What's up with FOX and MPEG-2 on 2008 releases?

[DaViD Boulet]

https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=805

Not that MPEG2 *has* to be bad (have a few like Edward Sissors Hands that look good), but some of the softest BD titles I own are both FOX and MPEG2 (Devil Wears Prada... not even close to the sharpness of the 35mm print I saw).

Why is FOX stuck on MPEG2? Does anyone have any insights? Have they improved their mastering enough that we shouldn't worry? But when I see a bunch of new BD releases announced... in MPEG2... I can' help but get nervous...

[ryoohki]

First : FOX is the KING of box error.
Second : Most of those were announced for 1/4 of Last year, so they must be old BluRay Masters.

We will know the real codec only when they'll be released

On Prison Break box they are 3 error

List French and Japanese track, they are not there
List 16mbits AVC, and it's more 28mbits AVC

etc...

[owa]

Kingdom of Heaven is one of the better looking titles in my opinion and it's from Fox and uses mpeg-2. So, I don't necessarily think it's a bad thing, especially if the 2008 titles get the same treatment. BTW, in general, I thought mpeg-2 looked sharper, not softer but maybe it depends on other factors as well.

[Shin-Ra]

Someone already got Man On Fire and it's AVC not MPEG-2.

Edit: found the source.

[AlaskaDon]

Originally Posted by owa

Kingdom of Heaven is one of the better looking titles in my opinion and it's from Fox and uses mpeg-2. So, I don't necessarily think it's a bad thing, especially if the 2008 titles get the same treatment. BTW, in general, I thought mpeg-2 looked sharper, not softer but maybe it depends on other factors as well.

I was going to say this myself until I saw that it had already been posted. I don't get too worried now when I see new titles being encoded using mpeg-2 because KoH looked so fantastic

As far as Fox making an error with what's printed on the box, you can always check the status while the disc is playing to see what's actually being output. I should say you can check it on the BD-30 or the PS3 anyway. Not sure about other players.

[aristotles]

Originally Posted by DaViD Boulet

https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=805

Not that MPEG2 *has* to be bad (have a few like Edward Sissors Hands that look good), but some of the softest BD titles I own are both FOX and MPEG2 (Devil Wears Prada... not even close to the sharpness of the 35mm print I saw).

Why is FOX stuck on MPEG2? Does anyone have any insights? Have they improved their mastering enough that we shouldn't worry? But when I see a bunch of new BD releases announced... in MPEG2... I can' help but get nervous...

I think the insiders here have already stated numerous times that the codec chosen by Blu-ray exclusive studios for a particular title is based on test encodes of key scenes with all three codecs and they pick the one that gives the best picture overall within the space constraints.

It may be that in some cases MPEG2 provides the best picture for a title. I believe that both MPEG2 and the MPEG4 based codecs (VC-1 & AVC) have their own strengths and weaknesses. Newer does not always equal better in every case.

[jd213]

Independance Day is also AVC and not MPEG-2, unless they use a different encode from the Japanese version (very unlikely).

[NoQuestion]

I would not worry about these titles being MPEG-2 if that is true. Remember, FOX has been very consistant with thier PQ so I have faith that they will put the same quality into these. We will find out shortly when they are released.

[Blu4ever]

Mission Impossible 3 was MPEG2 I believe and it looked amazing. Although it wasn't from FOX it is possible for it to look great.

[gvortex7]

I think Black Hawk Down is MPEG2 as well, and that movies looks pretty amazing on Blu-ray. Honestly, if done right MPEG2 encodes are every bit as good as their AVC counterparts. They just take up more space, that's all.