HD-DVD Players

[sitheris]

This is probably a dumb question, but are HD DVD Players on the market yet?

My parents just bought an LCD HDTV and want to buy a DVD player for it but I told them to hold off for HD DVD and there might even be players out already.

Anyone know ?

 

[BillLeeLee]

Short answer: no. Maybe in first quarter 2006.

Long answer: the group that's supposed to standardize AACS (advanced DRM scheme for HD-DVD and Blu-Ray) hasn't fully standardized it yet. This has forced Toshiba to delay the release of HD-DVD in Japan, where it wanted to release the first players before January.

 

[MrGuvernment]

Panasons already has in testing / productions HD / Blue ray players - i think it was Panasonic, they are usually the first - i would tell them to wait if they can, or just grab some $100 DVD player to hold them over since HD and BlueRay wont be mass productions until 2006 i would say mid year.. ?

 

[CyByte]

the first generation of HD and Blu-ray is going to just have a lot of stupid extra crap that will be re-released later on anyways with more information that can actually be used by consumers. Just get a cheap dvd player to hold you over and buy an expensive HD-DVD or blu-ray if you see the need later.

Just remember there will be 2 standards like vhs vs beta so either choose carefully (which didn't help last time because the superior one lost) or wait it out.

HD-DVD and blu-ray WILL play current DVDs, but they won't play eachother's formats


patience is a virtue

 

[NulloModo]

Don't waste money on a cheap $100 DVD player... at least get something solid.

I recommend this unit personally:

http://www.tvauthority.com/DVD-Play...sp?srccode=cii_14110944&cpncode=10-14833780-2

Why? First off: Faroudja DCDi processing will give you a much sharper cleaner picture than most of the other chips on the market.

DVD-A support means hi-res audio if they have a good sound system and like to listen to music.

Most important since you have an LCD display: this unit has HDMI digital out, and can send a pure digital 720p signal from the DVD player to your TV, no Analog/digital conversion, and no scaling inside of your display. The player handles it all digitall inside, you get to use the better processing chip in the DVD player instead of having to use the scaler in your TV, so your picture will be much sharper, it is the closest standard DVD can get to HD right now. It is flat out dumb to not buy an upconverting DVD player if you have a fixed pixel display device (such as LCD).

As for HD-DVD/ Blu-Ray: I'm wagering on next year as well, HD-DVD might hit the shelves first, but Blu-Ray will be in the PS3, so get a much wider and faster initial adoption.

 

[sitheris]

Don't waste money on a cheap $100 DVD player... at least get something solid.

I recommend this unit personally:

http://www.tvauthority.com/DVD-Play...sp?srccode=cii_14110944&cpncode=10-14833780-2

Why? First off: Faroudja DCDi processing will give you a much sharper cleaner picture than most of the other chips on the market.

DVD-A support means hi-res audio if they have a good sound system and like to listen to music.

Most important since you have an LCD display: this unit has HDMI digital out, and can send a pure digital 720p signal from the DVD player to your TV, no Analog/digital conversion, and no scaling inside of your display. The player handles it all digitall inside, you get to use the better processing chip in the DVD player instead of having to use the scaler in your TV, so your picture will be much sharper, it is the closest standard DVD can get to HD right now. It is flat out dumb to not buy an upconverting DVD player if you have a fixed pixel display device (such as LCD).

As for HD-DVD/ Blu-Ray: I'm wagering on next year as well, HD-DVD might hit the shelves first, but Blu-Ray will be in the PS3, so get a much wider and faster initial adoption.

Newegg has a few nice looking dvd players with HDMI out for about $100-139 IIRC. Wouldn't they work just as well? My parents are gonna regret this purchasing decision if they have to spend $200 for a dvd player. I already told them they'll need HDTV service from the cable company, and while they're at it they may as well sign up for the DVR service as well

 

[NulloModo]

Newegg has a few nice looking dvd players with HDMI out for about $100-139 IIRC. Wouldn't they work just as well? My parents are gonna regret this purchasing decision if they have to spend $200 for a dvd player. I already told them they'll need HDTV service from the cable company, and while they're at it they may as well sign up for the DVR service as well

There is more than just HDMI output. A good chipset in the DVD player will make a world of difference.

And honestly, if they layed out the money for a HDTV, why not spend the extra 60-100 on DVD player that will really make it shine?

 

[c1001]

If you are looking for upconvering HD-DVD answers (or questions) I recommend you check out the AVS Forum. You can get into an inane and insane level of detail there. I have an Oppo (with Faroudja processing) with a DVI connector and a Toshiba SD6980 with HDMI. Both are around the $200 range.

My experience: I really can't see a difference in quality between either at five feet away on a 37" Sharp LCD. They are both a little better than the image I get from a standard $50 DVD player, but nothing eye popping better. I guess the bottom line is that upconverting a 480i DVD does not make it HD quality, and never will.

With true HD-DVD coming out "sometime next year", I'd wait before jumping on the soon to be extinct upconverting wagon. Then you can overpay and take your chances on guessing which format will win.

IMO, the whole HD market is still mostly smoke and hype, as well as way out of proportion expensive for what you actually get. You "upgrade" from a $200 tube TV to a $2500 LCD or plasma and all of a sudden your 200 channels of cable TV look like utter shit. You can pay $10-40 extra per month to your cable company for the 5-10 HD channels available in your area, or go back to the days of hooking up an external antenna to your roof for the 3-4 free OTA channels if you live in a major city. The 200 other channels will still look like shit! HD-TV looks good in the Best Buy display room, but there's only so much Discovery Channel I can watch.
DVDs are not any better on an LCD or Plasma than on a decent CRT, and in fact tend to show less detail than on your old tube TV, tend to ghost with motion scenes, macroblock, and show false or off colors. You can spend $200 on top of the $2500 to get all that additional acreage of screen "professionally calibrated" and hopefully get a respectable PQ still limited by the inherent deficiencies of Plasma and LCD screens. I have sunk the money and the time into this mess, but if I had to do it over, I'd wait until better technology comes out that is worth the hassle and price.

 

[NulloModo]

If you are looking for upconvering HD-DVD answers (or questions) I recommend you check out the AVS Forum. You can get into an inane and insane level of detail there. I have an Oppo (with Faroudja processing) with a DVI connector and a Toshiba SD6980 with HDMI. Both are around the $200 range.

My experience: I really can't see a difference in quality between either at five feet away on a 37" Sharp LCD. They are both a little better than the image I get from a standard $50 DVD player, but nothing eye popping better. I guess the bottom line is that upconverting a 480i DVD does not make it HD quality, and never will.

With true HD-DVD coming out "sometime next year", I'd wait before jumping on the soon to be extinct upconverting wagon. Then you can overpay and take your chances on guessing which format will win.

IMO, the whole HD market is still mostly smoke and hype, as well as way out of proportion expensive for what you actually get. You "upgrade" from a $200 tube TV to a $2500 LCD or plasma and all of a sudden your 200 channels of cable TV look like utter shit. You can pay $10-40 extra per month to your cable company for the 5-10 HD channels available in your area, or go back to the days of hooking up an external antenna to your roof for the 3-4 free OTA channels if you live in a major city. The 200 other channels will still look like shit! HD-TV looks good in the Best Buy display room, but there's only so much Discovery Channel I can watch.
DVDs are not any better on an LCD or Plasma than on a decent CRT, and in fact tend to show less detail than on your old tube TV, tend to ghost with motion scenes, macroblock, and show false or off colors. You can spend $200 on top of the $2500 to get all that additional acreage of screen "professionally calibrated" and hopefully get a respectable PQ still limited by the inherent deficiencies of Plasma and LCD screens. I have sunk the money and the time into this mess, but if I had to do it over, I'd wait until better technology comes out that is worth the hassle and price.

A lot of the problems you have having can be traced back to cheap LCDs/DLPs/Plasmas.

First of all, a quality HDTV will make your SD channels look better, not like shit. The upconversion in Sony and Hitachi CRT RP sets is especially good for this. Likewise DVDs should, and do, look much, much, better on a good HDTV than on an analog set. I will take some pics later today of the same DVD playing on my 57" HDTV and my 32" (very high quality) analog TV. I'll eat my had if anyone thinks they look better on the analog set. Yes, there is a bit of macroblocking, but that is an issue with my current DVD player, not my TV, it never happened with my previous unit at all.

Also, HD service is only $5 anywhere around here over the regular digital cable service, though if you were comparing it to analog cable I could see where the $40 would come in. As for as channels, here there is INHD, INHD2, DiscoveryHD, HBOHD, ShowtimeHD, NBC-HD, ABC-HD, CBS-HD, FOX-HD, and ESPN-HD. That pretty much covers the bases of anything I'd watch anyway.