Hybrid BD/HD-DVD Players

[Uruloke]

Ok a did little search on this but couldn't find anything. One of the posters over on the BXB forums came across these:

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2006/06/22/hybrid_hd_player_from_samsung_and_toshiba/ and

http://tomshardware.co.uk/2006/06/21/samsung_dual_format_hd_player/

Are these reports true? Is this old news? The reports are a month old but I don't recall seeing anything like this posted on here.

 

[MartinImber]

There will be one - it will be one you build your self and will be a PC

 

[gingerone]

RCA have built a drive that will read both blu-ray and hd-dvd discs but who will build the first player is another matter, I don't think either format is going to want a dual format player for quite sometime as they want their format to win outright.

 

[Mr.D]

I don't think you'll need a dual format player in the near future.

 

[Rasczak]

Ok a did little search on this but couldn't find anything. One of the posters over on the BXB forums came across these:

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2006/06...g_and_toshiba/ and

http://tomshardware.co.uk/2006/06/21...mat_hd_player/

Are these reports true? Is this old news? The reports are a month old but I don't recall seeing anything like this posted on here.

Given Samsung's trouble player have probably greatly assisted in killing BluRay, or at least putting it at a severe disadvantage, I hope they stay away from HD DVD for the enxt few years at least.

 

[lfletcher]

Given Samsung's trouble player have probably greatly assisted in killing BluRay, or at least putting it at a severe disadvantage, I hope they stay away from HD DVD for the enxt few years at least.

I like it. So whats Sony's strategy to win the format war? Convince Samsung to make HD-DVD players Bound to put the nail in any formats coffin.

 

[AML]

Give them a break! They were the first out the door, it was bound to be rushed

In the end it may indeed be easier to build a PC with 2 drives. These days PCs can offer better results than any player anyway, it all depends on the software.
Will somone make a piece of software that will play both HD DVD and BluRay?

 

[Evil Engineer]

Nobody really seems to know what the exact requirements for HD-DVD/Bluray playback on a PC are.

Will windows XP do or will you have to upgrade to Vista?

We know you'll need a new HDCP compatible graphics card. But will this be enough or do you need a new "secure" motherboard as well?

Waiting for a new version of power DVD that supports both formats is probably the easy bit.

 

[Rasczak]

Will windows XP do or will you have to upgrade to Vista?

We know you'll need a new HDCP compatible graphics card. But will this be enough or do you need a new "secure" motherboard as well?

This does seem the great unanswered question at the moment. Up until a few months back I was fully expecting to see PCs not only require Microsoft Vista but also a complete chain of HDCP compatible hardware, i.e. HDMI/DVI-D (HDCP) monitor, HDMI/DVI-D (HDCP) graphics card, new Soundcard as well as possibly a coded processor and motherboard. However we are now seeing a few PCs turn up running high def discs and Windows XP Media Centre Edition 2005: the Toshiba laptops, the Sony Viao PCs, the new Acer models etc. Now do these just use OEM components or are they designed from the ground up to play high def discs and are thus protected by custom hardware? Guess we'll have to wait but the fact that NEC is providing it's HD DVD drive as trade OEM only suggests custom hardware and that the rest of us will have to wait until Vista.

 

[JonMace]

Looking at the Tosh G30 range I would say that XP is more than capable of running HD drives, all you would need is the drive and the correct player software

 

[lfletcher]

Will somone make a piece of software that will play both HD DVD and BluRay?

I think the latest version of WinDVD (or a special version exclusive to the BD and HD-DVD laptops) will play both formats.

 

[AML]

I think the latest version of WinDVD (or a special version exclusive to the BD and HD-DVD laptops) will play both formats.

Thanks.
I wonder if there will be any differences in quality though?
For example, Win DVD software sucks in comparison to say Theater Tek.
Could this also be true for the new hi def formats?

 

[tutu]

Are these reports true?

Ricoh announced a device that can adjust the laser of the drive to allow reading/write of both HD-DVD, Blueray and DVD - one or two months ago.

My first foray into the next gen wars will hopefully be a dual format player or recorder, so I don't have to worry about artificial differences in a technology that is very similiar.

I just hope I won't have to wait very long

 

[Rasczak]

I just hope I won't have to wait very long

I have no doubt that technologically wise dual format players would be a relatively easy feat to achieve. I am also confident that, despite what they are saying in public, a number of companies are probably working on it (I'm sure they have all considered Sony's instant DVD burner success when they introduced the first dual format model).

However I think there will be a period of time for the market to prove it wants both formats first: if one of the formats fails quite quickly then we can move on with just one. Personally I can't see that happening - I think both formats will co-exist and dual format players will eventually become a reality.