# First HD DVD Players Not Ready For Prime Time



## Nick (Apr 23, 2002)

*The First High-Definition DVD Players *

*Toshiba HD-A1KN / HD-XA1KN -- Consumer Reports, May 2006*

*These (players) are impressive performers...but only avid early-adoptors should consider
buying either of them. The key reason is the coming launch of competing Blu-ray players,
probably in early summer, and the possibility that one or the other format will become
the Betamax of the 21st century. *

The DVD has finally entered the high-definition television era. In our tests of the first ever HD-capable DVD players (from Toshiba), images from high-definition movie DVDs were notably superior to those of standard DVDs.

However, neither player is a must-buy yet. For one, at $500 and $800, they're many times the price of a standard DVD player. HD discs for these players are pricier than regular DVDs (at $30 apiece) and much less plentiful. Only about 10 movies are available in HD-DVD so far. These include "Last Samurai," "Million Dollar Baby," "Apollo 13," "Doom," and "Goodfellas." (An additional two to five titles are scheduled to premiere each week for at least the rest of 2006.)

More @  *ConsumerReports*.com  (site may require registration)


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## alfbinet (May 19, 2002)

I was at Best Buy last Sunday and just for a lark I went to see if they had the Tosh HD player displayed. I had called the store earlier and was told that none of their stores in the Cleveland area had the player. They did have a display and they also had one "open box" player knocked down by $50.00. I grabbed it with two HD DVDs - Jarhead and Apollo 13. Set up was a snap to my Mits DLP 52628. I know some complain about the sluggishness of the player at start up but man the picture quality just takes my breath away. Some question its upconvert capability. I was watching Revenge of the Sith last night and was blown away again. I am not kidding the picture was ALMOST HD quality. I have a very expensive Denon 3910 DVD player that cost me about $1,200. I am seriously considering putting that on eBay. I have only had the Tosh for 3 days so I am going to test it out further before my Denon goes up for sale.


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## Reggie3 (Feb 20, 2006)

Jim

Suggest you wait till you see a good presentation of Blue Ray - read my review here:

http://forums.audiworld.com/htelect/msgs/6920.phtml

August 1st is not that far off.

Reggie


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## alfbinet (May 19, 2002)

Reggie3 said:


> Jim
> 
> Suggest you wait till you see a good presentation of Blue Ray - read my review here:
> 
> ...


I am not taking sides on this issue. When Blu-Ray comes I will prob get one of those too!


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## tomcrown1 (Jan 16, 2006)

Iam getting the palystation 3 $699 unit so Iam getting the Blue Ray unit also


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## BobMurdoch (Apr 24, 2002)

First batch maxes out at 1080i. Next generation is supposed to be able to handle 1080p (provided your set can handle it.)

I'm not buying EITHER system until a clear winner emerges. I don't trust Sony though to protect my consumer rights, so my gut tells me HD DVD is the better choice.


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## ebaltz (Nov 23, 2004)

BobMurdoch said:


> First batch maxes out at 1080i. Next generation is supposed to be able to handle 1080p (provided your set can handle it.)
> 
> I'm not buying EITHER system until a clear winner emerges. I don't trust Sony though to protect my consumer rights, so my gut tells me HD DVD is the better choice.


As with the VHS and Beta battle, watch for what format the porn industry adopts, that is what will dictate which is accepted and more widespread. Laugh not.


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## GrumpyBear (Feb 1, 2006)

tomcrown1 said:


> Iam getting the palystation 3 $699 unit so Iam getting the Blue Ray unit also


Don't count on the PS3 Playing BluRay movies. Sony has already announced the PS3 wont play the movies, and the 1st BluRay Players will be over 1000. Sony will take the better tech, and run it into the ground again. Just Like Beta. HD-DVD, has 2 new heavy hitters, backing it up, Both Microsoft and Intel are now backing it offically.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

ebaltz said:


> As with the VHS and Beta battle, watch for what format the porn industry adopts, that is what will dictate which is accepted and more widespread. Laugh not.


Given the budgets involved, I would suggest the cheaper to produce HD-DVD. I don't think the porn industry is seriously considering interactive high definition home videos quite yet. I'm not sure the plastic surgery industry is ready for it either.

Can you imagine how much heat you would get from leaving an adult movie in the family PS3?


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

GrumpyBear said:


> Don't count on the PS3 Playing BluRay movies.


They may have resolved that issue with the latest delay. The rumor was the delay had something to do with DRM and I would be surprised if they don't use the PS3 as a vehicle to spread Blu-Ray.


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## Chris Blount (Jun 22, 2001)

I'm not playing with Sony this time. I have my HD-DVD player and love it! The PQ is awesome and I can already master HD-DVD's using regular DVD-R's. I can fit about 40 minutes of perfect Hi-Def video on a dual layered blank.


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## tomcrown1 (Jan 16, 2006)

SONY BDP-S1
High Definition Disc Player 

Sony:
Outpost #: 4810990
The new BDP-S1 Blu-ray Disc home player from Sony offers a host of new high-definition entertainment possibilities. The BDP-S1 features 1920 x 1080p output, the highest HD signal output currently available through a HDMI connection. If your HD-capable television does not have an HDMI connection, you can still get the Blu-ray experience - the 1080i analog output allows for HD-capable televisions without HDMI to enjoy Blu-ray Disc features. The BDP-S1 is also compatible with standard DVDs with the added feature of 1080p upscaling through HDMI, which gives new life to existing DVDs libraries. BD-Java interactivity will further enhance the BD entertainment experience, allowing for development of advanced interactive features. Its sophisticated design, with blue glass front, will compliment any decor. Bring your home entertainment experience to a new level with the BDP-S1 Blu-ray Disc home player. 

You have been spamed---available for pre-order at fry outpost to be delivered in June


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

Reggie3 said:


> August 1st is not that far off.


Unfortunately, August 1 is a projected date and it is fully half way to the holiday shopping season. By that time, there will supposedly be 25-50 HD-DVD titles available for sale or rent.

If the PS3 doesn't support Blu-Ray movies as GrumpyBear recalls, Blu-Ray may be stillborn out of spite for Sony not enabling it where the capability is obviously there.


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## ibglowin (Sep 10, 2002)

So Chris,

Enquiring minds want to know how you are burning HD video onto SD DVD's ?!?!?!?



Chris Blount said:


> I'm not playing with Sony this time. I have my HD-DVD player and love it! The PQ is awesome and I can already master HD-DVD's using regular DVD-R's. I can fit about 40 minutes of perfect Hi-Def video on a dual layered blank.


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## LtMunst (Aug 24, 2005)

GrumpyBear said:


> Don't count on the PS3 Playing BluRay movies. Sony has already announced the PS3 wont play the movies, and the 1st BluRay Players will be over 1000.


When did they announce this? At E3 they said it would play BluRay movies.


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## GrumpyBear (Feb 1, 2006)

LtMunst said:


> When did they announce this? At E3 they said it would play BluRay movies.


It was during e3 when they talked about the Potential problem.
Like most I will wait and see which format win's.


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## LtMunst (Aug 24, 2005)

GrumpyBear said:


> It was during e3 when they talked about the Potential problem.
> Like most I will wait and see which format win's.


Hope that's not true. I'd pay $500 for a new gaming system that would double as a Blu-ray player. I'll be damned if I'd pay that much for a game console alone.


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## Chris Blount (Jun 22, 2001)

ibglowin said:


> So Chris,
> 
> Enquiring minds want to know how you are burning HD video onto SD DVD's ?!?!?!?


Actually quite easy.

1. Download Ulead Movie Factory 5. Free for one month. After that, it's $50 for the program.

2. Import HD video from an HD video source. I have been importing from my Sony HD camcorder.

3. Movie Factory 5 will render a complete HD-DVD directory for burning to a regular DVD.

4. Use Nero Burning ROM to burn the DVD.

5. Voila! HD-DVD that plays on the Toshiba.

There are a few more steps in there but you get the idea. I haven't tried capturing from other sources like satellite. I mainly do it for home videos.


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## ibglowin (Sep 10, 2002)

Thats great!

Now I have to go out and get me that new Sony HDR-HC3. I was holding out as I didn't think you had any way to burn an HD Project to a Standard DVD only push it back to another tape... I am a Mac head and have iMovie HD as well as Final Cut Pro HD. I have the option of doing HDV1080i or HDV 720P but I was under the impression you could only put 480i material on a regular DVD+/-R DVD.

So it sounds like you could get 20min from a Single Layer and 40 Minutes from a Dual Layer.?

You still need an HD-DVD player as well though?

Now to convince the wife!

Need two more toys......


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## Chris Blount (Jun 22, 2001)

ibglowin said:


> Thats great!
> 
> Now I have to go out and get me that new Sony HDR-HC3. I was holding out as I didn't think you had any way to burn an HD Project to a Standard DVD only push it back to another tape... I am a Mac head and have iMovie HD as well as Final Cut Pro HD. I have the option of doing HDV1080i or HDV 720P but I was under the impression you could only put 480i material on a regular DVD+/-R DVD.
> 
> ...


Yeah, I love my HC-3. The PQ is amazing. I still can't get over the fact that I am doing HD home video. It really is quite a jump in quality over regular DV.


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## Reggie3 (Feb 20, 2006)

GrumpyBear said:


> Don't count on the PS3 Playing BluRay movies. Sony has already announced the PS3 wont play the movies, and the 1st BluRay Players will be over 1000. Sony will take the better tech, and run it into the ground again. Just Like Beta. HD-DVD, has 2 new heavy hitters, backing it up, Both Microsoft and Intel are now backing it offically.


Per the Sony guy I saw at the presentation - PS3 would play BR movies


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## tomcrown1 (Jan 16, 2006)

Reggie3 said:


> Per the Sony guy I saw at the presentation - PS3 would play BR movies


If ture that the sony ps3 will playback HD movies if full 1081P than it is playstation for me .


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## tomcrown1 (Jan 16, 2006)

well I checked the sony site and it is the playstation 3 for me just check out the spec

http://www.us.playstation.com/News/PressReleases/279

Product name PLAYSTATION®3 
Logo 
CPU Cell Processor
PowerPC-base Core @3.2GHz
1 VMX vector unit per core
512KB L2 cache
7 x SPE @3.2GHz
7 x 128b 128 SIMD GPRs
7 x 256KB SRAM for SPE
* 1 of 8 SPEs reserved for redundancy
total floating point performance : 218 
GFLOPS 
GPU RSX @550MHz
1.8 TFLOPS floating point performance
Full HD (up to 1080p) x 2 channels
Multi-way programmable parallel floating 
point shader pipelines 
Sound Dolby 5.1ch, DTS, LPCM, etc. (Cell-base processing) 
Memory 256MB XDR Main RAM @3.2GHz
256MB GDDR3 VRAM @700MHz 
System Bandwidth Main RAM 25.6GB/s
VRAM 22.4GB/s
RSX 20GB/s (write) + 15GB/s (read)
SB 2.5GB/s (write) + 2.5GB/s (read) 
System Floating Point Performance 2 TFLOPS 
Storage HDD Detachable 2.5" HDD slot x 1 
I/O USB Front x 4, Rear x 2 (USB2.0) 
Memory Stick standard/Duo, PRO x 1 
SD standard/mini x 1 
CompactFlash (Type I, II) x 1 
Communication Ethernet (10BASE-T, 100BASE-TX, 1000BASE-T) x 3 
(input x 1 + output x 2) 
Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11 b/g 
Bluetooth Bluetooth 2.0 (EDR) 
Controller Bluetooth (up to 7)
USB2.0 (wired)
Wi-Fi (PSP®)
Network (over IP) 
AV Output Screen size 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p 
HDMI HDMI out x 2 
Analog AV MULTI OUT x 1 
Digital audio DIGITAL OUT (OPTICAL) x 1 
Disc media 
* read only CD PlayStation® CD-ROM 
PlayStation®2 CD-ROM 
CD-DA CD-DA (ROM), CD-R, CD-RW 
Super Audio CD Hybrid disc(HD layer/CD layer), HD layer 
DualDisc DualDisc (audio side), DualDisc (DVD side) 
DVD PlayStation®2 DVD-ROM 
PLAYSTATION®3 DVD-ROM 
DVD-Video DVD-ROM, DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW 
Blu-ray Disc PLAYSTATION®3 BD-ROM 
BD-Video BD-ROM, BD-R, BD-RE


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