Having just watched this Gizmodo video of the Zune HD plugged into an HDTV has given me an understanding of just what the big selling point for this bad boy is. By docking it with any HD television or monitor you create a high-quality media center wherever you go. The Zune's TV interface is incredibly streamlined, everything looks very intuitive and it appears to work very smoothly.

In essence, having a Zune HD is like carrying your media box around with you in your pocket. I'd go so far as to say that hooking a Zune up to your TV beats a traditional media box set-up. It drains less power, it takes up less space, you can move it from TV to TV, and it looks just as easy to use. Kudos to Microsoft for finding a great feature that Apple didn't manage to beat you to the punch on. This interface is one ace the Zune has up its sleeve when it comes to dealing with this next generation of iPods.

In addition to the video, Gizmodo also has the Zune HD spec sheet. The most important info revealed pertains to battery life. The HD can handle 33 hours of music playback, or 8.5 hours of video playback. That also beats the iPod touch.

Currently the Zune HD beats the touch in battery life, price, and HD TV integration. The touch of course has the App Store, a more proven operating system, the Apple name, and iTunes behind it. This media player war is shaping up to be a much closer fight than I think anyone thought it would be at the outset.