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HD DVD and Component
mausmalone
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Here's the rub:
I'm interested in getting an HD DVD player. I like watching things in HD but the HD cable channels have (mostly) garbage on them. The regular Discovery Channel shows Planet Earth at least a few times every day and then I can never find it on Discovery HD Theater.
HD-DVD seems to be the way to go for me (blu ray is still shaky to me because I remember mini-disc, memory sticks, and DAT) ... but I have an HDTV that's a few years old and as a result it only takes Component inputs. It doesn't support VGA, DVI-D, or HDMI. Every HD DVD player I've looked at will not upscale regular DVDs to 1080i and says that some HD DVDs require HDMI for playback.
Years ago at the dawn of DVD a friend of mine got some APEX DVD player from Hong Kong that ignored all the content protection stuff. It ignored region, it let you skip FBI warnings, it was an importer's dream.
Does anybody know of an HD DVD equivalent? Is there an HD DVD player from the no-man's-land of Hong Kong electronics that will completely ignore HDCP and thereby guarantee that I can play HD DVDs without having to buy a new $1,000+ HDTV? I don't want to copy discs, I don't want to go all-pirate-all-the-time. I just want a player that will support Component video without any bullshit caveats.
I'm interested in getting an HD DVD player. I like watching things in HD but the HD cable channels have (mostly) garbage on them. The regular Discovery Channel shows Planet Earth at least a few times every day and then I can never find it on Discovery HD Theater.
HD-DVD seems to be the way to go for me (blu ray is still shaky to me because I remember mini-disc, memory sticks, and DAT) ... but I have an HDTV that's a few years old and as a result it only takes Component inputs. It doesn't support VGA, DVI-D, or HDMI. Every HD DVD player I've looked at will not upscale regular DVDs to 1080i and says that some HD DVDs require HDMI for playback.
Years ago at the dawn of DVD a friend of mine got some APEX DVD player from Hong Kong that ignored all the content protection stuff. It ignored region, it let you skip FBI warnings, it was an importer's dream.
Does anybody know of an HD DVD equivalent? Is there an HD DVD player from the no-man's-land of Hong Kong electronics that will completely ignore HDCP and thereby guarantee that I can play HD DVDs without having to buy a new $1,000+ HDTV? I don't want to copy discs, I don't want to go all-pirate-all-the-time. I just want a player that will support Component video without any bullshit caveats.
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They did just drop the price to $130 most places.
Of course if you don't have a 360 now then you'd have to add another $280-$350 onto it.
The up side is Mass Effect.
You are right though... You won't get an American player out of the box that will upscale regular dvd over component... a company caught doing that will lose their rights to make dvd players sadly. look into foreign players?
I heard rumors that it caps to 720p for component, and I'm pretty sure it plays DVDs at 480p.
It's more foolproof than most of the other ones I've looked at ... but I'd rather not pay $400 for a 360 + $150 for a drive if I can manage to pay $200-$400 on just a player.
This is essentially what I'm asking, except that it would have to be region free and ignore HDCP and output DVDs at 1080i (or at least automatically switch to 480p without any user intervention). Ideally I'd also like to be able to play import DVDs and HD DVDs because of those occasional wire-fu gems that come out of Korea and Thailand.
I'm looking for an old-school Hong Kong "will play anything regardless of technical legality" player. The idea that I could have the technology in my home, all the capability in place, and then have it fucked over by a bit set in a video header infuriates me.
EDIT: Also, HD DVD doesn't require HDMI yet because the disc manufacturers have agreed to a HDCP "cease fire" for a few years while HDCP capable TVs gain wider acceptance. Supposedly by 2009 (which is only a year away) they will be putting out discs with HDCP flags set that require an HDCP receiver (either DVI-D with HDCP or HDMI with HDCP) to display in anything above 480p.
right.
you cant find anything that will upscale over component unless its a shadier thing from HK like you said. Because dem's the rules.
For upscaling DVDs you need a digital connection
what are my options for watching HD DVDs?
basticle - either component or HDMI with HDMI to dvi adapter.
Basticle, you'll need to get an HDMI->DVI cable and use the audio adaptor, I think.
XBL : lJesse Custerl | MWO: Jesse Custer | Best vid ever. | 2nd best vid ever.
Thanks. If I want to watch upscaled DVDs, I'll just use my PS3. Although, to be honest, I've been pretty much sticking to the HD formats lately and slowly rebuilding my library with my favorite movies in HD.
I dont know about you guys but my HD addon is loud as fuck, like twice as loud as the 360
p.s. just to double check but I need a DVI male to HDMI female adapter (like this one) right?
XBL : lJesse Custerl | MWO: Jesse Custer | Best vid ever. | 2nd best vid ever.
My old roommate's 360 was kinda loud, but isn't really that noticeable when watching a DVD. It's mostly background white noise.
XBL : lJesse Custerl | MWO: Jesse Custer | Best vid ever. | 2nd best vid ever.
Unless you already have an HDMI cable you should just get a HDMI to DVI cable like this: HDMI to DVI cable (24AWG) w/net jacket- 6ft (Gold Plated)
It depends on the studio, for the most part the video quality is equal. Technically Blu-ray can hold a higher bitrate, but that isn't really noticeable unless you have a very high end TV.
Regarding content, once again it comes down to the studio & movie. Some have lots of content while others have really nothing. Disney Blu-ray are loaded with extras. The Pirates movies are 2 disc Blu-ray sets because they filled the first disc (duel layer). Companies that are Blu-ray or HD-DVD only will load the discs like they would a DVD. The studios that do both formats, only they know what they're going to do and why.
If you have HDMI then you're fine.
That's not 100% true ... but a Bravia should be fine.
There were a few HDMI sets manufactured without HDCP when HDMI was first introduced. But the Bravia line started well after that.
I've also just realized that my monitor doesn't support HDCP and neither does my video card. I'm pretty up-to-date technologically .. nothing more than a few years old, just not the absolute top of the line. I have a computer capable of HD resolutions and video playback, as well as an HDTV that does it just wonderfully ... and yet it looks like I'm going to have to buy thousands of dollars worth of equipment in order to watch movies in HD.
Man I hate the movie industry.
EDIT: Add to that my laptop built this year and my girlfriend's computer built two weeks ago and that I still can't use any of them to watch movies in HD and it's really a sad situation.
Thanks for the info.
The "viewing protection" (protecting you from your content, yay) systems in HD-DVD and Blu-Ray have already been cracked, and I'm sure it'll trickle down to a user-friendly application (probably some version of VLC) at some point in the near-ish future.
Oh, and if you want to upscale DVDs over component, just use a PC and VLC. Works great for me. The nVidia drivers enforce the 480p limit for PowerDVD, but VLC has no such restrictions and produces a better picture anyway.
As for upscaling normal DVDs over component there are region free players that will do that. I've had one put out by Liteon for years. Though mine is older and I'm pretty sure its 1080i not 1080p (but that works fine my set is 1080i anyway).
thanks anyway, but 360 Elites come with the HDMI cable
I was under the impression that the actual 360 drive will upscale?
I don't know if the HD-DVD add-on does anything different, but this is taken straight from xbox.com for the actual 360 drive:
Here's the HD-DVD add-on page on xbox.com, but I don't understand half the shit that's on it.
Oops was talking about over component my bad.
I have a PC and VLC. And I know how to set it up properly. I wouldn't use VLC for viewing any sort of DVD content unless I had no other choice because its deinterlacer is absolute garbage and usually just breaks the image completely.
It's good to have a free option, but it just isn't quite good enough.
Well frick. So the add-on will only do 1080i at component? I know the two will look identical, but frick!
Zoom Player or MPC + NVidia PureVideo + FFDShow + AviSynth + some experimentation = OMG, that picture is fucking gorgeous!
~ Buckaroo Banzai
Its the studios enforcing these standards, not the hardware.
And may I ask why you have a set capable of 1080p, but no VGA or HDMI ports?
Let's play Mario Kart or something...
I have VGA and HDMI ports, but I just have the Premium and not Elite. I can hook it up via VGA, of course, and I have that cable somewhere back at home [and not in this apartment], but I doubt I'll notice any difference between 1080i and 1080p.
Stupid studios. Like anyone is going to capture the output stream in real-time instead of just ripping the disc.
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And after doing some research apparently the 360 is a poor DVD (normal, not HD) player.