French video site DailyMotion announced today that HD video uploaded by “MotionMaker” contributors will be now automatically be re-encoded in 720p High Definition for playback on the site. Dailymotion has also launched their new HD video player, recently in beta, throughout the site.

The move supports the trend towards HD Internet television that we’ve highlighted previously. As more and more sites offer streaming HD video and as network bandwidth gets better, the limiting factor in adoption of HD Internet television may¬†end up being incompatibilities between custom players.¬†It looks like 2008 will¬†be the year for widespread deployment of¬†HD¬†Internet video. ¬†

DailyMotion says that any viewer can watch videos in HD on their site, but to get the most out of their HD videos, they recommend viewing in full-screen mode or watching on an HD-compatible screen…or by connecting the computer to your HDTV.

In addition to HD support, DailyMotion touts its features like realtime seeking, in-player embed and email tools, and greater user control over the quality of the video being streamed.

A list of keyboard video player shortcuts for video player “power users” is here.