12th June 2005, 12:52 PM
I think there's alot of confusion going on about HD.
The Gamecube supports 1080i resolution (through the component cable). This is HD. I remember reading about the Revolution hands on from IGN where they found a component hook-up on the back of the system. So Revolution will have HDTV support.
What Nintendo is talking about when they say "It will not feature HD", are the Bluray/HD-DVD formats. I did a little research tyo find out what these formats offer:
Blu-ray and HD DVD are two competing high-capacity disc technologies backed by various consumer electronics and computer manufacturers. HD DVD and Blu-ray will include Set Top Recorders, as well as Computer Burners. Both will be capable of recording High Definition broadcasts.
On one side you have Blu-ray, led by Sony, that includes Panasonic, Samsung, Dell, HP, Philips, and several others, and HD-DVD which is supported by Toshiba, NEC, and a couple of others . Both formats use blue laser technology, which has a shorter wavelength than red, allowing it to read the smaller digital data "spots" packed a lot more densely onto a standard-size disc. HD-DVD is capable of holding 30GB on a dual layer disc (compared to 8.5GB for standard dual layer DVDs). Blu-ray will go up to 50GB at launch, and Sony is reportedly working on a quad-layer 100GB disc.
These discs (and the accompanying players and recorders) are set to be released later in 2005.
More...
What is HD-DVD?
HD-DVD (for High-Density Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical media format which is being developed as one standard for high-definition DVD.
HD-DVD is similar to the competing Blu-ray Disc, which also uses the same CD sized (120 mm diameter) optical data storage media and 405 nm wavelength blue laser.
HD-DVD is promoted by Toshiba, NEC, and Sanyo, and backed by four major film studios. It got engaged in a format war with the Blu-ray Disc proposed by Sony.
HD-DVD has a capacity of 15 GB (for dual-layer HD-DVD capacity would be 30 GB). The surface layer is 0.6 mm thick, the same as for DVD and much thicker than the Blu-ray Disc's 0.1 mm layer.
The numerical aperture of the optical pick-up head is 0.65, compared with 0.6 for DVD.
These factors mean that HD-DVD media is less expensive to manufacture than Blu-ray discs which require re-tooling of DVD disc production lines. Existing DVD media are playable on HD-DVD drives with only minor modification of the optical pickup.
Blu-ray Disc players however, are now also expected to include backward compatibility with DVDs. The two formats employ nearly identical video compression techniques, including MPEG-2, Video Codec 1 (VC1, based on the Windows Media 9 format) and H.264/MPEG-4 AVC.
On November 19, 2003, the DVD Forum decided with eight to six votes, that the HD-DVD will be the HDTV successor of the DVD.
At this meeting they renamed it to HD-DVD, while it had been previously called the "Advanced Optical Disc". Blu-ray Disc was never submitted to the DVD Forum for consideration.
So there you have it. HD-DVD and Bluray have nothing to do with picture quality. Watching a movie or playing a game on DVD or HD-DVD will look exactly the same in resolution, the difference is tht HD-DVD can hold up to 30 gigs on a dual layer. It has nothing to do with the resolution of the screen which is dictated by
1.) Is the software/movie recorded in high resolutions? (almost all DVD films are. If you see 'Pro scan enabled' on the back of your GC games, it's available at the highest resolutions possible at 1080i though it's up to the developers of what is actually built in high res. For example the textures on your main character may look fantastic and sharp while some of the walls look muddled.)
2.) What is your output connection? (From worst to best, RF or coaxial looks like ass, while component or DVI is the best)
3.) What is your television capable of? (Not all HDTV's can reach max resolutions. Some only output 720i so you have to check your TV)
The actual disk has nothing to do with the capable resolution except for the fact that with 30 gigs you can litteraly make every texture map high res and never have to worry about disk memory. But the fact is, 99% of games on earth never go beyond 8 gigs and couldn't run EVERY texture in high res because it would sap resources from the CPU. And more often than not, those 8 gig games are because of FMV or CG cut scenes, not texture map or engine data.
Now, if the Revolution doesnt have a component or DVI out, i'll be very disappointed. But I dont think that's the case here.
The Gamecube supports 1080i resolution (through the component cable). This is HD. I remember reading about the Revolution hands on from IGN where they found a component hook-up on the back of the system. So Revolution will have HDTV support.
What Nintendo is talking about when they say "It will not feature HD", are the Bluray/HD-DVD formats. I did a little research tyo find out what these formats offer:
Blu-ray and HD DVD are two competing high-capacity disc technologies backed by various consumer electronics and computer manufacturers. HD DVD and Blu-ray will include Set Top Recorders, as well as Computer Burners. Both will be capable of recording High Definition broadcasts.
On one side you have Blu-ray, led by Sony, that includes Panasonic, Samsung, Dell, HP, Philips, and several others, and HD-DVD which is supported by Toshiba, NEC, and a couple of others . Both formats use blue laser technology, which has a shorter wavelength than red, allowing it to read the smaller digital data "spots" packed a lot more densely onto a standard-size disc. HD-DVD is capable of holding 30GB on a dual layer disc (compared to 8.5GB for standard dual layer DVDs). Blu-ray will go up to 50GB at launch, and Sony is reportedly working on a quad-layer 100GB disc.
These discs (and the accompanying players and recorders) are set to be released later in 2005.
More...
What is HD-DVD?
HD-DVD (for High-Density Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical media format which is being developed as one standard for high-definition DVD.
HD-DVD is similar to the competing Blu-ray Disc, which also uses the same CD sized (120 mm diameter) optical data storage media and 405 nm wavelength blue laser.
HD-DVD is promoted by Toshiba, NEC, and Sanyo, and backed by four major film studios. It got engaged in a format war with the Blu-ray Disc proposed by Sony.
HD-DVD has a capacity of 15 GB (for dual-layer HD-DVD capacity would be 30 GB). The surface layer is 0.6 mm thick, the same as for DVD and much thicker than the Blu-ray Disc's 0.1 mm layer.
The numerical aperture of the optical pick-up head is 0.65, compared with 0.6 for DVD.
These factors mean that HD-DVD media is less expensive to manufacture than Blu-ray discs which require re-tooling of DVD disc production lines. Existing DVD media are playable on HD-DVD drives with only minor modification of the optical pickup.
Blu-ray Disc players however, are now also expected to include backward compatibility with DVDs. The two formats employ nearly identical video compression techniques, including MPEG-2, Video Codec 1 (VC1, based on the Windows Media 9 format) and H.264/MPEG-4 AVC.
On November 19, 2003, the DVD Forum decided with eight to six votes, that the HD-DVD will be the HDTV successor of the DVD.
At this meeting they renamed it to HD-DVD, while it had been previously called the "Advanced Optical Disc". Blu-ray Disc was never submitted to the DVD Forum for consideration.
So there you have it. HD-DVD and Bluray have nothing to do with picture quality. Watching a movie or playing a game on DVD or HD-DVD will look exactly the same in resolution, the difference is tht HD-DVD can hold up to 30 gigs on a dual layer. It has nothing to do with the resolution of the screen which is dictated by
1.) Is the software/movie recorded in high resolutions? (almost all DVD films are. If you see 'Pro scan enabled' on the back of your GC games, it's available at the highest resolutions possible at 1080i though it's up to the developers of what is actually built in high res. For example the textures on your main character may look fantastic and sharp while some of the walls look muddled.)
2.) What is your output connection? (From worst to best, RF or coaxial looks like ass, while component or DVI is the best)
3.) What is your television capable of? (Not all HDTV's can reach max resolutions. Some only output 720i so you have to check your TV)
The actual disk has nothing to do with the capable resolution except for the fact that with 30 gigs you can litteraly make every texture map high res and never have to worry about disk memory. But the fact is, 99% of games on earth never go beyond 8 gigs and couldn't run EVERY texture in high res because it would sap resources from the CPU. And more often than not, those 8 gig games are because of FMV or CG cut scenes, not texture map or engine data.
Now, if the Revolution doesnt have a component or DVI out, i'll be very disappointed. But I dont think that's the case here.