HD DVD News

Verbatim 2 x HD DVD R-R and HD DVD-RW

2008-01-07T17:01:00.000Z

Verbatim have just announced their 2 speed writeable HD DVD disks in both -R and -RW formats, meaning that a 15Gb blank can be written in around 30 minutes.

Toshiba clinging on

2008-01-05T18:05:00.001Z

With the news that Warner Brothers are going Blu Ray Exclusive, Toshiba are taking their time to come back with their assesment. However, there are also reumours going around that Microsoft is about to license the Xbox 360 architecture to external companies, such as Toshiba.

A Toshiba produced Xbox 360 with built-in HD DVD drive may change the landscape once more...

Paramount Movies to be Exclusive to HD-DVD (almost)

2007-09-09T16:39:00.000+01:00

Towards the end of August, Paramount Pictures announced that it would drop support for the Blu-ray Disc format and exclusively support HD DVD. This includes DreamWorks animations as well (think Shrek The Third) .

Great news, I'm sure you'll agree! But there's a little more to it than that.

The announcement doesn't include movies directed by Steven Spielberg, but it does include movies with Spielberg's involvement - such as Transformers, which will be exclusive to HD DVD.

But almost immediately there were reports of Paramount being paid by the companies who want HD DVD to be a success, such as Toshiba and Microsoft. $150million was bandied around, but described as an "advertising incentive".

Whatever. We should now see some reall good HD blockbusters on HD DVD over the coming months - don't miss out!

Web enabled Blood Diamond

2007-07-02T18:40:00.000+01:00

For those of you with a Toshiba HD-DVD player plumbed into that Internet, you'll probably be wanting to upgrade to the new firmware on offer from Toshiba. The update is available for the second gen models from Toshiba, namely: HD-XA3, HD-A20, HD-A2W and HD-D2.

Blood Diamond is the first high profile HD DVD movie with web extras, which includes maps, and a couple of online message boards (one for Blood Diamond, and one for Warner themselves). More from the High Def Digest.

You can download the update directly from your player if it's all plumbed in correctly.

HD DVD suffers rental setback

2007-06-22T08:03:00.000+01:00

In the days following Blockbuster's decision to got with Blu Ray in their 1400+ US outlets, HD DVD has been suffering a bit of a setback. Rumours floating around the Internet suggest that HD DVD player sales have dried up almost overnight, with orders for players being cancelled.

If true, this could be disastrous for the fledgling HD DVD format. Although online based rental services will continue to operate with HD DVD alongside Blu Ray, the mass market will be led by decisions such as the one made by Blockbuster.

We will be keeping our eyes and ears open for the HD DVD retaliation!

HD DVD Selling well.

2007-06-11T22:20:00.001+01:00

OK, it's before the Blu Ray boys have had a chance to get their side of the story across, but Team HD DVD claim to have whopping 60% of the "standalone high definition player market" (ie. ignore the PS3 please!) Not too shabby at all. Of course Blu Ray may come and make similar claims, with the PS3 as ammo, but we'll see their numbers soon, I'm sure.

source engadget

HD DVD Player Prices Heading Down

2007-06-11T22:13:00.000+01:00

The upcoming second generation Toshiba HD-A2 HD DVD player may see the start of much cheaper HD-DVD players, reports Engadget. Originally appearing on a US electronic website for only $199 (which included $100 off at the point of purchase), HD-DVD players look like they were going to tumble in price (how much did you pay for your Xbox 360 HD DVD player...?)

Unfortunaley, mere hours later, the retailer has upped the price by $100 taking us to a respectable, but not nearly as attractive $299. Still, at the current £ to $ conversion rate...

hmm...

The Secret Numbers...

2007-05-03T11:21:00.000+01:00

Shhh! Don't tell anyone, but there's a bit of a revolt going on out there, regarding the secret encryption code used by HD-DVDs. The number, a 16-digit number that is "illegal to possess and disseminate" according to AACS has gained popularity (as far as a number can be deemed popular) as a way of sticking it to the man.

The code can, in theory (and certainly in practice for some), be used to rip the contents of an HD-DVD disk to a PC, allowing a lossless digital copy of an HD-DVD disk to be made. Film studios don't like the idea of that, so went with the AACS encryption model with HD-DVD.

What they didn't foresee (how not?) is that PC based HD-DVD playback solutions such as WinDVD and PowerDVD were inherently weaker than any hardware based players, and provided a way into the code to find the encryption keys. Which is what happened.

Initially the keys were discussed on various forums, but in the last few days they have been distributed all over the place, with AACS trying to send cease & desist orders to anyone breathing the numbers. Unless they've given up already.

And they should. Not everybody who wants rid of DRM wants to pirate disks. They want to be treated as adults. If they need a backup of their movie collection so they can use a movie server, or to stop the kids scratching them, then why can't they? If we're only buying licences, then why can't I swap my DVDs for HD-DVDs? After all I have a licence for the content, I just want it on different media.

Whatever the situation, it looks like HD-DVD is wide open in this respect, and attention is turning to Blu Ray.

The numbers? Well, they're a secret, but if you do this, then you will see the numbers in all their glory:

Go into you favourite desktop calculator (with Hex mode) and put this number in decimal mode: 11497989095545517501. Then convert this to Hex and copy the numbers out. Then enter this number in decimal also: 594852031564777664 , and again convert to hex and copy it next to the first one.

Stick a zero at the beginning and you will have the magic numbers.

Or as a string of decimal numbers, you can have: 09 249 17 02 157 116 227 91 216 65 86 197 99 86 136 192.

Xbox 360 HD DVD

2006-12-05T11:24:00.000Z

I don't know about everywhere else, but the Xbox 360 HD DVD drive appears to be selling in VERY large numbers in the UK, and that's before you can even get one! It was supposed to be available on 1st December, but orders still aren't being sent out.... If you haven't placed an order yet, then get on and do it! I don't think you'll one in the shops until after Christmas, but with online stores you still stand a chance...

Microsoft Xbox HD DVD to retail for £100?

2006-08-17T11:36:00.000+01:00

DigiTimes.com, out of Taiwan, is running a story that Microsoft have let it be known that their XBox 360 HD-DVD add-on will be on sale by Christmas for $200.

That could mean a UK sale price of close to the £100 mark for the film player.

Which means that even with the cost of the XBox, if you don't have one already, we could be able to get the first benefits of high def films well below the early price estimates of £500+.

Keep in touch for more news as it becomes available

DigiTimes

Xbox HD DVD drive ready to ship

2006-08-08T10:16:00.000+01:00

Some experts are forcasting that video game machine users will decide the winner between HD DVD and Bluray.

Well on Monday Microsoft offered the first glimpse of an external HD DVD drive built for the Xbox 360 game console. The drive should be available in store before the end of the year.

Greg Sandoval at CNET

It has been coming!

2006-08-04T11:59:00.000+01:00

Yes the Blu-ray and HD DVD head to head. Would either of the formats be able to show clearly that they were the One.

Well the first round has taken place and comparisons have been made between three Warner Home Video releases, Training Day, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and Rumor Has It.... .

And one is definitely in the lead. See the details over at High-Def Digest

Toshiba denies new HD DVD Player launch

2006-08-01T09:44:00.000+01:00

It seems the reported high demand for HD DVD players will not move Toshiba to launch any new models this year.

There were rumours amongst electronics retailers that a new player may be on the market in October but Toshiba have publicly denied the rumour.

So that's that or is it?

High-Def Digest

EU looking at HD-DVD

2006-07-31T11:46:00.000+01:00

Apparently both the groups backing HD-DVD and Bluray are being put under the European Commission spot light.

The EU seems to have a problem with terms the groups are demanding from licensees.

Will the EU decide to force one of the players out of the game?

engadget

HD DVD to support hybrid discs

2006-07-31T11:31:00.000+01:00

The HD DVD format group has announced the support of hybrid discs as have competitors Bluray.

Microsoft and Intel also showed their favor to the HD DVD plans to commercialize hybrid discs, a dual-side disc that can be read in both current DVDs and future players.

Hybrid discs could give the chance to Hollywood to release HD content in more "future-proof" and "familiar" environment.

CDR Info

Toshiba HD-XA1 gets first firmware upgrade

2006-07-14T10:51:00.000+01:00

Toshiba have already released the first firmware patch for their new HD-DVD player, the Toshiba HD-XA1.

Yu can order a CD Rom from here, but make sure you have your Japanese to English dictionary to hand, or you can downlaod from here and burn your own CD to upgrade from.

The upgraded firmware stops noise occuring when you are on an HD-DVD menu and viewing via the HDMI socket.

Source: Digital World Tokyo.

Sky HD - no external HD archiving

2006-07-13T17:00:00.000+01:00

We lodged a question with Sky recently about whether there would be any off-box HD archiving possible, via the external ports available: USB2, SATA or Ethernet. Unfortunately, the answer is no... "The Sky HD box will be the only place you can record and playback in HD", which is a shame, considering the US HD boxes with firewire output.

Of course this is in relation to long-time archiving to optical media - it doesn't mean that external HDDs won't be supported.

It does make us wonder what on earth we're going to record on our expensive next-gen BluRay and HD-DVD burners when they arrive. BBC HD is of course available, but can only widely be accessed on the Sky platform. We'll need some non-Sky receivers with HD support and output suitable for a burner to archive that off.

They also say "You will be able to use the Sky HD box to record and playback in SD quality to a second device." which at least means we'll be able to get good, HD sourced SD signals for archiving.

UK HD-DVD launch imminent?

2006-07-13T12:11:00.000+01:00

Could the UK launch of HD-DVD be happening within the next month or two? A forum member on Digital Spy spotted this :

Please note: The following Sky Box Office films will no longer play in High Definition [HD] on SBO HD1(756) and SBO HD2 (757) in July and August: These changes are effective from Monday 10th July.

King Kong
The Constant Gardener
Cry Wolf
Serenity
Doom
Nanny McPhee
Pride & Prejudice

Please remove any HD flags from your listings/ PPV Picks of The Day. A full amendment detailing the schedule changes will be released as soon as possible. Apologies for any inconvenience.

The common link is that they all have something to do with Universal, one of the studios heavily involved with HD-DVD. It would make commercial sense to make sure that any recent movies available as HD were exclusive to the new HD-DVD platform, so as not to dilute sales.

New Toshiba HD-DVD recorder delayed

2006-07-13T07:35:00.000+01:00

The new Toshiba RD-A1 was meant to launch tomorrow, but that has now been shifted back to July 27th due to "component shortages".

It's looking like the whole current/next-gen family is going to be remembered in years to come for shortages: Xbox 360, PS3, Blu Ray, HD-DVD. Surely there's a dissertation here for someone?

Ricoh announce dual format player and burner

2006-07-12T16:24:00.000+01:00

Following on from the news that Ricoh had a component that would allow a player to read Blu Ray and HD-DVD, they have announced the first product to use it. Don't hold your breath though - it's not due until the end of 2007, followed soon after by a multi-format burner.

Akihabara News has pictures of the announcement.

HD-DVD font sets announced

2006-07-12T10:19:00.000+01:00

Ascender Corp have announced a set of fonts that will be available to users of Microsoft's HD DVD Interactivity Jumpstart Package. The Microsoft HD DVD Interactivity Jumpstart Package contains software and utilities to simulate, test and debug HD DVD applications.

Unlike normal DVD, which used bitmap fonts, HD DVD allows scalable fonts to be included on the disc to generate text with the highest quality resolution.

The eight fonts/families are as follows:

The font license with the Microsoft HD DVD Interactivity Jumpstart Package allows authors to use the fonts ‘as is’ with a title, and not to make any modifications to the fonts. Ascender's team of type designers and font software engineers can develop enhancements to the fonts, such as additional character sets, language support or other font styles if desired. Ascender also offers HD DVD authors an extensive collection of additional fonts and styles in the OpenType font format to select from.

Ascender will also be releasing enhanced “Pro” versions of these fonts with comprehensive character sets for consumers and creative professionals to download. More information on Ascender's fonts for HD DVD can be found here.

Details on Microsoft's HD DVD Interactivity Jumpstart Package can be found here.

Microsoft announce first UK HD-DVD titles?

2006-07-12T08:10:00.001+01:00

Microsoft have some details on their site of UK HD-DVD launch titles:

Arizona Dream
Basic Instinct
Brotherhood Of The Wolf (Le Pacte Des Loups)
The City Of The Lost Children (La Cité Des Enfants Perdus)
Elephant Man
The Fog
Mulholland Drive
The Pianist
Terminator 2

Not the most inspiring, certainly, but Terminator 2 will HAVE to worth a watch! (again)

Microsoft announce first UK HD-DVD titles?

2006-07-12T08:10:00.000+01:00

Microsoft have some details on their site of UK HD-DVD launch titles:

Arizona Dream
Basic Instinct
Brotherhood Of The Wolf (Le Pacte Des Loups)
The City Of The Lost Children (La Cité Des Enfants Perdus)
Elephant Man
The Fog
Mulholland Drive
The Pianist
Terminator 2

Not the most inspiring, certainly, but Terminator 2 will HAVE to worth a watch! (again)

HD-DVD is really good! Honest!

2006-07-11T15:49:00.000+01:00

The main forces behind HD-DVD, namely Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Warner Home Video, Paramount Home Entertainment, HP, Intel, Microsoft and Toshiba have announced the formation of a new trade organization, the North American HD DVD Promotional Group, Inc. The non-profit group will promote the companies' common interests in the success of HD DVD and to educate consumers on the quality and value of HD DVD.

The group will be promoting HD-DVD as "The Look and Sound of PerfectÂ". Catchy. Between them, they are dumping $150 million into marketing, right throughuntill 2007.

More details at: http://www.thelookandsoundofperfect.com/

Source: Press release

HD DVD ripping already possible?

2006-07-07T14:04:00.000+01:00

With most of the delay to next gen optical systems being down to security of the digital stream, a small oversight is already making it possible to make a direct copy of the content. The German computer magazine c't discovered that it is possible to use screenshot functions of the player software to record the movie when it's played full screen. Ok, it's all very manual at the moment, but wouldn't take too much effort to capture each frame and save it ready to be rejoined with the rest later on. Rip the audio and lay it over, and there you go.

This process would work on both the new Sony and Toshiba laptops, with Blu Ray and HD-DVD players, respectively.

CDR Freaks has the details