Blu-ray and HD DVD Star Rating Breakdown

[WriteSimply]

Originally Posted by Chris Gerhard

I haven't ignored the higher bandwidth, I haven't seen any evidence if both use the highest posible bandwidth that there will be any discernible difference using the same codecs, or different codecs for that matter.

The only evidence you're likely to see will come from either Paramount or Warner, both of which have opted to use the same video encode for their BD and HD-DVD releases. So while technically you're right that you "haven't seen any evidence" since there is no evidence to be had, but you're also wrong in that the bandwith advantage of BD IS THERE.

It's not like you know people in the video encoding industry who has produced BD and HD-DVD titles. Or do you?

My statement that there is no technical explanation showing how HD DVD can not increase disc capacity and the fact I have read both 45 GB and 51 GB discs have been manufactured and are being tested for feasibility means I have concluded there will be much higher capacity HD DVD discs in the future and the temporary claim that HD DVD has disc capacity limitation problems isn't meaningful, except for now. The quadruple layered discs may or may not be valid, but wouldn't surprise me.

I'm just puzzled by the last sentence. But anyways.

A bit of format war historical perspective. A few months after BD was launched, Microsoft courtesy of a certain VP, managed to convince AVSFers that the rumor he heard about BD50 being vaporware is true. Trumpeting HD-DVD30's capacity and practically saying that with VC-1, HD-DVD did not need more than 30GB, the HD-DVD bandwagon went on its merry way.

However, BD50 did NOT turn up to be vaporware. More importantly, BD50 was supported from the very first BD player out there - the Samsung. Subsequent players from Panasonic, Sony, the PS3, the Pioneer and lastly the LG has proved that BD50 was playable to the first BD Profile 1.0 spec.

So now let's get back to your conclusion that there WILL be a HD-DVD45/51 discs made. It is not a matter of Toshiba engineers may or may not be able to produce the production methods to press the disc in volume for mass production. It's about HD-DVD45/51 is not part of the HD-DVD spec to begin with.

The implication of HD-DVD45/51 not being in the current HD-DVD spec is HUGE. Supposing that the HD-DVD45/51 spec can be ratified in the Fall/Winter of 2007, it would take at least three more months for the first HD-DVD45/51 players to come out.

But the most important thing here is CONTENT. If by 2008 there are HD-DVD30 and HD-DVD45/51 in the market, to which consumer should Warner, Paramount or Universal will author their HD-DVDs for? 90% for the HD-DVD30 and 10% of the HD-DVD45/51? Or would current HD-DVD players be able to play the first TWO layers of a HD-DVD45/51 disc, leaving the studios to author movies to occupy 30GB and the rest unaccessible to older HD-DVD players?

All of this is supposing that the HD-DVD spec changes doesn't touch upon the bandwith limit of 30Mbps. What if the DVD Forum DID increase the bandwith limit to the same as BD? How would those HD-DVD45/51 discs affect older players since older players could not process that kind of bandwith?

Basically, HD-DVD45/51 IS POSSIBLE, but it would be a format war suicide for the DVD Forum to even contemplate of ratifying the spec. Hence for HD-DVD45/51, its technical merits is VERY IMPORTANT.


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