Ask questions to BD authoring and compression insider "2themax"

[DaViD Boulet]

Saw this from Penton in another thread:

For the record, the post supervisor for that particular title (TFE) assumed the master for that title was superb. That was an oversight in the quality control process, plain and simple during the early days of the format.
Might I add that since then, this same post supervisor has probably done more for the home theater enthusiast than any individual I can recall, offhand. Completely unrelated to The Fifth Element issue, he got flat panels into the HD suites after having noticed that grain/noise problems were appearing on consumer LCD screens which were not visible on the pro HD CRT screens due to the nature of the CRT raster lines softening some high-frequency detail and hiding those flaws.

He also wrote an industry report to highlight this issue and he encouraged other studios and post houses to do the same.

The thought that up until this point Sony was using direct-view CRT monitors to view HD masters sends shudders up my spine. We all now how CRT is the king of contrast and color, but when it comes to detail I've never seen a CRT image outside of 9" CRT projection that came close to rendering the detail in a 1080p signal.

What the hell are the various studios using to monitor/QC their 1080p masters and compression jobs? When we see detail differences in Pan's Labyrinth from HD DVD in Europe to BD in the US (in this sad case, the HD DVD has far more detail), why??? Who's QC'ing these things and what are they watching them on to call the shots?

Is there anything going on in the industry to QC the QC process at the various studios?

[2themax]

Originally Posted by DaViD Boulet

Saw this from Penton in another thread:



The thought that up until this point Sony was using direct-view CRT monitors to view HD masters sends shudders up my spine. We all now how CRT is the king of contrast and color, but when it comes to detail I've never seen a CRT image outside of 9" CRT projection that came close to rendering the detail in a 1080p signal.

What the hell are the various studios using to monitor/QC their 1080p masters and compression jobs? When we see detail differences in Pan's Labyrinth from HD DVD in Europe to BD in the US (in this sad case, the HD DVD has far more detail), why??? Who's QC'ing these things and what are they watching them on to call the shots?

Is there anything going on in the industry to QC the QC process at the various studios?

CRTs were king in SD and it carried over to HD. Obviously it shouldn't have. Even we have Sony CRTs in the HD realm. That is planned to change though.

[WickyWoo]

What the hell are the various studios using to monitor/QC their 1080p masters and compression jobs? When we see detail differences in Pan's Labyrinth from HD DVD in Europe to BD in the US (in this sad case, the HD DVD has far more detail), why??? Who's QC'ing these things and what are they watching them on to call the shots?

It was compromised so they could fit PiP and a DTSHDMA track on it. So whoever did the disc smoothied it to make everything fit in the HD DVD limit.

I think we've all seen that's stopped with New Line's excellenet output since

[fitprod]

Originally Posted by WickyWoo

It was compromised so they could fit PiP and a DTSHDMA track on it. So whoever did the disc smoothied it to make everything fit in the HD DVD limit.

I think we've all seen that's stopped with New Line's excellenet output since

There is one other possible issue, which is basically related... Wasn't the international Pan's Labryinth HD DVD one of the early THX certified disc? I know they have a more stringent process for QC and Mastering. It became irrelivant on DVD, but maybe it's time for them to kick some people's butts for the HD Media.

fitprod

[DaViD Boulet]

It was compromised so they could fit PiP and a DTSHDMA track on it. So whoever did the disc smoothied it to make everything fit in the HD DVD limit.

I think we've all seen that's stopped with New Line's excellenet output since

I thinked you mis-read my comments. The screen-caps at AVS show that the HD DVD is FAR SUPERIOR in detail compared to the compromised US Blu-ray Disc version.

Sad but true.

[WickyWoo]

There is one other possible issue, which is basically related... Wasn't the international Pan's Labryinth HD DVD one of the early THX certified disc? I know they have a more stringent process for QC and Mastering. It became irrelivant on DVD, but maybe it's time for them to kick some people's butts for the HD Media.

THX only certifies the mastering process, not the compression. This was done in the last year, it's a brand new modern master tape

The disc, like Hairspray shows all the signs of being smoothied for HD DVD. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that's what was done. The PiP HD DVD track takes 4-5mbps of the 29mbps available, and then you have to budget in everything else

Here's the European Blu-ray, with only a 640mbps dolby digital tracks, it's holding in the 30-35mbps range. By contrast the US Blu, tho I haven't seen a bitrate meter myself hovers in the high teens low 20s

[fitprod]

Originally Posted by WickyWoo

THX only certifies the mastering process, not the compression. This was done in the last year, it's a brand new modern master tape

The disc, like Hairspray shows all the signs of being smoothied for HD DVD. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that's what was done

You sure about that? When I did QC on the Akira DTS DVD, they sent in a third party to double check the encode next to the master during compression.

fitprod

[DaViD Boulet]

Hairspray shows all the signs of being smoothied for HD DVD. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that's what was done

Sadly, I noticed *after* posting my review that the shots from the film in the bonus material of Hairspray are obviously more detailed than the feature film.

Can anyone confirm with New Line that they are aware of these two compromised encodes and that they intend to improve things going forward?