Easy

Judge for yourself.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=627938
It appears the machines allow HD over component but the disks (studios) are the controlling factor. Lots of possibilities. Some studios could allow total access and others nothing. Some might allow only older movies in HD or only on a case by case basis. What do you think of this?

joshd2012

Interesting. I wonder if it will work out this way.

awmurray

Thanks for the info. I've been asking this question for a while now since I'm in the same boat as those posters on the AVS forum (no HDMI).

It would be nice if they allowed up to 1080i via component since as the Poineer rep said:

Hopefully, it isn't blocked on a disc by disc basis. This would allow people like me to be early adopters of HD disc content... after all those of us who have HD monitors without HDMI are obviously willing to be early adopters.

Pistol Pete

Component HD enforced on a disc-by-disc basis is great news! I guarantee you that within a year we will see Chinese HD players with backdoor codes to enable component HD on all HD discs. Sounds good to me.

kvrdave

For the average joe, it will be a mess if they do this, and probably make for a lot of angry consumers, which isn't good for the companies. Interesting stuff.

Qui Gon Jim

Dear Toshiba:
Your attractive price if combined with the ability to output 1080i over component will win you the format war. All of us HDMI-less folks will back you in droves.

Tommy Ceez

Abso-fucking-Mistuws55511-noHDMI-lutely!

DJ_Longfellow

This pleases me, I may jump on HD sooner than later if this is true....however, I can NOT see them doing it on a disc-to-disc basis. Lots of consumers will be confused when there discs do not work.

gOoBaLL

If the studios are so willing to allow true HD signals over component, it makes you wonder why name-brand dvd players only upconvert over HDMI.

Adam Tyner

...because the DVD Forum forbids HD over component for SD DVD.

The Bus

I wish Sony, Apple and Microsoft would all be on the same side so they can take their stinkin' sinkin' DRM ship down to the bottom and at least leave one format that is not entirely crippled.

Superman07

i know the pio rep was not attibuted to you, but i'm not so sure that is correct. my understanding is that the hdmi spec allows for 1080p, but most instantiations of v1.0-1.2 DO NOT allow 1080p output via hdmi. therefore a lot of these 1080p panels that will be coming out, but do not have hdmi v1.3 may not support 1080p via hdmi. be sure you check!!

gOoBaLL

Umm... the DVD Forum isn't some mysterious group. It's composed of the hardware manufacturers and the studios. So I repeat the question...

Why are the studios - through the dvd forum - not allowing upconverted signals over component, yet the same studios are *apparently* going to allow true HD over component?

Adam Tyner

Because of the backlash about not being able to upconvert over component?
Because they're worried about alienating too much of their potential user base?
Because they realized they were being ridiculous about it in the first place?
Perhaps not all studios are going to allow HD over component?

I doubt we'll ever get a definitive answer.

DthRdrX

It's official, at least according to Amir on AVS, HD-dvd supports 1080i/720p over component!

nazz

This is very encouraging news for me and my HDMI-less Mitsubishi 65819. I've been feeling really pissed about the whole thing.

If it's done on a disc by disc method it will mean that they sell fewer copies of the ones that won't play over component. I sure wouldn't buy those titles.

Qui Gon Jim

This is fantastic news, if accurate!

joshd2012

I'm not finding his post. In fact, the only posts I can find of his are in a Panny Plasma thread. Though, he profile does list his occupation as "Hah".

Adam Tyner

Are you searching for the right username (amirm)? He's just about every other post in the HDTV Software/HD-DVD forums.

joshd2012

nope. I was searching "Amir".

Edit: Looks to be pretty strongly for HD-DVD. I guess we'll have to wait and see if these specs change.

Edit 2: I just read an interesting point over at AVS. It was commented that this may mean Toshiba isn't restricting HD over Component, but that doesn't mean that studios won't.

joshd2012

Well, its finally all being flushed out. There is a flag which content providers can include which will allow for a 960x540p image to be passed via component cables. This is something that has been agreed upon via AACS (which HD-DVD follows word for word). Blu-Ray has additional content protection (like BD+) which technically could allow HD over component, but they probably won't.

960x540p isn't HD, so you won't be able to get HD over component. Your HD-DVD would have to upsample to 1080i or 1080p, which it would have to do with normal DVDs anyway. There will be some image quality gains, but not nearly as much as those getting the full resolution via HDMI.

DthRdrX

ICT flagging depends on the studio. We have heard WB is the only studio interested in using it, while Fox, Sony and Disney are against it. If the other studios don't use it, I'm sure WB will rethink the situation after a while considering who will be buying these titles for the time being.

According to Amir, the discs must be labeled as to their resolution via component. BTW, Amir is a VP at Microsoft who has been doing PR for HD-dvd.

If the Flag is set the resolution will be 540p over component.

darkside

Hmm, this means it will be easy within probably a short time after HD-DVD is launched to get a hacked player that will ignore the flags and output 720p/1080i over component out. This is definitely one in favor of HD-DVD over Blu-Ray for me.

joshd2012

That is not how the flag works. It will either allow 540p over component, or default back to 480p.

DthRdrX

What do you mean? If no flag is set by a studio, it will default to either 720p/1080i/1080p. A flag being set will default to 540p, which is still more than dvd.