We've been getting in our fair share of greens watching the last few days, with the 2008 Masters Tournament spread our over four days on two networks, it might be one of the best sports events in HD. TVBytheNumbers called it a reason to get high definition (like we need a reason), before suffering through some SD-only hiccups yesterday -- a check of AVS Forum's thread reveals there may have been breakdown in some areas, but it looks great now. The New York Times keeps it old school, insisting the Augusta National can only be truly appreciated in real life, but with the most viewers of a golf telecast on cable ever, we're sure quite a few you took a look on ESPN-HD.

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Could happen, according to the New York Times. Dan Rather has been frustrated by his role on 60 Minutes as of late and is looking to leave CBS soon, enter our deep-pocketed friend Mark Cuban. He is apparently offering Rather his own hour long news show on HDNet, and the opportunity to be the first big name in high definition news. For his part, Rather says he hopes to take advantage of it. News programming in high-def has been very slow to roll out and such a big name jumping in could provide some needed attention to get the ball rolling.

[Via Digital TV Facts]

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.

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...is not one in which I would want to live. But that's the sort of world David Pogue seems to be suggesting today in the New York Times. A careful read of the article reveals that deep down, he's one of us. Despite the cynicism about consumer electronics companies and their motives he came away impressed by the visual quality of HD DVD movies and the improvements provided by the interactive menus. Of course as Ben pointed out, he mentions the debut Toshiba HD-A1 player has some warts, long initial load times being one of them. Add on DRM concerns, a brewing format war with Blu-ray and you have plenty of reasons to sit on the fence. How long consumers stay there remains to be seen.

Does that mean both formats could go the way of the Dodo, Laserdisc and other dearly departed items as he suggests they might? Severely doubt it, everyone has too much invested for that to happen. Companies on both the hardware and software (content) side have too much to lose for the formats to just fade away. What appears to be most likely, is an extended format battle in which choosing a side means potentially giving up some feature or movie you want that is only available on the other. The life of an early adopter is fraught with peril but maybe, just maybe the 1080i/p rewards for your HDTV are worth it.

Note: Even I haven't decided which -- if either -- format to purchase yet.

As we've noted, sometimes the media can be a bit shaky when it comes to talking about HDTV accurately. This time it's Cleveland's News Channel 5 reporting to make sure you don't buy an EDTV plasma assuming it's HDTV, a worthy cause and one we've mentioned before.

The article is good, with enough warning and not too much hysteria, until they mention HDTV becoming standard in three years. Awww man.  Everybody listen to Engadget, DTV ≠ HDTV. Thank you and please remember to tip your waitresses.