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Good article from USA Today comparing DVD to DVHS. The following is a quote from the writer.

I was amazed. Visually, D-Theater is not just an improvement over DVD. It leaves DVD in the dust, as difficult as that might be for DVD's growing legion of fans to visualize. The difference was so stunning that after watching the D-Theater versions of U-571, Terminator 2 and End of Days, the DVDs looked as if the lens had gone slightly out of focus.
 

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anybody seen one for real?

I'm curious about taping HD movies, would you output coax or component out from your satellite receiver or set top box to the VCR for HD recording just like a regular VCR?

$1,500 USD is a lot but with any volume I'm sure that could be a third of that in a couple of years.
 

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From the article:

To make high-definition recordings, you must pair this deck with one of a select
few HD tuners or set-top boxes with so-called 1394 or FireWire digital
connections. Playback is through the component video inputs common on
today's HDTVs.
 

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human said:
anybody seen one for real?

I'm curious about taping HD movies, would you output coax or component out from your satellite receiver or set top box to the VCR for HD recording just like a regular VCR?

$1,500 USD is a lot but with any volume I'm sure that could be a third of that in a couple of years.

The JVC D-VHS deck has firewire (aka IEEE1394) ports for digital input/output so you could link two decks together and record theoretically, but the content *will* (may) have a flag that says that the content cannot be recorded and the DTCP copy protection flag used by firewire will recognize this and disable recording. The JVC deck has component outputs but no component inputs.

The only other thing you need is a set-top-box (STB) that can output via firewire whether it be an H/DTV over-the-air (OTA), H/DTV cable or H/DTV satellite feed. Good luck though as they don't exist and the new ones that are coming out have DVI ports on them to go directly to the TV. :evil:

DVI has its purpose and firewire/IEEE1394 has its. I wish they would just get over the hysteria and come up with devices that have both types of ports and then link them together with firewire and plug one device (say an AV receiver) into the TV directly with DVI. :eek:
 

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Going to tape just seems wrong, with HDPVRs in the offing and all the good things that PVRs can do (instant access, watch and record, etc.). I could be mistaken, but this unit has been out for about a year and I thought it originally had component video inputs - that may only have been in Japan and very early US units before DVI became an issue. The US model was about US$2k at the end of 2001 (see price in S&V review) when I first looked at it. September 1 it will be on sale for US$999.

Here's a review from S&V.

http://www.soundandvisionmag.com/hot_topics/articledisplay.asp?ArticleID=112

Last time I looked, no one in Canada was selling. I'm not interested - waiting for HDPVR.

Blu DVD will be out in less than a year too.
 

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57 said:
Going to tape just seems wrong, with HDPVRs in the offing and all the good things that PVRs can do (instant access, watch and record, etc.).
everything except archive for later retrieval or to let a friend borrow... tape a TV show and lend the tape/disc to watch.

57 said:
I could be mistaken, but this unit has been out for about a year and I thought it originally had component video inputs - that may only have been in Japan and very early US units before DVI became an issue.
I don't think this unit ever had component inputs, and neither does the Mitsubishi (not available in Canada).

57 said:
Last time I looked, no one in Canada was selling. I'm not interested - waiting for HDPVR.
Gonna be waiting quite a while then... hard discs with enough capacity to record many hours of HD are still too expensive to incorporate into set top boxes at a reasonable price.


57 said:
Blu DVD will be out in less than a year too.
Doubt it... more in the range of 3+ years minimum and consumer acceptance at 5-7. And with Toshiba and others coming up with alternative technologies... another can of worms.
 

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bolmsted said:
1. everything except archive for later retrieval or to let a friend borrow... tape a TV show and lend the tape/disc to watch.

2. Gonna be waiting quite a while then... hard discs with enough capacity to record many hours of HD are still too expensive to incorporate into set top boxes at a reasonable price.

3. (Blu DVD) - Doubt it... more in the range of 3+ years minimum and consumer acceptance at 5-7. And with Toshiba and others coming up with alternative technologies... another can of worms.
1. True but, I have a whole bunch of tapes I made in the basement that I never watch. Most people don't tape. Those few who do tape, don't archive. Those that archive are very few indeed - you may be one of them. I've never lent to a friend (haven't been able to recently - no one I know has S-VHS, which I use.) How many of your friends are going to spend C$1850, after tax for a D-VCR???

2. One rumoured for later this year or early next. Hard disks are getting pretty cheap, certainly easily cheaper than almost $2k. Several hours recording takes "only" about 100 Gig, based on a movie being about 50. A 100 GB HD is currently priced at about $200-$300 retail. You could pack a couple into a STB for a lot less than the D-VHS.

3. Probably not cheap, but due 2003 - some form of HD DVD recorder. Possibly a can of worms, but D-VHS is pretty well on it's own. This machine is a toy for the rich, like a Betamax was in the early 1970's. I predict it will also go the way of the Betamax.

4. Virtual HDPVR is also a possibility.

5. I suppose if you must be on the bleeding edge of HD recording, this is one of only two possibilities (the Mits with Firewire being the other).
 

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I am pleased that I was able to be a source of amusement. I'm usually accused of much worse.

I meant to say recordable HD DVD (Blue, Red, Green, I don't care what colour), but perhaps that will make you laugh just as much. I'm just going by what I read. Perhaps I'm just impressionable, or gullible, or optimistic, or eager.
 

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I certainly didn't mean to offend you, 57! Maybe I'm just jaded, but I've been living and breathing this stuff long enough to know that release dates on press releases are as slippery as Marvel Mystery Oil! I wasn't really laughing at you, but at the Blu-Ray consortium for stating such nonsense.

I remember early in the life of Compact Disc, Radio Shack announced they had invented a recordable CD format they called Thor. It was supposed to be on the market in a year. I remember Toshiba inventing a 5" digital video disc format that was supposed to be on the market within a year too. In fact, I've got bags of stuff at home from CESs gone by that have all kinds of never-to-be-seen-again products (AOL-TV anyone?!)

The Blu-Ray spec will problaby go through a miriad of changes before it actually hits the stores. My guess is that'll be about 3 years from now.
 

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JohnnyG said:
I certainly didn't mean to offend you, 57!
Johnny, no offense taken. I've got really thick skin. I forgot to put the smiley in my post. Here's a delayed smiley. :lol:

Although Blu-Ray may be 3 years off, as you say, some form of recordable HD DVD may be here by the end of 2003. I've read about several competing technologies that are due earlier. Time will tell. Sometimes this stuff actually comes in faster than expected. In this business if you snooze you lose.
 
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