For some odd reason i've started collecting HD DVDs since their dirt cheap on eBay. They still offer crisp 1080P video and HD audio and can be played through PCs, Xbox 360 add on, or stand alone players. I personally have the Toshiba XA2 stand alone player, and an LG GGW-H20L (HD DVD/Blu Ray writer) for my PC. Anyone else still rocking (or collecting) HD DVD hardware/software?
HD DVD...who still has/uses it?
- Thread starter Mercennarius
- Start date
poofyhairguy
Lifer
- Nov 20, 2005
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I have bought a lot of them over the years, but the moment I have one their data goes on my server so I don't have any real player. Not a bad source of movie data, even though a lot of the early movies that came out on HD DVD now have "remastered" Blu Ray versions.
Very true. Only issues I have had are Warner Bros. titles having bad disc rot and no longer working. None of the other studio's seem to be plagued by this problem.
master_shake_
Diamond Member
- May 22, 2012
- 6,425
- 292
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I'm not really sure what causes it other than likely poor manufacturing or materials. It really seems to be just an issue with WB titles. After a few years most of them started to no longer work, especially those that are double sided (DVD/HD DVD). I would say 70% of my WB HD DVD's are no longer readable, while all my other HD DVDs work fine. I know a few years ago WB stepped up and offered to replace any HD DVD with disc rot to the Blu Ray version they now offer.
master_shake_
Diamond Member
- May 22, 2012
- 6,425
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poofyhairguy
Lifer
- Nov 20, 2005
- 14,612
- 318
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The data layer is made of organic material.
It is the same reason many old DVD blanks rot out.
Do you guys know the best way to do a 1 for 1 backup copy of BDs? I know there is an mkv option, but last I checked, it couldn't do lossless audio. I want to just copy my BDs to a NAS and stream them. It will be much more convenient selecting a movie to watch that way and I can also ensure my BDs aren't destroyed due to rot.
poofyhairguy
Lifer
- Nov 20, 2005
- 14,612
- 318
- 126
A perfect copy is an ISO. With that said your information on mkvs are completely wrong. They can have lossless audio, I have hundreds of mkv files that do. Makemkv is the software you need to achieve that.
What in the heck? That's some fast as hell Disc rot. I have an HD-DVD ROM drive around here somewhere along with Clerks 2. I suppose it's a good thing Blu-Ray won in the end, after all. From Built to Break hardware to Built to Break discs.. anything to cut corners on costs. Incredible.
It was not a problem with all HD DVDs, mainly WB titles. And HD DVD hardware seems to have every bit the quality of the same year comparable Blu Ray hardware. In fact my Toshiba XA2 is the highest quality player i've ever owned.
I prefer ISOs, but I don't know of a player that will play them. As for mkvs, like I said, I have old information so it's good to hear they can now do lossless. May look into converting my BD library to a file format for better control of my movies.
nakedfrog
No Lifer
- Apr 3, 2001
- 63,194
- 19,538
- 136
Yep. I discovered this too late (last year) when my Matrix HD-DVDs would not play correctly. I have a stack of WB HD-DVDs that I was not able to rip (I set about ripping the whole collection once I found out this was an issue).
My HD-DVD player didn't get unplugged until a few months ago, when I needed room for my PS4.
destrekor
Lifer
- Nov 18, 2005
- 28,799
- 359
- 126
Never bought into HD-DVD. I had faith that I had picked the winner, the chosen one, once I had my PS3 in hand around launch... and I immediately began buying BD's at once.
What kind of sucked is that, for some studios, the HD-DVD was their golden child and had better encodes. It was just as common when going the other way to, so it wasn't a one-sided issue.
Worse, some of the early releases, at least on BD, were soft MPEG-2 releases, and/or had sloppier audio mixes or other flaws. I religiously followed highdefdigest.com for years - I still check from time to time when I want to determine which movies I feel are really worth owning and which are rentals (sometimes I don't care - if I think I will watch it more than once I usually just buy it). But I steered clear of a few movies I wanted early on, because of the bad encodes.
But hot damn, the early days of BD were pretty fantastic - they had hot sales all the time to try and encourage faster adoption. It was glorious.
Not that it's much different now, but pricing has just been brought closer in line with reality from the get go. Early BD prices were astronomical and outrageous more often than not; they can still be $10 more than DVD, which is a crime if you ask me, alas, the studios have never sought my input on the matter. If you get discs when they are fresh on the market (release week), the BD pricing is usually good, otherwise I just wait until I feel like I am ready to watch that movie and I shop around or wait until I notice a sale.
What kind of sucked is that, for some studios, the HD-DVD was their golden child and had better encodes. It was just as common when going the other way to, so it wasn't a one-sided issue.
Worse, some of the early releases, at least on BD, were soft MPEG-2 releases, and/or had sloppier audio mixes or other flaws. I religiously followed highdefdigest.com for years - I still check from time to time when I want to determine which movies I feel are really worth owning and which are rentals (sometimes I don't care - if I think I will watch it more than once I usually just buy it). But I steered clear of a few movies I wanted early on, because of the bad encodes.
But hot damn, the early days of BD were pretty fantastic - they had hot sales all the time to try and encourage faster adoption. It was glorious.
Not that it's much different now, but pricing has just been brought closer in line with reality from the get go. Early BD prices were astronomical and outrageous more often than not; they can still be $10 more than DVD, which is a crime if you ask me, alas, the studios have never sought my input on the matter. If you get discs when they are fresh on the market (release week), the BD pricing is usually good, otherwise I just wait until I feel like I am ready to watch that movie and I shop around or wait until I notice a sale.
sdifox
No Lifer
- Sep 30, 2005
- 100,896
- 18,092
- 126
AnitaPeterson
Diamond Member
- Apr 24, 2001
- 6,038
- 593
- 126
I still have my HD-DVD discs and several players - both computer drives and standalone. And yes, I also lost a few WB titles to rot.
Interestingly enough, some of the dead discs weren't even North American....
After discovering dead discs, I copied the entire bunch still working to .iso files.
Oh, and BD Rebuilder is an extraordinary tool...
Interestingly enough, some of the dead discs weren't even North American....
After discovering dead discs, I copied the entire bunch still working to .iso files.
Oh, and BD Rebuilder is an extraordinary tool...
MongGrel
Lifer
- Dec 3, 2013
- 38,466
- 3,067
- 121
I still have some old Superbit DVD's around, but I imagine it isn't the same critter.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superbit
Nah, it isn't should have read more there myself.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superbit
Nah, it isn't should have read more there myself.
HeXen
Diamond Member
- Dec 13, 2009
- 7,838
- 39
- 91
hence why it's a GB player and not an hd dvd player. Tough to imagine perhaps but it's a format I still use.
I'm still annoyed it was it was the movie industry, and not the consumer, that determined "Blu Ray" won.
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