HD DVD: a great deal? (newbie questions)

If all of this has been asked before (and I'm sure it probably has) I apologize.

This month I bought my first HDTV (Panasonic TC-P50G10) and can't wait to get a Hi-Def player. While I was weighing the pros and cons of the upcoming OPPO BDP-83 vs. a Sony PS3, I started thinking about what could I buy to stop jonesin' for HiDef while OPPO does their final tweaks on the BDP-83.

I started looking at internal drives for my PC, (I'm already connected PC to TV via DVI-HDMI cable) and I can get one that plays blu ray AND HD DVDfor a little over $100 and Toshiba HD DVD drives for $25-$65. And HD DVDs are CHEAP, seemingly cheaper than SD DVDs.

What am I missing here? The deals on HD DVDs seem too good to be true. It seems like buying a HD DVD drive would pay for itself in the price difference between blu-ray and hd dvd media. Admittedly, I'm not going to be able to buy a lot of HD DVDs, but it seems as if I bought 10 or 20 the price difference would justify getting a drive or a player.

Is there a software or codecs problem?

It also sounds like I'm going to have to upgrade my Nvidia GE Force 7600 Card to one that is HDCP compliant. I've also heard that you need a HDCP card in order to playback to a TV (HDMI out). Any suggestions for PC cards supporting BR/HD DVD playback?

I'm new to all of this and would appreciate all suggestions....thanks!

Hi and welcome to the forum!

The only 'catch' is future hardware support for HD DVD, so as long as you're OK with that, then go ahead and take advantage of the deals. You can get a few hundred titles for little over 5 bucks and players are so cheap, it'll pay for itself with the saving from buying just a few movies. But just keep in mind that the format is 'dead' going forward and no more players will be made. But anyway there will always be players on ebay, in case you need another down the road.

Thanks for the feedback. I'll go check ebay for laserdisc players so I can get an idea of hat the future will be....;-)

The deals on HD DVD are amazing now that it is being closed out and the format is a good supplement if you own Blu-ray but it would be a terrible alternative if Blu-ray isn't owned. I started buying new HD DVD's after Toshiba dropped support, killing the one manufacturer format and have purchased over 300 titles. My big mistake was not waiting longer because I didn't realize such great quantities of most titles were pressed. I started buying at $10 and a few months later the same titles were $5 but I have gotten good use out of the short lived format. There are only a handful of titles I want left for me to buy and those might be too rare to find at a price I am willing to pay but many titles are still available for someone getting started now.

Amazon marketplace sellers traderbora and pieceofmindbooks are two good places on Amazon to check for HD DVD titles. Other online retailers still have some quantity, iNetVideo has a pretty good selection left. In several years, it will be really weird to still be playing these things but my bet is it will work great.

Chris

Thanks for the feedback, Chris. Yes, I'm thinking of HD DVD as a supplement, but there are still a lot of good movies to be had for cheap. Hadn't heard of iNetvideo, but I'll check them out...