Evolution of HD DVD hardware over time

[Ruined]

Very interesting stuff here. We all know what HD DVD players look like on the outside... But how have they evolved over time on the insides? Here are some comparisons of the innards of the entry level models of gen1 -> gen3.

First up, the "double decker" HD-A1. This player was powered by an Intel Pentium 4-M 2.4ghz processor, and the CPU was cooled by a heatpipe/blower design as we can see in the upper left of this pic. On the bottom level of the unit was the drive, powersupply, and IO boards, while the top level had the mainboard with the CPU on it. This mother must have been expensive to build - probably why so few were made! It was heavy to boot and huge because of the dual-planar design.

HD-A1 Top Level Pic:

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Here is a shot of the HD-A1's bottom level - drive, power board, 90mm fan, and I/O board.

So in total we had 3 seperate PCBs for the HD-A1 plus an expensive processor and cooling solution - 2 fans in total + heatpipe design.

HD-A1 bottom level Pic:

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Bring on the HD-A2. The Intel P4 was scrapped for a Celeron-M 900MHz. A much cheaper and cooler running processor. We can still see quite a few heatsinks and large chips are needed for gen2, however. Yet, a big difference from gen1 is that we are able to cut down to a single 45mm fan and no heatpipe needed. Also, no double decker design needed and PCBs cut down from 3 to 2.

HD-A2 pic:

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Finally, now we move onto gen3. This is a poorly angled photo of the HD-A3. As we can see the design now is even smaller and less expensive than the HD-A2. The A2's Intel Celeron is scrapped for the A3's even cheaper NEC processor. Only one heatsink is needed with this board and a single 45mm fan. 2 PCBs, though they are signficantly smaller and less complex than the ones on the HD-A2. Power PCB is much less complex and signficantly less expensive looking. It appears there is a cutdown from 3 larger chips to only 2 larger chips. Despite a similar footprint, look at how much empty space there is on the bottom of the case - much cheaper to manufacture. Note the high-end duct tape keeping the cables looking neat inside

As a result, we now have a 3rd gen player that performs better than the 1st gen player but will likely end up at the $199 pricepoint due to all the advances in technology that were able to be made to save costs without sacrificing quality in just a bit over a year. Quite impressive.

HD-A3 pic:

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Also, for comparison's sake here is a better-angled shot of the current $499 HD-A35. This unit adds 1080p24/60, analog 5.1 output, HDMI 1.3 & nextgen audio bitstream output (these last two features are less useful and more gimmicky IMO - dont feel bad about going for A30 instead if you just want 1080p24) compared to the HD-A3. But note that internally its very similar save a couple of chips for the added features, ABT1018 scaler, and output circuitry for the 5.1 analog - plus the extended PCB length to hold those added chips/circuits. I could see this unit dropping to the $399 point quite easily as it is appears less complex than the HD-A2 was (and that retailed for $299). What will really end up keeping the price higher on this unit is not its actual manufacturing cost compared to the HD-A2, but rather the demand for its features and their perceived value.

HD-A35 pic:

[Sehnzeleid]

Originally Posted by Ruined

This mother must have been expensive to build - probably why so few were made!

I heard in total it was around $674 to manufacture each.

[ganthc]

Thanks for sharing that. It's cool to see the innards of hardware to see how companies get more efficient at making them. Was the HD-D1 and the RCA player the exact same thing as the HD-A1?

[Sehnzeleid]

Originally Posted by ganthc

Thanks for sharing that. It's cool to see the innards of hardware to see how companies get more efficient at making them. Was the HD-D1 and the RCA player the exact same thing as the HD-A1?

The HD-D1 is the same as the A1 (Costco/Sam's rename) and I believe the RCA was a XA1 clone. Though all three players are identical internally besides the XA1 and RCA having a RS-232 port.