HD-DVD Drives

[2boxers]

I just noticed that LG is no longer manufacturing my GGW-H20L combo HD-DVD BD-RE drive and I still have an HD-DVD collection.

Who is still making HD-DVD drives or BD drives that also support HD-DVD for the PC?

I want to be prepared in case my drive fails.

Regards,
Chas

[rack04]

I use the XBox 360 HD DVD Add-on. Although I'm not sure whether or not it's still in production. If I had to guess I would say that most, if not all, HD DVD devices have halted production.

[2boxers]

...I would say that most, if not all, HD DVD devices have halted production.

You're probably right. I just hate loving technology.

[setarip_old]

@2boxers

Hi!

No one's manhufacturing them any longer, but it appears that there are some retail resources that MAY still be available:

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?oe=UTF-8&ved=0CCQQrQQwAA&q=blu+ray+hd+dvd+drive&cid=13228453471086887210&sa=title#p

http://www.google.com/products?q=hd-dvd+drive&rls=com.microsoft:en-us&oe=UTF-8&rlz=&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=lVZOS7_uCJSIsgPk-dXOBw&sa=X&oi=product_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CCQQrQQwAA

[Blue_MiSfit]

Yeah, the Xbox 360 HD DVD drive is a great way to still play HD-DVDs. It's available for CHEAP on eBay / Craigslist usually.

[TinTime]

Another option of course is just to rip them all now whilst your HD-DVD drive is still working. I'm going through the process of doing this with mine at the moment.

[setarip_old]

@TIneTime

Hi!

The O.P. is concerned about playback hardware failure, not the discs...

[TinTime]

Indeed, and if 2boxers follows my suggestion then future drive failure won't matter.

I don't know if it's practical or not. The OP might have a thousand HD-DVDs or might only have ten. It was just a thought and he's free to dismiss the idea :)

[setarip_old]

@TinTimeif 2boxers follows my suggestion then future drive failure won't matter.I'm sorry, but I still don't see your point:

If the O.P. suffers a hardware failure and is, therefore, no longer able to play his/her original HD-DVDs, how will he/she benefit by making backup copies of the same HD-DVDs?

Or did you mean that the O.P. should CONVERT the HD-DVD collection to BluRay and THEN backup - in anticipation of eventually purchasing BluRay hardware?

[Ghitulescu]

I think that keeping the information (the movie) is of far more importance than sticking with HD-DVD. In the end no hardware will be available, even at fleamarkets ...

[Doom9]

If the O.P. suffers a hardware failure and is, therefore, no longer able to play his/her original HD-DVDs, how will he/she benefit by making backup copies of the same HD-DVDs?It's about playback on a PC... so if you make an ISO backup of each disc and store them in a redundant manner (RAID, etc.), then you essentially don't need the discs anymore.
I have a collection of about 100 discs myself, and 4 drives capable of playing HD DVDs so for now I'm okay, but since those drives will probably not last until a 4K+ format comes along (and I might not be inclined to buy all the discs again), eventually it's better to move the data to a place where you can cope with a hardware failure.

[TinTime]

@TinTimeI'm sorry, but I still don't see your point:

If the O.P. suffers a hardware failure and is, therefore, no longer able to play his/her original HD-DVDs, how will he/she benefit by making backup copies of the same HD-DVDs?

Or did you mean that the O.P. should CONVERT the HD-DVD collection to BluRay and THEN backup - in anticipation of eventually purchasing BluRay hardware?


Sorry, I can see I wasn't clear in my posts. I meant to say copy them to HDDs, not create duplicate HD-DVDs. I think I need to stop using the word "rip". It's a bit vague and people interpret it differently.

[2boxers]

I think I need to stop using the word "rip". It's a bit vague and people interpret it differently.

Thank you all for the advice.

By the way, rip was 100% clear to me and should also be clear to anybody that has read any of the guides here. I would even argue that any ambuguity with the word rip serves a greater purpose anyway, but thats just me :)

The hardware I mentioned (GGW-H20L) does support blu-ray so ultimately, rip to a harddisk filesystem and / or backups via conversion to blu-ray disc are good working solutions, but they are solutions that compete "cost-wise" with the alternative, which is to get another drive that properly implements HD-DVD support.

Right now, decent quality BD-R media is about $6 per disc and a dedicated hardware-based portable and redundant drive array is about $700 using cheap drives.

If I had less than 30 HD-DVD titles, BD-R media would be the way to go, but I have around 100.

What complicates my decision further is what the value of these HD-DVD titles are now, which can average from $2-10 making even the cost of a new GGW-H20L, for the purpose of security, a tough pill to swallow.

Which leaves me with a single cost-effective option- the Toshiba SD H802A. I haven't done any research on this drive yet, but does anybody know if it at least works with current free HD-DVD ripping techniques if I were to have to go down this path? i.e. aacskeys, dumpbn, dumphd, dumpvid, tsmuxer

Best regards,
Chas

[laserfan]

Best deal going is a new GBC-H20L from geeks.com. About $85 incl shipping.

This drive has a Blu-ray faceplate, but otherwise is the same as the GGC-H20L and can be flashed to that firmware to play both BD and HD-DVD.

[2boxers]

Best deal going is a new GBC-H20L from geeks.com. About $85 incl shipping.

This drive has a Blu-ray faceplate, but otherwise is the same as the GGC-H20L and can be flashed to that firmware to play both BD and HD-DVD.

Very interesting, but I have to ask if you would be more explicit.

Regarding the GBC-H20L, from exactly which firmware can you flash to exactly which firmware?

Right now the current firmware for the GGW-H20L is YL05 which comes from GGW-H20L_YL05(EW).zip from LG Eectronics.

And right now the current firmware form the GBC-H20L is Firmware (ver. 1.03) which comes from GGC-H20L_1[1].03(EW).zip from LG Electronics.

Are you saying that the GGC-H20L which is also an LG brand drive will accept YL05 or even the YL03 from the GGW-H20L?

[laserfan]

Are you saying that the GGC-H20L which is also an LG brand drive will accept YL05 or even the YL03 from the GGW-H20L?No, I said the GBC-H20L (BD-ROM) can be cross-flashed to the GGC-H20L (BD and HD-DVD ROM) firmware. Moot point I guess--Geeks seems to be out-of-stock on them.

Don't confuse the writer with the readers--they are different of course. I suppose if you want a writer you might try to find a GBW to crossflash (requires MediaCodeSpeedEdit):

http://club.myce.com/f142/lg-blu-ray-crossflash-ggw-h20l-gbw-h20l-be06lu10-be06lu11-260811/

[2boxers]

... the GBC-H20L (BD-ROM) can be cross-flashed to the GGC-H20L (BD and HD-DVD ROM) firmware. ... (requires MediaCodeSpeedEdit):

http://club.myce.com/f142/lg-blu-ray-crossflash-ggw-h20l-gbw-h20l-be06lu10-be06lu11-260811/

Excellent. :thanks: