ismail Posted January 27, 2005 Share Posted January 27, 2005 what is hd-dvd? any movies or music available on it ? do i need another dvd player for playing hd-dvds? if so then will it work better than my normal dvd player on to my 66hz philips 25" analog television? thanx for any help 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
picky Posted January 27, 2005 Share Posted January 27, 2005 HD-DVD and Blu-Ray Disc: Look for them sometime this Fall 2005. They are both High-Definition DVD. Yes, they are much better than the standard DVD and yes they will both require you to buy an new DVD player. They are supposed to be backward-compatable and play old DVDs as well. I woul dnot recommend you consider one until you have a High-Def TV. Otherwise, you aren't likely to see any benefit from owning it. Info: http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,116846,00.asp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gcoker Posted January 27, 2005 Share Posted January 27, 2005 Then what does it mean when the DVD on back says "mastered in high definition". Can those disks be played in a hd-dvd player and display 720p/1080i on a HD-TV? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Griffinator Posted January 27, 2005 Share Posted January 27, 2005 ---------------- On 1/27/2005 2:05:27 PM gcoker wrote: Then what does it mean when the DVD on back says "mastered in high definition". Can those disks be played in a hd-dvd player and display 720p/1080i on a HD-TV? ---------------- All it means is that the source material was HD or better resolution. It doesn't mean anything as to your final viewing result. It's still 480 lines of resolution on that disc, because the 4.7GB disc can't hold any more than that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gcoker Posted January 27, 2005 Share Posted January 27, 2005 So I will file them away with my Monster Cable and THX certifications. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted January 27, 2005 Share Posted January 27, 2005 ---------------- On 1/27/2005 12:40:58 PM ismail wrote: what is hd-dvd? any movies or music available on it ? do i need another dvd player for playing hd-dvds? if so then will it work better than my normal dvd player on to my 66hz philips 25" analog television? thanx for any help ---------------- hd dvd is basically a format of high definition dvd's. there are two tpes of high defintion dvd's there is blu-ray disks and there is hd-dvd's. They use a smaller bandwith laser that is blue in color that will read information that is embedded on the discs. This means that it can read a lot more than a traditional red laser player. HD dvds have different capacities because you can buy them ina single layer and a dual layer format. I believe it ranges from 15 gb to about 30 gb. The blu-ray format will hold 25 gb to 50 gb. Since these discs use a new narrow bandwidth laser you will need a new player in which these players should support all of your old media. The sound should be improved and rumor has it that most stuff will be recorded in 7.1 format. The picture will go from a traditional 480p to a 1080i. This will mean that on a standard analog television you will not get a highdefinition picture or even progressive scan. Therefore in your case you may see only a slight improvement just because the technology is better. I would personally recomend moving to a new tv and upgrading before buying a new hd-dvd or blu-ray player. Now this is supposed to be the next big format war or something, blu-ray is already made in japan and used, but hd dvd can be made on exsisting production lines without changing to much, and it is also won the vote of the dvd forum, but sony and many other brands strongly support blu-ray, both are supposed to be aviable late this year. anyways hope that this answers your questions.... Also hd-dvd as far as media goes should be a lot cheaper just because it can be produced on exsisting lines at the same rate of production for only about 10-15% high operating costs. Blu-Ray will probably be more expensive. I personally am in more support of blu-ray because of the bigger capacity discs and they have a lot more backers than hd-dvd, but you will find a lot of info out there about this topic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Griffinator Posted January 27, 2005 Share Posted January 27, 2005 That's rather comical, Gramas. The big battle that was keeping high-def DVD off the shelves three years ago was this format war between Toshiba/JVC (BluRay) and Sony (HD-DVD) within the Consortium... Gee, does that sound familiar... When is Sony going to realize that bucking the rest of the industry just so they can have their very own format is doing nothing but hurting everybody, by creating consumer uncertainty over format stability? Betamax v VHS SACD v DVD-A and now HD-DVD v BluRay Sony's probably going to lose this fight for the same reason they lost the VCR war against JVC - cheaper, higher capacity media... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted January 27, 2005 Share Posted January 27, 2005 i guess, personally i think that blu-ray is a better format, but hd-dvd will be cheaper..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Griffinator Posted January 27, 2005 Share Posted January 27, 2005 Ahh - looks like I read your previous post too quickly and interpolated the two. I do know that Toshiba and JVC were the ones bucking for the Blu-Ray format, while Sony was spearheading HD-DVD. The earliest incarnation of HD-DVD wasn't even going to include any kind of backward compatibility until Toshiba rallied the entire consortium behind them to demand it of Sony. Talk about gall... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WMcD Posted January 27, 2005 Share Posted January 27, 2005 There is an article in this month's Sound and Vision about the two formats. Read that and you'll know all I know. It seems to me the technical issue is data storage size with Blue Ray being larger. In economics, some folks are saying the HD DVD can be made on the same production line as DVD. I don't quite see how much difference that is going to make in the long run. I've read too that DVD resolution is basically NTSC or VGA. It is amazing how good they are at that. You have to wonder whether people will pay for more. They did in the VHS versus DVD progression. Just about everyone made money and the consumers seem pleased. I did not see anything on what resolution might be used in either HD DVD or Blu Ray. I suppose that is a software issue. Right now there are only a few monitors which will go up to the max HDTV of, roughly, 1200 by 1900. In a few years more such monitors could be available and thus the more storage the better. That favors Blu Ray if everyone is far thinking. The article discusses that various studios (owners of what we'll see) have tentatively signed up to support one format or the other. Sony owns several major sudios, is a hardware manufacturer, and backs Blu Ray. There are some Blu Ray units in the orient already. You'd think that such would be definitive of the outcome. A minor weight will tip the see-saw. But Sony's failure with technically superior Beta Max over VHS and luke warm results with mini disks may well be played out again. In the Beta Max issue the market was very sensitive to price over technical superiority. The article discusses the competing backing of sudios and hardware manufacturers, redundantly, without reaching any conclusions. There is mention that, perhaps, all involved will settle on one hardware format rather than engage in a winner take all format war. My thought is that the data storage issue is the prime driving force. So Blu Ray will have to win in the long run. Right now, we just wait and see. Best, Gil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Griffinator Posted January 27, 2005 Share Posted January 27, 2005 Dammit, this is the trouble with trying to retain all this info.... I got them backwards from the get-go - Sony = Blu-Ray, Toshiba/JVC = HD-DVD... Sheesh. Right now, I feel like I deserve the shame of leaving the previous posts unedited. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
picky Posted January 28, 2005 Share Posted January 28, 2005 I concur with Griff. You are a wealth of knowledge and experience my friend. And then, add to the mix, JVC's D-VHS Digital Video Tape, which plays and records in High-Def. I own one and I can tell you it is far superior to today's DVD. However, I suspect, once the two new Hi-Def DVD formats arrive, I shall once again own nothing more than an old "boat anchor", identical in situation to the Sony Super-Beta machine I threw out last year. I become less enchanted with Sony each year, for the reasons that Griff had explained. And so, the cycle continues and repeats itself............ HEY, SONY: STOP THE BALONEY!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJkizak Posted January 28, 2005 Share Posted January 28, 2005 The stories I read said the "red" can be run on standard production lines with a change that takes 15 minutes. The "blue" requires a new 1 billion dollar factory and might not be as cheap to produce per disc as the "red". Now add it all up. "0" versus "1 billion" What do you think is going to happen? JJK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ottscay Posted January 28, 2005 Share Posted January 28, 2005 Actually, I think Blu-ray is far superior technologically. Otherwise I fear we will get our main features in HD, but the extras at regular def, which I, for one, don't want. There's another, maybe more important issue that no one has brought up involving the switch to High Definition discs (at least, more important to audiofiles). Both DTS and Dolby hasve anounced hi-def audio encoding for these new formats (so we can get cd quality audio on each of our tracks...or at least a much better approximation thereof). I'm REALLY excited about getting good audio, becaue if I watch a movie after listening to music for a few hours, I can totally hear the discrepancy in bit rate. BUT... won't that mean we will all have to purchase not just new dvd players...but new recievers equipped to decode the new audio formamts? Or is this the kind of thing that can be upgraded with a software release? Or could the dvd player handle it (At least, until I save up another grand to get a new reciever)? These are things I would really like to know. So there you have it. I've seen mock-ups, and the movie experience really will be noticeably "better," but we might be looking at an even higher cost of upgrading if we want to take advantage of Hi-def audio encoding on our hi def discs (whatever format they may be). Scott P.S. I wouldn't worry too much about the price difference between Blu-Ray and hD-DVD; they will cost about the same either way for us, the question is whether Sony and other manufacturers will have to eat the cost initially until they ramp up production to appropriate economies of scale. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted January 28, 2005 Share Posted January 28, 2005 ---------------- On 1/28/2005 12:51:48 PM JJKIZAK wrote: The stories I read said the "red" can be run on standard production lines with a change that takes 15 minutes. The "blue" requires a new 1 billion dollar factory and might not be as cheap to produce per disc as the "red". Now add it all up. "0" versus "1 billion" What do you think is going to happen? JJK ---------------- both hd dvd and blu-ray both use a blue laser if that is what you are refering too, its a narrow bandwicth light that can read more information, they both require it, but the manufacturing change from dvd to hd dvd is far less expensive since it is built on the same platform. but keep this in minnd too, hd dvd's re said to cost about $10-15 more a disc, no one has a put a cost on blu-ray yet, which means that it may be the same price and the manufacteres may just eat the cost to stay competitive, that is what i see happening, but you never know Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Griffinator Posted January 28, 2005 Share Posted January 28, 2005 Actually, I heard rumours of Blu-Ray burners available for computers right now. The media is definitely intriguing - it's a plastic case with a disc inside. Thinking this may be for copyright protection purposes, no? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ottscay Posted January 28, 2005 Share Posted January 28, 2005 >>>Thinking this may be for copyright protection purposes, no?<<< Actually, no. Its because the early discs were too sensitive to scratching. Someone just developed a new coating that is more durable, because no one was ready to commit to a consumer format that needed a sleeve. Consumers apparently want their discs naked. You are right that there are Blu-ray writers and burners for computers (mostly in Japan), but they aren't the finalized consumer media. Scott Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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