Nature's Journey - The Good The Bad and The Ugly

[Monkey]

In this case the good, not receiving a crapped down HD-DVD port, outweights the bad..

The good:

Nature's Journey - BD with 37Mbps VC-1 Encode and 96/24 DTS-HD Master Audio Lossless

Originally Posted by RBFilms

Hi,

We are just finishing up production on our latest HD-DVD and BD release entitled "Nature's Journey. As you may note, we listened to the members at AVS and incorporated a lot of what we learned from the folks here on the AVS Forum.

We created individual Video and Audio encodes for the HD-DVD and BD formats. This was done to maximize the performance and potential of each specific format.

This does not mean we are favor one format over the other. We are a very small but high quality producer of Audiophile, Videophile, and Home Theater Enthusiast programming. We always maximize performance wherever, whenever, and however we can. This is simply what we do.

With that said, here are the specs for anyone that might be interested.

__________________________________________________ _____________________________________


HD/BD-DVD Specification Sheet

Nature’s Journey

__________________________________________________ _____________________________________

Stock #: RBF-DV-10708 (DVD Version)
Cat. #: 8-81991-10708-0
Price: $19.98

Stock #: RBF-HD-20708 (HD DVD Version)
Cat. #: 8-81991-20708-7
Price: $29.98

Stock: RBF-BD-30708 (Blu-ray Disc Version)
Cat. #: 8-81991-30708-4
Price: $29.98
__________________________________________________ _____________________________________

Warnings/Logos/Etc.
- None

Interactive Menus
- Main Menu (seamless & uninterrupted content/menu interactivity)
- Environmental/Season Loops Menu
- Chapter Selections Menu
- Extras Menu (Supplemental material)
- Audio Setup Menu

Feature Video
- Total Runtime: Approximately 67

HD-DVD
• VC-1 Encode at 26 Mbps / 1080i @ 29.97

Blu-ray DIsc
• VC-1 Encode at 37 Mbps / 1080i @ 29.97

Feature Audio

HD-DVD

* DTS-HD High Resolution 5.0 ~ 96/24 @ 3 Mbps
* Dolby Digital 5.0 ~ 48/24 @ 448 kbps
* Dolby Surround 2.0 (Pro Logic II) ~ 48/16 @ 192 kbps

Blu-ray Disc

* DTS-HD Master Audio (Lossless) 5.0 ~ 96/24 @ 5.3 Mbps Average and 6.8 Mbps Max
* Dolby Digital 5.0 ~ 48/24 @ 448 kbps
* Dolby Surround 2.0 (Pro Logic II) ~ 48/16 @ 192 kbps

Audio Commentary
- None

Subtitles
- None

Extras (Supplemental Material)
- Illuminated Manuscripts Trailer
- Ritual Path Trailer
- Production Credits

The Bad:

Originally Posted by RBFilms

Actually, no....and I really do not want to come across negative in a public forum, but someone will all ask me why anyway...so I might as well speak the truth.

I tried to communicate with Microsoft in regard to this, and Ben tried to get me in touch with Amy, who handles VC-1 compression. However, I never heard from her despite repeated attempts on my part to communicate with Amy through Ben. I finally heard from Amy via e-mail weeks after the video compression for Nature's Journey was completed. A day late and a dollar short as the saying goes..

However, my crew at Technicolor really knows what they are doing and I trust their compression and authoring folks to do as good, and probably better, than anyone at Microsoft is capable of. They are film people working on Major Studio releases and understand image quality.

Also, Technicolor also is aware of the strengths and weaknesses of the VC-1 Codec. I would prefer to work with people who are not in denial and not afraid to identify the weaknesses of a specific technology. This way we can all work together to try and improve upon those areas.

Technicolor worked diligently to tweak these encodes. I would say this partly because they are dedicated to World Class performance on a daily basis....and partly because I am a pain the a** to work with when it comes to quality and pushing the limits of technology and performance.

Also, most important of all, Microsoft is delaying the release of Natures Journey because they are not issuing an ISAN Number for this title. They gave me one for CHRONOS in 24 hours. However, for this release, it is a different story.

I initially called Kevin, my contact at Microsoft for ISAN Numbers about this release. He said he would get me an ISAN Number issued "right away." That was about three (3) weeks ago and since then he has failed to return what must be over twenty (20) e-mails and phone calls to his office.

I tried getting an ISAN elsewhere, but the fact that I registered with Microsoft initially makes this problematic.

Technicolor cannot release my master for replication without an ISAN Number. Microsoft is causing this release to be delayed ta this point.

OK...I have plenty more to say about Microsoft, but it is off-topic...so I will put a peg in it here for now..

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...5&page=1&pp=30