hd-dvd cracked

[ATMwalking]

Now that the protection on hd-dvd movies has been cracked, I wonder how long until hd-dvd's show up on Patong's streets.

[LivinLOS]

Yeah I have been following this and am all set to get the HD-DVD player (will go xbox one) as soon as copies are available..

I am told legit ones are a very reasonable 1000 baht mail order from BKK.. Tempting at that price IMO for 'special' / epic films.. Lawrence of Arabia, Dr Chivago, LoTR.. Stuff liek that..

Been pushing my DVD guy so that he knows theres a market.. Ask all the DVD sellers to create a awareness.. Most of em wouldn't know HiDef from MosDef..

Benjy gone this way already.. Been meaning to go and have a look..

[ATMwalking]

The 1080p res with the h.264 is stunning. I've watched several now and it is the way to go. Plus those were tv broadcasts so a mastered hd-dvd with the higher bitrate will be even better. Well worth 1,000 baht Especially when you consider these movies are around 25 gigabytes. I have too many harddrives already (a few terabytes counting).

Please feel free to share the mail order phone number.

BTW, wouldn't recommend watching via the xbox. You really need HDMI to get full detail. Would be better hacking the xbox hd-dvd into a PC then do dvi - > HDMI. Or go with a standalone player.

Still curous about the time to street with these disks. Given burners and disks are really expensive, i think it could be another 6-12 months. Interesting to see the economics of the black market in play.

[LivinLOS]

I dont have HDMI on my projector only HDCP DVI...

Thats connected to the HTPC and xbox is just component.. But yeah I would also mount the drive in the HTPC and use the softplayers, just to tinker around.

What do you have archived in HiDef ?? I have lots of the WMV-HD's as MS used to send me them for review.. Good stuff but watching docus gets old.. The coral reef is pretty stunning IMO. I havent tried bu t I think you can rip and mount those and the on disk DRM still works (if mounted as an ISO not ripped as WMV's)..

Bens the man for the Thai supply.. I dont have the guys details..

[dawsey]

On the subject of copyright protected DVD's, can anyone recommend a free software programme to copy some of my own DVDs using the PC s DVD burner?

[ATMwalking]

Originally Posted by LivinLOS

What do you have archived in HiDef ??

Currently I have over 60 movies. Star wars, matrix, LotR, x-men - all complete. A bunch of others. All "back-ups" in HD from 720p to 1080p. Should have my first hd-dvd shortly. These really pop in HD.

[ATMwalking]

Originally Posted by dawsey

On the subject of copyright protected DVD's, can anyone recommend a free software programme to copy some of my own DVDs using the PC s DVD burner?

Doom9.net - The Definitive DVD Backup Resource is the place to find it. I haven't bothered myself now that I am focusing on HD. But there are many programs that will remove the encryption and then reencode into xvid or h.264 for hard drive storage. There are others for straight coping to make "back-ups".

[dawsey]

Originally Posted by ATMwalking

Doom9.net - The Definitive DVD Backup Resource is the place to find it. I haven't bothered myself now that I am focusing on HD. But there are many programs that will remove the encryption and then reencode into xvid or h.264 for hard drive storage. There are others for straight coping to make "back-ups".

Thanks for that info. I will check it out.

[MrDK]

Originally Posted by dawsey

On the subject of copyright protected DVD's, can anyone recommend a free software programme to copy some of my own DVDs using the PC s DVD burner?

You might want to try SlySoft Download | AnyDVD, CloneDVD, CloneCD, Any DVD, Clone DVD, CloneCD.

AnyDVD is a driver that removes copy protection and region codes in the background, allowing you to use any legit copy software.

CloneDVD is Slysoft copy software and is known for excellent compression. Most original DVDs are larger that the 4.7GB limit of the standard writable DVD.

Trail version are available for both.

[ATMwalking]

I've now spotted about 10 hd-dvd's on the newsgroups. Up from zero 5 days ago. Given they have the keys for pretty much all movies released so far, I think Patong vendors might have this on disk within about 6 months. I think this crack will help hd-dvd win the format war. I've read in someplaces people are thinking it is intentional by the big boys. Something they can patch later.

[LivinLOS]

Those are burnable to DL 8.5 GB consumer discs ??

Maybe time to get a burner !!

[ATMwalking]

So far they are all in the 19-25 gigabyte range. Plus they are in some EVO format. Time for more drives.

[LivinLOS]

Ohh OK.. I read that BluRay was looking costly because of the retooling required at the pressing plants and that HDDVD was cheaper for pressing due to still being red laser..

But of course it is not using standard sized red laser.. Even WMV compression cant fit long feature films on a dual layer..

Just having a blond moment..

[ATMwalking]

I think the high bit-rate wmv is basically VC-1 which is the flavor of h.264 for hd-dvd. but yes, 1080p with 5.1 sound and a 18-21 mbit/second picture bitrate is a ton of data. And that is with the awesome compression of h.264. When they start producing 10 bit color discs for hdmi 1.3, they will have to move to dual-layer discs.

I have read the other reason hd-dvd is cheaper is because the structure of the data on the disc is a lot closer to dvd. So hd-dvd is more of an evolution of the current standard, but BluRay is totally something new.

[LivinLOS]

Just this minute read this..

From http://www.satellite-evolution.com/p...newsresult.htm


LUXE.TV, the free-to-air channel focused on luxury lifestyle that broadcasts in Standard Digital and High Definition, has chosen Eutelsat's W5 satellite to extend its reach to South East Asia. Starting broadcasting mid-January, the channel's High Definition version will be available throughout the region, in both English and French. LUXE.TV began its English-language soundtrack in December 2006, complementing existing French and German language options.

Launched in June 2006, LUXE.TV specialises in programmes on luxury lifestyle including Real Estate & Interior Design, Sport & Leisure, Hotels & Gastronomy, Fashion & Beauty, Cars & Yachting, and Jewelry & Watches. Programmes are produced in High Definition by teams based in 20 capitals around the world, including Paris, New York, Tokyo and Dubai, in order to build diverse, multi-cultural content.

Broadcasting 24 hours a day, the English-language soundtrack joins the French and German versions available in Standard Digital and High Definition.

[ATMwalking]

Sounds interesting, but you really need the full spread of channels totally current with US and UK channels to be really interesting.

BTW, Miami Vice and M.I. III just went up in hd-dvd. These haven't even been out on broadcast yet

[LivinLOS]

Gonna have to drop a 400g hard disk your way I recon !!

[ATMwalking]

These will hit the queue as soon as I get the new Dual Core 2 HTPC. Need a lot of CPU for these babies. My firewire chain is getting kinda long and I got the place wired with gigabit Ethernet, so I need to pick up a few of these when it hits the market:

SC101T - NETGEAR.com

[LivinLOS]

Yeah gonna need to spend some dosh on redoing the HTPC and the main desktop this spring..

[ATMwalking]

Yep, another trip to Pantip for me shortly. Just not sure if they will have the good quite HTPC style cases. Didn't notice them last time. Could do on import, but that get $$$ quickly. Also need one of the new Nvidia GPUs with h.264 acceleration to work with PowerDVD Ultra (for HD-DVD playback).

I was hopping apple was going to launch something better for AppleTV, but it is pretty weak. Plus the Mini is overdue for a cpu upgrade. I think the XP route is safer for now.

[LivinLOS]

What is the normal processor req for soft decode of HD-DVD ??

My HTPC is aging now and is P4 2.2.. Wondering if with a good GFX card I could skim that for a bit longer.. If there is HD content then its a non negiotiable item. I dont game on the HTPC at all so its purely HD-DVD playback I need.

Can play 720p WMVHD DVD's but not the 1080p ones..

[ATMwalking]

Early reports are at least a dual core with a pci-e nvidia card with h.264 acceleration and PowerDVD with hardware acceleration enabled. at least 1 gig of ram is good. For the little bit of money, I would jump to a dual core 2. The hd-dvd stuff is the most demanding content out there because of the resolution, codec, and high bitrate video. Most of the early data was based on guys hacking the xbox drive into their system. Now that hd-dvd has been cracked, there should be more data points in the coming weeks.

You system spec matches one of my boxes. I can do 1080i deinterlaced mpeg-2 .ts files with MPEG-2 acceleration on the graphics card.

My dual core laptop can do most lower bitrate 1080p h.264 stuff with integrated intel graphics, but it is really work hard and the fan kicks in.

I think dual core 2 with a good graphics card and lots of ram will get us through the next few years. But it actually has all changed quite a bit in the last 2 months, so I am going to give it a few more weeks to sort out. Glad I held off on the upgrade.

[LivinLOS]

Yeah its just I need to do both the main desktop machine for day to day visata use and also the HTPC for HDDVD.

[ATMwalking]

Yep. Feel the pain. BTW, people are recommending sticking with XP for HTPC as vista is blocking the use of some formats. Some guys have rolled back.

I want a case like this:
Newegg.com - Antec FUSION Silver Computer Case - Retail

Here is a good article on building a HTPC and hd-dvd
PC Perspective - NVIDIA PureVideo HD Technology - Is the PC Ready of HD Video?

here is one on hacking in the XBOX hd-dvd drive:
PC Perspective - Xbox 360 HD-DVD Player: For Consoles and PCs