Convert Your HD DVDs to Blu-Ray

[HardOCP News]

All you HD DVD owners out there that are itchin’ to switch, Wired magazine has a guide to converting your HD DVDs to Blu-ray posted today. Most HD DVD owners I know are perfectly content using their relatively inexpensive drives as upscale DVD players and cut their losses but some of you might find this useful.

The process is simple in principle but excruciating in practice, thanks to the complexity of the technology, the myriad of applications needed and the predations of an industry that doesn't want you format-shifting at all.

 

[kush]

I don't see how this is a viable solution at all, rip > convert > burn that is...

a blank Blu-Ray disc is from $15-$25 for write-once media.

Might as well just buy anew. Or just save some time and stop at the rip step and play from HDD.

 

[blazingrig]

Actually it would have been a great solution for people who wanted to sell their HD DVD drives/players, but had one or two movies they liked that were only available on HD DVD. Transformers is a great example. Besides HD DVD's are still selling on ebay. People may like to do this before they get rid of their HD DVD player and HD DVD only releases.

 

[kush]

You can bet that now HD-DVD is down the tubes any movie will be re-released on Blu-Ray pretty quick. Oh, and screw Transformers, what a travesty of a once great cartoon. If I wanted to watch a Chevy ad, I'd goto http://www.chevrolet.com.

 

[FLECOM]

Actually it would have been a great solution for people who wanted to sell their HD DVD drives/players, but had one or two movies they liked that were only available on HD DVD. Transformers is a great example. Besides HD DVD's are still selling on ebay. People may like to do this before they get rid of their HD DVD player and HD DVD only releases.

that would be piracy

 

[skadebo]

That's not very intelligent. $1000 dollars worth of work, time, equipment vs keeping the hd dvd stuff.

 

[blazingrig]

that would be piracy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuXkMi3BeWI

lol...But yeah it's pretty much nort worth the time since almost everything will be released on Blu Ray. Also the reason I mentioned Transformers is because it has some of the best PQ on HD DVD and makes great demo material.It's a good action popcorn flick, nothing more. I really didn't think nothing of it, just liked the visuals.

 

[falconman]

yea unless BD-Rs are cheeper it isnt worth is

 

[docmal]

Some of us have over 100 HD DVDs and will not be lining the studio's pockets by double dipping for the blu ray versions. I prefer to spend my money on hardware to solve the problem than supporting the studios double dipping stratagies.

The fact is that Blu Ray burnable disk prices will come down. Until then I have ordered an LG dual format reader and I am going to rip my HD DVDs to HDD using anyDVD and stream them to my PS3 over my home network.

This article is helpful because it offers hope for those who may not know any of this was possible, and it helps with links to free software.

 

[erexx]

Don't most BDR players also have DVD upscallers built in?
Its only a matter of time before cheap Blu-Ray players hit the market.
Sell that HD-DVD stuff before it becomes the anchor around your neck that it is to some other HD-DVD nut.
Its just going to start gathering dust in the closet with all your old LaserDiscs and BetaMax Porn.

DVD on a HDTV
HD Video always looks much better than an upscaled DVD on a HDTV.
You would have to be blind not to be able to see the difference.
DVD's and DVD Players deserve to go out with the old analog set they were made to go with.
Trying to bridge the gap just says one thing... you're old...

 

[Topweasel]

Don't most BDR players also have DVD upscallers built in?
Its only a matter of time before cheap Blu-Ray players hit the market.
Sell that HD-DVD stuff before it becomes the anchor around your neck that it is to some other HD-DVD nut.
Its just going to start gathering dust in the closet with all your old LaserDiscs and BetaMax Porn.

DVD on a HDTV
HD Video always looks much better than an upscaled DVD on a HDTV.
You would have to be blind not to be able to see the difference.
DVD's and DVD Players deserve to go out with the old analog set they were made to go with.
Trying to bridge the gap just says one thing... you're old...

Hey Blu-Ray won you don't need to be insensitive to people who spent their hard earned money on either format. Second that was exactly what this talked about, things to do with your collection. Selling it is one option. I personally am not going to offload my 125 movie collection just because you think its an anchor. Third yes all blu-ray players are upscalers but you have to take inconsideration that all but the A3 and and A2 are better upscalers then 98% of the BD players and the A2 and A3 match the rest.

The A1, AX1, and AX2 are the some of the most highest rated upscalers due to the Reon chip they use.

 

[bfellow]

Hmm easiest way to hold on to HD DVD and/or Blu-Ray is store em as ISOs and load them into virtual drives on a PC. This way you can avoid swapping discs altogether

 

[UrielDagda]

The only thing I want to see on Blu-Ray anymore as far as news is "Cost of Blu-Ray hardware and media for consumers plummets!"

 

[JargonGR]

Some of us have over 100 HD DVDs and will not be lining the studio's pockets by double dipping for the blu ray versions. I prefer to spend my money on hardware to solve the problem than supporting the studios double dipping stratagies.

The fact is that Blu Ray burnable disk prices will come down. Until then I have ordered an LG dual format reader and I am going to rip my HD DVDs to HDD using anyDVD and stream them to my PS3 over my home network.

This article is helpful because it offers hope for those who may not know any of this was possible, and it helps with links to free software.

By streaming yur HD DVDs with Tiversity or anything else you DO realise that you are downgrading the HD concept and especially the sound part. No matter what you do DO NOT expect True HD sound with any kind of streaming or in any other form than HDMI 1.3. Especially DTS HD Master Audio which is supposed to be the best (judging from bit-rate up to 20-25 Mbps compare to 4 with Dolby True HD). And since. I am no expert on HD DVD all that holds in case they come with DTS HD Master Audio.

And if you have an HTPC you are better off with MKVs containing 1.5 Mbps DTS rather than PS3 streaming.

On the other hand if you do not care that much about sound.....


Another good option for all is to rip them on your HDs and use a dual version of PDVD (V3319 that allows playing from the HD, but with the decoders of 3370 that do not down sample audio to 48Khz yet this version alone does not support playing HD discs from the hard disk). And this shows true benefits only when you have an X-Meridian or X-fi Prelude connected to your receiver with analog cables - not SPDIF).

 

[nunyabiz]

I think that since all movie studios are going blu-ray, they should have a trade in program to exchange HD-DVD movies for the same movie in blu-ray. They could maybe charge $5 for the trouble. You can bet the adoption rate for the next great thing will be super slow because people will be not willing to take the risk. I realize it would be a loss for them, but it would help restore consumer confidence with future projects.

 

[SuperSparky]

The claim the article makes about being able to watch from your hard disk shows ignorance. I have a Xbox-360 HD-DVD drive, and the boxed Harry Potter HD-DVD set (the one that come in the miniature "trunk"). It take numerous tries to even get the drive to recognize the disc. When it does, PowerDVD plays it fine.

I've used AnyDVD-HD to rip it to my media server (I hate discs). It rips just fine. The only problem is NOTHING in both Linux and Windows can play the "feature.EVO" files because the sound codec's do not exist. Some of you may say "just play it with PowerDVD", but you forget that it doesn't play EVO files from the hard drive, and I purchased it long after that feature was removed at the behest of the movie companies (it doesn't matter because the older versions didn't do DV+ anyway). The other EVO files play fine because they use standard AC3 or MPEG2 stereo codecs.

The feature files use the the DV+ audio codec and nobody has that in open source or for use to play files not burned on a disc. Sure, "mplayer" or "xine" play the video just fine, if you don't mind reading lips.

Just so nobody starts flaming, even the discs have a warning on them that they have "advanced" features on them and some older players will not play them.

I had hoped to be able to transcode them to Divx-HD simply for storage on my media server. However, even that legitimate use is lost to me.

So I'm stuck with discs that barely work in a Xbox-360 HD-DVD drive, and files I can't transcode. I have no more hopes of a firmware upgrade to fix the HD-DVD drive either. Owning a betamax didn't suck like this (yeah, I'm a geezer).

 

[gtg465x]

You can bet that now HD-DVD is down the tubes any movie will be re-released on Blu-Ray pretty quick. Oh, and screw Transformers, what a travesty of a once great cartoon. If I wanted to watch a Chevy ad, I'd goto http://www.chevrolet.com.

I just don't get people like this. Would you rather them use a generic car that they created for the movie? Who gives a flying F*CK what kind of car they used, it was bad ass!

In my opinion, not using real brands in movies makes them silly and less realistic.

 

[FLECOM]

just rip them as ISO's and mount them with daemon tools, problem solved

 

[gtg465x]

that would be piracy

You think it's piracy to copy an HD-DVD you already own on to a Blu-Ray disc? HD-DVD is dead, should we just throw away our movies we paid for because the format is dead and rebuy the same ones on Blu-Ray? Who are you, the MPAA?

 

[Snowdog]

You think it's piracy to copy an HD-DVD you already own on to a Blu-Ray disc? HD-DVD is dead, should we just throw away our movies we paid for because the format is dead and rebuy the same ones on Blu-Ray? Who are you, the MPAA?

It would be piracy to copy it and then sell the original, which is what someone was advocating.

 

[Deviationer]

you shouldn't been to transcode it. Both HD-DVD and Blu-ray support the same video and audio formats and specs. You would need some way to re-author the content from the HD-DVD format to the Blu-ray format (as in the format stored on the disc). Or at a min, just strip out the movie+audio and reauthor that into the Blu-Ray format

 

[gtg465x]

It would be piracy to copy it and then sell the original, which is what someone was advocating.

Oh, I missed the "then sell" part.

 

[glutto]

In my opinion, not using real brands in movies makes them silly and less realistic.

So you would rather see a movie where every single person uses, let's say, Sony Vaio's , Sony Memory Sticks, Sony Bravias, Sony Handycams ,Sony Cybershots, Sony etc, etc ,etc, instead of having actual brand selection? That would be one very wrong universe. I would hang myself in such a situation.

Personally I enjoy Mythbusters brand soda and hair products. This simple act of covering branding allows me to watch this show without disgust.

Anyhow, on topic, I very strongly doubt there will ever be a trade-in program for movies. The studios have your money, and you'll pay again for Blu-ray. With this fact alone I would encourage people to convert, even if it's to h264 DVD-size. They won't show you any mercy, you lowdown, dirty, DRM-cracking thieves.

 

[gtg465x]

So you would rather see a movie where every single person uses, let's say, Sony Vaio's , Sony Memory Sticks, Sony Bravias, Sony Handycams ,Sony Cybershots, Sony etc, etc ,etc, instead of having actual brand selection? That would be one very wrong universe. I would hang myself in such a situation.

If it's taken this far then yeah, it would be stupid. But complaining about the main car in the movie being a Chevy? Come on, no one complained about the famous Dodge Charger in the Dukes of Hazard shows back in the day.

 

[glutto]

If it's taken this far then yeah, it would be stupid. But complaining about the main car in the movie being a Chevy? Come on, no one complained about the famous Dodge Charger in the Dukes of Hazard shows back in the day.

I haven't seen Transformers, but I was mildly disturbed at the few and obvious Sony advertisements in Casino Royale, disturbed nearly to the point of interrupting the movie and wondering aloud to other theater-goers..

As for the old Dukes shows, I don't think they gave large and unnecessary sections of screen to the Chevy logo. I could be wrong, since it's been a long while since I've seen those episodes...

 

[nunyabiz]

I haven't seen Transformers, but I was mildly disturbed at the few and obvious Sony advertisements in Casino Royale, disturbed nearly to the point of interrupting the movie and wondering aloud to other theater-goers..

As for the old Dukes shows, I don't think they gave large and unnecessary sections of screen to the Chevy logo. I could be wrong, since it's been a long while since I've seen those episodes...

I think the Duke car was a Dodge....

 

[FLECOM]

You think it's piracy to copy an HD-DVD you already own on to a Blu-Ray disc? HD-DVD is dead, should we just throw away our movies we paid for because the format is dead and rebuy the same ones on Blu-Ray? Who are you, the MPAA?

no that would be fair use... the person i quoted suggested copying your HD-DVD's to Blu-Ray and then selling said HD-DVD's on ebay... that would, in fact, be piracy

believe me im a huge supporter of fair use, and of owning media legally...

no matter how much the **AA's $hit on our consumer rights unfortunately...

 

[TechLarry]

I won't poop my pants if you pay me one meeelion dollars...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuXkMi3BeWI

lol...But yeah it's pretty much nort worth the time since almost everything will be released on Blu Ray. Also the reason I mentioned Transformers is because it has some of the best PQ on HD DVD and makes great demo material.It's a good action popcorn flick, nothing more. I really didn't think nothing of it, just liked the visuals.

 

[xxGriff]

that would be piracy

given the definitions of piracy under the DMCA, just about everyone is a pirate to some degree. i would have no problem converting a HD to BR, and sell my (hypothetical) HD player. keep the original movies in their respective packaging (in HD-DVD exactly as purchased) and use as fair use. i bought and own the movie(s), i converted to my format of choice, and i am not selling or making any monies nor do i share or p2p. just for private use, and viewing. works for me...but then again i did not go HD-DVD, but it is good to have a reference for conversion, as i have a couple friends who invested early and substantially in HD-DVD. if and/or when they decide to go BR and ditch the HD players completely, they have an option that does not require dumping their libraries for pennies on the dollar and buying the movies all over again (keeping their movies of course). if you like the work...pay for it! if it is "too" expensive" or you dont care for the product don't buy it, and don't steal it
.

 

[gtg465x]

I haven't seen Transformers, but I was mildly disturbed at the few and obvious Sony advertisements in Casino Royale, disturbed nearly to the point of interrupting the movie and wondering aloud to other theater-goers..

As for the old Dukes shows, I don't think they gave large and unnecessary sections of screen to the Chevy logo. I could be wrong, since it's been a long while since I've seen those episodes...

Hmm... I guess stuff like that just doesn't bother me. I don't even remember seeing Sony stuff everywhere in Casino Royale, but I'm sure I would notice it now that you pointed it out. I focus mostly on the story and other important aspects rather than looking at brands.

 

[bfellow]

One thing I learn from Transformers is that Mountain Dew is evil

 

[Snowknight26]

The claim the article makes about being able to watch from your hard disk shows ignorance.

No, it does not, because you can play them from your HDD. You need Haali Media Splitter, ffdshow, and possibly the latest build of ffmpeg with the TrueHD/eac3 decoding support.

I've used AnyDVD-HD to rip it to my media server (I hate discs). It rips just fine. The only problem is NOTHING in both Linux and Windows can play the "feature.EVO" files because the sound codec's do not exist. Some of you may say "just play it with PowerDVD", but you forget that it doesn't play EVO files from the hard drive, and I purchased it long after that feature was removed at the behest of the movie companies (it doesn't matter because the older versions didn't do DV+ anyway). The other EVO files play fine because they use standard AC3 or MPEG2 stereo codecs.

Like I said before, you need Haali Media Splitter to be able to split the EVO's A/V streams, and ffdshow for decoding the audio and video.
HD DVDs' video is one of three formats: H.264, VC-1, and MPEG-2
Not surprisingly, ffdshow (using libavcodec) can decode all 3.
Then there is the audio. AC3, E-AC3, TrueHD, LPCM, and DTS (and other DTS variants). If the audio is AC3, LPCM, or DTS, then ffdshow can decode it. E-AC3, TrueHD, and the other DTS variants either need transcoding using eac3to or you could try playing them with experimental ffmpeg builds.

The feature files use the the DV+ audio codec and nobody has that in open source or for use to play files not burned on a disc. Sure, "mplayer" or "xine" play the video just fine, if you don't mind reading lips.

I believe you mean DD+ (E-AC3), and like I said previously, either transcode it with eac3to or try to play it back with experimental ffmpeg builds which include E-AC3 decoding.

I had hoped to be able to transcode them to Divx-HD simply for storage on my media server. However, even that legitimate use is lost to me.

I don't know why on earth anyone would use Divx for encoding 720p/1080p content when x264 is vastly superior.

...and files I can't transcode.

Ehhem.

 

[webdev511]

One thing I learn from Transformers is that Mountain Dew is evil

And xBox 360s too!!!

If anyone were going to do this they would have to have a LOT of extra cash, a LOT of time and a HUGE amount of hate for hd dvd.

If you've got enough movies important enough to rip, then you're probably better off just keeping them and picking up a spare player on ebay for cheap.

Few if any people can tell the difference between formats on the same movie, 60" screen, same resolution (1080p of course) and same audio system is full of it.

 

[Snowknight26]

Few if any people can tell the difference between formats on the same movie, 60" screen, same resolution (1080p of course) and same audio system is full of it.

Don't forget that when a movie is released on HD DVD and Blu-ray, they don't necessarily have to use the same video stream and video codec. The Phantom of the Opera does (Same VC-1 stream, though both are corrupt, haha) while The Prestige doesn't and one of them is clearly better quality (which has nothing to do directly with the disk's medium).

 

[FLECOM]

given the definitions of piracy under the DMCA, just about everyone is a pirate to some degree. i would have no problem converting a HD to BR, and sell my (hypothetical) HD player. keep the original movies in their respective packaging (in HD-DVD exactly as purchased) and use as fair use. i bought and own the movie(s), i converted to my format of choice, and i am not selling or making any monies nor do i share or p2p. just for private use, and viewing. works for me...but then again i did not go HD-DVD, but it is good to have a reference for conversion, as i have a couple friends who invested early and substantially in HD-DVD. if and/or when they decide to go BR and ditch the HD players completely, they have an option that does not require dumping their libraries for pennies on the dollar and buying the movies all over again (keeping their movies of course). if you like the work...pay for it! if it is "too" expensive" or you dont care for the product don't buy it, and don't steal it
.

again, the person i quoted suggested copying it over and selling the original media... therefore voiding his fair use rights....

i do think that you have the right to move it over as you see fit to keep your ability to play it back

 

[SuperSparky]

I have the latest versions (even the special patched versions) of mplayer and ffmpeg with all of the nifty new codecs, including AC3E, but guess what? They don't work on this movie. Did you even read my post? SOME other movies work fine, but not all of them. The new (with patches) mplayer (which has the more recent ffmpeg libraries) will not play the media. amd guess what, it's a KNOWN issue, not some special mystery or problem only I have. Doom9's forum has discussions about it.

Also, I can split the streams until I have three cracks in my ass, but the audio streams are useless (I've tried). The point of this HD-DVD Harry Potter release was, I guess, quality, and they chose the highest quality codecs to achieve that.

x264 isn't the only format I'd transcode it to. I have a pocket PC I like to have a movie or two on and Divx fits the bill just fine. The issue here is the ability to transcode NOT what it is transcoded to. I'm less worried about size and more concerned about convenience and network playability on other devices (Xbox-360, PS3, etc.)

No, it does not, because you can play them from your HDD. You need Haali Media Splitter, ffdshow, and possibly the latest build of ffmpeg with the TrueHD/eac3 decoding support.

Right, for many movies. Wrong for most recently released ones. Thank you for playing....

Like I said before, you need Haali Media Splitter to be able to split the EVO's A/V streams, and ffdshow for decoding the audio and video.
HD DVDs' video is one of three formats: H.264, VC-1, and MPEG-2
Not surprisingly, ffdshow (using libavcodec) can decode all 3.
Then there is the audio. AC3, E-AC3, TrueHD, LPCM, and DTS (and other DTS variants). If the audio is AC3, LPCM, or DTS, then ffdshow can decode it. E-AC3, TrueHD, and the other DTS variants either need transcoding using eac3to or you could try playing them with experimental ffmpeg builds.

None of those libraries decode what are on some of the newest discs. I have a few discs that decode just fine, and some (I gave one as a specific) that refuse to work, even with those new ffmpeg libraries. The "extras" on the disc use VC-1 for audio, but the feature is the pain in the butt.

I believe you mean DD+ (E-AC3), and like I said previously, either transcode it with eac3to or try to play it back with experimental ffmpeg builds which include E-AC3 decoding.

Perhaps your right that it's "DD+", I'm at work, can't verify. Nevertheless, the variant that disc has, does not work on the experimental releases, and believe me I tried and compiled each of them. The same goes for mplayer variants as well.

I don't know why on earth anyone would use Divx for encoding 720p/1080p content when x264 is vastly superior.

Well, my devices are at eye level, or lower, not high up, because my nose is not stuck up at such a high angle as yours, and some of them don't play x264

 

[SuperSparky]

Actually, I wouldn't mind keeping the HD-DVD stuff if it actually worked well. The Xbox-360 HD-DVD doesn't read the new discs very well. The older ones it reads fine. I have no idea what they changed in the last six months, but those discs are a bear to get the drive to even recognize. That's why I'd like to transcode them, to avoid the headache of getting the drive to decide to recognize the disc so it will play the movie.

Yes, I do hook it up to the Xbox-360, on occasion, to allow for any updates.

That's not very intelligent. $1000 dollars worth of work, time, equipment vs keeping the hd dvd stuff.

 

[Snowknight26]

x264 isn't the only format I'd transcode it to. I have a pocket PC I like to have a movie or two on and Divx fits the bill just fine. The issue here is the ability to transcode NOT what it is transcoded to. I'm less worried about size and more concerned about convenience and network playability on other devices (Xbox-360, PS3, etc.)

x264 isn't a format, its an encoder.. it encodes H.264 streams.
Most devices nowadays support H.264, be it Level 2.0, 3.0, 4.1, etc.

Right, for many movies. Wrong for most recently released ones.

No, you're wrong. The HD DVD specs haven't been updated much if at all recently, so the container that the streams are in (or EVO) all have the same structure (minus some odd ones like The Phantom of the Opera). If you can't play it then you're doing something wrong.

None of those libraries decode what are on some of the newest discs.

Wrong again. There are no new HD DVD formats. All of them can be decoded (played).
I have a few discs that decode just fine, and some (I gave one as a specific) that refuse to

The "extras" on the disc use VC-1 for audio, but the feature is the pain in the butt.

I don't know where you're getting your info from, but VC-1 is an video codec.

Nevertheless, the variant that disc has, does not work on the experimental releases, and believe me I tried and compiled each of them.

It might not be played at the moment because of the lack of DirectShow filters, but if it can be decoded (which it can - eac3to) then it can be played.

Well, my devices are at eye level, or lower, not high up, because my nose is not stuck up at such a high angle as yours, and some of them don't play x264

What does angle have to do with anything? Personal attack there? Be polite.
And as I said before, x264 is an encoder, not a codec. x264 encodes H.264 streams.

 

[raisis2k3]

I hate technology sometimes :/

 

[nilepez]

So you would rather see a movie where every single person uses, let's say, Sony Vaio's , Sony Memory Sticks, Sony Bravias, Sony Handycams ,Sony Cybershots, Sony etc, etc ,etc, instead of having actual brand selection? That would be one very wrong universe. I would hang myself in such a situation.

Personally I enjoy Mythbusters brand soda and hair products. This simple act of covering branding allows me to watch this show without disgust.

Anyhow, on topic, I very strongly doubt there will ever be a trade-in program for movies. The studios have your money, and you'll pay again for Blu-ray. With this fact alone I would encourage people to convert, even if it's to h264 DVD-size. They won't show you any mercy, you lowdown, dirty, DRM-cracking thieves.

So long as you can rip to an HD, it probably won't matter that much. There's no reason to swap disks so long as you've got a working HD-DVD drive, because any former HD-DVD exclusive titles will likely be shovel ware. It's unlikely they'll remaster them just to put them out on BD during the first round, and when they do remaster them, if the improvement is worth buying it again, then it's worth buying it.

I may be glad that BD won, but if I owned HD-DVD, I'd probably hold onto the drive, buy disks on the cheap and get a BD drive when the prices drop.

Hell, I suspect that most computer drives will continue to be dual drives....it wouldn't surprise me if Toshiba dropped the price to license the IP dramatically, just to get a little bit of cash with each drive..