How to Convert Your HD-DVD Discs to Blu-Ray

eldavojohn writes "Are you one of the few who boarded the HD-DVD Titanic ship headed to the bottom of ocean to join BetaMax? Fret no longer, friend, simply convert those and pretend like you never invested in the wrong technology! All you need is a Windows machine with a fast processor, an HD-DVD drive, a Blu-Ray burner, 30GB of free disk space, at least, though 40GB or more is recommended and an internet connection to download the software! Or you can sit and be the crazy guy who continues to argue that HD-DVD is the superior technology whether it's true or not."

Oh is that all

[Anonymous Coward]

Well as long as thats ALL you need.

I dont have price quotes and I'm too lazy to look them up but I'm pretty sure that Blu-Ray burners run about $500. I have no idea how much an HD-DVD ROM drive would go for, probably pretty reasonable now that its a defunct format.

So unless you bought a copy of every HD-DVD that is out I dont think this is cost effective.

Steep Price Indeed!

[milsoRgen]

All you need is a Windows machine with a fast processor, an HD-DVD drive, a Blu-Ray burner, 30GB of free disk space, at least, though 40GB or more is recommended and an internet connection to download the software!

What about those of us that have HD-DVD drives in our home theater? The cost of a processor that would do this in a timely fashion, is no laughing matter. Plus an HD-DVD drive, plus a Blu-Ray burner? You're kidding right. If you had all that equipment to begin with, I'm pretty sure you already knew what to do in order to convert your discs. Sheesh!

Riiiiiiight

[Serenissima]

Spend hundreds of dollars and hours of processing time and frustration. Or spend 30 bucks and buy the movie again...
Hmmmm.... tough decision.

Money

[fishybell]

Wow, so if don't to spend a few hundred repurchasing your movies, just several hundred (possibly thousand according to TFA) on hardware and software instead.

I'm sorry, but HD-DVD users are just plain outta luck. Next time, join the rest of us and just wait.

Or

[RetroRichie]

Or you could just keep your HD DVD player.

Kind of worthless?

[aikouka]

Even as it states in the originating Wired DIY Wiki page, "Also, consider just buying the movie new: a blank Blu-Ray disc is from $15-$25 for write-once media." (Note that we are also not considering the money for the BR burner).

Now, I'm no studio exec, but the chances that a studio will re-release in Blu-Ray or put out old Blu-Ray versions (movies such as Shooter that were pulled from Blu-Ray once Paramount went HD-DVD exclusive) is fairly decent. This sounds like a huge time and money sink to me and for my HD-DVD movies? I'd rather just wait until they come out on Blu-Ray to buy them again.

That sounds Expensive

[imstanny]

Unless you have a vast HD-DVD collection, getting a Blu-Ray burner, blu ray dvd media, as well as the time investing into converting it's likely not worth it. I think it'd be cheaper to setup a stream from your HD capable computer to your TV...

Just because you bought Blu-Ray...

[Anonymous Coward]

...Doesn't mean you didn't invest in the wrong technology. Unless you bought a PS3, that is. All other Blu-Ray lite (tm) Profile 1.x devices (which means everything else) are as good as a motherboard with ISA slots. Doesn't matter if that motherboard has a 3 trillion Ghz CPU on it if it only works with last year's (okay, decade's) stuff.

It'll take time, but this is the Achilles heel of Blu-Ray, and will eventually continue the legacy of Sony developed media standards taking off like a lead balloon.

What's the point?

[Kuukai]

TFA doesn't mention if these will play on a standalone Blu-Ray player or what. It seems pointless unless you really want to throw away your old (new) HD-DVD drive...

Re:Oh is that all

[gEvil (beta)]

And don't forget that the blank BD media only runs about $15-25 a piece, too. That coupled with the hardware costs for the drives means you'll probably average about $30-40 a pop to replace a $25 disc. Good deal!

Re:Riiiiiiight

[Actually, I do RTFA]

Spend hundreds of dollars and hours of processing time and frustration. Or spend 30 bucks and buy the movie again...

Or spend nothing and leave your HD-DVD drive plugged into your home theater, bitching occasionally about the extra remote. Or, have an HD-DVD drive that also is a regular DVD drive (or is plugged into your 360) and don't even have the extra remote. Seriously, why would I someone arbitarily deciding HD-DVD was bad impact me. Now that HD-DVD is "dead", I'm thinking about getting a player and some movies, if they are cheap enough.

Re:Money

[Professor_UNIX]

I'm sorry, but HD-DVD users are just plain outta luck. Next time, join the rest of us and just wait.

That doesn't seem right though. Since you're just purchasing a license to the movie, why can't you mail your HD-DVD discs back to the manufacturer and have them be exchanged for a Blu-Ray copy of the same movie (if available) for a nominal fee (say, $5 plus reasonable shipping and handling)? Perhaps Congress needs to get involved and sort this mess out so HD-DVD users don't get screwed out of their investment... it certainly adversely affects lives more than steroid using baseball players or the war in Iraq. Write your Congressman today and demand an HD-DVD exchange program be setup immediately!!!

If I have an HD-DVD drive. . .

[JSBiff]

Why the heck would I bother to convert the discs anyway? If I've got the hardware to watch the disc. . . why not just watch it in the native format? I mean, I guess if you have irreplaceable home videos (or you are an independent media producer) which are burned to an HD-DVD disc, and those are the *only* remaining extant copies of the video, you might do something like this.

But for most users, why bother converting? Just keep watching it on your current player.

Re:Why Convert?

[antifoidulus]

Actually, now that it is dead its probably the perfect time to pick up some movies if you already have the hardware since there are going to be some serious fire sales....

Re:Kind of worthless?

[antifoidulus]

Yeah, but part of it is the principal of the thing. The real reason behind DRM isn't an attempt to stop piracy, it's a way to get you to purchase the same content over and over again. I am more than willing to pay a fair price for music/movies, but I am only willing to pay it ONCE. After scratching up a couple of DVDs(and losing a whole season of the Simpsons) I finally decided to rip all my dvds with handbrake and store them on an external drive(backed up and streamed over my airport express). First and foremost its more convenient as I can just pick up my Apple remote and watch any movie/tv show I feel like(of course Apple gimped front row but that is another rant) Secondly unless there is a fire(in which case insurance will cover the cost of the dvds anyway) I won't have to repurchase any dvd because it got scratched or lost when I moved etc.

I abjectly refuse to buy any media more than once, its the game they have played since there was more than 1 media choice out there, and that cash cow has got to stop.

Re:Money

[Trogre]

...adversely affects lives? Are you kidding? These are just movies!

Re:What's the point?

[vanyel]

There weren't enough interesting titles released on HD-DVD to make it worth the time, I'll just go buy the 2 discs again when they come out in Blu-Ray.

Re:Money

[llZENll]

"Perhaps Congress needs to get involved and sort this mess out so HD-DVD users don't get screwed out of their investment"

Yes, I would much rather have Congress dealing with peoples HD-DVD issues than the economic toilet our country is in, the war, oil, or about a 1000 other more important issues.

HD-DVD users are not screwed in the slightest, they knew what they were getting into, and even so, getting a new disc format isn't going to jack squat for them. They can watch their HD-DVD discs on their HD-DVD player for the rest of thier lives just fine, how is getting a Bluray disc of the same movie going to help them when they don't even have a Bluray player?

It's not about what's right, it's about $$$

[JonTurner]

>That doesn't seem right though.

We're talking about the MAFIAA and you expect what's right? (I'm chuckling even while I write this.) I hate to be the one to break the bad news to you, Grasshopper, but you have discovered the ugly core of the media industry. It has nothing to do with what is right. It's not about Art. It is all about squeezing as much money as possible out you as possible. And if you think your congresscritter is going to do otherwise, then I applaud your pure heart, but feel compelled to tell you that unless you have more money than Hollywood with which to bribe^h^h^h^h^hlobby, you (we?) don't have a chance.

Re:Steep Price Indeed!

[TheRaven64]

I didn't RTFA, but how fast a processor do you really need? You shouldn't need to recompress, since BD and HD-DVD both support the same formats, all you need to do is strip the DRM. That shouldn't be more CPU-intensive than playing the DRM'd file, and if you can play a HD-DVD in realtime on a moderately fast CPU, including decoding the VC-1 / H.264 decoding on top of the DRM decoding then you should definitely be able to copy it, removing the DRM, in 2x realtime which is as fast as the cheapest blank BD media I can find support...

Re:Money

[thelexx]

Back in the mid-80's, I did just that with some game software when I went from a C64 to an Atari ST. Can't remember if it was Origin or SSI, think it was one of those though. And IIRC, all I had to send them was the front page of the manual. You would probably get laughed at today.

Re:Money

[RetardsForRonPaul]

I'd rather have Congress repeal the DMCA so decrypting the HD-DVDs I own isn't a crime.

Why bother?

[el_chupanegre]

Wait, if you need both a HD-DVD and BluRay drive to do this, why exactly do you need to bother? It isn't like your HD-DVD drive is going to stop working or anything. When you want to watch a HD-DVD, use your HD-DVD drive!

Re:I don't understand why you would even need to

[Anonymous Coward]

actually no, every HD-DVD player (except the Xbox 360 one) has a ethernet jack on the back. It's part of the standard. Blu-Ray on the other hand, the PS3 is the only one upgradable at the moment, so any non-PS3 blu-ray player out there can't support all the extra features of profile 1.1 (aka, copying the internet features of HD-DVD players)

Cheaper

[Nom du Keyboard]

All you need is a Windows machine with a fast processor, an HD-DVD drive, a Blu-Ray burner, 30GB of free disk space, at least, though 40GB or more is recommended and an internet connection to download the software!

I think it would be cheaper to just re-buy all your discs in BluRay, especially considering the cost of BR recordable discs.

Or if there is no BR equivalent, get a fire-sale HD-DVD player just for those obsolete discs.

One poorly phrased comment...

[argent]

The last line of this article ends "whether it is true or not". It should read "whether it is relevant or not". The failure of HD-DVD has nothing to do with whether it is superior or inferior, but to market forces. There have been any number of situations over the years, centuries, and millennia, where technically superior products and technologies have failed (whether to be reborn later, in some form, or not) in the face of chance vagaries of the market.

Note that I am not arguing that it is superior, I neither know nor care since I have no interest in the technology itself and no media in either format, simply suggesting a significant improvement to the way the comment is phrased.

Re:Get a pen

[k_187]

The biggest problem with the internet is when you can't tell if the fake things are real or if the real things are fake.

My pioneer LASER disc player still works.

[Babu 'God' Hoover]

My brother in laws Betamax player still works.

Are we to understand that the HD DVD player is in danger of crapping out if we don't hurry up and convert?

Wouldn't it make more sense to buy all the movies you like that are available in the obsoleted format along with a player because now you can get them cheap?

Re:Money

[Charcharodon]

"Investing" in tech that is for entertainment purposes is roughly on par with betting on a horse race.

Your horse lost, now you want your money back? That seems a bit silly.

The only thing Congress should do is laugh at you.

I got caught picking the loosing side too, but all my HD DVD's are safely ripped to my server where they'll live for some time to come.

Re:Money

[perlchild]

I wish I had mod points for you man. Software used to be sold by gentlemen. Now it's sold by lawyers.

Re:Kind of worthless?

[mr_matticus]

Well, it's principle, and you'd be faced with the same problem irrespective of DRM. I know the moderators are too dumb to stop and think about what's going on here and would rather just groupthink their way into any attack on DRM, regardless of the situation, but one can hope, can't he?

These discs are fundamentally different formats. DRM isn't what makes this not cost effective. DRM isn't the reason why your HD-DVDs don't work in a Blu-ray player.

Every time in the history of recordings that there has been a new format, it has been set up so you'll buy it again. After a few years when it becomes cheap, people can start moving over their collections from the old format. There's nothing special about that. Tape decks captured LP recordings in the 70s; CD recorders moved tapes to discs by the late 90's. DV connections moved VHS to DVD in the early 00s, DVDs can be moved to BD if you are enterprising. This has been par for the course throughout the entire past century. They don't break the old format; there's nothing forcing you to upgrade or to pay again. Consumers pay again because it offers them something they want at a price they're willing to pay. There's nothing nefarious about that--if Bob wants to buy the DVD instead of spending two hours converting his VHS, why shouldn't a retailer make a sale? The fact that vendors know they'll continue making residual sales is one of the major factors that cause prices to drop after release. It's all part of a larger system.

The fact that it's more expensive to do so than just to repurchase isn't something that's new. Even if your HD-DVD collection didn't have DRM at all, it would still be impractical and expensive to convert it to BD.

Re:Steep Price Indeed!

[rnelsonee]

...you should just RTFA before posting. Dual-layer HD-DVDs (which is what a lot of the movies are) are 30 GB. Burnable Blu-ray discs are 25GB. If you know how to fit 30GB into 25GB without compression, please share.

Re:One poorly phrased comment...

[sweepkick]

I think you meant to say that "The failure of HD-DVD has nothing to do with whether it is superior or inferior, but to manufactured and manipulated market forces".

The Blu-Ray Disc Authority (BDA) would have you believe that it was due to "consumer choice", which is dubious at best. Had all studios been format neutral from the get-go, and *all* studios released on both formats from the beginning, the outcome may very well have been different. However, the BDA were able to secure Fox, Disney, and (surprise surprise) Sony's studios from the get-go. Three *very* large studios with an impressive catalog.

It's likely that Fox and Disney received "incentives" either in the form of cash payoffs or other "financial or promotional considerations" for Blu-Ray exclusivity. In fact, at the BDA press conference at the IFA in Berlin in August of last year, when asked point-blank whether they had received financial incentives for their exclusive support of Blu-Ray, Disney's VP of European Marketing responded with "no comment".

There's still a lot of speculation as to why Warner had chosen to go Blu-Ray exclusive. Perhaps out of the goodness of their hearts they knew that they held the winning hand in deciding the outcome of the war, and decided to just go with Blu-Ray and put an end to the "war" for the consumer's sake. However, this is big business, and if Paramount and Disney were receiving payouts for their support of their exclusivity, why wouldn't they try to secure a nice incentive package? I say the jury's still out on this one, and it may be some time before we know what actually went down in Warner's meetings with the BDA/Sony two weeks prior to CES 2008... if ever.

But don't kid yourselves, the war was not decided on market forces brought on by consumer demand.

Re:Just because you bought Blu-Ray...

[GauteL]

"All other Blu-Ray lite (tm) Profile 1.x devices (which means everything else) are as good as a motherboard with ISA slots. Doesn't matter if that motherboard has a 3 trillion Ghz CPU on it if it only works with last year's (okay, decade's) stuff."

That is just bullsh*t. The motherboard with ISA slots is completely useless, the older Blu-Ray players will still play the new Blu-ray discs, they just won't do the extras.

Yes, losing out on the extras is annoying and crap, but playing the f*cking film is the most important thing, and they will still do that.