NHK Special Eizoshi Satoyama Inochi Meguru Mizube [HD DVD]

I always enjoyed watching the NHK documentaries on TV when I lived in northern Japan. Now living in the States it's nice to be able to own and rewatch all those great shows in HD. They went the extra mile on this HD DVD and included English subtitles and an English audio track with narration by Sir David Attenborough. You can't get more English than that. The documentary follows an 83 year old fisherman and his village through the four season span of a year. All the time showing how you can live very close to nature without destroying it. Instead it flourishes. On the technical side, they may have used older HD cameras but the video is as clear as the water that runs through the Shiga Prefecture. The audio, though listed as two channel came through without flaws. My Xbox360 had a hard time decoding the video. Lots of macro blocking type errors. My trusty Toshiba HD-A1 on the other hand displayed the video in all its High Definition glory. Both units had no problem with the audio. In closing I would highly recommend this HD DVD at least to have to demonstrate your HD rig. The close-ups of the insects and animals is truly amazing. I look forward to more NHK releases.