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Television Media Hardware

Toshiba HD-DVD Player Planned to Enforce HDMI 277

Posted by timothy from the thou-shalt-not dept.
CCat writes "Digital Spy reports that at a recent Toshiba road show in the U.S., Toshiba demonstrated their upcoming HD-DVD specification. The most interesting thing for people buying TVs at the moment is that Toshiba has stated that their HD-DVD Player will ONLY output high Def on the player's HDMI output (plus other digital connections) with the analog output downrezed to 480 lines. Prior slashdot disussion talks about the copy prevention angle and HDCP guidelines."
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Toshiba HD-DVD Player Planned to Enforce HDMI More

Toshiba HD-DVD Player Planned to Enforce HDMI

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  • HDTV! (Score:2, Informative)

    by groovy.ambuj ( 870307 )
    There have been recent surge in HDTV. Recently ATI technologies also annouced cheap HDTV... though wondering why would Toshiba support only high def??

    • Re:HDTV! (Score:5, Informative)

      by damsa ( 840364 ) on Monday July 11, 2005 @10:53PM (#13038972)
      I think you are reading it wrong. Toshiba will only support high def if your TV has also a HDMI plug. Otherwise it will look the same if you use component or other methods of cabling as a progressive scan DVD.

      My guess is, is so the movie studios will release stuff on Toshiba's format first because it will be less likely to be pirated. HDMI only means that stuff will be encrypted. Then everyone will buy Toshiba's format then Toshiba can make billions off licensing. Most people won't notice that their HDTV set is not playing at full capacity HD mode using regular plugs so they will continue to buy Toshiba HD-DVD licensed stuff because it's out sooner than blue ray. It's an interesting strategy but probably will not work as Sony also owns a movie studio, thus most movies from Sony, like Spiderman 3 will probably come out on Blu Ray first if HD-DVD at all.

      • Re:HDTV! (Score:3, Insightful)

        by Firethorn ( 177587 )
        Then they're probably doomed to follow in the steps of the DIVX disc format. Not many people are going to pay more for less functionality.

      • HDMI != HDCP (Score:5, Informative)

        by ncc74656 ( 45571 ) * <scott@alfter.us> on Tuesday July 12, 2005 @01:10AM (#13039515) Homepage Journal
        You're confusing HDMI with HDCP. HDMI is just DVI-D combined with audio. HDCP is a "copy-prevention" scheme that can be applied to either HDMI or DVI-D (or the digital part of DVI-I). If your monitor has a DVI-I or DVI-D input, you can get a dongle that will adapt HDMI to DVI. (Dongles are also available going the other way, to plug a device with DVI output into a monitor with an HDMI input.)

        What is possible is that the player will only talk to a monitor that supports HDCP. TFA says nothing one way or the other about this, but it'd be something to bitch about if this is the case. Given the existence of large numbers of monitors with DVI and/or HDMI inputs that don't support HDCP (this is especially true for DVI), a DVD player that will only talk to the handful of monitors that support HDCP should be considered broken. Unfortunately, you can't determine from TFA if this is the case.

        • Re:HDMI != HDCP (Score:5, Informative)

          by WARM3CH ( 662028 ) on Tuesday July 12, 2005 @03:19AM (#13039999)
          Data protection is obligatory in HDMI protocol. Look at this phrase from part 9.1 of the HDMI 1.1 spec:
          Content protection capability is recommended for all HDMI compliant devices. An HDMI compliant Source should protect all of the protected audiovisual data. Amongst adequate copy protection technologies that are compatible with HDMI, HDCP is available.
          (you can get a copy of the latest specs from http://www.hdmi.org/ [hdmi.org])

          • Re:HDMI != HDCP (Score:5, Insightful)

            by jimicus ( 737525 ) on Tuesday July 12, 2005 @03:42AM (#13040065)
            OK, I've not read the spec, but you've contradicted yourself there.

            "Data protection is obligatory"

            But the paragraph you quote:

            "Content protection capability is recommended..... An HDMI compliant Source should protect all of the protected audiovisual data."

            Doesn't sound like "obligatory" to me.

            • Re:HDMI != HDCP (Score:3, Informative)

              by Spoing ( 152917 )
              "Content protection capability is recommended..... An HDMI compliant Source should protect all of the protected audiovisual data."

              Doesn't sound like "obligatory" to me.

              Ever worked on a contract where the requirements are spelled out? I'm betting you haven't.

              The word "should" is implied everywhere. The word "should" means "will do this or will violate the contract" not "may if you want".

              As for "recommended", it means what it says, yet "should" takes it away since if you don't follow the recomm

              • Re:HDMI != HDCP (Score:4, Insightful)

                by LazyBoy ( 128384 ) on Tuesday July 12, 2005 @10:27AM (#13041962)
                Ever worked on a contract where the requirements are spelled out? I'm betting you haven't.

                The word "should" is implied everywhere. The word "should" means "will do this or will violate the contract" not "may if you want".

                Previous posters were talking about a standards document, not a contract. Most standards documents define exactly what "should" means or point to a document that does.

                I haven't read this standard, but I'd be stunned if you were right.

              • Re:HDMI != HDCP (Score:3, Informative)

                by Edgewize ( 262271 )
                In any standards doc I've ever seen,

                MAY = optional
                MAY NOT = optional
                SHOULD = strongly recommended
                SHOULD NOT = advised against
                MUST = required
                MUST NOT = not permitted
                SHALL = must
                SHALL NOT = must not
    • The recent surge is due to the scheduled phase out of NTSC/analog broadcasting.

  • Toshiba is wasting it's money (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Augusto ( 12068 ) on Monday July 11, 2005 @10:45PM (#13038921) Homepage
    If the PS3 hits early 2006, and the XBox comes out sans HD-DVD, you can kiss this stupid format goodbye. There's no great motivation for most consumers to buy these drives yet, so they're a bit early. And their players really can't compete with a gaming machine, so I don't know what their strategy is here.
    • "And their players really can't compete with a gaming machine, so I don't know what their strategy is here."

      They can if the PS3 is released at $400.

      It's all academic anyway, we don't know enough right now. Movie selection, or lack thereof, can have tragic results on either format.

  • I'd never by it... (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Nimrangul ( 599578 )
    I refuse to buy Toshiba branded products. Their DVD players have this wonderful knack for dying once they're three years old.

    Three capacitors on my DVD player are all that stand between me and a working DVD player - but they'd be charging for it instead of fixing what is obviously them using shit to make it.

    So I just refuse to give them another cent.

    • If you aren't going to pay to have it fixed, then what do you have to lose. http://www.digikey.com/ [digikey.com] Pick up a couple caps and go to town!

  • Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Monday July 11, 2005 @10:48PM (#13038943)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • I have seen plenty of Authors & reporters trying to publish these issues in mainstream news, but unfortunatley not many people pay attention because our basic rights & privilages arn't that important when Terrorism is much more glossy and sells a lot better.

      When this war on Terror eventually gets old, people are going wonder what happened to all their basic civil liberty's, why mega corporations dictiate what they do, why health & education aren't working etc etc.

      • Your right, people will ignore this ... until.

        People will ignore this stuff until they bring home yet another component that won't work right with their Thousand dollar TV. Then they'll be really really pissed.

        I predict that if the industry gets its way with DRM , then when HDTV finally gets to almost everyone there will be a bloodbath at the polls as people run against incumbents with lines line "Senator X took away your TV, I'll give it back."

        DRM is out of hand, its never worked, but the entertainment
        • You're kidding me right? You think the same people dumb enough to be led around by the media would be smart enough to figure that it's the DRM stopping their tv from being able to play their new hd-dvd?

          No, they'll just spend their next pay check on a new tv that's no better then their current one except for oh say, the copy-protected video input port. That is, if they hadn't already been persuaded by the manipulative best buy employee to buy a new tv before hand anyway.

          You are over-estimating the average
    • All I can say is, good. As soon as the general population is forcefully exposed to DRM in the form of movies they can't watch and technologies they can't take advantage of

      Seriously, a bunch of early adopters of HDTV (no, only DTV is being forced soon, not HDTV) is limited to 480p, many of which are only 720p LCD/plasma/other screens. While I understand it is somewhat frustrating, I doubt this is "the general population". Some will not even care all too much about an upscaled 480p.

      The fact of it is, the "
    • But when their new TV won't work with their new DVD player? Then the people will cry for blood.

      no they won't.

      like most sheeple, they'll pay the 15% restocking fee and go back to watching the same old tv they had before.

  • Wow (Score:5, Insightful)

    by UserChrisCanter4 ( 464072 ) on Monday July 11, 2005 @10:50PM (#13038954)
    So Toshiba's HD-DVD player will not display HD video on the millions of Toshiba HDTVs that were produced before DVI and HDMI were common? Awesome!

    The funniest part is that no one would want to bootleg over the component connections anyway. I don't know of a signle component capture card that's priced remotely near what a normal consumer could afford. The big piracy houses will find a quick workaround anyway. But they'll stave off all four casual pirates with access to professional capture devices, at least until the HD-DVD encryption is cracked.

    We're all used to ludicrous DRM systems, but I've never seen an electronics company (without a major stake in the film/music production business) so willing to shoot themselves in the foot.

    • Re:Wow (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Intellectual Elitist ( 706889 )
      > So Toshiba's HD-DVD player will not display HD video on the millions of Toshiba HDTVs that were produced before DVI and HDMI were common?

      Yeah, no kidding. I bought a Toshiba HDTV in late 2001, and it only has component video inputs for HD content. Instead of rewarding me for paying a premium to be an early adopter, I'm being punished because of the assumption that I'm going to pirate movies. Very classy.

    • Re:Wow (Score:3, Insightful)

      by timeOday ( 582209 )
      ...at least until the HD-DVD encryption is cracked.
      Anybody care to bet how long breaking HD CSS will take?

      I know the conventional slashdot wisdom is "no time at all" but I'm not so sure. There was a long, annoying period of several years during which linux could not play DVDs. The manufacturers have a lot of money at stake (well, at least the content producers do) and I wouldn't be surprised if they finall get it right.

      • "Getting it right" would involve not making it available on general purpose computers *at all*. Do you think they'll go that far?

        • Re:Wow (Score:3, Informative)

          by afidel ( 530433 )
          Yes, in fact the HDCP spec specifically bars the decryption of protected content on general purpose PC's. That means no more media center XP, no more homebrew PVR's, no more doing as you wish with your purchased content. And of course once the encryption is cracked the easiest way to enjoy your purchase will be to break the law (DMCA) and strip all the "protection" nonesense and so with it as you damn well please.

      • Re:Wow (Score:3, Insightful)

        by assassinator42 ( 844848 )
        It might take a while. DVD audio was just recently cracked, right? And it's more of a workaround. Windows Media DRM/5c/other types of DRM haven't been cracked. These people who think it will be cracked in no time at all are in for a letdown.
      • I know the conventional slashdot wisdom is "no time at all" but I'm not so sure.

        Thank you voice of reason. Id like to point out that DVD-Audio was JUST cracked a few days ago (yay, now I can start buying them).

        • Re:Wow (Score:2, Insightful)

          by tirefire ( 724526 )
          Thank you, apples to oranges comparison. DVD Video is a huge, mainstream thing, while DVD Audio is a tiny, stupid thing. Crackers are bound to spend more time working on getting a movie than content which is already available on non-copy-protected discs (CDs).

      • Re:Wow (Score:3, Insightful)

        by Kjella ( 173770 )
        Anybody care to bet how long breaking HD CSS will take?

        As in "find one private key, crack all content made up until this point"? Not too long.

        As in a permanent crack like DeCSS, which was fundamentally broken when the algorithm came out? Never.

        It is much more a hardware job than a software job this time around. Find the private key locked down in your DVD player (which is set to self-destruct if you try).

        It is more a question if anyone is willing to do that NOW. The smart way would be to let the standa
    • The big piracy houses will find a quick workaround anyway.

      Yep, pirates will just copy the whole HD-DVD in total and skip over the copy protection. Bit-by-bit copies will be made.

      I'm with you, my current HDTV is useless for this player - glad I bought early.

    • You know they will do that.
    • "...but I've never seen an electronics company (without a major stake in the film/music production business) so willing to shoot themselves in the foot."

      Toshiba is connected. In Japan, they distribute EMI's product. We should remember (though I can't find the relevant link) that EMI's in bed with Macrovision, so it's safe to say that EMI may be wielding some influence.

      Doesn't mean they're any less shooting themselves in the foot, however.
  • "If you try to grill steaks on any grill other than our own, it instantly turns into hamburger!"

    "And I would buy this why?"

    "Well, since I'm in marketing, I'm assuming it's because people are stupid!"

    "Well, if I were surrounded by that much stupidity, I'd think people were stupid too."

  • By the time these come out, (somewhat)affordable HD camcorders will also be hitting the market. Maybe they will have to make tripods illegal under the DMCA.

  • HDCP requried by DVD spec (Score:5, Informative)

    by rstewart ( 31100 ) on Monday July 11, 2005 @10:54PM (#13038978)
    HDCP is currently required by the DVD licensing group for all players that output at greater than 480p resolutions.

    If you take a look at all the major dvd players out there that have scalers built into them you'll find that currently the only way to go above 480p on them is to use a dvi or hdmi output with hdcp. This is not new and Toshiba is not doing anything different. The problem is truly the standards bodies bowing to pressure from the MPAA and Hollywood to not allow unencrypted signals in high def off of players.

    The old argument remains that Hollywood says they will not release movies in that format unless they can't be protected from copying and thus the technology giants bow to them in order to sell their product. I am still awaiting a technology giant to dare Hollywood to not support a format and thus lose the sales that way. Of course with companies like Sony running their own music and movie divisions that probably will not happen any time soon.

    • Re:HDCP requried by DVD spec (Score:5, Insightful)

      by John Seminal ( 698722 ) on Monday July 11, 2005 @11:12PM (#13039068) Journal
      you'll find that currently the only way to go above 480p on them is to use a dvi or hdmi

      DVI is not encrypted, is it?

      This reminds me of the macroflash that some DVD players have. If you try and copy a DVD to a VHS tape, it will phase in and out of the picture in all sorts of colors. Did people think that a 480p picture needs to be protected from being copied on a format that is half the resolution and interlaced?

      I am still awaiting a technology giant to dare Hollywood to not support a format and thus lose the sales that way. Of course with companies like Sony running their own music and movie divisions that probably will not happen any time soon.

      The problem is not with copying a DVD. Studios don't lose money because someone copies a DVD and trades it. Studios loose money when you already have the $29.99 blockbuster hit on DVD, and two years later they re-release the same movie on DVD and clean it up a bit. Who wants to buy the same shit twice? It pisses people off, and that is when they start thinking about copying a DVD. No, they don't copy the ultra edition, because that is the one they want to buy and have as a part of their DVD collection. They copy the crappy first release. Now I have known some DVD collectors with 700+ DVD's to copy a DVD, and then see the DVD was done right, and buy the first version. People don't want to buy shit.

      Studios do not respect people. If Studios respected me as a person, they would not waste my time. Not in theaters with 20 minutes of commercials and $5 popcorns. Not with DVD's that disable the menu and fast forward buttons. Not with DVD's that get re-released three times.

      • I don't quite get why people get upset about DVDs getting released multiple times. When you bought the DVD initially, were you happy with it? If not, why did you buy it? Did you feel like you must have the latest greatest? When the manufacturer of your car releases an updated version, do you equally get upset?
        • I don't quite get why people get upset about DVDs getting released multiple times. When you bought the DVD initially, were you happy with it?

          There is a fine line between (A) holding back on the quality and/or features on a first release and (B) improving the quality and adding features on a second release.

          People tend to get pissed when they feel that the studio is doing (A) just so as to trick people into buying the same product multiple times.

          If not, why did you buy it?

          Because, at the time, it was t

        • When the manufacturer of your car releases an updated version, do you equally get upset?

          If I found out my car company had brakes that could stop my car 10Xs faster, or an engine that could get 4X the fuel-mileage, that doesn't cost any more than the crap they gave me, I'd be very angry.

          Similarly, people who buy DVDs, expect that there isn't going to be a better one comming along soon. They expect that if there's any extra content available (deleted scenes, interviews, etc) it will be included on the DV

  • We have a Motorola HD cable DVR connected to a Sony HD TV using a DVI (DVR) to HDMI (TV) cable that doesn't pass the DRM signal. The only digital input the TV has is the HDMI input. The digital signal is visibly cleaner and sharper at 1080i than using Component video cables, but there are rare glitches. Occasionally the picture will get out of sync and you see two torn noisy SD images on the screen. You can fix that by simply changing channels and coming back. That gets the 1s and 0s in sync again.

    Outside of that the DVR/TV connect is wont to have other head glitches once in while. During one of those the TV displayed a blue box over 2/3 of the screen with the message along the lines of "DEVICE NOT AUTHORIZED for digital connection. Please switch to analog inputs." Power cycles all around cleared that nonsense.

    This what we have to look forward to - TVs that will decide if your other devices are authorized to be seen. Support the EFF [eff.org] to stop this madness...or vote with your wallet. Are you ready to pass on watching movies or other HQ content when the day comes soon that all devices work like this?
    • This what we have to look forward to - TVs that will decide if your other devices are authorized to be seen

      No, it is the other way around. The device decides if it will display to the TV. The TV will display anything it is fed - video in the clear, or properly encrypted.

    • My Samsung TS360 (DirecTV) does the same thing if it's on a channel requiring HDCP and my TV is off or on a different input. When I switch back to the DVI input on the TV, I see white noise and a message about the copy protected content.

      Change the channel on the receiver and everything comes back.

      TV is a Samsung HLN567W - you'd think the Samsung TV and Samsung receiver would work together well.

  • Simple; (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Progman3K ( 515744 ) on Monday July 11, 2005 @11:01PM (#13039015)
    Just don't buy it.

    The market will teach them to stop doing that.
    • Unfortunately this is not nearly enough.

      You must not buy it, AND spread the word.

      In this world where the media is owned like a pet, and acts accordingly, spreading a message like this becomes near impossible, except maybe to a few people, who end up not giving a shit.

      Slashdot doesn't count as most readers already know about the problem.

  • People will buy this crap... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by John Seminal ( 698722 ) on Monday July 11, 2005 @11:02PM (#13039020) Journal
    And we will be stuck with DVD's that will only play in ways the manufacturors want. I wonder if one day there will be a small microchip on the DVD itself, in the center, which will be programmed the first time it is played, so it will only play on one DVD player, like what DVD's did with region locks on computers, after 3 changes it is locked.

    But what does it matter anyways? Will there EVER be something that will take full use of the resolution? For example, take the cleanest looking 720p ESPN baseball game, how much higher can the resolution get? There must be some relationship between screen size and the perceptible difference. For example, can people see more detail on a 42" screen if one is 480p and the other is 720p? Maybe on a 120" projection screen it becomes noticable, but how much?

    Truth be told, I would be more happy with the current 480p that DVD can play now if the studios treated customers better. No more re-releasing a DVD 3 times, with the first release being shitty and a buy it for $29 or have nothing attitude. Then 18 month later is the re-release "ultimate edition" which cleans the picture up. Coulnd't the studio release a clean picture the first time? And do away with fraud, for example the season 2 boxed set of Magnum PI has a bonus episode of the A-Team, and this episode looks fantastic, very clean. But if you get the boxed set of the A-Team, the other episodes don't look like they have as much resolution. Did the studio spend all their time making the one "free" episode look as good as possible, and neglected the rest because the studio knew the free one was going to sell the set?

    And while we are at it, NO MORE FUKING "COPYWRITE" WARNINGS THAT CAN NOT BE FAST FORWARDED AND NO DISABLING OF THE MENU BUTTON DURING PREVIEWS!!! I fucking hate studios that lock me into 5 minutes of copywrite warnings, previews and the studio logo.

    And here is a shocking idea. If the studio made a product the way people wanted it, then maybe there would be less copying. If a $30 dvd was not released 3 times, maybe the first version would not be copied like crazy because nobody wants to get fucked with a crippled version.

    And I have a long memory. I have a bunch of music CD's with rot. I have one DVD that pixalates, and it did not do that in the past. None of my VHS tapes lock up or pixilate, they keep playing.

    I almost wish the S-VHS caught on with near dvd quality. It would be hard to control an analog source. But that is why studios lie and tell us things like DVD's last forever, when in truth they get rot, or lies like no anaolg source could have the same resolution, which it could.

    • For example, can people see more detail on a 42" screen if one is 480p and the other is 720p?

      Depending on distance, yes. 1080p is perfect (can't see scanlines) up to about 3-3.5x screen size. SD is at 8-9x, 720p would be somewhere inbetween.

      For my next TV, I'm considering a 1080p 37" LCD. Sitting at about 3m away, that should be about 118" = ~3x37". In other words, about as good as my eyes are.

      Kjella

    • Will there EVER be something that will take full use of the resolution?

      Yes: computer displays. I personall would love to have a nice 42" computer monitor, that had the same dot pitch as a normal monitor (i.e., 72-100 pixels per inch) instead of being limited to 1024x768 for that whole huge screen. Of course, it'd be incredibly expensive (sort of like how a 30" Apple display is $3000, while a 30" LCD TV is only $1000, because it has so many fewer pixels).

    • Make no mistake, I agree with your sentiments in general. However, the specifics are a different matter.

      For example, can people see more detail on a 42" screen if one is 480p and the other is 720p?

      Sure can. 42" is quite large, really. Not that people would think the 480p video would look like crap, but the 720p video would look much better.

      The aliasing (and digital artifacts) of broadcast really bother me greatly. I believe the only real solution to those issues is going to mean having a video for

  • I'm willing to bet that Blu-Ray and HD-DVD (Score:5, Interesting)

    by multiplexo ( 27356 ) on Monday July 11, 2005 @11:07PM (#13039047) Journal
    are going to go the way of DVD-Audio and SACD. Despite the fact that Sony has made almost every one of their DVD players capable of playing SACD and the large number of DVD-Audio players available most artists and labels are shunning these formats. One reason, despite their higher quality, has to be the onerous copy protection attached to each format, including such idiocy as disabling digital bass management at the player level thus requiring users to run six analog connections between their SACD/DVD players and their home theater receivers. Most consumers looked at this and said "fuck this higher quality multi-channel noise". And now labels are releasing their titles on the increasingly popular DualDisc format, which combines a standard CD with a DVD with Dolby 5.1 sound. Thus allowing you to play this in your car or on a home theater system and which doesn't require running a bunch of extra cables and purchasing an analog bass management system for those receivers that don't have analog bass management capabilities.

    What does HD-DVD offer the average user? Most people like DVDs not only because they have better image quality than VHS, even if you connect to your TV with an RF cable or RCA composite jack and also because they're smaller than VHS tapes, more durable and easier to fast forward and frame by frame. Exactly what does HD-DVD add to this? Well, you get more data storage, so if you wanted to have a bunch of movies on one disc you could, but I don't think Hollywood is going to go for that. Or you can have super duper high definition movies, which most users don't have the equipment to take advantage of anyways. Cripple it with idiot DRM schemes and you make it even less attractive.

    • One reason, despite their higher quality, has to be the onerous copy protection attached to each format, including such idiocy as disabling digital bass management at the player level thus requiring users to run six analog connections between their SACD/DVD players and their home theater receivers. Most consumers looked at this and said "fuck this higher quality multi-channel noise".

      No, most consumers don't even know what SACD and DVD-Audio are due to zero marketing for the formats. Even if they did they

    • One reason, despite their higher quality, has to be the onerous copy protection attached to each format, including such idiocy as disabling digital bass management at the player level thus requiring users to run six analog connections between their SACD/DVD players and their home theater receivers.

      Er, both of these formats use a resolution that current digital interconnects are not capable of. They decided that instead of creating a new digital standard, or messing up an existing one so that some thing

  • The purpose of HDMI is to provide both digital video and audio in the same cable. However most digital TVs don't have the necessary speakers to really take advantage of digital audio (DTS, AC3, etc). People who buy a digital TV most often have a receiver that handles the digital audio. Maybe for high end receivers using HDMI cuts down on the amount of cables, but on TVs, I can't really see much of an advantage over DVI.

  • Recipe: How to kill a technology before it starts (Score:3, Informative)

    by jaysedai ( 595022 ) on Monday July 11, 2005 @11:35PM (#13039163)
    Step 1 - Create format war...
    Step 2 - Include outdated interactive capabilties...
    Step 3 - Add overbearing copyprotection...
    Step 4 - Lose tons of money!

    Read my essay on the subject here:
    http://www.fireflymovie.com/HighlyInteractiveHD_DV D.html [fireflymovie.com]
  • Or someone will come up with a spiffy little adapter sooner than anyone expects.

  • Let Toshiba kill its own alleged "standard" due to its own stupidity, I say.

    1080p is the future, and Blu-Ray/Sony Playstation3 supports 1080p. There are many televisions coming out now and in the near future that supports 1080p, which means Blu-Ray will have an advantage over broadcast, cable, and satellite in terms of image quality for some time to come.

    HD-DVD is cheap to manufacture per disc and that is why some studios support it, and supposedly has an advantage over the number of Blu-Ray houses. I s

  • I gotta get one! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Thunderstruck ( 210399 ) on Tuesday July 12, 2005 @12:12AM (#13039307)
    Now lets see... To get this thing feeding to my 1987 Black and White television, how many adaptors will I need? It's not cable ready, just has the two little screws in the back where I hook up the rabbit ears...

    Anyone know how I can hook this new box up without disconnecting my Atari 2600?

    • Well the two little screws are really just 300-ohm RF, so you'll need a 300 to 70 ohm adapter, available for a couple bucks. Then RF to composite (or s-video), which a VCR will do for you (there are adapters from Radio Shack too). Then from composite to component. I don't know of any adapters off the top of my head for this, but since they're both analogue, just do some Googling and I'm sure some will turn up. The last step would be component to HDMI, which require some kind of digitisation. No idea ho

  • Divx (Score:2, Insightful)

    by maxoct97 ( 897908 )
    Anyone remember Divx? Hollywood thought they were so great that now they were "protected," but they neglected to remember that people actually need to BUY their product. The crappy invention eventually failed because nobody bought it.

    I hope that this Toshiba player goes the way of Divx and is shown the door out.

  • I sware that all the upconverting DVD players that are out now, and they are the only things that will currently output an HD signal (720p, 1080i), will output the upconverted signal over HDMI. I don't have one, but that's what I've been told.

    So these new HD DVD players are exactly the same as the current upconverting DVD players.

    Also, even though it only outputs via HDMI you could buy an HDMI to Component converter and just use those cables. Eventually that might not work, but until -EVERYTHING- compli
  • Just incase the hyperventillating bloggers pick up this story, the correct magic word is down-sampling.

    For an insightful, and balanced view into blogging read this article [thebestpag...iverse.net]

  • Only Takes One :) (Score:4, Insightful)

    by saikou ( 211301 ) on Tuesday July 12, 2005 @02:47AM (#13039894) Homepage
    And some small or no-name brand from China, that does not bother with all "checks and balances" (gasp!) suddenly enjoys quadruple sales.
    Of course the funniest thing will be that same factory produces "big name" playes during morning shift :) Philips players in retaliation will have well-known code (flap the door of the player three times, tap on the side panel and say "please let me watch in digital format" three times) that will turn off protection.
    Easy :)

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