HD-DVD playback in future Blu-Ray players... likely?

[JamesK]

Now that the war is over....

Given that the tech is so similar to DVD and not far from Blu-Ray, (from what I understand - please correct me if I'm wrong...) and that China has their CH-DVD standard, what do you think are the chances that in 5 years HD-DVD play back will be in some/most Blu-Ray players...?

Would be useful to early adoptors, but is it likely? Also, I guess there will be plenty of second hand units for years to come. HD-DVD must have sold more than Laser Disc did and Laser disc players seem not too hard to find?

[jester]

Well I cannot remember seeing a laserdisc player for sale. Perhaps there may be a future for modded hd-dvd players playling imported chinese standard hd discs.? :shrug:

[Roberto]

I very much doubt it. It would cost too much for very little outlay. More likely you would see a couple of dual players this year and that's prtty much it.

[camaj]

Well I cannot remember seeing a laserdisc player for sale.

Well they were £1000! However they were pretty popular in Japan and the USA. According to Wikipedia there were 2m sold in the US and a lot more in Japan, I think HD DVD barely broke 1 million (including xbox add-on), at that was in spite of the price difference between that and Laserdisc.

When DVD first arrived there were combo players but these soon disappeared as once the Laserdisc owners have bought there unit's there's little demand. Also the cost of replacing an entire collection is usually cheaper than buying an expensive player

I'm not sure what's going on with China but presumably Chinese consumers won't want a format that is incompatible with the rest of Asia.

[KRW]

I doubt it, any more than DVD players can play VCD's .. oh...

Nah, HD-DVD wasnt bought by enough people to make it viable, I don't think. Given that the only films available were released over a very short period of time, so there's no vast back catalogue, and will all be available on BD eventually, I can't see the point.

Laser disk sold slowly over a very long period of time, which is where the difference lies, I think - and the enourmous back catalogue. HD-DVD lived fast and died young. :( You won't see a player or a disc for sale in about three months time. (apart from Richer sounds)

[thescrounger]

There's been rumours that you might be able to emulate HD DVD playback on the PS3 using software, but if it turns out to need a hardware fix then it's not going to happen.

[KRW]

Oh, a PS3 fix would be cool.

[Cha]

Hmm, with Toshiba discontinuing the development and manufacturing of HD DVD themselves, it's probably safe to stick one's neck out and say 'no, there will not be any official means of HD DVD playback on Blu-ray players, or anything else, in the future'.

[scoobyood]

Blu-Ray PC burners have HD DVD playback. I don't think it's that much of an effort for them to include support. Both formats use the same laser... the head has to adjust to be able to read DVDs. If a single read head can do DVD and Blu-Ray, then it can technically read HD DVDs. It's just a matter of adding the option in the firmware.

On the matter of future HD DVD support, if players fail....
I'm going to use my ep30 and just keep the 360 drive somewhere. In a few years I'll rip all my HD DVDs to the PC.... along with all my DVDs.
My first DVD player, nearly 10 years old. Still works... currently in my friends bedroom. I've never had a PC disc drive or a DVD player fail on me. I doubt there will be a problem.

[AndyWilson]

If nobody's producing players, nobody will produce discs - so why on earth would anyone release a dual format player just to play a handful of old titles?

[statto]

I can see there being dual format players around. Given the stupid price the media is going to go for it would be a big selling point for some no name brands.

[Grandmaster]

Well I cannot remember seeing a laserdisc player for sale. Perhaps there may be a future for modded hd-dvd players playling imported chinese standard hd discs.? :shrug:

Well they were £1000! However they were pretty popular in Japan and the USA.

I bought a brand new PAL/NTSC laserdisc player for £250 from Tottenham Court Road in early '96. They're still easy to locate second hand if you want one - even in the UK where the format never really took off at all.

But to address the OP's point, I think it's going to all depend on CH-DVD and whether it finds an audience in China or not. I can well believe that the Chinese will embrace their own format. They did with VCD which was barely on the radar in Japan or elsewhere.

[scoobyood]

If nobody's producing players, nobody will produce discs - so why on earth would anyone release a dual format player just to play a handful of old titles?

For standalone players I would agree... but PC drives like to put as many different formats as possible on their drives. If all HD DVD compatibilty requires is a firmware change, then why not throw it in. Does anybody buy DVDRAM discs? I doubt it, but they throw that on the packaging on multi drives.
Maybe they won't do it, I don't know, but if it doesn't cost them anything, they might do it for a few years at least.