My New HD DVD Player

[Breen Commando]

Well, I just bought a Toshiba HD DVD Player. Can anyone suggest a good movie for my first HD DVD disc purchase? I plan on hooking it up to a 32" 720p LCD TV, should I use HDMI or component hookup? THANKS!!!

 

[scotthm]

Breen Commando said:
Well, I just bought a Toshiba HD DVD Player. Can anyone suggest a good movie for my first HD DVD disc purchase? I plan on hooking it up to a 32" 720p LCD TV, should I use HDMI or component hookup? THANKS!!!

I hear that The Adventures of Robin Hood looks very good indeed. (Though I suspect you'll probably be interested in something a bit newer.)

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[Hermiod]

My suggestions:

* Batman Begins
* Superman Returns
* Serenity
* King Kong
* The Chronicles of Riddick
* Heroes Season One

You should use HDMI if possible. Avoid older films, especially if you already have the DVD. Terminator 2, especially, is a complete waste. There's barely any difference.

 

[scotthm]

Hermiod said:
Avoid older films, especially if you already have the DVD.

I've read several reviews of 'older films' that were quite glowing in their praise of the HD-DVD over the DVD, if that's your thing, but I would definately read reviews first, or rent.

As for purchasing HD-DVDs of movies already owned on DVD, I'd start very slowly and do some comparisons before getting too carried away. Some may look tremendously better, and some may look only slightly better. The TV mentioned in the OP is 'only' 32" and 720p, so won't even begin to take full advantage of HD-DVD.

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[Neroon]

Now... is an HD-DVD player in any way backwards compatible with regular DVD discs?

 

[BigFoot]

^ Yeah, all HD DVD (and blu ray) players also play regular DVDs.

 

[Hermiod]

Every HD-DVD and Blu-Ray player I've seen will also upscale your DVDs to 720p, 1080i and in some cases 1080p

My existing Samsung (regular) DVD player upscales to 1080i over HDMI and it makes my existing DVDs look great.

 

[Neroon]

BigFoot said:
^ Yeah, all HD DVD (and blu ray) players also play regular DVDs.

Well, these are still too expensive for me at the moment, not to mention the format wars are still full throttle. BUT... that is very good to know. I have an older Samsung HTiB player that does pretty well with my DVDs, but it isn't an upscaling set of course.


I can wait awhile though. Mainly because my Chief Financial Officer says I have to.

 

[scotthm]

Neroon said:

BigFoot said:
^ Yeah, all HD DVD (and blu ray) players also play regular DVDs.

Well, these are still too expensive for me at the moment, not to mention the format wars are still full throttle. BUT...

I'm still waiting to jump in myself, but the word is that pricing is coming down fast:

Canadian company Venturer Electronics will release the player, called the SHD7000, to the North American market- and the company said Wednesday that the player will sell for an MSRP of $199.

Link

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[Noname Given]

Breen Commando said:
Well, I just bought a Toshiba HD DVD Player. Can anyone suggest a good movie for my first HD DVD disc purchase? I plan on hooking it up to a 32" 720p LCD TV, should I use HDMI or component hookup? THANKS!!!

Go HDMI as component will NOT get you 720P resolution on the set which kind of defeats the purpose of all this.

 

[Sheep]

Noname Given said:
Go HDMI as component will NOT get you 720P resolution on the set which kind of defeats the purpose of all this.

The Toshiba HD-DVD player can't do 720p/1080i through component? (I skimmed the thread and didn't see anything about the TV model.)

The Xbox 360's HD-DVD add-on sure could, and it worked just fine running 720p through component with my 1.5 year old Sharp Aquos.

 

[Irishman]

Sheep, I think what Noname Given meant to say was that the picture through component won't look as detailed and crisp as through HDMI (or DVI).

That is true.

 

[Noname Given]

Sheep said:

Noname Given said:
Go HDMI as component will NOT get you 720P resolution on the set which kind of defeats the purpose of all this.

The Toshiba HD-DVD player can't do 720p/1080i through component? (I skimmed the thread and didn't see anything about the TV model.)

The Xbox 360's HD-DVD add-on sure could, and it worked just fine running 720p through component with my 1.5 year old Sharp Aquos.

As far as I know - standard component cable will not go higher than 480P (which is standard/regular DVD resolution - 480I is the current standard 'regular' TV resolution). The component cable can't hadle the signal for 720I/P or greater; that's why the HDMI cble standard was invented and the cables cost so much. There is a lot more data (and voltage) flowing through them).

 

[scotthm]

Noname Given said:
As far as I know - standard component cable will not go higher than 480P (which is standard/regular DVD resolution - 480I is the current standard 'regular' TV resolution). The component cable can't hadle the signal for 720I/P or greater; that's why the HDMI cble standard was invented and the cables cost so much. There is a lot more data (and voltage) flowing through them).

It's not a physical limitation, but a limitation imposed by the manufacturers and content providers to prevent hi-def signals from being fed to an analog output. This is to prevent people from being able to easily copy hi-def video signals.

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[Sheep]

scotthm said:

Noname Given said:
As far as I know - standard component cable will not go higher than 480P (which is standard/regular DVD resolution - 480I is the current standard 'regular' TV resolution). The component cable can't hadle the signal for 720I/P or greater; that's why the HDMI cble standard was invented and the cables cost so much. There is a lot more data (and voltage) flowing through them).

It's not a physical limitation, but a limitation imposed by the manufacturers and content providers to prevent hi-def signals from being fed to an analog output. This is to prevent people from being able to easily copy hi-def video signals.

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HDMI cables only cost a boatload if you get them from Best Buy/Circuit City/Crutchfield or buy the ridiculously overpriced Monster brand. They're not cheap, but they're not terribly expensive when purchased online.

As for 720p through component, again I point you in the direction of the 360's HD-DVD add-on. We're all familiar with what 480i/p (i.e., DVD) looks like on an HDTV, and the 360's add-on sure isn't outputting a 480i/p image.

 

[scotthm]

Sheep said:
We're all familiar with what 480i/p (i.e., DVD) looks like on an HDTV, and the 360's add-on sure isn't outputting a 480i/p image.

As I said, the failure of most hi-def disc players to deliver a hi-def signal to the analog outputs is a manufacturing decision, and not a technical limitation of the interface.

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[RAMA]

I broke down and got this for a price that will make you jealous....but I won't get the HD-TV itself for another month yet...but when the two shall meet...ah sweet music!

RAMA

 

[Avengers Unlimited]

scotthm said:

Noname Given said:
As far as I know - standard component cable will not go higher than 480P (which is standard/regular DVD resolution - 480I is the current standard 'regular' TV resolution). The component cable can't hadle the signal for 720I/P or greater; that's why the HDMI cble standard was invented and the cables cost so much. There is a lot more data (and voltage) flowing through them).

It's not a physical limitation, but a limitation imposed by the manufacturers and content providers to prevent hi-def signals from being fed to an analog output. This is to prevent people from being able to easily copy hi-def video signals.

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I read somewhere that it's the "RCA" type connectors, not the cables that limit component connections. And IIRC they said that it would carry everything except 1080p.

I wish I could remember where I read it...

 

[Hermiod]

^My Xbox 360 plays back HD-DVDs at 720p and 1080i over component, games too.

 

[scotthm]

Avengers Unlimited said:
I read somewhere that it's the "RCA" type connectors, not the cables that limit component connections. And IIRC they said that it would carry everything except 1080p.

Well, bad news everyone. 1080p analog was rejected by the CEA working group. I can’t name names, but representatives from television and movie content owners were all against, the few other hardware (displays) manufacturers in the call where silent, and I was alone in support.

Link

I don't think the hardware is the issue. It's the will to make it work.

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