The State of HD DVD

[admin]

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/the-state-of-hd-dvd/the-state-of-hd-dvd-330684.php

Here's the earlier "The State of Blu-ray" article:

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/the-state-of-blu_ray/the-state-of-blu+ray-320077.php

[NightTran]

Thanks for the articles, I have a question? if I am not gaming should I buy HD or BR players or wait for the one that can play both?

Thanks for any answers

[admin]

The biggest difference between HD and upscaled DVD that I've found is not sharpness - my eyesight isn't great, but sitting a few meters away, you won't really appreciate a huge difference in sharpness between HD and upscaled movies. There is definitely more detail, but do people really need to see all the skin blemishes on an actress' face to make it a better movie? In fact, HD movies tend to show more grain than DVDs, so it's not for everyone (the grain is usually intended by the cinematographer/director - DVDs look smoother because they can't render as much detail). The big difference is that you start to notice DVDs have a lot more compression artifacts than HD movies, so much so that I'm starting to find them a little bit unacceptable when you get used to watching HD movies. Colour reproduction and other things are also poorer on DVDs. HD movies uses more efficient codecs, and then up to 10 times the bitrate of DVDs, so no wonder they look better. HD movies also don't encode the "black bars" like some DVDs do, so bitrate is not wasted.

If you already have large screen HDTV (42" or above, with HDMI), then I recommend buying a cheap HD DVD player that comes with up to 10 free HD DVD movies. The chances are, somewhere down the track, you might want to get a dual format player so you don't have too many pieces of equipment connected to your TV, but it doesn't make economical sense to do so right now. HD DVD players are cheap enough that you can just throw them away when the time comes (or move it into another room). Blu-ray standalones are too expensive right now, and the profile confusion means what you buy today might already be obsolete when it comes to playing new extra features on future Blu-ray movies (eg. Fox's Sunshine or Sony's Resident Evil: Extinction). The good thing about HD DVD players is that they all share the same specs, and the spec in most areas is equal or better than the top Blu-ray spec (so for the argument that Blu-ray is better than HD DVD, apart from studio support and current uptake levels, is not true - take note Mr. Michael Bay).

I recommend people to go format neutral, that is to have players capable of playing both formats to avoid future heartache and to give you more purchasing options. You don't want to not be able to play Transformers or Spider-Man 3 just because you've limited yourself to one format. Even with the same title is released on both formats, you might pick one over the other due to one format's version being superior (eg. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is better on HD DVD because of the picture-in-picture extra features. Generally, Warner Bros's HD DVD releases are better than their Blu-ray ones, but Blu-ray ones may be cheaper). Blu-ray movies also tend to enjoy more special sales than HD DVD ones, so movies are generally cheaper.

As mentioned before, it's not worth buying a dual format player because it costs more than buying two separate players at the moment. A lot of early dual format players, like the first LG one, also lacks features (did not support any of the HD DVD interactive features). Even the newer ones might not make it to Blu-ray Profile 2.0 compatibility.

To achieve format neutrality (assuming you've already got the cheap HD DVD player), get a PS3 and use it as your Blu-ray player (that's what I have done - I don't have a single PS3 game). The PS3 might get upgraded to a profile 2.0 player through software in the next month or two, and so it is currently and will most likely continue to be the best Blu-ray player out on the market. And best of all, it's not that much more expensive than your average profile 1.0 player. Even if you don't like Sony, you can still get a PS3, since they lose money on every machine sold and won't make any if you don't buy games for it (although they do make money from Blu-ray movies).

If you don't have a large screen (eg. 32" or smaller) TV, but still a HD one, then HD movies will still give you an improvement over DVD, although it depends how good your current DVD player is. Might be worth it to invest in a cheap HD DVD player (and free movies) just for the player's DVD upscaling feature (HDMI required though). The PS3's DVD upscaler is also quite good, and so you can get that too, but it's more expensive so unless you fancy a spot of gaming, it might be still too much to spend.

If you don't have a HDTV (at least 720p) with HDMI, and you're not looking to upgrade, then probably better to wait until you do upgrade the TV to get in on the HD movie scene.

[NightTran]

Thanks, I do have 42" HDTV with 720 ( it can play 1080 down grade to 720 I think ) I never try any real HD movie but when I play some clips they do look very good compare to DVD

[admin]

Do you have an upscaling DVD player? What about a Xbox 360?

[NightTran]

none of the above just my computer, HD movies does look alot better then DVD that is why I ask so I can have them for the future

[admin]

As long as your TV has HDMI inputs, it might be worth getting a HD DVD player when they go on sale, as it can double as your upscaling DVD player. The $99 sale a month ago was great, but very limited. Right now, prices are back around $200, although you get more free movies (up to 10 - with the high price of HD DVD movies, you basically get the player for free).

[NightTran]

it have two and I have not use from the computer to HDMI eitheir I dont know if I should, is it better to hook up to HDMI from the computer or the RGA is fine?

[admin]

Your computer's graphics card will either need a HDMI output, or it must have a HDCP compatible DVI port that you can use (through a DVI -> HDMI adapter or cable). Most likely, your TV will only accept 720/1080i/p through the HDMI input, so your graphics card's driver will also need to be able to output in this mode. It's a lot of trouble to go through really, so probably stick with the VGA output for now.