New HD-DVD info: not good news if you use component vid for HDTV

[Woochifer]

I picked on a couple of interesting articles in The Digital Bits' daily update. First off, the Video Software Dealers Association had their annual convention this week, and they put out a position paper advocating one single format for HD video discs. It's nothing more than the association's official position on this and a slew of other marketing and packaging matters, but you never know. The Digital Bits editor thinks it could be significant if large retailers refuse to stock the new HD-DVD and Blu-ray formats until the parties agree to a single format.

Also, Digital Spy posted some new details about HD-DVD. First, the bad news. It looks like Toshiba's going to confirm what we've feared, and pass HD signals only through the digital video connections. What this means for the millions of people who own HDTVs with only analog component video connections is that the maximum resolution that they can receive on their HDTVs via HD-DVD is no better than what they currently get with 480p progressive DVD. If you want HD resolution from your HD-DVD, you have to have a TV that can accept HDMI or comparable digital video signals.

Other intriguing bits from the article. It mentions that HD-DVD mastering will be based on 1080p -- no idea what that means for the resolution of the actual discs, which are supposedly going to go with either 720p or 1080i.

Also, the article mentioned that four HD-DVD disc formats will be introduced. In addition to single-layer, dual-layer, and triple-layer media, a fourth media type called SD-DVD will allow for a DVD layer on one side. Supposedly, the SD-DVD disc format allows for flipper discs with the HD-DVD content on one side and regular DVD content on the other. This ensures backwards compatibility, and could pave the way for simultaneous HD-DVD/DVD releases.

To me, if this format war with Blu-ray goes on as planned, the SD-DVD media could very well turn to HD-DVD's advantage because it would bring HD-DVD into stores en masse without the need for retailers to maintain dual inventories. If the studios backing HD-DVD elect to put out their new releases in HD-DVD/DVD flipper discs, then that could really seed the market for HD-DVD hardware. Somehow, I can see the studios getting greedy, and not taking advantage of this capability on the assumption that people will repurchase their entire video library. Then again, I see it very much in the studios' interest to transition the market over to a copy protected format that uses more up-to-date encryption, and even if hacked would require more bandwidth to file share. My understanding is that Blu-ray uses a very thin substrate, so if that eliminates the possibility of issuing Blu-ray/DVD flipper discs, then Blu-ray will depend on being able to squeeze onto retailer shelves. Anyway, here's the article.

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/article/ds22406.html