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."

Comments

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.

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!

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!

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...

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.

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!!!

Re:Money

[Trogre]

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

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?

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.

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.

Or

[RetroRichie]

Or you could just keep your HD DVD player.

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...

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: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.

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: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.

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.

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.