ok, bit of a random one this but it will save me wiring up a rig if someone knows the answer:

Will a HD player play hd content burnt onto the wrong media?


I basically need to play some custom 1080p content through several plasma/LCD screens.  I would normally drive this from a PC, however most of the fancy processing in tvs is disabled when you use a pc/VGA/DVI link.  I want to see how they handle video from a HD disc when all of their electronic processing will be enabled.  Every bell ringing and every whistle whistling.

Ive not got easy access to a HD disc burner.  Can you burn HD encoded files HD-DVD/Bluray/whatever onto a DVD/CD and expect the players to handle the rest?  Or do they spit out non HD discs?

do you mean a standard set top DVD player? I doubt if they could read teh disc... if it did you would have to cut them down to size as you would need to burn them as data so would be limted to discsize, 8gb dual layer.
If you burned it as movie, then you would have to re-encode it as you will be limtited by the running time on the dvd

Best bet is to just get a media player for around £200 that supports HDTV - think maplin has one for less than that, that will also double up as TV recorder


have a look.. only support 720p/1080i though
http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?ITAG=FAQ&ModuleNo=221173&doy=15m1#faq
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=221244&C=Newsletter&U=08P01-4&T=12280684
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=221853&C=Newsletter&U=08P01-4&T=12280684
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=221862&C=Newsletter&U=08P01-4&T=12280684

The discs would be played back on a hd dvd player (have players for all formats).

Has noone tried burning progressive HD onto a DVD and see if it plays in their HD player before?  Seems like it would be a common thing to have tried especially with all the short 1080p demo clips floating around.

Those media players look like theyll output in the same mode as a PC.  If they do then the tv will shut off all its picture improvement processing which is what I need to see


NB:
I can burn HD discs (bluray/HDDVD) if I need to but I really just need to burn dozens/hundreds of small 1-8GB MPEG2 clips.  It seems silly to burn very expensive dics for a 2 gig file if a dvd can be used.  (All clips will be 720p/1080p).

cant see it working. I would imagine the structure of blu-ray/hd-dvd is different to that of dvd.

This is taken from Wikipedia:

Quote3x DVD

The HD DVD format also applies to current red laser DVDs, this type of disc is called "3x DVD", as it is capable of three times the bandwidth of regular DVD-Video.

3x DVDs are physically identical to normal DVDs. Although 3x DVDs provide the same high definition content, their playback time is less. For example, an 8.5 GB DVD can hold about 85 minutes of 1080p video encoded with VC-1 or AVC at an average bitrate of 13 Mbit/s, suitable for short subjects (training films, home movies), but unsuitable for feature film-length content.

It is technically possible for consumers to create HD DVD compatible discs using low cost DVD-R or DVD+R media. At least one such guide exists. The 3x DVD is comparable to Blu-rays BD9.

HD REC

HD Rec is an extension of the HD DVD format for storing HD content on regular red laser DVDs using H.264/MPEG-4 AVC compression. It was approved by the DVD Forum on September 12, 2007 It is comparable to Blu-rays AVCREC.

awesome Mallrat thanks

Looks like HDREC and AVCREC are what Im after!  Ill setup a rig next week and let you know if/how it works.

It appears the formats arent supported by most players but I need to make this work

hmmmm I know early HD stuff on usenet was released as DVD 1, DVD 2, etc. No idea if theyd actually play though.