Hd Dvd

I was reading some posts which people claim they can playback video footage at 720p, and even 1080p on their Macbooks. The questions I bring to mind is whether the Macbooks have an HD DVD Drive already installed, or is it a seperate program that must be installed to be able to see HD Feed. Thanks in advance, as I am hoping to get a fully loaded Blackbook soon, being it my first one. I'm wanting to escape from Windows ASAP, especially with Vista on the loose.

 

No. They are talking about playing back hi-def format video (i.e. HD Quicktime, h.264 encoded HD video, etc.).

An HD DVD drive would be for playing HD video on an HD-DVD format disc.

Apple as a company is a supporter of Blu-Ray (a competing format to HD-DVD), so if and when they start actually putting high def optical drives in their machines, it's more likely to be a Blu-Ray drive.

If you specifically need a laptop that can play back HD-DVD discs, you would need to look at some of the high-end HP and Toshiba laptops. As for Blu-Ray, Sony offers blu-ray on some of their machines, and I think Dell is offering them on some of the high-end XPS models.

-Zadillo

 

Macbooks and MacBook Pro's can easily play back 720p and 1080p video, any laptop with a recent Core Duo/ Core 2 Duo processors should have not problem playing it back.

Most people that say that are probably talking about the HD trailers on Apples website in the quicktime section.

Or people that are actually shooting HD footage and editing in Final Cut, etc.

they have no HD-DVD drive and like zadillo said when they start using HD type drives it will definitely be blue ray, maybe the next MBP's will have blue-ray? that would be beautiful

 

Just adding to the point zadillo made, if you were thinking of upgrading your drive, DEFINITELY do go Blue Ray (BR) - it's the way forward and it's what everyone's doing.

HD-DVD might be used a bit in separate dedicated DVD Players but it's much easier for them to write onto BR so I definietly think that this is the way forward.

 

You know, I almost forgot about this, but a third party company called Fastmac recently introduced a Blu-Ray optical drive upgrade for MacBooks and MacBook Pros.

http://fastmac.com/slim_bluray.php

Definitely on the pricey side right now, but costs will probably come down. I think the main point of interest here is that it does indicate that if you ever want to add a blu-ray drive later on, and Apple doesn't yet offer them themselves, it will still be an option for you.

EDIT: Err, actually, only for the 17" MacBook Pro for now...... probably can't fit in the smaller machines just yet. But it will probably be an option in the future.

 

Thanks for the replies. I'm not really looking for an internal HD DVD, I was just wondering if the Macbook actually had one. However, I'm looking to get an HD DVD player for my HD TV. I probably be going with the 360 accessory when I get the new Elite, or when the 360 comes out with the smaller 65nm chip. Thanks all.