The Seven Days of Super Bowl in HD
Day Four
A Night at the Movies

If you have everything set up, let's take the night off and prime that HDTV with a lineup of movies. And since this is Super Bowl week, we have chosen a number of football flicks that you should be able to find at your local video store.

With that said, many of the films listed below are not yet available in HD. So you are left with the SD version. One solution is to play them back in an upconverting DVD player, which costs a little more than your off-the-shelf DVD player. These units take the 480i content on the DVD and upscale it to either 720p, 1080i, or (with some recent models) 1080p.

Don't raise your expectations too high. No matter how resourceful the video processing chip is, it can't magically transform low resolution video into a pristine high resolution image. We are testing Oppo's new upconverting DVD player, the DV-981HD. It does an admirable job of producing a 1080p signal, but again it cannot compare to a native high def DVD. (And we don't expect it to.)

So fire up your DVD player. Here are our choices for pre-game warm-ups in a more or less stream of consciousness order.

Knute Rockne, All American (1940) - While we're talking about legends, Pat O'Brien plays the larger-than-life Notre Dame coach, Knute Rockne, who gives the win-one-for-the-Gipper speech. Gipper of course is one of President Ronald Reagan's famous roles.

North Dallas Forty (1979) - Based on Dallas Cowboy receiver, Peter Gent's autobiographical novel about life on and off the pro football field, the movie stars Nick Nolte as Gent's alter ego, Phil Elliott.

Jerry Maguire (1996) - Another behind the scenes look at professional football, this time through the eyes of sports agent Maguire (Tom Cruise) and his one remaining client, wide receiver, Rod Tidwell (Cuba Gooding Jr. who won an Oscar). As much a love story between Jerry and loyal Dorothy Boyd (Renee Zellweger) and her cute kid with his show-me-the-money hairdo, Jonathan Lipnicki.

All the Right Moves (1983) - If you want to see a young Tom Cruise in and out of uniform, rent this gritty movie about growing up in a grungy Pennsylvania steel town.

Radio (2003) - Another high school football movie starring a Maguire alum. Cuba Gooding Jr. is the developmentally challenged Radio who is befriended by the coach (Ed Harris).

Semi-Tough (1977) - An irreverent look at pro football based on Dan Jenkins novel and starring Burt Reynolds (Billy Clyde Puckett), Kris Kristofferson (Marvin 'Shake' Tiller), and love interest Jill Clayburgh.

The Longest Yard (1974) - Speaking of former college player Burt Reynolds, this football-in-prison movie was remade in 2005 with Adam Sandler in Reynolds' role of a once-was pro quarterback and an is-now inmate, who outsmarts the evil warden and outplays the malevolent prison guards. In a nice turn, Reynolds plays the coach in the new version.

Friday Night Lights (2004) - based on H.G. Bissinger's book, (which razed quite a ruckus in West Texas), Billy Bob Thornton plays the high school coach in Odessa, where the townsfolk live and breathe football. (Available on HD-DVD.)

Friday Night Lights (2006) - Peter Berg, the director of the movie, has produced this spin-off TV series that digs deeper into the lives of the coach, Kyle Chandler, and his team. Shot in an edgy documentary style, the show is broadcast weekly on NBC in HD. If you want to catch up, you can watch all the episodes online at NBC.com.

Black Sunday (1977) - In this post 9-11 world, this John Frankenheimer film about Vietnam vet, Bruce Dern, a group of Arab radicals, the Goodyear blimp, and the Super Bowl (in Miami), definitely hits too close to home.

Against All Odds (1984) - We're going on a tangent with our last three picks, but so it goes. While Terry Brogan (Jeff Bridges), an injured pro football player, is waiting for his chance to make a comeback, James Woods hires Terry to find his girlfriend, the ravishing Rachel Ward. A mix of lust, murder and corruption make a gritty film noir.

Blazing Saddles (1974) - Beyond the fact that this hilarious Mel Brooks western is available in both HD-DVD and Blu-ray formats, seeing ex-Detroit Lion, Alex Karras (Mongo) punch out a horse earns this movie a spot on our Super Bowl list.

Miami Vice (2006) - In HD-DVD, no football, but Crockett and Tubbs in the home of Super Bowl XLI.

That should hold you until Sunday's kickoff.

Day One: Buying the HDTV