Can HD-DVD players be modded/upgraded like any other PC?

[JTK]

It’s no secret that these first gen HD-DVD players are essentially PC’s masquerading as home theater devices.

For me...that could be a VERY good thing.


Among other places, I had been looking through the latest Home Theater Magazine August 06 all HD-DVD issue. While I was taking in their GLOWING review of HD-DVD, the Xa1, and the rest of it, the article that got my attention the most started on page 28.

It was a brief expose, with pictures, of the Toshiba player’s innards. When I was done reading that article and looking at those pictures, I noticed my reaction was somewhat akin to this:



The biggest pitfall with consumer electronics has always been: You buy it, it’s a closed box, it’s a static product, it never changes, and you get what you get, and that’s it.

Not so with PC’s. A PC can be whatever you want it to be. The only limit is how much you're willing to spend.


Right now, these players are handicapped with some really crappy hardware on the "PC side" of things:

Originally Posted by HT Magazine

2.5 Gigahertz Pentium 4 (eh...)

1 Gig of Hynix DDR 333 MhZ RAM (Yuck! )

…Other than the lack of PCI/AGP card slots and a hard drive, this is pretty much what you’d find in a PC circa 2002.

I’m told that it runs Linux, which I suppose it would need to use; if it ran Windows, it would take five minutes to boot and crash all the time.

I know that Toshiba had to do it like this to keep the costs down. Even at that, we all know they're taking x amount of dollars loss on the sale of each HD-DVD player anyways.


So here’s what I’m wondering:

If someone felt like it, could they buy one of these players and mod it and upgrade it like they would any other PC?

Can I bring this thing out of the Stone Age if I felt like it?


I’m looking at that and I KNOW the first thing I’d attack is that RAM. I’d easily double it to 2 gigs of some of the fastest RAM you can buy today.

But then we run into another problem: What kind of motherboard is that? What are its limits? If I'm forced to keep that particular motherboard, what's the absolute most I can load up on it?

Otherwise, I would suspect I would need to upgrade the motherboard first, and simply upgrade to whatever Intel or AMD chip I so choose and then the RAM.

Maybe a single core AMD FX-55 (or Intel equivalent) with about 2 gigs of high speed DDR2?




Now since there’s no hard drive on this thing…where is the information stored for the actual operation of the player itself?

If I upgraded any of that hardware as is, would it all be lost?

Could I get a copy of the “master discs” from Toshiba if I needed to, to reinstall that information after the hardware upgrade?

Or is it as simple as the firmware updates?



You see where I’m going with all this?

I see great potential here and a way around/out of the fear of futureproofing.

No one has contended against this player’s audio and video output capabilities.

What many people have contended against is the needless (imo) handicapping with this 2002 era PC hardware. I want to get around that problem and fix it and I know others would as well.



Furthermore, I’d like to suggest that Toshiba considers releasing a limited number of higher end versions of this player.

I know what these parts cost, especially wholesale, and I’m sure HD-DVD allies like Intel would be more than happy to do a few favors. It can be done.

Intel has recently slashed a lot of their chips by as much as 30 percent on the market anyways. The new Conroe and some other goodies are coming out later this summer and early fall. AMD has been kicking their butts for the last few years, so Intel is FINALLY gearing up to kick ass and take names. It's about time.

So if I have to stick with Intel to make it work, I don't have any problems doing it at this rate. Competition is going to go up. Prices are going to come down.



I'm wondering if I'd stay with single core if dual core would yield even more benefit here?

There's just so much potential here, it's crazy!



I believe Toshiba could put out a high end version of XA1 south of $1500 MSRP with a kick ass Intel or AMD CPU and at least 2 gigs of some smokin’ RAM. DO IT!



I know some of you would upgrade to that product in a heartbeat. I’d probably buy it myself without hesitation.


If it is a PC, I say treat it like one. My confidence actually goes way UP at that prospect because I can work with a PC and make it whatever I want for a very long time and so can many others.

There's almost no way the player can ever be obsolete, in theory. By the time it would be, you'd be well into something else anyways.


I say to Toshiba: Sell the players with the OS discs, pictures, step by step instructions, and make it where people can upgrade the hardware if they want to and feel the need to do so. Or at least make that material easily available to owners who want to do it.


In theory, the sky is the limit under that auspice.

[JTK]

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7965238

Interesting responses...

[BTBuck1]

dang that was a long read...whew...I guess if i wanted a Hometheatre PC i would build one, i kinda like STB's and am not a fan of the HTPC thingee.

[thunderhawk]

Originally Posted by JTK

Now since there’s no hard drive on this thing…where is the information stored for the actual operation of the player itself?

If I upgraded any of that hardware as is, would it all be lost?

Could I get a copy of the “master discs” from Toshiba if I needed to, to reinstall that information after the hardware upgrade?

Or is it as simple as the firmware updates?

Probably on a good old ROM chip.
If the firmware is upgradable, it may be a ROM chip like the BIOS chip in your computer at the moment.

Not sure if it's profitable for the manufacturers... It is for the hardware producents, but it will make sales of the retailers go down. Something they don't like...

[Psiweaver]

my guess is that it probably would be very difficult to mod it out, but that it could be down with a large knowledge of the machine.