Hd Dvd

[Vancouver]

Anyone know any details about this? i.e. will they be remastering all current DVD's to be HD DVDs. Will they be 720p? who will come out with the players and will they be crazy amounts of money? Will they much MUCH better then 480p?

 

[ssjadway]

Anyone know any details about this? i.e. will they be remastering all current DVD's to be HD DVDs. Will they be 720p? who will come out with the players and will they be crazy amounts of money? Will they much MUCH better then 480p?

Also check out AVS forum - apparently there's been a lot of discussion over this on that website.

From what I know, there will be no comparison - HD DVD will be far superior to 480p - upto 1080p!, which will be noticeably better than 1080i which is already far, far better than 480p.

No - there won't be remastering as such - but a step-by-step release of HD-DVD software depending on how the market responds to them (demand v. supply) and how much money the studios can make. Players should follow a similar curve for most mass-market equipment - they'll probably be crazy-high for the first couple of years and then decline slowly and then rapidly as consumer acceptance takes on, and as production facililties start gearing up in volume. All the companies are in this game, but are following two separate formats - one is Blu-ray and the other is a different standard, with the Japanese companies divided between them. One of the keys is which format the studios will accept, or will they endorse both. The biggest issue for the studios is copy-protection, because with the fantastic quality of HD-DVD, they could lose billions of $ if they don't take steps to make sure piracy doesn't happen. So the higher resolutions will not likely be available except in a fully digital, super encrypted format - DVI/HDMI. But for all the encryption, there's all the hackers.....

 

[djoxygen]

If you're interested in the remastering, do a google search for "Lowry Digital". In the last year or so, many of the big-budget films have been mastered at 4K resolution, then downconverted to DVD resolution for consumer sales. Presumably they are using the same masters to do HD through HBO and other HD cable/satellite channels. When the time comes to release some HD playback format, they will use the same masters and downconvert to (probably) 1080i/p.

Unfortunately there is a format war shaping up that could make VHS/Beta look like a squirt gun fight. HD-DVD, Blu-Ray (and now this other red-laser format) are scrambling to get studios to commit. Sony is just buying up the studios. And we're all going to get the shaft if they don't settle it out before coming to market.

 

[Rock&Roll Ninja]

Or we might benefit from a format war if the rivalry causes manufacturers to sell their equipment for chaper and cheaper... eventually "universal" movie players will be cheap and plentiful.


Dont beleive me? Look at the hi-res audio war. Neither DVD-A or SACD was willing to step down...so some material has been released on both formats, and universal machines that play DVD-A/SACD/CD/HDCD/MP3/CD/CD-R/CD-RW/DVD/DVD-R/DVD+R/and DVD-RW can be had for under $250!

And you know that Denons (pioneer,panasonic,toshiba,sony, et cetera) secret skunkworks design team already has working DVD/Blu*Ray/HD-DVD/Playstation3 combo machines.... they're just waiting for market saturation.

 

[djoxygen]

You may be right on the hardware side. DVD-A and SACD players became affordable quite quickly. But the software side is still pretty sad. Mostly only major-label stuff because the little guys (IMO where most of the musical fun is to be had) can't afford to bet on one or the other when they're both still not-so-strong players.

I fear this will be the same situation for independent film studios and distributors if the HD format war comes to pass.