What are the limitations of the Blu-ray format?

[Jezza]

I know this may come across as very controvesial on a Blu-ray forum, but I do think it is something that needs to be adressed for the future of the format and home entertainment.

Obviously by limitaions I mean 'what can't be done with Blu-ray that can be done with other formats' and are there any disadvantages to Blu-ray.

I'll give you one just to start off:
* It isn't designed to show SD - Which sounds stupid I know but think about it. Many television programmes prior to 2000 were shot in SD, which means that for them to be seen on BD properly they have to be in HD, yet not all things either can be or should be upscaled to HD. A good example could be sitcoms that may have been filmed on a pretty low resoultion SD camera, especially ones shot in the 1960s-1980s, and are they really worth upscaling even if you could?

So what do you think the limitations of Blu-ray are and do you agree with my example?

[zicmubleu]

Originally Posted by Clone Trooper

I know this may come across as very controvesial on a Blu-ray forum, but I do think it is something that needs to be adressed for the future of the format and home entertainment.

Obviously by limitaions I mean 'what can't be done with Blu-ray that can be done with other formats' and are there any disadvantages to Blu-ray.

I'll give you one just to start off:
* It can't show SD - Which sounds stupid I know but think about it. Many television programmes prior to 2000 were shot in SD, which means that for them to be seen on BD properly they have to be in HD, yet not all things either can be or should be upscaled to HD. A good example could be sitcoms that may have been filmed on a pretty low resoultion SD camera, especially ones shot in the 1960s-1980s, and are they really worth upscaling even if you could?

So what do you think the limitations of Blu-ray are and do you agree with my example?

I think you are a bit confused, a Blu-ray disc played in a Blu-ray player can show SD video just fine, probably there is very little content out there recorded in that way simply because there is a large price for the blank media compared to DVD. As time goes on hopefully the media will become relatively cheap. The limitations of Blu-ray will be mitigated with time, the limitations being primarily cost of media and the processing power needed to play the discs.

[Jezza]

Originally Posted by zicmubleu

I think you are a bit confused, a Blu-ray disc played in a Blu-ray player can show SD video just fine, probably there is very little content out there recorded in that way simply because there is a large price for the blank media compared to DVD. As time goes on hopefully the media will become relatively cheap. The limitations of Blu-ray will be mitigated with time, the limitations being primarily cost of media and the processing power needed to play the discs.

I'm not sure I wrote it out very well by saying it can't show SD, so I'll edit it, but what I really meant was BD is designed for HD, not SD, so releasing any SD stuff on Blu-ray feels like a rip-off because of what BD is designed to do.

[surfdude12]

quality of the source.

this isn't really a limitation of blu-ray itself, but just read the reviews of 28 Days Later PQ, and you'll see that many make the mistake of believing it.

[zicmubleu]

Originally Posted by Clone Trooper

I'm not sure I wrote it out very well by saying it can't show SD, so I'll edit it, but what I really meant was BD is designed for HD, not SD, so releasing any SD stuff on Blu-ray feels like a rip-off because of what BD is designed to do.

I think you are still confused about what Blu-ray is. It is a media recording format, it holds data and can read it out much faster than previous formats such as CD or DVD. You are really seem to be referring to HDMI, the interface specification that allows HD content, etc. Even at that, HDMI can handle SD format just fine, problem with HDMI is that the content protection capability, I think it is HDCP, creates nightmares for us end users.

You can record HD video to a DVD and play it back in a Blu-ray player and get true HD but the disc read speed limitation of DVD doesn't allow the HD video to playback in real time so it is jumpy, at least for my experience in using it that way.

[Anthony P]

Originally Posted by Clone Trooper

It isn't designed to show SD - Which sounds stupid I know but think about it. Many television programmes prior to 2000 were shot in SD, which means that for them to be seen on BD properly they have to be in HD, yet not all things either can be or should be upscaled to HD. A good example could be sitcoms that may have been filmed on a pretty low resoultion SD camera, especially ones shot in the 1960s-1980s, and are they really worth upscaling even if you could?

I know what you mean, but I will disagree for four reasons

1) there are some shows that where recorded on DVD’s and some on VHS tapes and betamax but some where also filmed on 35mm so they would be just as upgradeable as films and others on 16mm which can also benefit by more resolution. (for example Star trek TOS was filmed using 35mm film, have you seen the BD and it is from the 60's) . That 60’s-80’s is not right, maybe some in the 80’s and 90’s yes, but before that it was pretty much film and after that HD was starting to be used more and more.

2) upscaling SD to HD is nothing like real HD and you can’t add real detail where there is none but let’s face it, a pro upscaler a studio might use especially if it is not real time will most likely do a much better job then that cheap upscaler in your DVD/BD player

3) Even if something started off as SD and is distributed on BD in SD there can still be room for improvement over DVD. BD has much higher BW and it can be used with newer codecs and lossless audio, so less and better compression can show in the final product as better sound and video even if it is SD

4) even if we assume that PQ/AQ does not improve and it is the exact same encode for the BD as the DVD, there is still a benefit that a BD has 25/50GB while a DVD has 4.7/8.5 GB soa series could be on fewer disks, that is good for the consumer since there are fewer disks to flip through to find the episode you want to see and for the studio which presses fewer disks and uses a simpler case (i.e. ~6 DVDs will make one BD so that will mean 6 DVDs to search through or use in your player for you, 6 disks cost 6x as much as one DVD which is more then a DL BD for the studio and a 6 disk case or 6 slims in a box cost a lot more then one single disk BD case)

[Jezza]

Originally Posted by Anthony P

I know what you mean, but I will disagree for four reasons

1) there are some shows that where recorded on DVD’s and some on VHS tapes and betamax but some where also filmed on 35mm so they would be just as upgradeable as films and others on 16mm which can also benefit by more resolution. (for example Star trek TOS was filmed using 35mm film, have you seen the BD and it is from the 60's) . That 60’s-80’s is not right, maybe some in the 80’s and 90’s yes, but before that it was pretty much film and after that HD was starting to be used more and more.

2) upscaling SD to HD is nothing like real HD and you can’t add real detail where there is none but let’s face it, a pro upscaler a studio might use especially if it is not real time will most likely do a much better job then that cheap upscaler in your DVD/BD player

3) Even if something started off as SD and is distributed on BD in SD there can still be room for improvement over DVD. BD has much higher BW and it can be used with newer codecs and lossless audio, so less and better compression can show in the final product as better sound and video even if it is SD

4) even if we assume that PQ/AQ does not improve and it is the exact same encode for the BD as the DVD, there is still a benefit that a BD has 25/50GB while a DVD has 4.7/8.5 GB soa series could be on fewer disks, that is good for the consumer since there are fewer disks to flip through to find the episode you want to see and for the studio which presses fewer disks and uses a simpler case (i.e. ~6 DVDs will make one BD so that will mean 6 DVDs to search through or use in your player for you, 6 disks cost 6x as much as one DVD which is more then a DL BD for the studio and a 6 disk case or 6 slims in a box cost a lot more then one single disk BD case)

I guess you're actually right there. (Maybe my thread is rather pointless now as you've just destryed my agruement.)

[4K2K]

Many/most Blu-ray titles don't have the "resume play" functionality that DVDs have.

Limited to the formats that are in the specs, which a PC media player isn't.

Licensing/replication costs.

[neos_peace]

Originally Posted by 4K2K

Many/most Blu-ray titles don't have the "resume play" functionality that DVDs have.

Limited to the formats that are in the specs, which a PC media player isn't.

Licensing/replication costs.

Agreed to an extent on that. The new LOTR Blu's do that I found that out by accident. If the they simply encoded Java I think it is that issue would be resolved. IMO.