HD-DVD/BluRay question.....

[WeirdFish]

....and probably a dumb one.:blush:

I've had a quick look around for information but I can't seem to find an answer. Are the next generation of DVD players going to be backwards compatible with 'normal' DVDs?

I'm guessing that HD-DVD will be but will BluRay? I presume it will have to be.

[Sporran]

samsung showed their new blu ray player that played blu ray, dvd and cd :) as well as others, heres the article :)

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/01/05/samsung_blu-ray_first/

[Drew2]

The Blu-ray players here have dual drives and are the size of a Betamax player!:eek: Mind you I've seen the HDDVD players and there not much smaller!:eek: :eek:

[ultra238a]

Yes does anybody know why the new HD-DVD/Blu-Ray players are so big and ugly.

Paul

[oxygenuk]

Yes does anybody know why the new HD-DVD/Blu-Ray players are so big and ugly.

Paul

well most dvd players were when they first came out

[Astaroth]

Means the later generations will sell as they will be smaller/ neater/ more wife friendly?

[criggy]

....and probably a dumb one.:blush:

I've had a quick look around for information but I can't seem to find an answer. Are the next generation of DVD players going to be backwards compatible with 'normal' DVDs?

I'm guessing that HD-DVD will be but will BluRay? I presume it will have to be.

both are:thumbsup:

[ultra238a]

well most dvd players were when they first came out

Nahh don't agree with that. I bought my first DVD the week they came out from the Virgin Mega Store in San Fran back in '97 and my first player was a Toshiba and there is no way that player was as big or quite as ugly as the designs that have been shown at CES this week.

Lets hope they do get smaller and sexier very quickly.

Also from what I have read there seems to be a massive amount of different standards that each player support some having all of them and some having some missing. I think the thing that helped make DVD so popular was that there was one standard so you knew that your movie would play on it.

I personally think that HD-DVD will win through because people know what a DVD is and they are now buying into HD TV because of SkyHD and XBOX360 (plus PS3 obviously). Obviously we'll have to wait and see what the HD movies look like on the players - they are going to have to look pretty amazing though compared to a normal DVD to seel units otherwise both formats will flop like DVD-A/SACD have done compared to convential music CDs.

Paul

[Drew2]

You can see the different designs on my CEATEC 2005 post.

[AML]

Id like to know if Blu Ray and HD DVD players will upscale DVDs to 1080i/720p (the way my Denon 3910 does) and even to 1080p the way the new Denon DVD player that just came out in japan does?

[Flashman]

The Toshiba website in the States states that the two Tosh HD-DVD machines will upscale existing DVD's via the HDMI output....

See;

http://www.tacp.toshiba.com/hddvd/pdf/HD-A1.pdf

[JohnG]

I think I would be more worried about future compatibilty to be honest if I were an early buyer into BluRay or HD-DVD as they are already talking about 8 layer 200 GB BluRay DVDs :eek: I would assume that the first wave of HD machines would not be able to deal with the bigger discs that they will surely be bringing out ?

[welwynnick]

Backwards compatiblity is always an important consideration for any new recording format, and manufacturers know people don't want lots of different boxes.

However, by the time a new format does come out, the old one (such as CD) will then have cheap, compact, reliable, high-performing players that significantly undermine the performance of any newer multi-format player. Ever played a CD on a DVD player in an AV system?

My guess is that although DVD and HD-DVD will share a lot of hardware, a new combination player will not play DVDs as well your old player. There isnt really NEED to get rid of it, and it won't be worth so much, so why not just keep it? It wil be about one-third as deep as a BD player.

Nick

[Endeavour]

Are they using dual lasers for compatibility like some DVD players use for CD playback?

Any mention of HD-DVD drives for PC's yet?

DVD hasn't been without its trials and tribulations ovet the years: layers, MCE, R/RW compatibility etc. Never believe the words "Future Proof" - it is not in the industry's interest.

[Drew2]

Id like to know if Blu Ray and HD DVD players will upscale DVDs to 1080i/720p (the way my Denon 3910 does) and even to 1080p the way the new Denon DVD player that just came out in japan does?

Toshiba,
"It corresponds to the playback of the HD DVD/DVD/CD, it corresponds to the codec playback of MPEG-2/MPEG-4 AVC/VC-1 concerning the HD DVD. The decoder tip/chip of the Broadcom make is built in. To equip the HDMI output terminal, also 720p/1080i rise converting output of the DVD is possible in addition to 720p/1080i image output. New codec " Dolby Digital Plus " for the HD DVD, it corresponds to also the decoding " DTS-HD ". The Dolby TruecHd (the 2ch) it supports."

The Panasonic DMR-E700BD only has component or Dlink and upscales to 1080i but not 720p

The Sharp BD-100HD does this:
In addition, it equips the HDMI terminal and the like as an image output. It equips also the scaler function which raising converting in the 720p/1080i, outputs the DVD video of the 480i. You say the HDMI corresponds to also multichannel voice response, full HD corresponding 45 type AQUOS " LC-45GD1 " of the same company and connects with cable 1, can enjoy high vision image / sound

The PS3 will output 1080p with a new 16bit HDMI.

(not my translation)

[Duncan Harvey]

well most dvd players were when they first came out

the only large DVD players back in the early days were those which also played Laserdiscs. Aside from that they were not much bigger than current models.

[T800]

I would say most of the first DVD players were twice as thick as they are now in general.

[gingerone]

My pioneer dv-525 is three times thicker than my current players.(I've checked)

[Drew2]

My pioneer dv-525 is three times thicker than my current players.(I've checked)

Have you opened it up and found 3 times more air?