VIEW: December High-Def DVD Gallery
READ MORE: November High-Def Column

We're back with 15 high-definition DVDs, in either the Blu-ray or HD DVD formats, for your Christmas gift giving (two of the movies on tap are, in fact, holiday-themed pictures, although neither is of a traditional sort) or post-Christmas self-gratification. As with our debut installment, the grading is mostly of the disc rather than the movie, although my prejudices will invariably show themselves.

As with last issue's discs, I evaluated these with the following gear: a Toshiba HD-A20 playing the HD DVDs, a Sony PS3 handling the Blu-ray, both going into a Pioneer VSX81TXV receiver, which outputs into a Hitachi P50V701 50-inch plasma set. The main speakers are a pair of NHT VT — 1.2 towers.

This column will take a post-holiday break and return — just in time for Valentine's Day, another prime disc-giving opportunity — in the new year.