DVD Player Goes High-Def

LAS VEGAS -- High-definition video may soon be available on standard DVDs. A $350 DVD player, coming later this year from V, Inc., will be the first to use Microsoft's Windows Media Video 9 compression codec and the HighMAT format to deliver HD video on standard DVDs.

The Bravo D3 Home HD DVD Media Player is designed to provide an alternative to pricey blue-laser optical devices. Unveiled last week at the Consumer Electronics Show here, it is scheduled to ship in the second quarter.

The device runs on a Sigma Designs EM8620L processor and can decode MPEG2, MPEG 4, and WMV 9 video and play it back at high-definition resolutions up to 1080i (interlaced) using a component video or DVI output. In addition, the Bravo D3 can decode WMA 9, WMA Pro, WMA lossless, Dolby Digital, MP3, MPEG1/2, and MPEG 4 AAC audio.

Who Needs Blue Laser?

The Bravo D3's most intriguing feature is its capability to handle high-definition video--a first in a device with such a low price.

Most proposals for storing high-definition video center around new blue-laser optical formats. LG Electronics used CES to display its LG-XBG420, a high-definition video recorder that supports both Blu-ray removable media. Toshiba, meanwhile, has a prototype video recorder based on High Definition/High Density DVD (HD-DVD). The format is a competitor to Blu-ray and is being developed by Toshiba and NEC under the DVD Forum.

The Bravo D3 takes a different, less expensive approach, using WMV 9 to store high-def video on standard DVDs. The question is: Where will this high-definition content come from?

PC users got their first taste of high-definition Windows Media Video in June 2003, when Artisan released special-edition DVDs of the movies Terminator 2 and Standing in the Shadows of Motown. These DVDs included bonus DVD-ROMs, which stored high-definition transfers of the two films for playback on high-end PCs. The D3 won't be able to play those DVD-ROM discs: Those PC-targeted high-definition transfers produce video bit rates that can bog down even high-powered PCs.

Sites like BWMfilms.com, CinemaNow, IFilm, and Movielink are beginning to build up a base of downloadable high-definition video that will work with V's new player. Users can burn that content onto DVDs that will work with the D3, or they can use Microsoft's Windows Movie Maker 2 to create their own high-definition content.

See PC World's ongoing CES coverage.