Online high definition video streaming is finally here as ABC has launched a beta of their HD streaming player. The player, which is powered by Movie Networks, allows you to watch several ABC shows at a high definition resolution of 1280 x 720. You can check out the service now by going to this page and clicking on “Launch the Player”. You’ll need to install the ABC HD player and then select the HD streaming link to see the ABC shows available in HD.

The ABC HD player does have some minimum requirements that you’ll need to worry about. You’ll need a fast Internet connection (2 Mbps or more) and of course a pretty fast computer. A dual core processor with a 128MB graphics card and a large display is highly recommended by ABC.

Current shows available in HD include Desperate Housewives, Grey’s Anatomy, Lost, and Ugly Betty. I took a quick look at Ugly Betty in HD and I must say the quality is quite good for online streaming content. It takes a few seconds for the entire video stream to reach it’s full throughput potential but the video quality upgrades gracefully as you pick up the throughput.

Congrats to ABC for paving the road to online HD streaming. You can read more about this on their development blog.

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Dan Costa over at GearLog.com published an interesting editorial on Thursday entitled “No One’s Winning the High-Def Format War”. His arguments are straightforward actually. While the high definition format wars continue, the consumers ultimately will not care in the end because they will have chosen the format of choice - and that’s to download HD content over some pipeline (probably the Internet).

Costa bolsters his argument by using the music industry as an example. Until MP3 files and digital music players became popular, people were stuck to CDs. Yet when given the choice of quality CDs vs. downloadable digital tracks, the consumers chose to download content instead. Look at the results now - CD sales are down and digital music stores are on the rise.

He applies the same notion to movies. Optical discs are a thing of the past Costa argues. The way to distribute going forward is via the Internet with many companies and products already trying out various services to see if this is viable. Now granted - there are many more obstacles in the way when it comes to movies. You need more storage and download times take a good deal longer than say downloading music. However as download speeds improve and as storage costs plummet, the optical disc - whether Blu-ray or HD DVD - will become obsolete in favor of a new video distribution method over the Internet.

It’s definitely an interesting argument although I do think there’s a place for either Blu-ray or HD DVD in the high definition arena. There will be consumers who will want downloadable high definition content, and there’ll be folks who want to own something on a disc format. Ultimately the key to all of this IMHO will be cost. If Blu-ray or HD DVD players lower in cost dramatically - say to something like DVD players, then I think you’ll see rapid adoption for either format. If products come out that make downloadable HD content affordable and easy to use, then I’m sure you’ll see that market expand rapidly also.

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