In years past I’ve been one of those idiots who wakes up at 4 a.m. the day after Thanksgiving, racing to my local electronic store to buy something I don’t need. Last year I found a digital camera for $49! How can I lose?!

Long story short, I arrived home at 6 a.m. cranky as all heck, with nothing more than a $9.99 blender under my arm. Coming home to a laughing woman didn’t help matters either.

This year would be different. I spotted the Toshiba HD-A3 on a 2-day sale at Best Buy. $199, complete with 7 HD-DVD movies. For the past year I’ve been on the fence between HD-DVD and Blu-Ray. But at a price of less than 200 bones, I was sold. Mind you the clerk at the store tried to talk me into a newer model of the player. Here’s our conversation:

CLERK: “The 1080P model is only $200 more. Your player will be outdated if you ever upgrade to a 1080P television from 1080i.”

MARCUS: “Look, I love Magnum P.I. as much as the next guy. I just don’t understand what that has to do with me giving you money right now.”

Confused, she faked a phone call and never spoke to me again, leaving me with my new 1080i HD-DVD player. I raced home to fire it up. There’s nothing like the whirring of fresh electronics in the morning. It sounds like….victory.

So let me tell you about the player. It’s only been a few short weeks, but it’s single-handedly changed my movie viewing experience, i.e. my life. If you haven’t seen an HD-DVD on a 1080i display yet (I own a 32-inch Samsung LCD), the clarity of the image is impeccable. My player came bundled with “300,” a movie that was made for HDTV. Even my wife was amazed at the clarity of the image. Either that or Gerard Butler’s abs.

Anyhow, even more remarkable is the upconverting process when it comes to your standard DVD’s. I had heard that both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray could take your standard-definition DVD’s and convert them to near HD quality. You will not believe the difference until you see it.

Ever since I’ve purchased the player, I’ve been going back and watching some of my favorite SD films all over again. Orson Wells delivering his signature speech as Charles Foster Kane. Quint getting gobbled up by Bruce the shark. Jack Nicholson tearing Tom Cruise a new one in “A Few Good Men.” Each now proudly formatted to 16:9, filling my entire screen with no distortion, complete with precision color quality and the perfect touch of film grain. Dare I say it, but I almost like the look of my standard DVD’s to the actual HD’s! I’ve been a bad boy!

As for the negatives, I haven’t found too many of those yet. If I could gripe about anything, it would be the time it takes to load a film. I’m always thinking the player is stuck just before the movie hits the screen. A minor problem, let’s hope it doesn’t get worse over time.

Now back to HD-DVD vs. BLU-RAY. With both formats giving such brilliant quality, it has to boil down to cost. At around $200-300, I have to land on the side of HD-DVD. I can’t imagine that a Blu-Ray player ($400-$600) would look that much better. So until somebody proves the Blu-Ray image is worth another $200-300, I’m HD-DVD all the way. Plus, what’s with the name “Blu-Ray,” anyway? I don’t like electronics that remind me of bad baseball teams.

The Toshiba HD-A3 (or the HD-30 for you “Magnum P.I.” fans out there) is my first Holiday Gift Pick, the perfect gift for Dad. Or that geek in the family. Don't even think about it, Mom. I already own one.