[The Saint]

Does anyone know where I can pick up HDDVD player software for the PC fairly cheaply?

[potnoodles]

There are still some options for HD-DVD playback on PC.

ArcSoft
TotalMedia Theatre 90 US Dollars
http://www.arcsoft.com/products/tota...tre/index3.asp


COREL
WinDVD 9 Plus £39 -(free trial available)
http://www.corel.com/servlet/Satelli...onTabview=tab1

Cyberlink
PowerDVD 7 Ultra - thats if you can get hold of it - I can only see 8 on their site
NOTE 8 is no good - HD DVD playback was removed.

Other possibiliy - if you know what you're doing then you could use AnyDVD HD(free trial available) in conjunction free players like Media Player Classic Home Cinema or Gom player. Note you might need additional Codecs for decent playback.

Finally - All your hardware needs to be fully HDCP compliant or you will see your movie at less than SD resolution - if your not HDCP compliant then AnyDVD HD is the choice for full HD playback.

I have powerDVD 7 ultra working on a decent vista machine with HDMI out using the 360 HD-DVD add on and HD DVD works OK. The Codecs that come with PDVD7 also allow me to watch BBC HD channel on astra (or playback recordings)

Good Luck

[The Saint]

Thanks potnoodles.

Have gone into WinDVDs site and downloaded advisor tool. Appears that I have a non HDCP supported digital display but otherwise OK. I have Anydvd HD but know little else about the other players such as classic media player or any additional codecs that may be needed

Would have preferred to use PowerDVD 7 Ultra but have had no luck in finding a copy anywhere

[potnoodles]

Media Player Classic Home Cinema Edition here
http://mpc-hc.sourceforge.net/ Use via anydvd HD.
Doesnt install codecs - just uses its own local copy of them. You can also tell it to use any system installed codecs rather than its own.


The free trial of windvd should work via anydvd hd getting round the HDCP problem.


You can also try installing ffdshow and see if Windows Media Player 11 will play the EVO files from disc (via anydvd hd).

HDDVD comes in different flavours for video -VC1, Mpeg2 and H264(AVC).
WMP11 can already handle VC1 (not encrypted) and ffdshow will do the Mpeg2.
Not sure if ffdshow handles AVC(H.264) formatted titles - if badly you can try out CoreAVC Pro codec (free trial) which cost $15 to buy I think

[OFI]

I have a HD-DVD drive in my laptop and found the only player which wouldn't drop frames (when playing on an external display) was Arcsoft but after a few days it just stopped working, the thing just freezes up. I didn't realise that AnyDVD would allow you to use other players i'll have to give that a shot thanks!

[The Saint]

Strangely enough OFI, I had the same problem as you with Arcsoft. So had to look for another player.

Tried Media Player Classic Home Cinema and Gom but had no luck getting them to work

Waiting to see if there is a good deal going on Windvd9 plus Blu-ray as the credit crunch bites.

[potnoodles]

A rather lengthy thread on Media Player Classic (inc Homecinema edition) and HD -DVD/Blu-Ray playback .

HD-DVD & Blu-Ray playback in Media Centre Classic - AVS Forum

If only someone would write an updated condensed version.

[potnoodles]

Nero Showtime ver 4.3.2.0
I have HD-DVD playing from external USB HD-DVD/Blu-Ray combo using Nero Showtime. It looks as good as Cyberlink PowerDVD.

Showtime 4 came as part of Nero 8 Suite and I Have the HD/BD plug in installed (at additional cost).

Originally ignored showtime as it had playback issues playing decrypted .EVO files on my Hard disc. But it is playing the encrypted HD-DVD Disc perfectly.

Just about to update Nero 8 and will post back if this ability changes.

[baggett]

i use powerdvd 8 to play hd-dvds from the xbox drive, stand alone it wont play hddvd any more but there is a patch you can install to reinstate hddvd playback.

god knows why they would remove it to begin with