SD material on Blu-Ray

[chrisfhh]

Hi!
When creating SD material for Blu-Ray (576/50i), is the overall bitrate still limited to 9,8 Mbit (DVD material) or are there higher bitrates possible?
Must SD material be encoded in MPEG2 or can I use VC-1 for SD material, too?
Thanks.

Christoph

[Teazle]

Whatever you do, please set the res (for 4:3) to 768x576. It's unfortunate that DVD only supports up to 720x576; in this respect as well as higher bitrate and availability of new codecs superior to mp2 BD will outperform DVD for PAL SD content.

[winoni71]

I don't know about codec and bitrate restrictions, but i know that the only resolutions supported by a Bd Player are: 720x480i/p,720x576i/p, 1280x720p, 1440x1080i/p and 1920x1080i/p.

[Teazle]

Originally Posted by winoni71

I don't know about codec and bitrate restrictions, but i know that the only resolutions supported by a Bd Player are: 720x480i/p,720x576i/p, 1280x720p, 1440x1080i/p and 1920x1080i/p.

Fine, then encode 4:3 PAL material in a 768x576 rectangle in the centre of a 1920x1080 frame, most of the pixels being left black. (Officially 1080p with black bars on all sides.) Use mp4 avc for better efficiency. Problem solved.

[tron3]

Originally Posted by chrisfhh

Hi!
When creating SD material for Blu-Ray (576/50i), is the overall bitrate still limited to 9,8 Mbit (DVD material) or are there higher bitrates possible?
...
Christoph

I once asked a similar question as to super-bit bit rates being possible on blu-ray. No one seemed to know. In theory it is possible, but will the studio's bother? Naaa.

In watching blu-ray SD content I often check the bit rate. It does seem to ride the higher end of the spectrum and occasionally peaks above the maximum 10.1 Mb rate of DVD. That is all I can say from observation.

[Anthony P]

there are no limits for SD, they are the same as HD. So yes you can use any CODEC and any bitrate as long as video is <=40 and AV<=48.

[Clark Kent]

I've seen some SD material on Warner Blu-rays encoded in VC-1.

[RazorFromHRSnet]

How cool would it be if SD stuff started coming out on BluRay. A full season of the Simpsons exactly as they are encoded right now would fit on one BD-50!

[tron3]

Originally Posted by RazorFromHRSnet

How cool would it be if SD stuff started coming out on BluRay. A full season of the Simpsons exactly as they are encoded right now would fit on one BD-50!

I always liked that concept myself. But when the Simpsons aired in HD, I would expect the blu-ray disc set to follow suit. Even at the expense of more discs.

Then there is the part of me that says not to put all your eggs in one basket. But this is obviously different.