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TopDaugIn2000
6/7/2007, 08:18 AM
Will an "HD-DVD" play on my "upconverting" DVD player, or do I have to buy yet ANOTHER DVD player for this format???

TIA
OUDoc
6/7/2007, 08:29 AM
I don't think it will play. So, yes, you need yet another DVD player.
Widescreen
6/7/2007, 08:33 AM
Nope. You have to have an HD-DVD player.
slickdawg
6/7/2007, 08:37 AM
You will need an HD-DVD player.
TopDaugIn2000
6/7/2007, 08:46 AM
grrrr. that's what I thought. thanks :(
Mjcpr
6/7/2007, 08:47 AM
You'll have to have an HD-DVD player.

YWIA
OUDoc
6/7/2007, 08:49 AM
And you have to decide if you want either HD-DVD or Blu-Ray DVD as your hi-def DVD player.
TopDaugIn2000
6/7/2007, 08:50 AM
yeah, I just did a little shopping on bestbuy.com

HD-DVD $400-500
Blu-Ray $800ish
Combo $1200

NOT.
GONNA.
HAPPEN



yet
OUDoc
6/7/2007, 08:57 AM
Buy a PS3. Built-in Blu-Ray capability. For only $500-600.:O
Spray
6/7/2007, 09:11 AM
Hmmm. I bought a Samsung DVD-HD860 last year for $100 at Best Buy. Of course it needs an HDMI cable which is several hundred dollars. Is this not the same thing?
TopDaugIn2000
6/7/2007, 09:12 AM
I bought HDMI cables for about $60
Mjcpr
6/7/2007, 09:14 AM
Hmmm. I bought a Samsung DVD-HD860 last year for $100 at Best Buy. Of course it needs an HDMI cable which is several hundred dollars. Is this not the same thing?

No freakin' way an HDMI cable is "several hundred dollars".

If you were told that, you're getting scrooged.
Spray
6/7/2007, 09:14 AM
I didn't buy one (this was last summer- quit being so snappy MrJcpgsliuo). I'll have to check that out again.

And back to the original question- if I buy the now $60 HDMI cable, is my DVD player an "HD" DVD player.

I swear I am going to snap one day and throw anything that plugs into a wall out of my house.
soonerboomer93
6/7/2007, 10:10 AM
buy your hdmi cable at home depot or wal mart

for a short run (i.e 6 ft) there's little difference
Widescreen
6/7/2007, 11:22 AM
I didn't buy one (this was last summer- quit being so snappy MrJcpgsliuo). I'll have to check that out again.

And back to the original question- if I buy the now $60 HDMI cable, is my DVD player an "HD" DVD player.

I swear I am going to snap one day and throw anything that plugs into a wall out of my house.
No, your DVD player will only play regular DVDs regardless of what kind of cable you're using. It sounds like you have a player like TD2K - it just upconverts.
slickdawg
6/7/2007, 11:28 AM
I bought HDMI cables for about $60


I got mine at Sam's, 6 foot calbes for $24 or so.
SoonerAtKU
6/7/2007, 12:12 PM
You can get an HDMI cable from www.monoprice.com for about 5-6 dollars. There's no reason to spend a lot of money on a digital cable. Analog, maybe, but a short digital cable is the simplest thing in the world.
Frozen Sooner
6/7/2007, 12:32 PM
1. HD DVD, not HD-DVD.
2. Blu-Ray's are not DVDs of any sort. DVD is a trademark of the DVD Forum, which has expressly NOT giving the BDA (Blu-Ray Disc Association) permission to use the term "DVD".
3. No, they will not play on a red-laser DVD player. HD DVDs and BDs both use Blue lasers.
4. You can get a Toshiba HD-A2 at Best Buy for around $299 right now.
5. If you have an XBOX 360, you can get an addon player for it for I think $199.
6. As stated above, an HDMI cable shouldn't cost "several hundred dollars" and for any run under 14' there's going to really be no differece. Monoprice, Blue Jeans Cable, etc should carry 'em pretty cheap. Hell, you can get a 6' run from Wal-Mart for like $35. However, you don't need an HDMI cable for an HD DVD player or a BD player, though you will likely need it for some of the advanced audio codecs. Component video cables pass a 1080p signal just fine off of both formats. You will need HDMI for upconversion, but that's a copy-protection issue, not a bandwidth issue.

Here's the difference between upconversion and HD DVD or BD:

Upconversion is simply taking a 480i image (which is what you get on the vast majority of red laser DVDs) and extrapolating it to either a 720p, 1080i, or in rare cases 1080p signal. It uses the regular SD color space and is not considered a true HD signal. What most people don't realize is that if you have a fixed-pixed display (any LCD or Plasma) your set has a scaler built in that does the exact same thing. Depending on the quality of your TV, it may do a better job than any reasonably-priced upscaling DVD player.

HD DVD and BD both have much higher bitrates than regular DVD, so they can pass much larger amounts of information, allowing such things as native support for 1080p and uncompressed or lossless sound up to 7.1.

HD DVD and BD also support much larger storage-red laser DVD supports up to 9GB, while HD DVD supports up to 30 GB (though the DVD forum has announced that it will support up to 51 GB "soon", the thought is that this is vaporware) and BD supports up to 50GB (and theoretically up to 200GB).

There used to be a big long thread about this with a bunch of definitions in the first post. I wonder who wrote that.... ;)
Okieflyer
6/7/2007, 12:42 PM
There used to be a big long thread about this with a bunch of definitions in the first post. I wonder who wrote that.... ;)

Unfortunately, the tack must have rusted through.

Good stuff Mike!
Widescreen
6/7/2007, 12:44 PM
HD DVD and BD also support much larger storage-red laser DVD supports up to 9GB, while HD DVD supports up to 30 GB (though the DVD forum has announced that it will support up to 51 GB "soon", the thought is that this is vaporware) and BD supports up to 50GB (and theoretically up to 200GB).

That cracks me up.

Toshiba: Hmm. BD supports 50GB? Well, we'll support 50.00000000001GB real soon now. :D

Kinda like Texas paying Mack the same as Stoops, plus two-bits.
Frozen Sooner
6/7/2007, 12:47 PM
Unfortunately, the tack must have rusted through.

Good stuff Mike!

Thanks OF.

I should also mention that both BD and HD DVD support red laser DVD in their spec, so any player you buy will support your legacy DVDs and most will do upconversion if you really want that.

And if someone were to put me on the spot as to which format they should buy, I'd go with BD right now. Sony seems to have finally gotten a format correct.
OUDoc
6/7/2007, 06:16 PM
2. Blu-Ray's are not DVDs of any sort. DVD is a trademark of the DVD Forum, which has expressly NOT giving the BDA (Blu-Ray Disc Association) permission to use the term "DVD".

Seriously? That's pretty weak, considering the entire world, minus those guys, will call Blu-Ray a DVD. Since it's a Digital Video Disk and all.
Frozen Sooner
6/7/2007, 06:23 PM
Seriously? That's pretty weak, considering the entire world, minus those guys, will call Blu-Ray a DVD. Since it's a Digital Video Disk and all.

DVD does not stand for Digital Video Disk. It stands for Digital Versatile Disc.

And no they won't. Not unless they want a trademark suit. ;)

The DVD forum developed the HD DVD standard as the next generation. Sony kind of went off on their own and developed a competing standard. Why should the DVD forum allow Sony to use their trademark?
soonerboomer93
6/7/2007, 06:23 PM
yeah, sounds like something sony would do
soonerboomer93
6/7/2007, 06:24 PM
wait, who are we bashing

sony cartel, or the dvd cartel?
Frozen Sooner
6/7/2007, 06:25 PM
It's actually pretty common.

You're not allowed to call something that doesn't conform to the red book CD standard a compact disc. It may look like one, and it may even play in a CD player, but you won't see the words "Compact Disc" on the label anywhere.

Similarly, you couldn't call a VHS tape a Beta tape.
Frozen Sooner
6/7/2007, 06:26 PM
wait, who are we bashing

sony cartel, or the dvd cartel?

Me, I'm bashing nobody. Both BD and HD DVD have good things going for them.
soonerboomer93
6/7/2007, 06:31 PM
dammit, what's the point if you're not bashing?
Newbomb Turk
6/7/2007, 06:32 PM
Similarly, you couldn't call a VHS tape a Beta tape.

my old man still has a Betamax - and a bunch of beta tapes. The Betamax was sweet in the day with the top-loader, and wired remote.
soonerboomer93
6/7/2007, 06:39 PM
most vhs were top load back in the day also, as I recall
Widescreen
6/7/2007, 07:35 PM
It's actually pretty common.

You're not allowed to call something that doesn't conform to the red book CD standard a compact disc. It may look like one, and it may even play in a CD player, but you won't see the words "Compact Disc" on the label anywhere.

Similarly, you couldn't call a VHS tape a Beta tape.
I think what Doc meant was that everyone was going to call it DVD even though it officially isn't. Kinda like how everyone uses the term Kleenex for any type of facial tissue. It can't be legally used but it's common lingo.
soonerboomer93
6/7/2007, 07:39 PM
naw, sony is good enough at advertising that everyone will call blu-ray the proper name
Frozen Sooner
6/7/2007, 07:45 PM
I think what Doc meant was that everyone was going to call it DVD even though it officially isn't. Kinda like how everyone uses the term Kleenex for any type of facial tissue. It can't be legally used but it's common lingo.

BUT THEY'LL BE WRONG!!!!!!

WRONG!!!!!

;)

Hey, it gives me something to be pompous and precious about. Not that I needed more...
Frozen Sooner
6/7/2007, 07:46 PM
naw, sony is good enough at advertising that everyone will call blu-ray the proper name

Oh, Sony WANTS people to conflate BD and DVD. They won't spend dime one to make sure people don't call them "Blu-Ray DVDs."

The DVD Forum has already sent a few cease and desist letters to retailers for advertising Blu-Ray DVDs though.