The end for HD DVD?

[mr mixin]

Yeah, so I don't have a HDTV anywhere and won't be buying one anytime soon, so having my monitor on 1680 x 1050 is pretty much 1080i anyway.

As for the backing up thing, it's much easier and cheaper to replace a faulty blu-ray disc than to replace a faulty HDD. I have all my photos backed-up on DVD and on the web anyway and they'd easily all fit on a BR disc. Even though it may take longer than to burn a disc than to transfer to an external HDD, it's not as if my needs to be in use all the time so I never get chance to burn a disc for an hour or so is it?

[fac51]

It depends on how much your backing up, I have 400gb of data do that would be 8 discs = 8 hours!!

My monitors native res is 1680 x 1050 and believe me it looks ok but not great at 720p and it's not anywhere near 1080i (1920x1080) - basically if it's not at the monitors default res it wont look that great.

You can get a 500gb external drive for under £70 quid so it's not exactly expensive when you consider the outlay for a blueray player and some discs and lets face it how often do they fail when not under warranty; not had one go on me yet and I have 2 on 24/7.

Even better get an internal drive stick it in a caddy and do a ghost image of your system and then if your pc's drive fails just swap the drive - job done

[117]

A few channels are broadcast in HD now so no device necessarily needed.

a device is necessarily needed - you need an HD-capable set-top box to receive those broadcast HD channels (and an HD subscription to the provider)....

[fac51]

ah I thought everyone had a set top box in this day and age

[mr mixin]

My monitors native res is 1680 x 1050 and believe me it looks ok but not great at 720p and it's not anywhere near 1080i (1920x1080) - basically if it's not at the monitors default res it wont look that great.

Still 100x better than it would with a Blu-ray player plugged into my TV downstairs...

[fac51]

waste of money at the moment

[mr mixin]

Depends how much you value your backups when the USAF attack the world with their EMPs

[117]

ah I thought everyone had a set top box in this day and age

most people do, but isn't there a difference between a set-top box and a set-top box that receives/outputs HD content?

[fac51]

No idea, my set top box receives HD content by default, can't speak for anyone else's though

[117]

as I understood it to receive HD content on either Sky or Virgin you had to have one of their HD boxes and an HD subscription - are you saying that that isn't the case?

I don't have Virgin nor Sky, so I can't check on my own TV....

[fac51]

I have a box that will play HDTV but I don't have a sub as I have no need of outputting it.