hd dvd and blu ray

[EddThompson]

back in the day, my first dvd player in 1998 was the creative labs dvd drive with a seperate decoder card, worked great for me at the time.

now, will this be a viable option for hd dvd and blu ray, ive read you will need a hdcp graphics card (do these exist yet), but what about the new sound formats, guess that will mean a new soundcard then?

The other problem is region encoding, are we going to see something very awkward like say the t2 extreme disc, that needs a licesence from a us server, i hate waiting for r2 to catch up, and no doubt the us titles will end up superior for quite some time.

edd

[Mr.D]

Eventually bluray and hd-dvd will be a possibility on a HTPC.... no one is sure when though.
Things you will likely need are :

HDCP compliant graphics card.
HDCP compliant display.
Vista (probably).
bluray and or hd-dvd drive.

There are some suggestions that vista might introduce some sort of rights management chain which means the motherboard and graphics card might have to talk to each other : and the necessary hardware and management keys won't be built into commercially available hardware meaning the home build/upgrade market won't have access to such things....but I doubt this myself. The global electronics market is too important.

So in other words its a bit of a unkown quantity but it will happen eventually. Personally I'm buying a standalone hd-dvd player until the PC side of things stabilises. A bit like when dvd came out originally , it took a little while for the PCs to be a competative alternative.

[EddThompson]

yeah, looks complicated

my pc based dvd player was £180 back then, and could output ntsc as pal for my aging tv, so it was a great system.

Ive got a hdcp complient projector, and about to convert a current pc into an htpc, so was just wondering.

The hd dvd plays sure look tempting, im out in america in april, so ill be looking closely

edd

[KraGorn]

"The Great HDCP Fiasco" .. AFAIK things haven't moved on yet.

[Monty Burns]

Originally Posted by EddThompson

.... ive read you will need a hdcp graphics card (do these exist yet), ...

Yes they do .... FINALY. Nvidia and ATI announced them a couple of weeks ago so they should be in the shops now or VERY near future.

Be carefull though, many cards are advertised as HiDef and yes they are, just like my projector just not "HiDef Ready". They do NOT carry the decryption chip. Make bloody sure you investigate the card fully to garuntee it will decrypt HDCP.

[EddThompson]

pretty much what i expected and had read, but thought id ask the experts

come on SKY HD

edd

[Mr.D]

Although the good thing is , with all these copy management systems in place in PCs , we are at last likely to get decent downloadable media sales and hidef tuner cards.
This is the future not shiny discs.

[pRot3us]

This whole thing is a joke, decryption chips in this, that and the other. How draconian. What next? Will I need hdcp chips in my head to confirm my eyes are authorised to view protected content

I gradually upgrade my pc, and got my first projector about a year and a half ago, it plays HD content perfectly well. So now I'm expected to shell out ~ 5 grand+ to be able to have the privilege of using these new formats?...!!

that!!

HDCP will be cracked, (ripped) HD versions of many films are already available. I've always liked buying dvds and don't own any pirates, I would much prefer to own legal HDDVDs/Blu-Ray discs but apparently this isn't going to be possible, leaving only piracy as a way to get HD films, so be it.

Well done Hollywood, talk about shooting yourself in the foot

[Monty Burns]

Totaly the same feeling as you.

F**K all this hollywood BS.

[dan1979]

wonder what will happen now that vista has been delayed till next year...

[Mr.D]

Like it or not its the only way you will get legitimate hidef content . The studios are entitled to protect their product. I have significant doubts as to HDCP being cracked in any meaningful manner due to the potentially huge implications of the keys being revoked .

Even if it is circumvented to the point where it becomes trivial it was a requirement for the studios before they would even look at supporting a commercial hidef format.

I have absolutely no problems with it whatsoever. And as I've said it will pave the way for HTPCs becoming the one box solution most of us that frequent this forum desperately want.

Hidef downloads , hidef tuner cards , hidef disc formats wouldn't get within spitting distance of an HTPC otherwise.

At worse its a necessary evil , at best its the key that opens the gates.

[EddThompson]

Originally Posted by Mr.D

Like it or not its the only way you will get legitimate hidef content . The studios are entitled to protect their product. I have significant doubts as to HDCP being cracked in any meaningful manner due to the potentially huge implications of the keys being revoked .

Even if it is circumvented to the point where it becomes trivial it was a requirement for the studios before they would even look at supporting a commercial hidef format.

I have absolutely no problems with it whatsoever. And as I've said it will pave the way for HTPCs becoming the one box solution most of us that frequent this forum desperately want.

Hidef downloads , hidef tuner cards , hidef disc formats wouldn't get within spitting distance of an HTPC otherwise.

At worse its a necessary evil , at best its the key that opens the gates.

you know, an all in one pc solution would be great, i was just hoping that a 200 quid drive for hd dvd, and a 200 quid drive for blu ray, bunged into a current pc and plugged into my priojector would serve as an interim untill the format war sorted itself out, or full players became available at sensible prices, unfortunatly it seems this is not going to happen

edd

[Mr.D]

Originally Posted by pRot3us

I gradually upgrade my pc, and got my first projector about a year and a half ago, it plays HD content perfectly well. So now I'm expected to shell out ~ 5 grand+ to be able to have the privilege of using these new formats?...!!

You'd be better off looking at it as an additional upgrade , your current system performs its function perfectly well and will continue to do so after the hidef formats hit. There is no reason why HDCP components themselves will be particularly pricey : in fact i doubt we'll see it as a expensive feature , it will just be a standard requirement.

Obviously if you've recently shelled out 5grand on a display that doesn't support HDCP you might be a bit miffed ...then again for that sort of outlay I'd be thinking about what was going to happen a few years down the road. My projector is hdcp compliant ( as far as anyone knows at the moment) and is about 3 years old although I recently upgraded my plasma mainly to cope with HDCP.

In a couple of years we'll look back and wonder what all the fuss was about.

[Mr.D]

Originally Posted by EddThompson

you know, an all in one pc solution would be great, i was just hoping that a 200 quid drive for hd dvd, and a 200 quid drive for blu ray, bunged into a current pc and plugged into my priojector would serve as an interim untill the format war sorted itself out, or full players became available at sensible prices, unfortunatly it seems this is not going to happen

edd

I'm not really all that fussed about the disc formats . I think hd-dvd will probably come out on top ,no reason that the quality isn't going to be identical on either format.

The battle of the disc formats is almost a seperate issue ; both require hdcp in theory. One will win most likley...end of story , you'll still need hdcp.

I don't want discs though , I want downloads or I want channels over the net or even a sky HD tuner card ( and I don't even expect it to allow me to record everything , certainly not PPV). And the only way we'll get it is with HDCP whether its an effective copy management system or not.

Until the PC side of things sorts itself out I'll probably spring for an hd-dvd standalone player.

[triplea4uk]

Vista supports HD-DVD was annouced few months ago.

Both formats are equal really both have good and bad points.