Spears & Munsil Blu-ray Test Disc

[Stacey Spears]

If the pixel flipper is for image retention, then no, nothing like that on the disc.

[killermike2178]

Originally Posted by Stacey Spears

If the pixel flipper is for image retention, then no, nothing like that on the disc.

Darn, thanks!

[Stacey Spears]

It was something we thought about. We ended up running out of disc space on the BD25.

GDMX is probably 1/3 to 1/2 way through authoring. I hope to have something to start testing by the end of the month. We may have something to preview at the HTF event next week in Burbank.

[killermike2178]

Amazon is currently showing this for the current S&M disc:

Currently unavailable.
We don't know when or if this item will be back in stock.

Is this a sign that the old one has been discontinued, and we should be seeing the new disc *fairly* soon?

[Stacey Spears]

The disc is now out of print.

We received a first build of the disc a couple of weeks ago. It was ~50% authored. We are still hoping it will be out by Christmas, but we won't really know until we send the final image off to replication.

[killermike2178]

Originally Posted by Stacey Spears

The disc is now out of print.

We received a first build of the disc a couple of weeks ago. It was ~50% authored. We are still hoping it will be out by Christmas, but we won't really know until we send the final image off to replication.

Well, it's a start...

[Stacey Spears]

On the plus side, it did allow us to create a last minute Eye Sync pattern to measure the amount of delay between the left and right eyes on a 3D display. I am really happy with the way it turned out.

I have attached the disc art design. Hopefully it turns out OK when actually printed on the disc.

[killermike2178]

Originally Posted by Stacey Spears

On the plus side, it did allow us to create a last minute Eye Sync pattern to measure the amount of delay between the left and right eyes on a 3D display. I am really happy with the way it turned out.

I have attached the disc art design. Hopefully it turns out OK when actually printed on the disc.

Will this play on 2D displays? Will it be AVC-encoded, MVC-encoded, or both? Thanks!

[Stacey Spears]

Will the Eye Sync pattern play on 2D displays or the disc? The disc supports 2D and 3D playback. All patterns are available in 2D. For 3D specific patterns, you will only see the left eye on a 2D display. Not all content will play in 3D, which includes SD and interlaced, since BD does not support them.

1. All static patterns are MVC encoded using our own custom solution so they are used for both 2D and 3D playback.
2. Motion patterns sometimes have a 2D encode plus an MVC encode to ensure that the 2D quality does not suffer because of the 3D encoder.
3. We used Accelecoder X for the majority of the motion 3D content. Not even sure the version we used was released before they were sold. They added some specific features for us to further improve quality.
4. We used x264 for the majority of the motion 2D content.
5. We used Cinemacraft 3D encoder for the 3D version of the montage and DTS trailer.
6. The SD content is a mixture of VC-1 and MPEG-2. We used MPEG-2 for the SD CUE and source adaptive tests because we wanted to simulate the alternating progressive_frame flag from the old C-Cube encoder used by a lot of early Disney titles. The MPEG encoder we used did not have the problem so we wrote a tool that introduced the problem after it was encoded. :-)
7. VC-1 was also used for a small subset of static and motion content. The BD spec has different codec constraints for VC-1 and H.264. Because of this, VC-1 was able to produce better results on the zone plates under those constraints. We don't have any MPEG-2 HD.
8. This disc boots straight to the menu. No videos, warnings, etc.. are played.

[killermike2178]

Originally Posted by Stacey Spears

Will the Eye Sync pattern play on 2D displays or the disc? The disc supports 2D and 3D playback. All patterns are available in 2D. For 3D specific patterns, you will only see the left eye on a 2D display. Not all content will play in 3D, which includes SD and interlaced, since BD does not support them.

1. All static patterns are MVC encoded using our own custom solution so they are used for both 2D and 3D playback.
2. Motion patterns sometimes have a 2D encode plus an MVC encode to ensure that the 2D quality does not suffer because of the 3D encoder.
3. We used Accelecoder X for the majority of the motion 3D content. Not even sure the version we used was released before they were sold. They added some specific features for us to further improve quality.
4. We used x264 for the majority of the motion 2D content.
5. We used Cinemacraft 3D encoder for the 3D version of the montage and DTS trailer.
6. The SD content is a mixture of VC-1 and MPEG-2. We used MPEG-2 for the SD CUE and source adaptive tests because we wanted to simulate the alternating progressive_frame flag from the old C-Cube encoder used by a lot of early Disney titles. The MPEG encoder we used did not have the problem so we wrote a tool that introduced the problem after it was encoded. :-)
7. VC-1 was also used for a small subset of static and motion content. The BD spec has different codec constraints for VC-1 and H.264. Because of this, VC-1 was able to produce better results on the zone plates under those constraints. We don't have any MPEG-2 HD.
8. This disc boots straight to the menu. No videos, warnings, etc.. are played.

Cool! Thanks for the input!

[s00perd00per]

Hi Stacey. I have a question about calibrating a new samsung tv. I'm having a problem with the clipping test since lowering the contrast doesn't make all the levels for the red, green, and blue squares appear . The only way I can get all the levels in the red green blue squares is when I lower the color setting value, which of course ruins the color calibration. Do you know what the issue might be or should I just leave the rgb squares clipped? This is the first time I encountered this issue since I've calibrated two Samsung tv's in our house before.

[Stacey Spears]

The only way I can get all the levels in the red green blue squares is when I lower the color setting value, which of course ruins the color calibration.

What you describe sounds like a color decoder problem. The display is not correctly converting to RGB using 709. I doubt this will fix it, but try sending in RGB vs. YCbCr and see what happens. I know your display will first convert incoming RGB into YCbCr, so you may not see any difference.

It might be possible to fix in the service menu. I know this was possible with some Samsung displays.

Does your display have an Red, Green, and Blue only mode? If so, you can verify if it is a color decoder problem by putting up the Color Bars pattern and viewing in green only mode. In this mode if color decoding is correct you will see four green bars that look about the same. If the color decoder is not correct you will see 4 different green bars.

[s00perd00per]

Originally Posted by Stacey Spears

What you describe sounds like a color decoder problem. The display is not correctly converting to RGB using 709. I doubt this will fix it, but try sending in RGB vs. YCbCr and see what happens. I know your display will first convert incoming RGB into YCbCr, so you may not see any difference.

It might be possible to fix in the service menu. I know this was possible with some Samsung displays.

Does your display have an Red, Green, and Blue only mode? If so, you can verify if it is a color decoder problem by putting up the Color Bars pattern and viewing in green only mode. In this mode if color decoding is correct you will see four green bars that look about the same. If the color decoder is not correct you will see 4 different green bars.

Thanks for the response. I switched to both RGB options on the player but the contrast test showed more clipping. The only controls the TV has is for the RGB color balance and I tried changing those and nothing as well. Does this issue mean the TV is defective or are some TV's just built that way? Is there any way to resolve this issue?

[Stacey Spears]

Does this issue mean the TV is defective or are some TV's just built that way? Is there any way to resolve this issue?

From Samsung's point of view, it is not defective. They (CE companies) go out of their way to make their sets look different from one another. The sad truth is that when you go to Best Buy and look at the wall of TVs, they should all produce the exact same image. There is but one standard.

The only way to possible resolve is if your display has the proper controls in the service menu. Older Samsung DLPs had the controls to correct the error. Sometimes certain picture modes, like theater, have the proper decoding.

[s00perd00per]

Originally Posted by Stacey Spears

From Samsung's point of view, it is not defective. They (CE companies) go out of their way to make their sets look different from one another. The sad truth is that when you go to Best Buy and look at the wall of TVs, they should all produce the exact same image. There is but one standard.

The only way to possible resolve is if your display has the proper controls in the service menu. Older Samsung DLPs had the controls to correct the error. Sometimes certain picture modes, like theater, have the proper decoding.

That's too bad. I guess i'll just have to live with it since I'm not uncomfortable messing around with the service menu. So based on the situation I mentioned earlier, is it better to just have the correct color value with the clipped channels or lower the color values a bit to make the squares appear?

[Stacey Spears]

If the color decoder is wrong, then color is wrong period.

How are you setting color and tint? Using the blue filter or blue only mode? I know some Samsung models introduced red, green, and blue only mode a couple of years ago. Not sure if they still offer it or if your display offers it.

If using the blue filter, have you run through the test to make sure that 1x, 2x, or 3x is correct?

[crackinhedz]

looking forward to this disc Stacy! Been a long wait, but non the less I'm very excited.

Day one purchase for me.

Any chance of doing a contest on Bluray.com and one (or several) of the members winning a free copy?

[s00perd00per]

Originally Posted by Stacey Spears

If the color decoder is wrong, then color is wrong period.

How are you setting color and tint? Using the blue filter or blue only mode? I know some Samsung models introduced red, green, and blue only mode a couple of years ago. Not sure if they still offer it or if your display offers it.

If using the blue filter, have you run through the test to make sure that 1x, 2x, or 3x is correct?

Yes i'm using the blue filter at 3x and I can get correct results for the color test. The only test I am unable to get proper results is with the clipping test. The TV only has the gain and offset controls for RGB.

[Stacey Spears]

The gain and offset are for grayscale calibration. You need to use a meter and window patterns to calibrate the grayscale.

[Stacey Spears]

Any chance of doing a contest on Bluray.com and one (or several) of the members winning a free copy?

We can do that.