blip

Have just bought a new big HD LCD TV but want both a good home cinema speaker set and a hi-def DVD player to make the most of it.

Was hoping I could get both in one package. If not I'm guessing I'll need to piece together separate HD DVD player, separate amp & separate surround speakers. Is that right? Or are there other ways of doing this

ozzy

You'll always compromise something with an all-in-one package, but it depends how much you want to spend £500, £1000, £2000+

Nezz10

I didnt think that the HD DVD players are available yet. As far as I am aware they are a completely different format but will play standard DVD's.

I wouldnt bother getting a HD DVD yet (if you can) as the prices will be HUGE and they will only be first gen so lots of bugs probably. Give it a couple of years...!!

Nezz10

Then again I may be wrong: http://www.neodigits.com/body/produc...85/feature.asp

blip

Yes the HD DVD players are available, I was looking at a couple at the weekend around the £100 mark. I don't want to spend much on the whole kit TBH, looking at sub-500 squid for a complete HD-compatible cinema kit.

AndyC_772

iTrader: (2)

Careful with the specs, the Neodigits machine is NOT an HD-DVD player, and the films offered on the site are not HD-DVDs. If you read it in detail, nowhere does it say HD-DVD; the player upscales regular DVDs (which may look pretty good, but it's not true high definition). The HD movies look like they're a non-standard derivative of DVD storing images at a higher resolution, not the physically different HD-DVD disc. I suspect the movies are split over multiple discs to provide enough storage.

Chip

Blip,
With respect you arent going to get an HD-DVD player for £100.

Just buy a Home Cine set up with Progressive scan and good connectivity and youll be fine.

Or take a look at www.avforums.co.uk for more info

Chip

blip

Yeah now you say that I think the DVD player I looked at must have been progressive scan, but had an HDMI connector. The guy said that the results from standard DVDs are very impressive even though it uses upscaling.

mad_dr

Also be aware that HD-DVD isn't even guaranteed to be adopted yet - Blu-Ray is probably the way everything's going to go. Although HD-DVD has Microsoft as one of it's keey stakeholders, Blu-Ray is the format used by the PS3 and - by default - is likely to become the most popular HD DVD player on the planet.

There is no prerecorded HD material available yet - the closest you can get is from the SeibenSAT1 broadcasts (and the few other foreign HD broadcasts) or by making your own using something like a Sony HDR-HC1 HDV camera (just think - your own 'home movies' in true 720p or 1080i!)