Question about HD DVD.

By joining our community you will have the ability to post topics and access other forums reserved for members. Registration is quick, simple and absolutely free. Join our community today by clicking here.

Posted: Sun Jul 05, 2009 9:58 am

I'm not really up on these things and as I'm not a member of any tech forum, I wonder if anyone here can give me advice.
I recently got an iomega screenplay HD which plays media files - I can basically transfer files from my PC to the HD, plug the HD into the TV and watch movies. But the problem I've got is that the iomega does not recognise DVD files so if I transfer them to it, I can't play them on the TV.
What I'm looking to do is convert my HD DVD collection to a file format that the iomega does recognise and transfer them over that way.
My question is: What file format is the best one to convert my DVDs to so that I don't lose quality (apart from .mkv 'cos the bloody thing doesn't recognise that either).

Recognised formats off the top of my head are MPEG-1, MPEG-2 (AVI/VOB), MPEG-4, (AVI/DIVX3.11,4x,5x/ XVID).

note: this is not about warez. If I want to warez, I can do that easily if I were so inclined. This concerns DVDs that I already own.

Posted: Sun Jul 05, 2009 10:35 am

I'd say you get the best size/quality-ratio when using MPEG4. More specifically I would suggest XviD, which is a free codec and thus should be supported by all MPEG4-players. The one I had previously and the one I have currently both support it.

You may have to try around with the resolution though. If I have a too high resolution for my MPEG4-files it won't play it. The specs of your player should be able to help you with this.
Also the bitrate might be important. It may be that you have a limit on this, probably limited by how fast the media can be read.