HD-DVD Player $199 !

[Buckeyefan 1]

Yeah, that's right - an HD-DVD player for $199. It was in today's CompUSA ad, and I had to look twice to believe it. This could end the format war, if pricing is dropping this soon to the sub $200 level. In 6 months, we could see $99.

EDIT, READ THE FOLLOWING POSTS

http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?pfp=SEARCH&Ntt=avlp2&N=0&Dx=mode+matchall&Nty=1&D=avlp2&Ntk=All&product_code=340292&pfp=srch1

 

[zildjian]

I think this might be too good to be true.

Looking @ the manufacturer's website, the unit may not be able to play what they are referring to as "Commercial HD-DVD's"

Taken from website:

[Usage] Can I play my HD-DVD disc?

No. The LInkPlayer2's DVD drive supports regular CD and DVD type discs. You cannot handle the next generation disc, as HD-DVD or Blu-ray, on this player. The LinkPlayer2 can play high defintion video file created by computers. Otherwise, you can enjoy HDNet type commertial WMV HD discs.

The model number that the above pertains to is the same as the one listed @ CompUSA. I hope I'm wrong about this, but it doesn't look like this is the answer we're looking for. Shoot. I was excited to buy one.

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but I think this is correct according to their website, even though the CompUSA site says HD-DVD compatible.

Link to manufacturer's website
http://www.iodata.com/usa/products/products.php?cat=HNP&sc=AVEL&pId=AVLP2/DVDLA

 

[Buckeyefan 1]

You are unfortunately (for our sake) correct. I just found out this player won't play HD-DVD discs, even though at CompUSA's site it says:

DVD/CD Playback Formats Supported:
Audio CD
CD-R
CD-RW
DVD
DVD-RW/-R
DVD+RW/+R
VCD
HD-DVD

LinkPlayer is not only a HD-DVD player, but also supports digital contents from your networked computers. Both Windows and Macintosh are supported.

Check my last post at AVS. What a sham.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=8106659#post8106659

 

[MACCA350]

Don't think so, here's what the manual says:

Disks supported by the AVeL Link Player
DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, CD-ROM

No mention of HD-DVD at all, bummer

cheers

 

[zildjian]

I was hoping I was wrong cause I want a $200 HD-DVD player!!!!! CompUSA could get a lot of returns over that one if that typo isn't fixed pretty quick.
Brad

 

[Sleestack]

You guys probably didn't read my post in the CD/DVD hardware section, but I am watching true 1080i licensed IMax HD content right now on a player out of China. It is not a Blue Ray or HD-DVD player. It uses a proprietary technology that piggybacks on existing DVD technology and can use up to triple layer DVDs. I have also seen the 1080P machine. These are not upscaling machines (although they can do that), but players that actully play 1080i and 1080p material. Don't know if it will ever be adopted in Japan or over here, but I do know that some major players in China do not want to pay the Japanese for all the different levels of licensing required to make Blu-ray and HD-DVD, and are backing this technology. They have several thousand units ready and will be selling them in China for less than $150 within days/weeks. If they can provide a low cost HD alterative to China and India, and it becomes widely adopted, it will be interesting to see if it trickles in here.

 

[mfabien]

You guys probably didn't read my post in the CD/DVD hardware section, but I am watching true 1080i licensed IMax HD content right now on a player out of China. It is not a Blue Ray or HD-DVD player. It uses a proprietary technology that piggybacks on existing DVD technology and can use up to triple layer DVDs. I have also seen the 1080P machine. These are not upscaling machines (although they can do that), but players that actully play 1080i and 1080p material. Don't know if it will ever be adopted in Japan or over here, but I do know that some major players in China do not want to pay the Japanese for all the different levels of licensing required to make Blu-ray and HD-DVD, and are backing this technology. They have several thousand units ready and will be selling them in China for less than $150 within days/weeks. If they can provide a low cost HD alterative to China and India, and it becomes widely adopted, it will be interesting to see if it trickles in here.

On what format DVD disc? Standard DVD? HD DVD? BR? CD Video?
How was this "licensed IMax HD content" recorded and by whom?
How did you get the player? And the recording?

 

[jonnythan]

HD-DVD is a registered trademark that this company and CompUSA are using illegally.

It's no great feat to make a DVD player that can decode and output 1080i Windows Media content from a DVD. This is no more exciting than a DVD player that can play DivX files. Make a player that reads an HD-DVD disc for $199 and I'll be impressed.

 

[Audioholics]

Actually, I think their official trademark is HD DVD, so the hyphen is the "generic" term (now) for high definition DVD.

It's very confusing and they've done a horrendous job of educating about the correct usage to-date.

 

[jonnythan]

How about that.. quite right. Learn something new every day.

Ugh.

 

[Sleestack]

On what format DVD disc? Standard DVD? HD DVD? BR? CD Video?
How was this "licensed IMax HD content" recorded and by whom?
How did you get the player? And the recording?

It is on a standard dual layer DVD. IT IS NOT BR or HD DVD. It isn't just 1080i, as they also have their 1080P player available.

Don't know exactly who recorded the iMax material, but it is definitely licensed iMax material.

I got the player and recording from the actual developers, patent holders and manufacturers of the product, who are out of Taiwan and Shanghai. It is a different standard than BR or HD DVD and NOT just a player that can play DivX or WMA files. I happen to have deep connections throughout Asia in the areas of manufacturing and technology development. They came to me for some "brand" related matters.

I don't think it should be any surprise that the Chinese are fully capable of developing their own technology and that they want to do something that doesn't require them to pay licensing fees to Japanese companies.

 

[Sleestack]

It's no great feat to make a DVD player that can decode and output 1080i Windows Media content from a DVD. This is no more exciting than a DVD player that can play DivX files. Make a player that reads an HD-DVD disc for $199 and I'll be impressed.

How about a hig definition DVD player for $149 player that doesn't rely on Windows Media content or DivX and can do 1080p? Unfortunately, over here, I doubt we will get much content.

 

[jonnythan]

The 1080i/p has to be encoded somehow, whether it's VC-1, Mpeg, Windows Media, or whatever. Any of these methods can be stored onto a conventional DVD player, and it's simply a matter of putting the right software in the machine to decode it. This is trivial. DivX and Windows Media have found their way into low-end DVD players because these are the formats consumers want - they already have DivX and Windows Media content they'd like to be able to play using their computer DVD-RW in combination with their standard DVD player.

The expensive part is the hardware to read an HD-DVD or Blu-Ray disc.

 

[Sleestack]

The 1080i/p has to be encoded somehow, whether it's VC-1, Mpeg, Windows Media, or whatever. Any of these methods can be stored onto a conventional DVD player, and it's simply a matter of putting the right software in the machine to decode it. This is trivial. DivX and Windows Media have found their way into low-end DVD players because these are the formats consumers want - they already have DivX and Windows Media content they'd like to be able to play using their computer DVD-RW in combination with their standard DVD player.

The expensive part is the hardware to read an HD-DVD or Blu-Ray disc.

Yes, but if you can put out a player that reads 1080i and 1080p, and get companies to license material for that player, why even go Blue Ray or HD DVD in countries that have yet to move forward on either standard?

And FYI, this technology is an alternate to Blue Ray or HD DVD. It relies on its own proprietary technology called FVD and is not relying on either DivX or Windows Media.

 

[jonnythan]

Yes, but if you can put out a player that reads 1080i and 1080p, and get companies to license material for that player, why even go Blue Ray or HD DVD in countries that have yet to move forward on either standard?

Because you're not going to get an awful lot of 1080p onto a single triple layer DVD. That's only ~13GB I'm guessing. If you do fit an entire movie onto one of these things, it's going to look like crap. Maybe if they encode in 720p or something it might look a bit better than DVD.

And FYI, this technology is an alternate to Blue Ray or HD DVD. It relies on its own proprietary technology called FVD and is not relying on either DivX or Windows Media.

It uses some encoding technology. Probably Mpeg or VC-1? It doesn't matter, they're all simply video encoding methods. The big tech in HD-DVD and Blu-Ray isn't the encoding.. Blu-Ray is using the same ol Mpeg that DVDs use for the time being. The big tech is the new disc that has a much much higher bit density than DVD.

 

[Sleestack]

Because you're not going to get an awful lot of 1080p onto a single triple layer DVD. That's only ~13GB I'm guessing. If you do fit an entire movie onto one of these things, it's going to look like crap. Maybe if they encode in 720p or something it might look a bit better than DVD.


It uses some encoding technology. Probably Mpeg or VC-1? It doesn't matter, they're all simply video encoding methods. The big tech in HD-DVD and Blu-Ray isn't the encoding.. Blu-Ray is using the same ol Mpeg that DVDs use for the time being. The big tech is the new disc that has a much much higher bit density than DVD.

Interesting. I will be getting specifics on the 1080p player and the FVD technology later this week. The 1080i on the double layers looks perfect, but I'm sure it requires much less space than 1080p. I do believe that FVD is using its own proprietary encoding (and involves compression), as it does list the other encoded material it can pley (e.g. Mpeg, Windows Media and AVI) right next to it.

 

[jonnythan]

Interesting. I will be getting specifics on the 1080p player and the FVD technology later this week. The 1080i on the double layers looks perfect, but I'm sure it requires much less space than 1080p. I do believe that FVD is using its own proprietary encoding (and involves compression), as it does list the other encoded material it can pley (e.g. Mpeg, Windows Media and AVI) right next to it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FVD

Windows Media v9 is the video codec. AAES copy protection is on top of it.

You get 135 minutes of 1080i on a 3-layer disc. It's very slighly different from DVD in that you get slightly more bits per layer and you can have 3 layers.

Seems like a marginal improvement over DVD.. you can get HD on it, but much lower bitrate HD than you can get onto an HD DVD or BD.

Looks neat, though.

 

[Sleestack]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FVD

Windows Media v9 is the video codec. AAES copy protection is on top of it.

You get 135 minutes of 1080i on a 3-layer disc. It's very slighly different from DVD in that you get slightly more bits per layer and you can have 3 layers.

Seems like a marginal improvement over DVD.. you can get HD on it, but much lower bitrate HD than you can get onto an HD DVD or BD.

Looks neat, though.

Thanks. Wikipidea is amazing. I'm wondering how they got this entire iMax film on a 2 layer though? They also have full length 1080p Chinese movie content on a triple layer.

 

[jonnythan]

You could fit 135 minutes of 1080p on a dual layer DVD... but with the low bitrate it will look awful.

The 1080i content probably looks better than standard DVD's due to more resolution and more bits, but HD DVD probably puts it to shame with the more advanced video codec combined with bitrates that are significantly higher.

 

[Sleestack]

You could fit 135 minutes of 1080p on a dual layer DVD... but with the low bitrate it will look awful.

The 1080i content probably looks better than standard DVD's due to more resolution and more bits, but HD DVD probably puts it to shame with the more advanced video codec combined with bitrates that are significantly higher.

Actually, they conducted DBTs on the FVD 1080i v. HD-DVD and found that subjects were not able to distinguish the material (however I have no idea abou the length of the material used). I am wondering if they have made advancements in the technology that have expanded its abilities. I will be speaking with the engineers this week. Any key questions I should be asking?