what's a good hd-dvd player?

[tribalman]

currently i HATE both blu-ray and HD-DVD and their copyright protection, but with this achievement, i'm actually thinking about getting an HD-dvd player for my computer, what's a good one?

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2006/12/28/HD-DVD_copy_protection_cracked/

i say cheers to the dude who did this.

[Grey Goose]

They're still so crazy expensive. I'd wait to see a) who wins the format war; b) more titles; c) lower prices.

This comes from a guy who paid $1200 for one of the first CD burners, so take that with a grain of salt

[Thordic]

Yeah, its a risky time to buy. This is like the BetaMax / VHS battle all over again. If you went with BetaMax back then, you would have just screwed yourself out of money because after a short time no one made anything for BetaMax anymore.

And picking which one is the "better" system doesnt work either. BetaMax was better than VHS and still lost.

The smart money is on HD-DVD, but theres no guarantees.

(I think HD-DVD will win out in the end because of the name, it just sounds like a DVD, which is something people are already comfortable with, but better. Bluray sounds too different and new. People will gravitate towards the format they think they are already familiar with. Sony should have named it BluDVD or something.)

[Altimas]

I donno I think the Blu-ray will prevail, because Sony put it in the PS3, with the Xbox you have to do a 200$ upgrade to the HD-DVD. But ya never know I guess we'll see in several months.

[rkjunior303]

I have to agree with the BluRay comment, due to PS3 having it. Supply and demand. Sony sales alone will help support that format. Aside from that, it's exactly like the VHS/Betamax thing - it's still so early to even consider buying one. I'd wait until a standard took hold but my guess it's going to be BluRay.

[Steelrat]

Right now, HD-DVD is whipping BluRay, even with the PS3 being out there. It doesn't help that Bluray was saddled with an older compression type for a while, which made it's picture look noticably inferior to HD-DVD.

The Xbox 360 HD-DVD add-on allegedly works on PCs, and only runs about $200, so there is an option. Heck, you can buy a 360 with the HD DVD add-on for the same price as a stand-alone player.

Out of curiosity, though, why the dislike of copy protection? I hear a lot of (frankly) BS about how people just want to back stuff up, but the only reason I have ever seen for cracking the protection is to rip off copies of the software (or movies) and distribute it. I have NEVER seen anyone merely "backing up" their copies of movies. Lets just be honest, but not judgemental, about what is going on. Breaking the encryption is used to steal product, plain and simple.

EDIT: The other justification provided in that article is weak. I'm no huge fan of copy protection, because of the issues it sometimes causes, but I wish these hackers had some balls and just admitted that they were doing it to steal the product.

[robnix]

currently i HATE both blu-ray and HD-DVD and their copyright protection, but with this achievement, i'm actually thinking about getting an HD-dvd player for my computer, what's a good one?

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2006/12/28/HD-DVD_copy_protection_cracked/

i say cheers to the dude who did this.

XBox 360 with the HD-DVD drive.

[robnix]

Out of curiosity, though, why the dislike of copy protection? I hear a lot of (frankly) BS about how people just want to back stuff up, but the only reason I have ever seen for cracking the protection is to rip off copies of the software (or movies) and distribute it. I have NEVER seen anyone merely "backing up" their copies of movies. Lets just be honest, but not judgemental, about what is going on. Breaking the encryption is used to steal product, plain and simple.

ALL of my three year old's DVD's and games are backed up, and I make copies of my movies to store on a 2.5" hard drive when I go on the road for business.

[Grey Goose]

Sony sucks at format wars.

When you consider they had MD back in the late 80's, early 90's and most people have still never heard of MD or seen an MD player...

[Steelrat]

ALL of my three year old's DVD's and games are backed up, and I make copies of my movies to store on a 2.5" hard drive when I go on the road for business.

You're the first person I've ever known who did that. I'm going to go out on a limb here, but I'm guessing that for every person like you, there are about 10,000 people putting stuff up, and taking stuff off, bittorrent and the like.

[Steelrat]

Sony sucks at format wars.

When you consider they had MD back in the late 80's, early 90's and most people have still never heard of MD or seen an MD player...

Betamax anyone?

[Thordic]

Sony screwed up with UMD as well.

[Steelrat]

Sony screwed up with UMD as well.

Sony would be toast if it wasn't for the playstation. The profits from the PS line are the only things keeping them afloat.

[robnix]

You're the first person I've ever known who did that. I'm going to go out on a limb here, but I'm guessing that for every person like you, there are about 10,000 people putting stuff up, and taking stuff off, bittorrent and the like.

I work with guys that do the same thing.

Here's my thoughts on this:

You'd be surprised at how many people I talk too that think it's illegal for you to make a copy of your own property, especially DVD's. They also don't see the need, because they think that the discs are pretty much indestructible. My fair use rights, and my three year old tell me a different story. I copy everything that he has to a file server, and as soon as I can get my Harmony remote working with my modded Xbox, I'll play everything back over my network using Xbox Media Center.

As far as downloading, most people have no idea how to do it. Do a random survey of the non technical people that you know and ask them to name a specific program and location that they can use to download music, ,movies, and software. Ask them how they would even copy a DVD from Blockbuster so they could watch it again.

JMHO.

[personman]

Bluray=flop