I was just wondering, if I copy a HD dvd, is the copy still HD, or would I have to do something different that the normal clone dvd copy to a dvd rom format. I'm not real sure what the difference is between regular and HD dvd and if it copies as HD. Any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
It's thought that it will be much harder to copy them than it was for DVD for a number of reasons, including the inclusion of a key-revocation system in the HD formats and now that Vista will make use of some form of Trustworthy Computing Architecture (in other words, don't eve THINK of "upgrading" to Vista, ever.) Eventually, a way will be found, though, though whether it will discovered while the format is still viable is probably a greater concern. The difference is that HD can produce up to 1920x1080 while regular DVD sports a resolution of 720x480 (NTSC). Don't let that higher resolution fool you: Many folks have argued that a regular DVD player with upconversion will produce an image much closer to HD and a few will even say it's darned near indistinguishable in most cases - at least enough that a lot of folks aren't going to bother with an HD DVD format. YMMV. For me, the biggest deal that if you have a TV that supports a progressive picture, which all DVD players support, makes more of a difference than more pixel resolution. Moreover, the higher-quality 1080p, which is supposed to provide the highest theoretical picture quality, isn't even available. All HD players support a down-conversion called ICT though and will use it exclusively as an anti-piracy mechanism for a number of reasons, including if you use a non-digital connection to your TV (it can't be encrypted, so, the logic is, you cannot get HD playback which would allow the video to be recorded as it enters your TV.) ICT has a lower resolution than DVD.
As of this time there is no way to copy an HD-DVD movie so your question is moot. HD-DVDs are encoded in 1920x1080 resolution while regular DVD's are 640x480. Most HD-DVD movie releases are dual layer 30 Gigabyte discs while dual layer DVD's are 8.5 Gigs. If you put an HD-DVD disc in a regular DVD drive it won't be recognized. You'll need an HD-DVD drive in your PC to read HD-DVD's. 1080P displays are available now in LCD, DLP and SXRD formats. The currently available Samsung and future BluRay players have the ability to output 1080p. The 2nd generation HD-DVD player from Toshiba (XA2) will output 1080p. HD players will play HD discs at full resolution thru component since none of the HD discs at this time have the ICT enabled. These players also upconvert thru component if the disc is self-authored or if the disc is a backup.
