T2 goes HD for extreme DVD

Posted Friday, April 11, 2003 at 8:31 AM Central

by Tim Briscoe

DVD drives have become standard issue in home computers these days. As a result, watching movies on a PC is a common occurrence for many. That experience is about to get much better with new technology from Microsoft.

Microsoft has created a new compression technology that allows hi-resolution movies to be compressed enough to fit on a DVD -- along with the regular feature. This means you can watch a movie with a much higher picture quality than you would with a normal DVD movie.

Artisan is experimenting with hi-def versions on upcoming releases. Their "extreme edition" release of Terminator 2: Judgment Day (available June 3) and the Standing in the Shadows of Motown (Apr. 22) release will both include HD versions of the movie, playable in Microsoft Media Player 9.

The hardware requirements for this quality is a bit steep. A 1.8GHz Pentium 4 processor with tons of RAM and Dolby Digital 5.1-compatible soundcard is a must.

Now, if only Microsoft could do "Smell-O-Vision".