OT: HD-DVD on the cheap

filmy wrote on 1/6/2006, 3:02 PM
Anther on the HD DVD subject. So I am in WalMart today and not looking for a DVD player but I see, way up on the top shelf, a box that says HDMI on it. I sort of stare at it for a while as there is no other units anywhere lower, or even a unit on disply. There is it - one loan box up there. I can read on the box "With High Definition Up-Conversion via HDMI".

Hmmmmm....

I come home, start doing a search and find it on WalMart's web site for under 80 bucks. Now this gets me more interested so I do a bit more research. Like most of the Cyberhome stuff it will also play PAL DVD's and mp3 but this also plays Divx, Mpeg4 and WMA as well as JPG.HD and it will also upcovert via the component out, not just HDMI. *and* it includes an HDMI cable, a component cable and the basic RCA video/audio cable.

In reading posts in forums some people posted some complaints about various things - Divx not playing for example (But to be fair the box and manual does not say anything about Divx) but seems a firmware update fixes most of the issue people had.

Ok - so I go back to WalMArt and pick it up. Short version is I am watching Apocalypse Now - Redux in 1080i via the component cables. Dude! Sweet!

I am going to do some tets later and will report back. I am wondering if I take some HDV and/or HD footage, render it out to HD Divx, if it will play. An HD DVD player on the cheap.

if anyone else wants to check it out - http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=3610578

Comments

navydoc wrote on 1/8/2006, 12:04 PM
Thanks for the heads-up on this player. I went ahead and purchased one yesterday. Heck, I paid almost this much just for an HDMI cable not long ago.

It appears that the upconvert works using the HDMI cable and you can specify 480p, 720p or 1080i. I've tried a couple of commercial dvd's and, more importantly to me, my movie dvd's captured off Directv. Excellent color and picture quality even on my captured stuff.

I'm viewing on a Samsung 23" HDTV LCD monitor with HDMI input.

I've also tested rendering a movie using Nero Digital and it works well too...considering the movie I rendered went from 4.8gb to just under 700mb... although it takes time before the movie starts after the 'play' button is hit. I haven't tried Divx yet (I have ver: 5.2) but imagine it will work also.

Doc
p@mast3rs wrote on 1/8/2006, 12:07 PM
"'ve also tested rendering a movie using Nero Digital and it works well too."

Using AAC audio? Oh man, please say it does. Ill be definitely getting one.
johnmeyer wrote on 1/8/2006, 12:33 PM
This is how MP3 took hold -- no standards committees or big players pushing it. Sounds pretty darned interesting.
navydoc wrote on 1/8/2006, 1:10 PM
The audio was encoded as mpeg-2 2ch 48KHz in Nero Recode. That is how the audio was originally rendered during capture using Pinnacle's MovieBox USB. I'll have to try rendering an mpeg2 video with AAC audio and see how Nero Recode handles it.

Doc
p@mast3rs wrote on 1/8/2006, 1:23 PM
Thta would be major if it supported AAC audio with Nero Digital Mpeg-4. I have been looking for a player like that for at least a year.

Please let me know asap as my local Walmart has two left.
navydoc wrote on 1/8/2006, 2:15 PM
Yes...I re-encoded a short section of an mpeg2 file using TMPGEnc 3.0 Express to mpeg2 NTSC and dolby digital 2 ch. Then opened that clip in Nero Recode and the audio now says Dolby Digital 2-ch 48KHz. I then rendered the file as a Nero Digital Mpeg4 clip. Using Nero Express, I burned the clip to a cd as a data file and placed it in the CyberHome dvd player. Sure enough, the video played and looked great...and the audio worked too. When I selected the 'display' button on the player remote, it confirmed the audio was AAC 2 ch 44 KHz.

Just be sure to set up the audio in the player to 'Raw'.

Doc
Joe White wrote on 1/8/2006, 2:39 PM
Anyone find this thing anywhere else other then Walmart?
filmy wrote on 1/8/2006, 5:42 PM
Not looked outside of Walmart - but also I didn't know this unit existed until I saw it.

So some testing - first I upgraded firmware and FYIW - if you look at the back of the box it will tell you what version of the firmware (bios) is on the unit when you buy it. Mine was 172.12 so I updated it to 172.14a. The 172.12 does not say anything about Divx but after the firmware/bios upgrade it does, indeed, have a Divx "number" displayed.

Encoded some HDV to the Divx HD profile - did not play. Wishful thinking at this point anyway as there are only a few "certified" HD Divx players out there. However using the Home Theatre profile everything I have tested plays great. Even though the "spec" for Divx says to use mp3 audio I wanted to try full surround and couldn't find a way to do it out of Vegas, or other programs for that matter, at least via mp3. So what I ended up doing was to export the video only and than AC3. In VirtualDubMod I opened up both streams and did a direct stream copy. Burned - and sure enough - Divx with full surround sound. Also I am using Divx 6 but it reads on the player as "Divx 5.x". My understanding is that the Divx video was/is more or less the same, it is just the newer 'spec" (Version 6.x) supports menus ala traditional DVD.

Also for those of you in Europe I think the unit is the CH-DVD635 and/or the CH-DVD462 - they look about the same...actually the 635 seems to have a closer spec. (EDIT - maybe not as I do not see anything that says it is HD or upconverts to 720p and 1080i)

I tried the MP4 via Quicktime - did not play, but I am not sure what "specs" are/should be. The manual actually does say there are lots of various forms of Mp4 and it probably will not play all of them.

I loaded up an HD file that I have had for a few years - pure HD I got from NASA. It would read it but no picture. Same goes for a 720p HDV file. It is weird because if a file will not play it just says "unable to play file" however for this HD stuff is doesn't do anything. Shows that it is playing, but no picture displays - the forward, pause, play all work. My hopes are that this is just a firmware thing and once HDV gets a bit more common it will just be upgradable via a firmware flash.

Tried an old VCD and it played fine, including the "chapters" which is something none of my other players have done.

Took an HDV source and encoded a Mpeg 2 file via the "DVD" setting and it played but it stuttered a lot. Doing the same thing but with the "DVDA" template the file played perfect. This is without the actual authoring, just the straight mpg2 file. I tried my best to encode an out of spec DVD using HD sizes but it was a no go...I mean it owuld not render. However I will say the HDV file encoded to Mpg2 that played looked pretty good at 1080i, even if it was downrezed and re-uprezed.

The remote control is kind of neat - but at first I thought I had a problem. When you plug in the unit the first time, if you only have the component cables hooked up, you get no picture. But the remote has your typical "video" button andt in this case it switched between the formats/outputs - you get 480i, 480p, HDMI, component. Also there is an HDMI button - you hit it and get 480p, 720p, 1080i as choices. It is nice not having to go into the DVD players set up menu to select things each time you might want to change. (And when you set the component output to 1080i you can than use the HDMI buttom to switch between the HD formats)

OFF TOPIC BUT YET ON TOPIC - by the way - anyone else read about the CES demo of HD-DVD?



MORE OT, BUT NOT: Universal Pictures announced at the HD DVD press conference in Las Vegas Wednesday that it will have 10 titles available for the high-definition format's launch this spring. The studio will issue new and older movies on HD DVD throughout 2006.
Laurence wrote on 2/26/2006, 11:11 PM
In the first post it mentions that this player will upconvert via component as well. That is particularly interesting to me since component in is all my Toshibal HDTV has. Is this really the case? I kind of doubt it due to RIAA meddling in this sort of thing.
craftech wrote on 2/27/2006, 10:26 AM
There are no firmware updates for that model on the Cyberhome website that I can find.
John
Laurence wrote on 2/27/2006, 12:38 PM
I just reread the initial post. Let me get this straight. Are you actually watching movies in uprezzed 1080i via the component connections? If so I better pick one of these puppies up right away before word gets out and the RIAA has them taken off the shelves!
p@mast3rs wrote on 2/27/2006, 1:00 PM
I picked up the 655 model and I agree, it is indeed amazing. Finally Nero Digital with AAC can be played back. Life is good for sure.

I havent seen any firmware update for the 655. Anyone else seen it?
Laurence wrote on 2/27/2006, 2:12 PM
If you're watching uprezzed video over component, I wouldn't update the firmware. You'll lose this ability I'm sure, just like they did with the Zenith uprezzing model. The RIAA hates that sort of thing.
p@mast3rs wrote on 2/27/2006, 2:25 PM
Im just a poor teacher. No HDTV however I have an HDTV tuner for the PC. I mainly wanted this unit so I could play back the Nero Digital w/ AAC files I have. My Philips DVP 642 doesnt support AAC audio at all. So either way, this was an awesome buy for me. Much thanks for the heads up on this unit.
craftech wrote on 2/28/2006, 12:18 PM
OK,
I bought one. Had to go to three Walmarts before I found one. First one had one, but it had been returned and resealed. Second one didn't have any. Went to a K-Mart. They no longer carry them. Finally found another Walmart 20 miles further that had one unopened unit left. Thanks for the heads up on this.

John

Manufacturing date is September 2005.
Bios is 176.22 so I guess that is more recent than 172.14a mentioned above FWIW.
p@mast3rs wrote on 2/28/2006, 12:30 PM
Yeah the first one I bought had no HDMI or componet cables and no remote but it looked like a brand new box. Took it back and Walmart was cool about it. Exchanged with no probs at all. Not a bad little investment.
craftech wrote on 2/28/2006, 12:48 PM
Here are some additional users comments on the unit.

Here is one more

John
prairiedogpics wrote on 2/28/2006, 1:25 PM
Can someone clarify something: Does this thing play H.264 files from Nero Recode that originate from HDV (i.e., framserved from Vegas)? I mean, does it play MPEG4 files that are HD (1080i, HDV) via component, or does it just uprez standard resolution files?

Are people are touting this as a cheap delivery (display) mechanism for HD(V) material to an HDTV? Or is is just great because it plays the Nero Recode MPEG4 files. (And what's so great about that if it can....?)

Forgive me if I'm way off base, I'm just trying to decipher what all the hullabaloo is about...

Dan
filmy wrote on 3/1/2006, 9:21 AM
I have not tried any Nero files but have tried Divx files. Files encoded with the HD profiles do not play but the home theatre encoded files do. I also tried other HD and HDV files with varied success. Right now it does not seem to play actual HD/HDV files however it may be as simple as a bios update to do that, as I mentioned before once I updated the bios it played the Divx stuff with no issues.

Right now though my point was that it was a nice cheap way to get 720p or 1080i out to your HD monitor via HDMI or Component. Thusly the header "HD-DVD on the cheap" because you could spend a lot more on a unit that does upconversions only or you could spend almost as much on an HDMI cable - either way you look at it this is great for the price, IMO.

EDIT - Spelling


p@mast3rs wrote on 3/1/2006, 10:54 AM
It does not play H.264 AVC files at all. Only Mpeg-4 asp files (Nero creates Mpeg-4 ASP files with AAC audio.

The player only supports SD resolutions and upscales to HD resolutions.
Laurence wrote on 3/1/2006, 12:12 PM
It does however display jpegs at 1920 x 1080.
Laurence wrote on 3/2/2006, 4:49 PM
Well I got one today. Theres a hidden menu where you can set it to different zones or make it zonefree, and in this menu there is also an option to turn on component upconverting. It works great. The only problem is it really doesn't look any different than the upconverting already built into my HDTV so the end result is about the same as what I already had. On an HDTV with only component ins and without built in uprezzing it would what you need I suppose.
craftech wrote on 3/2/2006, 5:00 PM
Yes, that trick was in one of the user comments I linked to above.

John
Laurence wrote on 3/2/2006, 10:46 PM
The problem is that I have to cycle through the resolution modes before I can see any picture at all if I'm in the hidden "uprez over component mode".

I don't believe there is too much advantage of an uprezzing player given that the uprezzing built into pretty much every HDTV looks is so similar. Either way, on an HDTV you are looking at uprezzed video. On my older HDTV, the Cyberhome uprezzed video looks slightly but noticably better. On my newer HDTV the uprezzing in the TV and in the DVD player look identical.