The HD News & Technology Thread!

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 31 Dec 2006, 14:45

Sweet I knew they'd come. No doubt it's the Blu-ray part bumping that price up.

Still I'm in no rush Summer 07 or Autumn 07 I'm sure they'll be to a reasonable price (which is £300-400/$587/783). Then again those are media centres not standalone players.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 01 Jan 2007, 05:51

*Clicks link*
Those hybrid players look HUGE.

(Naturally later models will become smaller and smaller as time goes by). Probably using off-the-self PC parts rather than integrated boards.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 09 Jan 2007, 19:03

No ceasefire in DVD format battle (BD looks likely to win):

"Currently there is an even number of titles available for both formats but most analysts predict there will be more content available for Blu-ray than HD-DVD next year.

Seven of the eight major US film studios back Blu-ray and five of them are exclusive to the format. In an ominous sign for HD-DVD, the backers of Blu-ray revealed that of the 20 biggest selling DVDs of 2006 the vast majority were from film studios supporting Blu-ray."

Read the rest of the article here (it makes for an interesting read): http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6243383.stm

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 09 Jan 2007, 19:07

HD-DVD goes beyond 50GB with new disc: http://www.dvdtown.com/news/hddvdgoesbe ... wdisc/4260

Source: http://www.theimportforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=7631

Lourdes · Post by **Lourdes** » 09 Jan 2007, 19:11

It has already won in Japan.
Since the PS3 release it's only just behind HD-DVD in the US.
More backing.
Better specs.
And the recent HD-DVD AACS compromise may push studios towards BD even more.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 09 Jan 2007, 22:53

Lourdes wrote:It has already won in Japan.
Since the PS3 release it's only just behind HD-DVD in the US.

Personally I don't believe either when you read one report is say X one and ask another and Y has won. HD-DVDs are still being sold in Japan so really BD hasn't won, it just may have the edge.

It's all very much up in their, neither have won, are winning and the rest is just conjecture.

Lourdes wrote:Better specs.

The specs are about equal?

Lourdes wrote:And the recent HD-DVD AACS compromise may push studios towards BD even more.

What's that about?

tom2681 · Post by **tom2681** » 09 Jan 2007, 23:34

AACS copy protection has been cracked.
I think that's what he's referring to.

Lourdes · Post by **Lourdes** » 09 Jan 2007, 23:45

One day Japan will be renamed Sony, you don't even need figures to see that Blu-ray has won there.

Blu-ray has HDMV and BD-J for interactivity which have a great deal of future potential. HD-DVD is little more advanced than regular DVD's just easier to author and with more codec support.

The Cyberlink player for HD-DVD lets you get the AACS key from memory. Combined with a program called BackupHDDVD you can backup discs. They can revoke the players key from future discs but it still affects many titles. Blu-ray is also vulnerable to this but they have the added protection of a watermark on discs so you can't create copies at this time.

Lourdes · Post by **Lourdes** » 09 Jan 2007, 23:50

tom2681 wrote:AACS copy protection has been cracked.
I think that's what he's referring to.

Hasn't been cracked, it's just possible to extract the keys from a player. DRM is very flawed and will always be open to such exploits.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 10 Jan 2007, 00:27

Oh that.

Well DVD protection has been hacked/all but hacked and yet they still use it. It's a given it will be broken even if it isn't now.

It doesn't in reality mean much. I also hear it's possible with BD anyway.

Lourdes wrote:Blu-ray has HDMV and BD-J for interactivity which have a great deal of future potential. HD-DVD is little more advanced than regular DVD's just easier to author and with more codec support.

Agreed but history has told us many times the "best" product certainly doesn't always win.

Even if as you say Japan is BD'ed up it means squat until one format world-wide prevails. Do they still sell HD-DVDs in Japan? Yep so no version has won.

All this X and Y has won talk is bollocks. Sure in different markets one format is doing better but to me anyway win means win and the other needs to die completely or almost completely first before all this Win talk actually means something.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 11 Jan 2007, 07:16

Warner's TotalHD format would be worthwhile if it were HD30/BD50. But since it's only the single-layer versions of both formats then fuck it.

Lourdes · Post by **Lourdes** » 14 Jan 2007, 05:44

I just watched a HD-DVD on my PC, no I don't have a drive.

AACS isn't cracked and there's no clever way to obtain the key as in DeCSS but with enough determination you can find the keys from memory and you'll always be able to do so.

This means that HD-DVD is screwed. The main concern of studios is illegal presses in Asia and now they're free to do this. Whereas with Blu-ray the BD+ protection prevents this. BD+ is a 'stamp' on discs containing information, when a player reads a pressed discs it looks for the stamp and won't play if it's not there. Of course the Chinese could have warehouses of BD burners because they would read okay but it's not nearly as cost effective.

tom2681 · Post by **tom2681** » 14 Jan 2007, 08:27

I just watched a HD-DVD on my PC, no I don't have a drive.

Are you saying you've downloaded an HD-DVD rip ?

Lourdes · Post by **Lourdes** » 14 Jan 2007, 10:06

Yarr.

All those companies still undecided just made up their minds.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 14 Jan 2007, 12:43

Lourdes wrote:Yarr.

All those companies still undecided just made up their minds.

*Grumble* Fucking Sony wins again.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 14 Jan 2007, 13:24

EvaUnit02 wrote:Warner's TotalHD format would be worthwhile if it were HD30/BD50. But since it's only the single-layer versions of both formats then fuck it.

Exactly plus all it means it a third format for people to see in the shops and get confused.

Imagine the shelve mess that's being created. HD-DVD already has an advantage for Joe Public by being called HD-DVD.

I was thinking though how many hardware manufacturers make HD-DVD?

Blu-Ray

Samsung
LG
Sony
Panasonic

HD-DVD

Toshiba - AFAIK the ONLY hardware company really behind HD-DVD
LG - Only recently

Any ideas what camp Pioneer are in? They seem to be holding out right now.

EvaUnit02 wrote:*Grumble* Fucking Sony wins again.

Technically they've often lost, the world is littered with Sony priority formats that either limp through or die out. The Minidisc for example did very well for a few years but is now very much dead.

Sony's HD-Minidisc was to little to late (the HD I think was Hard Disk).

I first though as we all did that HD-DVD would win but with all the company backing from software to hardware this time next year we may see HD-DVD start to gradually die out.

I still reckon the implementation of extras, surround sound and overall value for money + price makes HD-DVD the better format but I wouldn't be surprised if that's not how things turn out.

I'd LOVE to own some HD Discs but it's all so much up in the air it really could go three ways. For now of course neither has won, but that may change.

tom2681 · Post by **tom2681** » 14 Jan 2007, 14:59

Any ideas what camp Pioneer are in? They seem to be holding

Pioneer live in Blu-Ray land, I'm afraid.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 14 Jan 2007, 15:06

bradavon wrote:Technically they've often lost, the world is littered with Sony priority formats that either limp through or die out. The Minidisc for example did very well for a few years but is now very much dead.

Sony's HD-Minidisc was to little to late (the HD I think was Hard Disk).

Thanks Captain Obvious, everyone fucking knows that.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 14 Jan 2007, 15:52

What is? You said Sony have won again which is incorrect.

tom2681 wrote:Pioneer live in Blu-Ray land, I'm afraid.

Why is everyone so against Blu-Ray or Sony?

They make generally VERY good equipment if a bit pricey and Blu-Ray say what you like but it is a solid format. It just got off to a shaky start is all.

So put simply only Toshiba are HD-DVD only, how it's good to favour a format only one hardware company is behind (okay two with Microsoft) is beyond me.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 14 Jan 2007, 16:08

bradavon wrote:Why is everyone so against Blu-Ray or Sony?

Sony is the Mercedes of the home electronics world, the build quality of their stuff is poor.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 14 Jan 2007, 16:14

Whahaha Sony fails again.
http://ve3d.ign.com/articles/754/754377p1.html

gasteropod · Post by **gasteropod** » 14 Jan 2007, 16:21

Eva's right - Sony make poor products, but everyone is under the illusion that they are great.

tom2681 · Post by **tom2681** » 14 Jan 2007, 16:25

Brad wrote:Why is everyone so against Blu-Ray or Sony?

-More than 1000€ for a player. I've killed for less.

-The DVD Forum has chosen HD-DVD as the rightful successor to DVD, not Blu-Ray.
-Too many protections (how am I supposed to make a copy of House of Flying Daggers ?).
-Region Coding: right now HD-DVD is region-free.
-Sony are evil.
-Discs are too expensive to replicate. Will cause problems for small studios.
-The porn industry has chosen HD-DVD (if that isn't a winning argument, then what is ?)

tom2681 · Post by **tom2681** » 17 Jan 2007, 07:32

Rrraaaahhhh !!

:pukeleft:

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 17 Jan 2007, 14:54

Actually, I'd say that Brandon Routh is queerer than TotalHD.