Don't think this has been covered before, could make for some good conversation. http://www.hive4media.com/news/html/...rticle_id=4673

That's great news!

I'm not getting to pumped about HD-DVD anytime soon. they should fix delamination and other problems with the current dvd format before rushing off into something else. otherwise, current screwups will tag along and continue to be a pain in the ass.

Thanks for the update... Can't wait for HD-DVD!!!

Here's the article:


In what could be an interesting twist on the road to high-definition DVD, Palo Alto, Calif.-based Pixonics Inc. is set to unveil what it terms an affordable “forward- and backward-compatible” high-definition DVD technology solution at this week’s National Association of Broadcasters show in Las Vegas.

Former Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment executive Paul Culberg heads up Pixonics and said the company’s HD technology is such an elegant solution for the migration to HD that it may eventually appear not only in DVD players but also cable set-top boxes and other broadcast devices.

Unlike blue-ray HD technology from Sony and others that requires an entirely new laser, Pixonics is a 1.5-megabit enhancement stream on top of the base DVD stream, which is 6 megabits on average. That means the hardware maker can easily build 1920 X 1080p high-definition resolution into players at only “incremental” cost simply by building it into existing DVD processors.

But while he’s in talks with DVD chipmakers, Culberg admitted the key to Pixonics’ success will likely be support from the content community in Hollywood. He added many of the studios have already expressed some early interest, in part because the addition of Pixonics high definition to discs can be done fairly quickly. “There is no additional cost in authoring, and there is no additional tinkering with the manufacturing line, so there should be no additional cost there,” he said.

“It provides the content owners with the versatility to put out a separate [HD-enhanced] SKU or put out a single SKU that will play on existing DVD players and also play high definition on new DVD players,” Culberg said. “As opposed to locking them into blue-ray, which is a separate SKU, this will give them the ability to do it either way.”

He added that Pixonics’ message to both sellthrough and rental retailers will be that this is an HD solution that is both simple and compelling. “The questions consumers will ask is, ‘Will the new software play on my current hardware, and will the new hardware play my current software?’” Culberg said. “And the answer to both those questions is yes.”

As long as I can keep my existing progressive scan dvd player and not have to buy another than this might work...

It's too good an idea to work.

I will believe it when I see it...

Down the road, this might happen. WHen HD-DVD finally is around, I will get around to finally buying my HD-TV

also be advised that you will also have to buy all your "old" dvds.

A 7.5Mb bitstream does NOT excite me as the compression must be vastly more then the normal 19.2Mb used today! I would much more prefer the BlueRay with the full 19.2 MPEG2 anyday!

Bingo Frank S, If this ever became mainstream, then I think dvhs would see alot more followers 7.5mb bitsream is not enough compared to a what we get on dvhs.

This was already mentioned in an earlier thread:
http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthr...hreadid=284800

If I still can watch my actual DVD in 5.1 on the same machine well I will be more than happy...

can you imagine a universal player...

5 discs carousel HD-DVD, DVD-video, SACD, DVD-audio, regular CD, CD-R(W), DVD-R(W,rom), Mp3, Wma, VCD, SVCD...

can you get anything more???