HVD becoming the new VCD?

[JGDragov]

I recently bought a NeuNeo HVD108 dvd player. It came with an HVD disc called "Winged Migration" which I watched on my NEC LT240K front PJ. The image was OUTSTANDING ! I've never seen an image on my 84" diagonal screen come close whether it be dvd, sat tv or upscaled dvds.

Someone had told me that this format is essentially the Hi Def successor to VCD and is just a stop gap until Blu Ray/HD DVD gets here. I don't think this is a bad thing if that is the case. Considering the wealth of original VCD movies that were released, some of which before their DVD release, this could be an excellent alternative until affordable HD DVD players get here.

I have already began emailing VCD shops to see if they have any HVD titles available and the few responses so far say they are in the process of trying to obtain them. The only problem will be which, if any studios will release their movies on HVD. Even if it's a small amount of the original VCD releases it should be a great "stop gap" until HD DVD units arrive here and are affordable.

Any thoughts?

[BJ_M]

it is the Chinese format - they went a different direction and that format (confusing since there is also a HDV disk format that is something completely different) is kinda theirs alone as it is not accepted by the DVD groups in EC and N.A. , based on on2 codec technology. Which is very good.

it is not a stop gap measure until HDTV DVD , it is at this point a parallel format.

[JGDragov]

Thanks BJ. That clears things up for me a little bit. I guess the likliehood of a catalog of U.S movies on this format would be unlikely then.

That's a shame because we could have HiDef home viewing on our players right now if some studio titles were available. Who knows, maybe some studios might decide to double-dip on this format to reach households in the east. Just a thought.

[BJ_M]

there is no (at this point) HDCP, CRM or M anything -- so it will not have a chance in h** in becoming a standard here .. The chinese don't seem as concerned about it - as the disks are like a buck over there anyway, whats the point in copying them ?

[BJ_M]

BTW -- the quality is VERY good in the one sample i saw ...