High Def DVD on a HTPC ... wow!

E

echn111

[H]ard|Gawd
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I just popped in my first HD-DVD (Transformers) into my new media PC today...

Tried the same movie (standard DVD) last week, comparing the picture from my old Sony DVD player and my new media PC, and was pleased with the results. And after reading a number of posts about how good standard DVD's still were, I wasn't expecting too much.

After watching this in HD, all I can say is "wow"!!

I'm not sure what planet people saying standard DVD's are comparable to HD are on, but I see a massive improvement over standard DVD. The difference is simply astounding: detail is crisp, but more importantly, the blacks are truely black. The overall effect is a picture that is far superior to DVD. There is no comparison to standard DVD.

I'm not sure if all HD or Blu Ray DVD's are as good as this one, but if they are similar, I can understand what the fuss was all about. The only downside is that I'll look at my standard DVD's now and be slightly disappointed.

I am well impressed by the quality of high definition DVD on an HTPC. ;)
 
echn111 said:
The only downside is that I'll look at my standard DVD's now and be slightly disappointed.
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You can always get an upconverting DVD player for those old DVDs. Yes they do work, I'm not sure how they compare to actual HD players/discs but compared to a dvd @1080i the upconverting player looks sooo much better.
 
Good upscaling can help, and people with high end DVD or receivers that handle the upscaling or HTPC's will see an image improvement compared to a budget DVD player.

But after looking at the two, high definition DVD's blow standard DVDs completely out of the water. There is no comparison and I'm really surprised, in a very positive way, at the difference.

Upscaling simply can't create detail where the information simply doesn't exist.
 
I agree 100%. I felt the same way when I went from DVD to Blu-ray on my HTPC. I had a dvd and blu-ray copy of Descent and was blown away, the difference is night and day even with the DVD upscaled. :D
 
Yes, I'm going to have to try out some Blu Ray discs as well although I expect the visuals to be similar to HD-DVD.

What I'm really looking forward to now is listening to the high definition sound that that these HD formats are capable of playing...

Getting my Dolby True HD compatible receiver (Onkyo 605) and the necessary analogue connectors next week (four "3.5mm to 2 RCA" connectors are needed to get Dolby True HD out of my sound card).

Although it's going to be downscaled to 48Khz due to technical limitations of these HTPC's, that's still very good quality sound and I understand that 48kHz/16-bit Dolby True HD is still far better than standard DTS at it's maximum bitrate.

Although I don't expect as big an improvement in the sound as the picture, hopefully there will be some improvement.
 
yeah hddvd/blu-ray dvd doesnt look that much better than standard dvd........


if you are watching on a 15" tv or if you sit a mile away from your screen.
 
RadCliffeX said:
You can always get an upconverting DVD player for those old DVDs. Yes they do work, I'm not sure how they compare to actual HD players/discs but compared to a dvd @1080i the upconverting player looks sooo much better.
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they don't compare, it's black and white
 
I agree on both terms. Upscaled DVDs on a HDTV is almost a requirement vs standard dvd players on a SDTV. However, a quality hi-def movie will blow away any upscaled dvd on a HDTV. Not all hi-def movies are created equal though. I have found a couple guides to help keep this from happening.

HD-DVD: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=942015
Blu-Ray: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=858316

I have a few disappointments of my own. I bought Sleepy Hollow, Aeon Flux, and Tomb Raider on HD-DVD and they all look crappy. I have the DVD and HD-DVD version of Tomb Raider... not much improvement to the new format for this movie. I also have Shooter, Sky Captain, and Four Brothers - these are superb examples of the new hi-def format.

Anybody else disappointed in some of the hi-def movie transitions? It is to the point where I think I should get my money back. Watching these on a new HTPC with a Pioneer 6010FD, so it's definitely not lack of hardware quality. Getting Tomb Raider on hi-def was a complete waste of money, let alone I already owned the dvd. (for the record it came in a multipack sampler)
 
Some of the high def movies can't really look much better just because of the film stock they are working with. Some of it is old and dirtied, or deteriorated. Other stuff might have been shot on higher ISO film with lots of grain that you might not like. Other times it might even be the camera lens they used in certain scenes (12 Monkey's for example). It is best to look on HighDefDigest beforehand to see how they rate the video quality. That can really help out determining what to buy and what not to.
 
Using a Pioneer 6010FD myself. Amazing display. Football in HD is an amazing experience.
 
First, HD-DVD Blue Ray Movies are way better than standard DVDs no matter what your useing to play them as long as you are watching them on a HDTV.
Yes a good upscaling DVD player will make standard DVDs look alot better, but its still not going to look as good as a HD movie.
 
kadozer said:
Question for the OP and those with HTPCs what monitor are you using?
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I'm using a 32" Westinghouse I got for $480 on black friday last year... Works GREAT, even though it's only 720p. Can't beat the price. (only had to show up in line at 2:30a.m.) It was one of those limited edition westinghouses that had the ATI Xillion processor in it. It actually handles hi-def content very well for a cheap TV. I understand you can score some Vizio and Westinghouse LCD TV's today that do quite well for the price, for those of you making budget HTPC's like myself.
 
I got a HP 42" 1080p LCD HDTV on black friday also for $996. Handles SD decently though not spectacular but HD on it is phenomenal. Best bang for my buck!
 
BX_TECH_GOD said:
I got a HP 42" 1080p LCD HDTV on black friday also for $996. Handles SD decently though not spectacular but HD on it is phenomenal. Best bang for my buck!
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Oh yeah, I remember that. Best buy lost about $400 or so each one they sold at that price. Such a killer deal for a name-brand 42" 1080p. Haven't seen another deal like that yet.
 
I agree.

Just got a HD-DVD / Blu-ray multi reader and jesus its like another world.

Problem is that in true HD special effects that looked good on SD look really bad at HD... Spiderman etc.

All i can say is when Monsters inc comes out I may have to sit down, also beowulf is going to be fantastic.

I used to be in the HD-DVD camp but take it from me as a user of both and this hurts to say, I .. think... blu-ray... is ... better. There I said it.
 
I've been using both HD DVD and Blu-ray from the start.. both look the same quality despite the higher format capacity and bitrate Blu-ray offers. It all comes down to the quality of the film they used in shooting the movie. At about 30mbit/sec in 1080p, you aren't going to tell a difference between a 50mbit/sec peak bitrate, especially on a screen smaller than 100 inches. I've done some comparisons sitting 10 feet away from my 105'' screen @ 1080p, and there isn't a difference. Sure some movies look better than others, but it goes both ways. The codecs they use to encode the movies with are efficient enough for what the format can carry. It all comes down to visual acuity. You aren't going to be sitting 4 feet away at 200% zoom comparing on a pixel by pixel level as you watch a movie.
 
Do you not find HD-DVD feels a bit more clunky to use, takes longer for the drive to pick it up and play it etc?
 
I never noticed anything like that. I use the PC for my playback. I pop in a movie and it plays within a few seconds.
 
w1retap said:
I never noticed anything like that. I use the PC for my playback. I pop in a movie and it plays within a few seconds.
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Ah, the magic of the HTPC.... Our Toshiba HD DVD at work, even though it's a newer model, still takes 30 sec + to load some discs, even though they're brand new movies!!! HTPC FTW. Especially when you can get the LG Blu ray/HD DVD combo reader for $300!! That's the price of ONE of the other players (@ 1080p - Toshiba has a cheaper $150 1080i version.)
 
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