fun with HD-DVD (web-enabled content)

[garmonbozia]

Last night, I was watching one of my Stargate SG-1 DVDs and it kept locking up.  It would lock up, then when it got unstuck, the audio and video would be out of sync.  Annoying.  I looked for some info on Toshiba's site and found a case that matched this exactly, saying the firmware needs to be updated.  So, this afternoon I made use of the ethernet connection on it and got the updates.  (38 updates in all.)

I haven't tried watching a whole episode or movie yet since the updates, but I did try the web-enabled content on a disk just to see if it works now.  (It didn't before.)  I loaded "The 300" and went to the part where you can check out cell phone wallpaper and ringtones.  Didn't buy any but it did preview just fine.  The only other disk I tried that mentions web-enabled content was "Space Cowboys", but oddly it exits the menu if you try to navigate to web content.

I know, I know!  You're probably wondering what the hell I'm doing with an HD-DVD player, it having lost the hi-def war and all.  I got it last January when they tried cutting the price of players but hadn't yet given up.  Now that they've given up, I've been getting hi-def flicks on Amazon real cheap, often for less than $10.  My plan had been to get the player and then spend my tax return (or rebate, or both) on a high-def TV.  Well, some car maintenance took priority, so the HDTV's gonna have to wait, probably until next year.  By then, I should have a decent collection of hi-def movies built up.

Not only the price but also the presence of an ethernet connection is what made me choose HD-DVD over Blu-Ray.  Ethernet was standard on all HD-DVD players before it lost the format war, but only an option on Blu-Ray players.  I eventually want to add a Blu-Ray player to the mix, and have access to both formats, but I'm waiting to see what they do with this Profile 2.0 standard or whatever it's called.  I'd like the Blu-Ray player to also have internet access so I don't have to burn a CD every time it needs firmware.

Anyway, has anyone else here messed around with the web-enabled features on HD-DVD disks?

[Phlexor]

No, but all that is one reason that I like the idea of building Media PCs. Currently I only have a DVDWriter in it, but if I want to upgrade to Bluray, I just have to buy the drive and put it in (okay, my current MediaPC probably wont cut it, and I dont have a HDTV so there is no point yet, but I'm gonna upgrade the MediaPC to something faster later on, perhaps in the new year). Plus with AnyDVD HD being able to break the copy protection on HD-DVD and Bluray, its win win all round! 

[garmonbozia]

It fucked up again when I watched the last episode on that Stargate disk (season 8, disk 2).  I think it must just be a bad disk.  The play side looked slightly different from the others, like maybe it didn't get enough silver during manufacturing.  When playing this disk in that player, I keep hearing a mechanical noise like it keeps trying to find its place on the disk.  To be sure, I put in a disk that I've watched dozens of times (Tromadance, vol. 4), and had no trouble.

[Phlexor]

It fucked up again when I watched the last episode on that Stargate disk (season 8, disk 2).  I think it must just be a bad disk.  The play side looked slightly different from the others, like maybe it didn't get enough silver during manufacturing.  When playing this disk in that player, I keep hearing a mechanical noise like it keeps trying to find its place on the disk.  To be sure, I put in a disk that I've watched dozens of times (Tromadance, vol. 4), and had no trouble.

Yeah, I have a few discs like that. Pisses me off. Some players will play them, some wont. Best thing you can do is try to rip them and burn them or just encode them to mp4 (XviD/H264) with the original sound.

[garmonbozia]

I wonder if that disk would play in a regular DVD player.  The manufacturer probably figured an occasional disk like that would be acceptable for a red laser, but an HD-DVD player has a blue laser.  So, maybe at that wavelength the light behaves just different enough to screw up.