What do I need to play HD-DVD's on my HTPC?

[acrobat]

I have the LG combo drive which plays any kind of disk, but I must need some kind of software. I bought a few HD-DVD's, so I want to play them.

I did some research and everyone suggests "Cyberlink PowerDVD", but when I read about it, it only mentions BlueRay and not HD-DVD. I saw that an old version supports it, but I'd rather not have to find an old version of some software and then it updates itself and stops working or something. So can anyone suggest something for me to get. Ideally something free, but if I have to buy something, I can do that.

Thanks =)

[SiM]

You can hack powerdvd 8 to play HD-DVD. This is what you need:

http://rapidshare.com/files/10813771...d-dvd.rar.html
http://depositfiles.com/files/4796280
http://www.mediafire.com/?1wiy1in1j1n
(they are all the same)

Just follow the readme


Another solution is to play it in media player classic. But then you would need to buy AnyDVD HD and its a pain to set up. I couldn't get it working...

[Elessar_VPR]

PowerDVD 7.3 still has HD-DVD functionality (and iirc is the version that comes with the drive, but only outputs 2.1 sound). Version 8, the latest, has had it stripped out (though there are work arounds to get it to play).

I think the latest versions of Total Media Theater and WinDVD still have HD-DVD functionality, as well as Blu-ray.

Remember you'll also need a HDCP compliant display (or put it over VGA if you haven't) and graphics card. Or there's things like HD Fury or AnyDVD, but that's an extra expense.

[acrobat]

Thank you both That was a big help.

[Funkstar]

Can PowerDVD still be patched?

I read somewhere that Cyberlink had stopped it from working.

Just installed PowerDVD Ultra 8.0.1713.50 and don't want to update it online if i'm going to be prevented from patching HD-DVD support back in.

[acrobat]

I also read that it won't play films at 1080p because of some kind of shady agreement with Hollywood or something.

I'm just about to try the version that came with the drive.

[crazyfool]

should play it at 1080p but just use the version which came with the drive... that should be powerdvd 7 and will play both formats

[acrobat]

Damn, it's like that guy said. It won't play at 1080p in PowerDVD (the version that came with the drive). It plays fine but it looks like 720p or something because there are black bars at the top and bottom.

The options in the configuration are HD, Wide, Pan and Scan, etc.. and none of them helped. The thing I read said that it won't work unless it's HDMI, but my video card is DVI to HDMI. It was advertised as having HDTV output but it only has a DVI port. It's an ATI HD3470.

Anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks

[SiM]

There are always black bars because film is not made in 16:9 (1920x1080). 1080p is actually more like 1920x8xx for most films

[acrobat]

Ewww! Really? Do you know any way to make it use the full screen? I don't mind if it's a bit stretched. In VLC when I watch a video file that is not the right size, I can stretch it to fit my full screen. Is there a way to do that with PowerDVD?

Thanks for the info by the way. I am new to all this.

[SiM]

Ewww! Really? Do you know any way to make it use the full screen? I don't mind if it's a bit stretched. In VLC when I watch a video file that is not the right size, I can stretch it to fit my full screen. Is there a way to do that with PowerDVD?

Thanks for the info by the way. I am new to all this.

You shouldn't do that IMO. It ruins the experience... Its annoys the hell out of me anyway...

If you really want to do it then you want to Pan and Scan

[acrobat]

You shouldn't do that IMO. It ruins the experience... Its annoys the hell out of me anyway...

If you really want to do it then you want to Pan and Scan

I tried that but it didn't seem to work :/ It started as a small square shape and then when I stretched it, it just went back to being like it was originally in Wide format. It's pretty annoying to have a 1080p TV and a 1080p HD-DVD and yet it won't fill the screen. It's so weird.

Anyway thanks again. I suppose I'll have to put up with it. Bleh. Even films on normal TV fill the screen. I doubt I'll be buying any more films. I have some video in 1080p that I've downloaded and that fills the screen.

[Funkstar]

Films are often shot is formats a lot wider than 16:9 (super 35mm for example, which means then when it is transferred to DVD, HD-DVD or BluRay, black bars are included in the encoded image to keep the frame at its correct aspect ratio when played back at 16:9 or 4:3.

The whole film aspect ratio problem is really complicated, even more so than digital imagery. Some formats use the camera and projector optics to correct the aspect ratio, others are faithful to it on the film itself.

Universal films are really good when it comes to checking to see if you have everything set up correctly when it comes to aspect ratio. Their logo with the globe is a perfect circle, if it doesn't look right before the opening sequence, you have something wrong with your screen or player, if it looks good, then leave it well alone, that's how it's supposed to be

[acrobat]

Ahh thanks. Well at least I got it all working, even though it's in a letterbox. I bought a bunch of films so hopefully there'll be at least one that will fill the screen.

[SiM]

I'll play around with powerdvd tonight and see if I can get it full screen...

Edit: sorry haven't had the chance to do it yet. Will get back to you about this though...

[tfboy]

It's worth playing around with enabling or not enabling the hardware acceleration feature in the configuration settings.

I don't know if one will enable stretching over another, but worth a try

But really, stretching a beautiful 2.4:1 cinemascope ratio to fill a 16:9 screen. Pah