Toshiba's HD DVD

[edtyct]

In view of all the threads lately involving HD DVD and Blu-ray, I thought that it might be helpful to state what we know about Toshiba's HD DVD. First of all, though claiming to want a peaceful resolution of its impending format war with Sony, Toshiba still plans to launch HD DVD in the fourth quarter of 2005 for under $1000 (for all we know, that could mean $999.99, and probably does). The HD will tap out, at least in the first wave, at 720p/1080i, though 1080p is certainly on the docket. The outputs will feature both HDMI and IEEE 1394 (no word on component). The copy-protection will be AACS, as it will for Blu-ray. Both Dolby Digital Plus and DTS HD are slated to be on-board, with their lossy brethren represented as well. The player will be backward-compatible with DVD and CD. You can bet your bottom dollar that SACD won't be represented, but there's no word on whether DVD-A will find a home there.

The hi res DVD issue is getting more complicated all the time, as both contestants keep increasing disk capacity, and other alternatives loom on the horizon as possible dark horses in the race (holographic, red-laser disks, with their immense storage capability and even Microsoft's WMV/HD). As Yogi said, it ain't over til it's over, and I'm not sure whether it ever will be.

Ed

[drseid]

Do you know if the HDMI to DVI converters currently available will be able to work with the new players Ed? I have a DVI input on my Sony HDTV, but I would hate to have to upgrade my TV just for HDMI in order to play the new formats at their highest resolution...

Thanks,

---Dave

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

1080P is not on the docket for HD-DVD. To do 1080P Toshiba would have to completely rework HD-DVD from the ground up. I asked a toshiba rep about 1080P, and this is the answer he gave me.

[edtyct]

Sir T,

The way I have it is that 1080p won't be available "initially." If that means never, so be it, but it's hard to believe, since 1080p is part of the HD standard.(at either 24 or 30 fps), and the availability of "affordable" displays that can input 1080p (not just scale to it) is just around the corner. Only expense has kept it scarce until now.

Ed

[topspeed]

Sir T,

The way I have it is that 1080p won't be available "initially." If that means never, so be it, but it's hard to believe, since 1080p is part of the HD standard.(at either 24 or 30 fps), and the availability of "affordable" displays that can input 1080p (not just scale to it) is just around the corner. Only expense has kept it scarce until now.

Ed
You can get a 50" Samsung 1080p DLP from TVAuthority for $3200 right now. If that ain't affordable, I don't know what is.

[edtyct]

Do you know if the HDMI to DVI converters currently available will be able to work with the new players Ed? I have a DVI input on my Sony HDTV, but I would hate to have to upgrade my TV just for HDMI in order to play the new formats at their highest resolution...

Thanks,

---Dave
Dave,

Single-link DVI can handle 1920x1080p, and HDMI can pass it. It should work.

Ed

[edtyct]

Topspeed,

It won't input 1080p; it just scales to it. At this moment, a TV capable of receiving 1080p would cost on the order of $3000 more than that (based on the price of the upgrade to Sony's front projection SXRD). By the time 1920x1080p input capability arrives, the cost of the privilege will come down.

Ed

[drseid]

Dave,

Single-link DVI can handle 1920x1080p, and HDMI can pass it. It should work.

Ed
Thanks Ed, much appreciated!

Now switching out of panic mode... ;-)

---Dave

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

Sir T,

The way I have it is that 1080p won't be available "initially." If that means never, so be it, but it's hard to believe, since 1080p is part of the HD standard.(at either 24 or 30 fps), and the availability of "affordable" displays that can input 1080p (not just scale to it) is just around the corner. Only expense has kept it scarce until now.

Ed

When I asked the Toshiba rep, his answer didn't seem to have a caveat. He told me that HD-DVD stamdard doesn't have 1080P on its plate.

[edtyct]

Sir T,

I did some fact checking. You and your Toshiba rep are right. Thanks. HD DVD will emerge as a 1080i format, and a redesign would be necessary for it to reach 1080p of some kind. This is not to say that if the opportunity, or need, arose, Toshiba wouldn't be up to it (probably the reason for the hedging in the wording in some discussions), but we're a long way from any such scenario. Blu-ray has no such limitation, so far as I can see, which to my mind is a definite advantage. This issue, however, is not a big deal for anyone who buys a TV this year, and probably for some time to come; high rez DVD won't have to take account of 1080p input capability this year or next. There's also some question as to whether single-link HDMI, which is currently the standard, would be capable of delivering 1080p. It may well be that a dual-link HDMI input, which, to my knowledge, no display device now includes, would be necessary. In any case, single-link DVI is more robust than its counterpart HDMI in that regard, although DVI is essentially an 8 bit RGB (computer) format, whereas HDMI can accommodate 8 bit RGB as well as 8, 10, or 12 bit YPbPr as well. For this reason, HDMI to DVI often truncates below black info. That seems to be the worst that can happen. A DVI sink cannot "direct" an HDMI source in the way that an HDMI target can. HDMI is a two-way street.

Ed