Easily one of the biggest events in history, especially in 20th century history, had to be World War II. And as such, you know the folks out at the History Channel have covered it extensively. And perhaps the culmination of all that coverage comes our way with WWII In HD, a copy of which the folks out at the History Channel sent out for review. And if you’re even vaguely interested in World War II, brace yourself for a huge amount of information presented in the sharpest possible format. You’re not going to be able to get this one until next week, but if you’ve got an interest in the subject, you’ll definitely want to be on hand for this.

WWII In HD, you see, not only brings the high definition, but it also brings the rare footage to boot. Basically, WWII In HD is comprised of a whole lot of color footage of World War II, found during an extensive, two year search. Then said footage was compiled with appropriate narration, and augmented accordingly for an HD presentation. You’ll see the war from its very beginnings all the way up to the very end. And what began life as three thousand hours of color footage has been edited, curated, and winnowed down to just ten hours of footage spread out over four Blu-ray discs, or five DVDs.

And frankly, this is some thoroughly amazing stuff. You’ll hear the war, as it’s happening from a variety of perspectives, complete with some impressive voice over work from big names like Ron Livingston, Amy Smart and Rob Corddry. With Gary Sinise handling the narration duties, the whole experience is almost deceptively calming, especially so given the nature of what it is we’re looking at here. This is some deeply impressive stuff, frankly.

Of course, there’s a bit of a down side in all this, as you have to bear in mind that this, much like the box says, is entirely about World War II. You’ve got to have some connection to the source material, otherwise you’re going to be bored stiff for ten straight hours. And that is not at all fun, as I can tell you from my high school days. But if you’re interested, this incredible combination of home theater-testing HD and enormously educational often never before seen World War II footage is going to be an experience quite unlike any you’ve seen recently.

The Screenhead Ten Scale gives WWII In HD a full ten out of ten for sheer extensiveness. This much rare footage in one place is something of an achievement and should be viewed accordingly. Not to mention, of course, the fact that it should be viewed period.