers off the coast of Hawaii, who are getting better footage than ever before thanks to their Sony HVR-Z1U camera. Not only relatively small and cheap for the quality, researchers are able to record the whales from further away, and more accurately count, identify and observe their behavior due to the additional clarity. They hope the new technology will enable the first ever shots of humpback whales mating and giving birth. No word on when this hot whale pr0n will make it into one of those documentaries you'll have seen 100 times on Discovery and still watch just because its in HD.

Read [NYT free registration required]

As our commenter BDevorzon noted, a combination of mountain-blocked OTA broadcasts, cable/local affiliate squabbles and limited satellite access combines to make the production home of one of the best HD programs, Lost, very unfriendly for high-definition TV owners. DISH network doesn't provide service to Hawaii at all, and DirecTV has not added locals for the area yet.

Only the ABC affiliate in the area has an agreement with Time Warner Cable to show their high definition signal although negotiations with the others are ongoing. Although they do broadcast OTA, the layout of the islands makes that a tricky or impossible proposition for many. We're trying to muster up the same sympathy for our Hawaiian brethren that we showed for North Carolina residents before the Super Bowl but man they live in Hawaii. If Michigan was located a bit closer to the equator I'd shut the TV off and go outside once in a while. As it is, we at HD Beat probably won't get any closer to the island than a game of Test Drive Unlimited, but we do feel your pain.