There is NO Region encoding with HD DVD! In fact a lot of supposedly Blu-Ray only Movie Releases, you can also buy on HD DVD from out of the US and they play perfectly fine.
As for the whole MS paying Dreamworks and Paramount. MS has already denied it! That's just a Internet Rumor with nothing backing it up. Sure MS Prefers HD DVD, that's because it doesn't have Double the Copy protection, and allows MS with HD DVD to have HD Media Servers running of course Windows software! Also remember that MS Video Codex VC-1 is used for BOTH HD DVD and Blu-Ray!
Also most HD DVD Disc's are the SAME PRICE as Blu-Ray, those of HD DVD that cost more is because they are a Dual Format Disc. Which means a HD DVD version on 1 side and a DVD version on the other side. That way you can still play that disc on all your other DVD players. For $5 it's a pretty good deal. The Movie "300" is this way, but not only is there a DVD version, but it has a bunch of extra content the Blu-Ray version lacks, and it's this way with a bunch of Dual format Disc's on both systems! Why is this? Because Blu-Ray is still in BETA!!! It hasn't been finalized, and won't be until supposedly October of this year where it will get most of the features HD DVD already supports since day 1. If you already are one of the suckers who bought a Blu-Ray player other then the PS3, then you'll be buying a NEW Blu-Ray player with the Upgrades if you want to access the extra features and content as your current one won't be upgradeable.
HD DVD was Developed by the same group as DVD! It's what should be supported NOW. Sony Created this Dual format B.S. problem once again like aways. This war could end up just killing BOTH formats just like Sony did with the whole SACD to DVD Audio! The DVD+ DVD- WAR wasn't a big deal, Making a Dual format player didn't add much to the cost as they were both pretty close, and both formats worked in most DVD players.
Sony's SACD format war killed the High Quality Audio format. What do we have now? Low Quality MP3's!!! I would have been nice to pop in a DVD Audio disc instead of a CD. Now few players will play either format. I want nothing to do with SONY. I will never buy a Bly-Ray movie. Sony's a Huge Movie Studio Owning Company, almost all backing BLu-Ray are SONY owned Studio's! Sony wants everyone to switch over to Blu-Ray. With DOUBLE the copy protection, Sony's Movies would be a whole lot safer then on DVD or HD DVD.
If you have a HDTV with DVI, and not HDMI, your HDTV more then likely doesn't support HDCP, so you're out of luck watching any movie better then 540P I believe that's the resolution. HDMI switch box? Well it better support HDCP otherwise you're also out of luck. Have a Surround Sound Receiver with a HDMI switcher built in? Well it's worthless also if you want to watch your HD movies in HD. Have heard none of them support HDCP right now.
My HDTV only has DVI. I have over 300 DVD's and they look just fine on my 42" set. As it stands right now, I hope Blu-Ray and HD-DVD totally fail! There's no FAIR in FAIR USE these days and it's only going to get worse if we all keep letting it happen.
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There is NO Region encoding with HD DVD! In fact a lot of supposedly Blu-Ray only Movie Releases, you can also buy on HD DVD from out of the US and they play perfectly fine. As for the whole MS paying Dreamworks and Paramount. MS has already denied it! That's just a Internet Rumor with nothing backing it up. Sure MS Prefers HD DVD, that's because it doesn't have Double the Copy protection, and allows MS with HD DVD to have HD Media Servers running of course Windows software! Also remember that MS Video Codex VC-1 is used for BOTH HD DVD and Blu-Ray! Also most HD DVD Disc's are the SAME PRICE as Blu-Ray, those of HD DVD that cost more is because they are a Dual Format Disc. Which means a HD DVD version on 1 side and a DVD version on the other side. That way you can still play that disc on all your other DVD players. For $5 it's a pretty good deal. The Movie "300" is this way, but not only is there a DVD version, but it has a bunch of extra content the Blu-Ray version lacks, and it's this way with a bunch of Dual format Disc's on both systems! Why is this? Because Blu-Ray is still in BETA!!! It hasn't been finalized, and won't be until supposedly October of this year where it will get most of the features HD DVD already supports since day 1. If you already are one of the suckers who bought a Blu-Ray player other then the PS3, then you'll be buying a NEW Blu-Ray player with the Upgrades if you want to access the extra features and content as your current one won't be upgradeable. HD DVD was Developed by the same group as DVD! It's what should be supported NOW. Sony Created this Dual format B.S. problem once again like aways. This war could end up just killing BOTH formats just like Sony did with the whole SACD to DVD Audio! The DVD+ DVD- WAR wasn't a big deal, Making a Dual format player didn't add much to the cost as they were both pretty close, and both formats worked in most DVD players. Sony's SACD format war killed the High Quality Audio format. What do we have now? Low Quality MP3's!!! I would have been nice to pop in a DVD Audio disc instead of a CD. Now few players will play either format. I want nothing to do with SONY. I will never buy a Bly-Ray movie. Sony's a Huge Movie Studio Owning Company, almost all backing BLu-Ray are SONY owned Studio's! Sony wants everyone to switch over to Blu-Ray. With DOUBLE the copy protection, Sony's Movies would be a whole lot safer then on DVD or HD DVD.
If you have a HDTV with DVI, and not HDMI, your HDTV more then likely doesn't support HDCP, so you're out of luck watching any movie better then 540P I believe that's the resolution. HDMI switch box? Well it better support HDCP otherwise you're also out of luck. Have a Surround Sound Receiver with a HDMI switcher built in? Well it's worthless also if you want to watch your HD movies in HD. Have heard none of them support HDCP right now. My HDTV only has DVI. I have over 300 DVD's and they look just fine on my 42" set. As it stands right now, I hope Blu-Ray and HD-DVD totally fail! There's no FAIR in FAIR USE these days and it's only going to get worse if we all keep letting it happen.