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ShimmyShanks Unregistered guest | I have a question - HD DVD Players are coming (soon) and I may pick one up, I was wondering though, will HD DVD Movies cost more than the non-HD DVD movies that are out now? And will HD DVD Players be able to play non-HD DVD movies? If so, will the HD DVD Players produce better pictures for non-HD DVD movies? |
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Chris Markham Unregistered guest | An article in the San Francisco Chronicle today posted a CNET story that http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/11/29/BUG2MFVE391.DTL cited that the Blue-Ray process of production was going to end up costing more per unit due to a lower manufacturing yield and a necessary license fee to Sony for supplying the patented base layer. Those addl. costs would be passed onto consumers. The HDDVD disk didn't suffer from the same overhead burdens. So on one level it depends on which HD DVD format wins the hearts of content providers and manufacturers. Add to that aspect the fact that content providers (movie studios) spy a premium pay option for HD content and I would think it likely that HD DVDs will cost more than their current counterparts. As for the second part of your question, I think it unlikely that the HD players would produce a better picture for std DVDs than the current best DVD players (progressive scan with best chipsets), but of course technology progresses and whatever circuits are robust enough to convert HD signals will have no trouble with the current DVD crop. Will some manufacturer come out with a chipset for a player that converts both formats best? Probably not. Will some player incorporate both chipsets, one for HD and one for DVD into the same box? Probably, and it will be expensive. More importantly you should consider what you'll be displaying either content upon. An ED screen will display a std. DVD picture better than it will display an HD picture, conversion circuitry in the player or TV being equal. |
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Alan Grant Unregistered guest | Hi Chris. I've started another thread called DVD v HD-TV, and I have also been visiting other websites regarding Blu-ray by Sony and the Media Centre red-ray by Microsoft. Personally, it's a bit annoying that we may all have to ditch our current DVDs (I have about 160 DVDs) and buy our movies all over again at higher prices; notwithstanding the money we'd have to shell out for the new HD TV and HD DVD player. I'll admit, I like developing technology and I know things change - I accept that - but I wish companies would think more "backward compatible" - that's the key here. Okay, so you couldn't have done that with a video and a DVD because of course these are physically different items, but you can play a CD a DVD player! That's my point! It did say that Microsoft's red laser would be backward compatible, but most reviews seem to be of the opinion that blu-laser will win the day. To be honest, I think it's a lack of responsibility with some manufacturers who think that everyone can afford entertainment systems costing thousands of pounds. Yes, again, I know that technology has to progress and that the future looks good for DVD/HD-TV, but I really hope that what we get with new HD-DVD is backward-compatibility. Heck, what about someone who has a 1,000 DVDs or more - it's gonna be really costly replacing that lot! I just hope developers/manufacturers think responsibly. It wouldn't be good to indirectly influence people to go out and spend money and get into lots of debt. Anyway, let me know what you think. (Sorry, I do go on a bit!) |
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Praetorian Unregistered guest | Or you could just NOT replace it. If you r going to buy the new toy anywa, keep the old for your old movies, and start the new one with new releases. |
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New member Username: Big_alPenicuik, Midlothian Scotland Post Number: 4 Registered: Dec-05 | I suppose I could buy 2 standard DVD players, which would luckily last me five year each, so that, with my current DVD player probably got another 3 years on it, I could play my 'old' DVDs for the next thirteen years without worrying if the big companies are gonna stop making the current crop of DVD players - if you see what I mean... |
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Shimmyshanks Unregistered guest | When this HD DVD thing starts... will those be the only DVDs available? No more DVDs that we have today? |