We are Marshall HD-DVD plays only 480p?

Started by kennet6565 Oct 14, 2007 15 posts
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#1
I bought "We are Marshall" on Warner Bros. Combo Disc for $35.00 plus tax.
Play it in a second generation Toshiba and a notice came up that it will only play in 480i due to having a component connection. What greed.
I took it back to Best Buy and got two Blu-Ray discs.
They have convinced me to watch movies on my HR20 DirecTV DVR's.
I won't buy any more Warner Bros. discs. :twisted:
#2
It's not Warner Bros., it's AACS. AACS is the copy protection scheme used by both Blu-ray and HD DVD. And as far as I know, no HD DVD or Blu-ray player will play back more than 480p over a component connection.

So don't blame Warner Bros.

- Miller
#3
It is WB or their authors that decided to implement AACS.

I sure hope this was a mistake rather than a trend this early in the game...
#4
This is the first time I've heard this for a high definition disc. I believe you mean 480p rather than 480i.

It's a combo/flipper. Please don't be insulted when I ask this. Did you play the disc on the HD-DVD side? The SD DVD side doesn't play higher than 480p over component. This is true of nearly all modern upconverting players whether they are Blu-Ray, HD-DVD, etc. The content publishers weren't supposed to start enforcing HDMI for HD for a another few years. I find this a bit difficult to believe w/ so many Xbox360 add-ons out there.

Moreover, there's no logical way the Blu-Ray (which has region coding, BD+ and more DRM) disc would play over component when the HD-DVD would not. They would enforce that for both formats. Honestly, (no offense but) I think you put that HD-DVD disc in upside down.
#5
Where do I start. I have three degrees, including engineering, and have worked on the X-15 Rocket Airplane and in electronics in the Middle East and Central Asia, and can read english.

Yes, I did put the DVD in the Toshiba X2A on the correct side. The message came up after the HD-DVD began loading stating that the playback would be in 480p, sorry, not 480i, my bad, due to the component output.

If anyone else has run into this please make a comment here.

I also have a Panasonic Blu-Ray and have never seen it on a Blu-Ray disc.

I also have an Oppo 970 that has been modified to output 1080i on the component output, which, by the way, is a pretty amazing DVD player.

I am am electronics nut and am enjoying my 6 year old Sony 65" XBR TV, but just obtained a Panasonic 1000 projection TV so I am sure the component problem will go away when I use HDMI. Do you think the 65" will be too big for the bedroom??

I made the comment about the Warner Bros. HD-DVD to help other people, that is all.

Let's have fun and watch how this beautiful HDTV develops. I am enjoying.
#6
I wish that before you make a definative statement you would find the truth.

I have a Panasonic Blu-ray, a Toshiba X2A, and an Oppo 970 and they all output 1080i on the component connections into my 6 year old Sony 65" XBR rear projection TV.

Not to cause an argument but you are misleading other people with your statement.

Enjoy what is happening; to me it is very exciting since I first saw TV in my father's living room: a green and white 12" round Emerson in a cabinet the size of a coffin.
#7
Kennet, I didn't mean to insult. However, nearly all upconverting DVD players will NOT play SD DVD's higher than 480p over component. If your Panasonic Blu-ray does this then I'm impressed. I know my Philips won't upconvert past 480p over component. This is why I asked if you put it on the SD DVD side as it's known that the Toshiba players won't upconvert CSS protected discs over component.

I'm putting We Are Marshall into my Netflix queue to verify myself. I'm not doubting your honesty. I've just never read this anywhere else. IMHO, this would be a major gaffe all over the news like the Fantastic Four:Rise of the Silver Surfer and Day After Tomorrow Blu-ray playback issue.
#8
Please re-read my post. Neither the Panasonic nor the Toshiba will upconvert standard DVD's to 1080i.

What i said was that the Panasonic Blu-ray and the Toshiba X2A HD-DVD will play their respective discs in 1080i component output to the Sony 65" XBR.

The Oppo 970 (modified) will upconvert SD DVD's to 1080i to the Sony through the component output, and does a fantastic job of it.

No insult taken but I would be more careful what is said about someone you don't know.
#9
I'm putting We Are Marshall into my Netflix queue to verify myself. I'm not doubting your honesty. I've just never read this anywhere else. IMHO, this would be a major gaffe all over the news like the Fantastic Four:Rise of the Silver Surfer and Day After Tomorrow Blu-ray playback issue.

There is nothing to be insulted about here and if Kennet claims the token is in play then the above response makes absolute sense; second party verification is needed indeed and this problem should already be posted on other sites!

Kennet, either you are the first to report this or you have a player specific problem. Maybe your firmware needs an update?

If this is valid it would be BIG news!
#10
After I read your posting, I checked the Toshiba web site and there was a new hardware update. I updated the Toshiba and in the next couple of days I will rent "We are Marshall" and will report back.

It really has been interesting. :lol:

I sincerely appreciate all the inputs. We are all learning and that is the objective.
#11
Absolutely! Thanks!

Pure Speculation...

As I rub my memory cells I can't tell you if the token is active at this time but your experience says it is and that makes sense; it is there but set to allow analog component output with HD disc. This system is based on having internet access to update the tokens table. HD disc with the old tokens still work but all new content won't without that update and that is how they intend to protect new releases from the tokens that get hacked.

A wacky suggestion but... I would be interested to see what happens if you hook up the ethernet, turn on the power and then try to play the disc... does it auto update? I thought that was the idea besides the web based special features...
#12
It might be possible to download the firmware update to a DVD and update the firmware that way.
#13
It might be possible to download the firmware update to a DVD and update the firmware that way.

Sounds like that's what he did.
#14
I just tested a rental from Netflix of We Are Marshall on HD-DVD. (Netflix is slow with this title.) It plays 1080i over component fine on my Toshiba A20 (firmware version 2.5).

I did some research on this. Allegedly, there were some bad discs sent out for this title. (I read this on AVS. I haven't seen any public confirmations from Warner.) Maybe, they put two SD DVD's on the disc rather than a SD DVD and a HD-DVD side.

Anyway, I'm just confirming that they are not enforcing title constraints across the board and forcing people to HDMI (YET!) for high definition optical discs.
#15
Thanks for the update. My Toshiba was at 2.0 and that was probably the problem.
I have since updated it but have not bothered to get the disc again since the Blockbuster near me has only Blu-ray.