Don’t believe the low bit-rate ‘HD’ lie

[xwingsct]

Very interesting article to read.

Last week at CES, Comcast announced their “HD” video on demand download service over its future DOCSIS 3.0 that allows 4 minute downloads of entire HD movies. Attendees at MacWorld this week were told that disk-based HD formats like HD DVD and Blu-ray are essentially obsolete because you can simply download “HD” movies from your Apple TV 2.0 box on demand. Microsoft started offering “HD” downloads for the XBOX360 starting in late 2006. You can even watch “HD” videos from ABC right from the web. There are even YouTube competitors that offer user uploaded “HD” content. There’s just one minor little problem, it’s not HD.

As I’ve tried to educate my readers last year with my blog “Why HD movie downloads are a big lie“, these so-called HD movies use very low bit-rates compared to even standard definition DVDs let alone something like HD DVD or Blu-ray DVD. Raw uncompressed 1080p video at 60 frames per second is about 3000 mbps so even HD DVD’s 28 mbps needs to be compressed about 107 to 1 with the H.264 or VC-1 codec. By all reasonable standards this needs to be the minimum bit-rate for acceptable loss in quality on 1080p video.

Standard definition 480i DVD movies are typically 5 to 8 mbps (megabits per second) MPEG-2 whereas these so-called HD wannabes weigh in at a pathetic 1.5 to 4 mbps of 720p H.264. Marketing will push the nicer sounding “720p” aspect of the video but they don’t tell you it’s way too compressed to offer good video fidelity. Blu-ray has a maximum bit-rate of 40 mbps while HD DVD offers 28 mbps. Over the air broadcasts can be up to 24 mbps though they’re typically between 16 to 20 mbps.

Modern video compression codecs like H.264 or VC-1 can hide these compression artifact problems much better than MPEG-2 video compression but there’s only so much it can do. At best you might get away 50% more compression over older compression technology but 1.5 to 4 mbps H.264 will not be better than 8 mbps MPEG-2 under most video complexity requirements. The only time 4 mbps 720p will look better than 8 mbps 480i is when the video on the screen is almost entirely stationary or it’s a low-complexity video such as animation movies. Under most normal circumstances, the low bit-rate 720p so-called “HD” video will be inferior though many companies are betting that consumers won’t know any better.

So the bottom line is that so-called “HD” video from Microsoft’s XBOX360 HD download service and Apple’s new Apple TV service or any other web download service is simply not HD by any respectable definition. These companies cannot and should not use the “HD” name with video that is lower fidelity than standard DVD. As for Comcast, there’s not much detail on it but I highly doubt it’s more than 4 to 8 mbps even on DOCSIS 3.0 because its 160 mbps total capacity is divided amongst 50 to 400 customers. Only FiOS technology with its massive capacity and possibly U-Verse (but slower than real time) has sufficient last-mile capacity to deliver true HD movie downloads at the quality of HD DVD and Blu-ray technology.

I’m not saying that you shouldn’t buy these services from Microsoft, Apple, or other websites that offer low bit-rate 720p video downloads, but consumers must be aware of the fact that they’re slightly worse than a 1080p up-converted DVD

Source:
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Ou/?p=959

And here's another one

http://www.tvpredictions.com/zdnet011808.htm

[kpkelley]

low complexity video such as animation movies? Cars and Ratatouille are some of my favorite blus.

[radagast]

This is a great link. Thanks. I am having an ongoing debate about hd-dvd, Blu-ray and downloads. He is against Blu-ray, period. Since the bottom dropped out of hd-dvd's future, he has shifted to downloads as the future. I have tried to explain the technical issues, but he just says I am wrong. maybe this link will help him understand.

[gearyt]

Super Info.... Thanks
I have been looking for a "clean and simple" answer

[webmaster@michaelbay]

Whomever wrote this article is naive to say the least.

In less that 5-10 years we will be getting technology that will *****slap us.

1. As of now, Verizon FIOS is being tested in select markets (VZW has capped the bandwidth at around 30Mbits/sec). FIOS is very well capable of handling 100 -500 MBits/sec without breaking a sweat. Caltech has tested technology that is being developed, by transferring 859 gigabytes of data in less than 17 minutes across nearly 16,000 kilometers of networks at a rate of 6.63 gigabits per second. That was 2004.
   
2. Last year at NAB, Apple introduced ProRes422, a new codec for the Final Cut editing software. Designed to reduce the amount of storage space necessary for broadcast quality video. ProRes422 delivers UNCOMPRESSED HD quality (usually 165.72 MBytes/sec) at SD data rates (27.97 MBytes/sec)- and in a side-by-side comparison no one could tell the difference. This type of more advanced compression software, coupled with the newer internet protocols mentioned below, will make delivering large amounts of data infinitely easier.
   
   
3. Storage: assuming people like Apple will want to just stream instead of downloading, I don't see it being an issue. And if not, Holographic storage:
   
   READ YOUR HEART OUT
   
   or search holocube storage in Google. Holocubes are being used on those fridges that have LCS screens.

[Seretur]

Okay, but this technology isn't available now, nor will it be in under 5 to 10 years.

And even then, it will be available -- where, exactly?

Not anywhere close to where I live. Or where the vast majority of people in this world live.

Sorry, something that's available only in the major metropolitan areas of the US isn't at all interesting to me. And the article quoted in the OP is talking about the here and now, not some imaginary techno-blissful future.

[MatrixS2000]

Originally Posted by webmaster@michaelbay

Whomever wrote this article is naive to say the least.

In less that 5-10 years we will be getting technology that will *****slap us.
[LIST=1][*]Caltech has tested technology that is being developed, by transferring 859 gigabytes of data in less than 17 minutes across nearly 16,000 kilometers of networks at a rate of 6.63 gigabits per second. That was 2004.

Are you expecting that type of service to your home?

[webmaster@michaelbay]

Originally Posted by MatrixS2000

Are you expecting that type of service to your home?

In the near future, yes.

BTW, they already offer FIOS in my neighborhood.

[CptGreedle]

Very nice article. Thanks for posting that.
Maybe someday they can get these to DVD quality... and maybe to BD quality.. but like I say, it will take 10 years. Not only does it take up a lot of room, they will need faster connections to people's houses and ISPs will have to be set up for the massive bandwidth required. I give it at least a decade to get near the quality we expect. Maybe longer.

[Paden]

Originally Posted by webmaster@michaelbay

In the near future, yes.

BTW, they already offer FIOS in my neighborhood.

Hey, say hi to Mr. Bay for me.

[Terjyn]

They offer FIOS in my neighborhood, and people who have it aren't getting remotely the speeds claimed as a theoretical either.

Almost all theoretical testing is done on a closed circuit. Remove all traffic and your dedicated signal always does much better than it does in the real world.

[MatrixS2000]

Originally Posted by webmaster@michaelbay

In the near future, yes.

BTW, they already offer FIOS in my neighborhood.

Let me know when you have a 6.63GB service to your home...

[xwingsct]

One of my friend has $10.99 plan DSL from our phone company with the download speed of 128 Kbps and she's already happy with that. She said all she just need to check her Email and surf on the internet once in awhile and that's good enough for her and I'm sure that there's 60% of the poeple out there thinks the same way as she does.

T1 has been around for the longest time and hardly anybody get that.
Bottom line is. nobody wants to pay. they're looking for the cheapest rate or package available.
So the studio have to compress the hell out of their movies to accommodate the bandwidth.
I think what the guy is talking about is when they tell you HD quality. It's not really HD quality like Blu-ray or HD-DVD.

[MatrixS2000]

Originally Posted by xwingsct

T1 has been around for the longest time and hardly anybody get that.

Because it is expensive. A T1 only runs at 1.5Mb/s second and symmetrical (same speed in both directions) but it is dedicated bandwidth. DSL is faster but not dedicated and usually asymmetrical (different upload and download speeds).

[xwingsct]

Originally Posted by MatrixS2000

Because it is expensive....... (different upload and download speeds).

Exactly you have just spoken for the rest of the country.
Even with the technology that post #5 mentioned available. Nobody is gonna go with it unless it's cheap and affordable.

Eventually we'll get there but not in the near future.

I wonder how Steven Spielberg or Michael Bay feel about the studio compress the hell out of their movies.

[upnorthsox]

Originally Posted by webmaster@michaelbay

In the near future, yes.

BTW, they already offer FIOS in my neighborhood.

And only $139.99 a month for 30mbps, such a deal.

http://www22.verizon.com/content/con...and+prices.htm

Btw, I know I'm not a math wiz anymore but 30mbps sure does seem a long ways off from 6.6gbps.

[Danno]

What good is a 6.5Gb connection to the internet if you can only read/write to your hard drive at 1/100th that speed?

Right. It's a marketing scam. Your downloads will always be as slow as the slowest component in your Computer/Device. the Hard Drives in TIvo/DVR boxes aren't even close to the fastest drives available today. You're still going to get a bottleneck writing data to the drive.

This is really dumb, and it's amazing that more people don't get that downloads will NEVER be faster or better quality than playback of dedicated discs.

[MatrixS2000]

Originally Posted by Danno

What good is a 6.5Gb connection to the internet if you can only read/write to your hard drive at 1/100th that speed?

Right. It's a marketing scam. Your downloads will always be as slow as the slowest component in your Computer/Device. the Hard Drives in TIvo/DVR boxes aren't even close to the fastest drives available today. You're still going to get a bottleneck writing data to the drive.

This is really dumb, and it's amazing that more people don't get that downloads will NEVER be faster or better quality than playback of dedicated discs.

Your computer won't be the bottle neck...it will be a router either in your home or at the first hop ISP and it will be much slower that 1/100th of an 6.5gbps connection.

[webmaster@michaelbay]

Originally Posted by Danno

This is really dumb, and it's amazing that more people don't get that downloads will NEVER be faster or better quality than playback of dedicated discs.

And the CDs an MP3 you buy/download are no where near to the studio quality they were made in...So what's your point? We should stop while we get it perfect?

[webmaster@michaelbay]

Originally Posted by upnorthsox

And only $139.99 a month for 30mbps, such a deal.

That's what I said when I saw the first BR player. Prices *do come down.*

[

Originally Posted by upnorthsox

Btw, I know I'm not a math wiz anymore but 30mbps sure does seem a long ways off from 6.6gbps.

So did storing 1000 songs in the first iPod compared to the 40,000 you can now store in the 160GB one. Technology *does advance.*