Is There A Way To Turn My Horrible Toshiba Into A Blu-Ray Playin' Frankenstein ?

[OrlandoEastwood]

All right, Toshiba = Hate for Blu-Ray. But here's the thing though from doing research; HD-DVD and Blu-Ray use the same codecs and stuff. So I was wondering if anyone knows how to rig it to make this POS work properly.

[zicmubleu]

I don't think they use the same laser so there is no effective way for an HD-DVD player to play a BD disc.

[Moefiz]

Whoa....you just open a bees nest...

I sit back on this one....

[Diesel]

i think they DO use the same laser
they are both the same wavelength arent they??

[Stillhouse]

Same laser, but different pickup and disc structure:

http://www.engadget.com/2005/09/19/b...on-s-division/

Both Blu-ray and HD DVD use the same kind of 405nm wavelength blue-violet laser, but their optics differ in two ways. Since the Blu-ray disc has a tighter track pitch (the single thread of data that spirals from the inside of the disc all the way out -- think: grooves on a 12-inch vinyl single vs. an Elvis Costello full-length album with 40 songs), it can hold more pits -- information -- on the same size disc as HD DVD even with a laser of the same wavelength.

The differing track pitch of the Blu-ray disc makes its pickup apertures differ, however -- 0.65 for HD DVD vs. 0.85 for Blu-ray -- thus also making the two pickups technically incompatible despite using the same type of lasers. HD DVD discs also have a different surface layer (the clear plastic layer on the surface of the data -- the part that collects all your fingerprints and scratches) from Blu-ray discs. HD DVD use a 0.6 mm-thick surface layer, the same as DVD, while Blu-ray has a much smaller 0.1mm layer, which enables the laser to focus at that 0.85 aperture.

[brettallica]

Are you interested in doing this for a practical purpose or just because you like to tinker? I could understand the latter if that's the case (I'm a big tinkerer myself), but you have to consider what it might cost to pull something like this off...if you can even do it. It definitely will not be practical considering you can get name brand Blu-ray players for under $200 now.

You could probably gut the player and just install an Blu-ray drive that'd normally be used for a computer. From there, I'm sure you'd have a heck of a time making all the outputs work -- to say nothing of making the drive door look and work correctly -- but it could be fun.

[dadkins]

Originally Posted by OrlandoEastwood

All right, Toshiba = Hate for Blu-Ray. But here's the thing though from doing research; HD-DVD and Blu-Ray use the same codecs and stuff. So I was wondering if anyone knows how to rig it to make this POS work properly.

Swap out the drive...

[brettallica]

Originally Posted by dadkins

Swap out the drive...

I'd love to see if someone can pull this off. What a fun project this would be, albeit IMHO a pretty significant waste of time/money.

[dadkins]

Originally Posted by brettallica

I'd love to see if someone can pull this off. What a fun project this would be, albeit IMHO a pretty significant waste of time/money.

People have bought UJ-210 and UJ-220 drives from ebay and successfully installed them into HPs -
Depending on drive bay and connector, it might be possible.
Still, it will probably be easier than trying to persuade a HD DVD drive to play BDs.