Asking the Experts HD DVD

[PurpleDemon]

Toshiba sold the first HD DVD players today. These play a new format of DVD that will not play in our current players. I have heard on the news that the production companies will put future releases in the new format.

Here is some info on the new stuff.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HD-DVD

My questions are:

Will we be able to back up the new format?

Will we be able to convert to play in our current players?

Thanks for your input.

[jmet]

Will we be able to back up the new format?

Yes, granted you have those types of blank media (HD-DVD or Blu-Ray) & a burner that supports burning to HD-DVD or Blu-ray media.

Will we be able to convert to play in our current players?

No,these High Definition DVD's (whether Blu-ray or HD-DVD) require special connection through a HDMI cable and your TV must support a resolution of like 1280 X something.

[PurpleDemon]

Will the new players play the current format?

[jmet]

Both HD-DVD and Blu-ray players are backward compatible with existing DVD's and CD's. The Toshiba HD-DVD, for instance, using two different lasers, will play high-definition HD-DVDs as well as standard DVDs and CDs (HD-DVD, DVD, DVD-R/-RW/-RAM, CD, and CD-R/-RW). So at least you can be sure that most of the discs you already have on your shelf are safe.