HD-DVD on computers

Does anyone know if you'll be able to play HD-DVD movies on your computer (like the Terminator 2 movie) or do you need something on your computer?

you need an hd-dvd drive to watch hd-dvds. sd-dvds use red lasers. hd-dvds use blue/violet lasers.

"t2 extreme" is encoded in high-def but was encoded onto an sd-dvd. that's why it's playable in sd-dvd drives.

So does anyone know if USB2 or firewire is fast enough to keep up with playing a high def movie?

The Toshiba A1 has a NEC HD DVD IDE drive in it. You can easily attach it to your computer's drive bay just like any other optical drive. It reads the usual discs, but "playing" HD DVDs on it is another story, since there's no software.

Probably, yes. But how fast and from how many different manufacturers may depend on how HD-DVD takes off, if it does at all.

John

are they going to make hd-dvd drives for computers?

If you put the NEC HD DVD IDE drive in your computer, can you use Media Player to watch HD-DVD's?

This is freakin' insane. A rip off.
All you are buying with all that money is the drive and the pc for it to work.
It's basically a low-end (very low end judging by the loading time) HTPC
I mean, hasn't anyone accesed the flash menu yet?

yeah, toshiba's first two hd-dvd players are basically software- rather than hardware-driven machines. ugh.

Sorry to bring this news to you. All DVD players are like this. Some decides not to use the casing used for standard computers but that does not change the fact that it is a optical drive with some software stored in some chips. Toshiba is simply trying to bring down cost by using the same casing and interfaces used in the computer industry. This allows us to enjoy HD DVD for a relative low price considering that it is a new format.

And no, it is not possible to play HD-DVDs on Windows Media Player yet. Expect that in version 11 or in Windows Vista as the latest.

And yes, USB2 and FireWire will be more than fast enough for HD playback.