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Curt Palme
CRT Tech
Joined: 08 Mar 2006
Posts: 24305
Location: Langley, BC
TV/Projector: All of them!
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 Link Posted: Fri Feb 22, 2008 8:19 pm Post subject: New life for HD DVD? |
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So not that I've been following the war closely or anything, but a couple of things strike me.
1) Anyone not alredy having an HD DVD or BR player should go screaming out and get a couple of the blowout pricing HD DVD players. It will make any SD DVD look 20-30% (subjectively speaking) better.
2) With Toshiba having spent a crapload on the R&D and manufacturing equipment on HD DVD, can they not crank out an HD DVD recorder for ginormous hard drive backup ability, or some or storage device? Seems to me that this would be good use of getting back some of the zillions that they've spent.
If they release it as a computer data device only, they could easily say:
'Gee Sony, we had no idea that some computer geeks could hack the recorder and turn it into a BR bootleg machine."
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garyfritz
Joined: 08 Apr 2006
Posts: 12026
Location: Fort Collins, CO
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| Link Posted: Fri Feb 22, 2008 8:49 pm Post subject: Re: New life for HD DVD? |
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| Curt Palme wrote: | | 1) Anyone not alredy having an HD DVD or BR player should go screaming out and get a couple of the blowout pricing HD DVD players. It will make any SD DVD look 20-30% (subjectively speaking) better. |
Why would it be any better than any other good upscaling SD DVD player?
| Quote: | | 2) With Toshiba having spent a crapload on the R&D and manufacturing equipment on HD DVD, can they not crank out an HD DVD recorder for ginormous hard drive backup ability, or some or storage device? Seems to me that this would be good use of getting back some of the zillions that they've spent. |
I like it. I would **LOVE** to have a 30GB backup device.
| Quote: | | 'Gee Sony, we had no idea that some computer geeks could hack the recorder and turn it into a BR bootleg machine." |
Who ME!???? 
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Joust
Joined: 05 May 2006
Posts: 2431
Location: Almonte, Ontario, Canada
TV/Projector: Marquee 8501LC
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| Link Posted: Fri Feb 22, 2008 8:56 pm Post subject: |
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This is exactly why I want a Xa2.
I'll wager hackers will figure out how to put a BD drive in it.
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Curt Palme
CRT Tech
Joined: 08 Mar 2006
Posts: 24305
Location: Langley, BC
TV/Projector: All of them!
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| Link Posted: Fri Feb 22, 2008 9:20 pm Post subject: Re: New life for HD DVD? |
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| garyfritz wrote: |
Why would it be any better than any other good upscaling SD DVD player?
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Maybe it's just me, but I put the identical SD DVD into a Toshiba A2 vs a Panasonic 480p unit, both bvia component output, and the A2 image looked better. Specifically the screen credits were noticeably sharper.
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Joust
Joined: 05 May 2006
Posts: 2431
Location: Almonte, Ontario, Canada
TV/Projector: Marquee 8501LC
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| Link Posted: Fri Feb 22, 2008 9:23 pm Post subject: |
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and the HD-dvd player has a lot more horsepower and it runs linux.
linux is open source. prime playground for the "hackers"
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Person99
Joined: 09 Mar 2006
Posts: 4901
Location: Flower Mound, TX
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| Link Posted: Fri Feb 22, 2008 9:30 pm Post subject: Re: New life for HD DVD? |
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| Curt Palme wrote: | | garyfritz wrote: |
Why would it be any better than any other good upscaling SD DVD player?
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Maybe it's just me, but I put the identical SD DVD into a Toshiba A2 vs a Panasonic 480p unit, both bvia component output, and the A2 image looked better. Specifically the screen credits were noticeably sharper. |
Its not you. The upscaling in the HD DVD players is better than pretty much any upscaling player costing 3 times as much. A few scalers still beat it, but I've not seen an upscaling DVD player that costs less than 3 times as much that does as good. Curt is right on the money, even if you never intend to play an HD DVD, there is no way you are getting a better upscaling player at this price.
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A train station is where the train stops. A bus station is where the bus stops. On my desk, I have a work station....
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Curt Palme
CRT Tech
Joined: 08 Mar 2006
Posts: 24305
Location: Langley, BC
TV/Projector: All of them!
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| Link Posted: Fri Feb 22, 2008 9:33 pm Post subject: |
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<blushes>
I think the next mailer will have that on it... less Kal's typos..
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AvgOrdinaryGuy
Joined: 03 Dec 2006
Posts: 123
Location: Northeast Arkansas USA
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| Link Posted: Fri Feb 22, 2008 9:34 pm Post subject: Re: New life for HD DVD? |
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| Person99 wrote: | | even if you never intend to play an HD DVD, there is no way you are getting a better upscaling player at this price. |
This is exactly what I've been considering for a while now. If I can find someone willing to part with an A2 for cheap (thinking that it is a dead format, so their player won't be any good anymore), I'll take it. One thing I'm not sure about though. Does the A2 output 1080i over component, or just HDMI?
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scottap
Joined: 27 Mar 2007
Posts: 177
Location: Palo Alto, CA
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| Link Posted: Fri Feb 22, 2008 10:08 pm Post subject: |
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I know it comes under the category of costing twice as much (if you buy it new), but my Oppo 981 spanks my A30 when it comes to upscaling SD DVDs. It outperforms the PS3 as well.
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greg_mitch
Joined: 03 May 2006
Posts: 5321
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| Link Posted: Fri Feb 22, 2008 10:58 pm Post subject: Re: New life for HD DVD? |
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| AvgOrdinaryGuy wrote: | | Person99 wrote: | | even if you never intend to play an HD DVD, there is no way you are getting a better upscaling player at this price. |
This is exactly what I've been considering for a while now. If I can find someone willing to part with an A2 for cheap (thinking that it is a dead format, so their player won't be any good anymore), I'll take it. One thing I'm not sure about though. Does the A2 output 1080i over component, or just HDMI? |
It will only output SD DVD up to 480p over component but you can get HD DVD up to 1080i on component.
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AvgOrdinaryGuy
Joined: 03 Dec 2006
Posts: 123
Location: Northeast Arkansas USA
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| Link Posted: Fri Feb 22, 2008 11:05 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks for the clarification, Greg. That is what I was afraid of. I quess I'll just stick with the HTPC set-up I'm now using. It's doing fine for SD DVD. Some time down the road I'll probably look into a BR player, 'cause I doubt I'll want to try the BR disk on HTPC route.
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Clarence
Joined: 08 Mar 2006
Posts: 3793
Location: Smith Mtn Lake, VA
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| Link Posted: Fri Feb 22, 2008 11:07 pm Post subject: |
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I don't like the boot up time, nor the remote control responsiveness (or lack thereof) of the Toshiba players.
Instead of spending $100-$150 on a HDDVD player, I'd rather see people apply that towards a PS3.
PS3 burners are cheaper, more readily available, and the media has twice the storage capacity.
Future authoring support will also be much greated for BD-R.
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MikeEby
Joined: 24 Jun 2007
Posts: 5238
Location: Osceola, Indiana
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| Link Posted: Sat Feb 23, 2008 4:44 am Post subject: |
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| Clarence wrote: | I don't like the boot up time, nor the remote control responsiveness (or lack thereof) of the Toshiba players.
Instead of spending $100-$150 on a HDDVD player, I'd rather see people apply that towards a PS3.
PS3 burners are cheaper, more readily available, and the media has twice the storage capacity.
Future authoring support will also be much greated for BD-R. |
Both of these issues were things I didn't like about the 1st generation Toshiba player. Disk load time was slow too. Maybe it was better with 2nd generation units, but I went to an HTPC with an XBox addin before they were released, because I couldn't deal with the HDMI/HDCP crap.
Mike
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MYoung
Joined: 24 Feb 2007
Posts: 369
Location: Madison, WI
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| Link Posted: Sat Feb 23, 2008 3:42 pm Post subject: |
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| Clarence wrote: |
PS3 burners are cheaper, more readily available, and the media has twice the storage capacity.
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Bit of a Freudian slip there! Isn't it the truth though? "Now available on DVD and PS3!"
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