The most interesting development, however, arrived only today: a free software upgrade that permits the Vudu box to play movies in a new movie-quality level, called HDX. It’s a reaction to all the Web sites, cable companies and satellite services whose “hi-def” movies don’t look nearly as good as they should because they are so heavily compressed.

The HDX versions of Vudu movies are insanely sharp; they make standard films look blurry and washed out by comparison. It’s like seeing a movie on VHS videotape and DVD side by side.

Pogue peeped the data rate for the Vudu HDX flicks, finding that they average around 9 megabits a second, jumping as high as 20 in more demanding scenes. So it's better quality - on paper - than DVD. Maybe there's actually a real high definition, downloadable video source now. I rented an "HD" movie from Xbox Live a few months ago, paying the premium and expecting my eyes to thank me. Instead, what I got was worse than an SD television broadcast. I wanted to punch the TV, but I decided not to. I just took a deep breath and told myself that everything would be ok. Someone would do me right one day.