***Official HD-DVD Player Thread*** (1 Viewer)

[TonyD]

i posted this in the software thread that looks dead so i guess i'll put it here.


" how about a thread that is a faqbot(thats a Q)
of sorts or is there one already?
i ve been sitting back, up till now due to the overwelming am't of discussion on high definition dvd palayers.

i have no idea what would work for my tv and what i would need to get.

....

were can i go to find info on what i need to get to watch hd dvd one format or both on my tv?"

that a good question mike, i was also wondering that.

 

[Mike_G]

UPDATE:

A farther BB had them. Picked one up. Now I need an HDMI->DVI for my Yamaha LX-500.

 

[Mike_G]

Unfortunately, the machine wouldn't let me upscale Sith to 720p since I'm using component to connect to my LX-500. I'll stick with my PC-DVD player for those until I get the correct cables.

 

[Michael Osadciw]

Jay, I agree, these are exciting times - we are such HD junkies it is great! I'm going to Toshiba on Monday to check it out again, since this time they will be final products rather than the prototypes I've seen thus far...

Mike

 

[David_Rivshin]

I thought it was well known that the Toshiba players have fans. These pictures of a disassembled HD-XA1 have been online for at least a week: http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/av/do...407/hddvd2.htm
If anyone was wondering why these 1st gen players are so expensive, those pics demonstrate it pretty well: they're basically an HTPC in terms of construction. Of course they're missing most of the capabilities of a real HTPC.

Personally I try to avoid any components with fans in them in my living room, as I find it pretty distracting while watching a movie. Just one more reason to wait for the 2nd or 3rd generation players.

-- Dave

 

[Dan Hitchman]

These first generation players are cobbled together Frankenstein monsters and that's why they need the fan(s). They are basically PC's with a computer disc drive and basic infrastructure software OS's.

Second and third generation units will probably use dedicated hard ware DSP chips that run cooler than these "stealth" PC's.

As exciting as these first players are in the sense that we now have pre-recorded HD, I will still wait to see how things work themselves out... and the features (or lack thereof) on these first players leave a lot to be desired.

As for HD-DVD, only one title for the U.S. has a lossless audio track, Phantom of the Opera. The bulk use basically standard lossy DD tracks as before.

Dan

 

[Pall F]

Very exciting.

Can anyone try to play a region 2 sd dvd disc on the hd dvd player? Does it work?

Pall F

 

[Mike_G]

I tried my R2 Final Fantasy VII DVD and it didn't work :frowning:

 

[Pall F]

:frowning:

 

[Mike_G]

Ok, I don't have a lot of time to play with this thing today but here's what I can tell you so far.

It's slow. Not VERY slow, but it could be faster. This pertains to everything (disc loading, menus, etc.)

Component output's nice, but all I had to work with was 480p the first time since the unit doesn't allow upscaling on component output. It's not as nice as my HTPC with 720p upscaling and it's been sooo long since I used 480p that I can't even tell you how it compared to standard DVD players since I haven't used one in my theater room for years.

I ran out to 6th Ave. and got an HDMI->DVI cable. My Yamaha projector kept saying "NO SIGNAL". I got REAL nervous. That's when I....READ THE MANUAL . Turns out that you can switch the output between HDMI and component, and then you can change the resolution to 480i, 480p, 720p, and 1080i. Apparently, my LX-500 doesn't like 1080i over DVI (but does seem to work over component), so I had to put the HDMI output to 720p for the LX-500 to work with HDMI.

I went back to standard DVD and now I was able to upscale to 720p. A noticable improvement, but colors seem a little muted compared to my HTPC.

As I stated above, R2 discs don't work.

The menu system is nice and intuitive.

I have not tried analog outputs, just the standard Dolby Digital.

I haven't run an ethernet line to the machine yet.

Unfortunately, I don't have any HD-DVDs to try until Tuesday when they're officially released. I went to a bunch of stores and none of them even had them in stock according to their computer systems.

That's all I can tell you for now.

Mike

 

[Dave Moritz]

Hey Ron,

Glad to hear that you are happy with your HD-DVD player. Guess all you need now is HD-DVD disc's to enjoy in your new player. Enjoy

I am still waiting to get my Blu-ray player :frowning:

 

[Pall F]

Thanks for the update Mike.

I´m very disappointed the player doesn´t play R2 discs since my collection is made of both R1 and R2 discs. I own about 100 R2 discs and 200 R1. As you can see I import most of my DVD´s from the US.

Pall F

 

[Lou Sytsma]

I thought this was disc dependent ie if the disc has copy protection component upscaling is not allowed. Otherwise upscaling over component is allowed.

 

[Mike_G]

Yes, it is disc dependent. However, with the few discs I've done, I don't remember seeing a flag to prevent upscaling. This could be a by-product of some other flag.

 

[Mike Frezon]

But don't most discs have copy protection? This is where I get confused on the issue. I thought the big problem was that consumers would not be able to use HD gear over component connections. Excuse my ignorance...I haven't kept completely up-to-date on the discussion.

I am also guessing, since it has component connections, that this player WILL allow true HD via component?

 

[ScottJH]

I was able to pick one up today w/ Last Samurai. Last Samurai HD-DVD will output 720p or 1080i over component. I believe all initial titles will allow either resolution over component. But copy protected SD-DVDs can only be upconverted to 720p or 1080i over HDMI. I don't think the upconversion is better than my Oppo though. Also Last Samurai HD-DVD looked a lot better at 1080i than 720p into my Toshiba MT700(720 native). This tells me the scaler in my projector is better than whats in the player.

 

[Lou Sytsma]

You would think so Mike but if you scan the Zenith 318 and LG7832 upconverting DVD player threads here and over at AVSForum it is not true.

The LG, which I have, upconverts all SDs. However if you apply a firmware upgrade to correct some other issues the component upconversion is crippled to those SD DVDs that do not copy protection.

 

[Parker Clack]

The best place I have found to get HDMI > DVI cables is thru Blue Jeans Cable. I have picked them up to use with my HTPC to my Mits and they work great. And they are lot cheaper than other options I priced out.

 

[PatWahlquist]

Ron, I saw one on display today here in Vegas and I got to look at the instruction manual. Did it come with an HDMI cable?

 

[TonyD]

so the hdmi->dvi will do the same thing as a straight hdmi->hdmi.

my mits has dvi no hdmi.