Blu-ray demo report - lots of information

[Grubert]

http://blog.ultimateavmag.com/thomasnorton/

These are the main data:

• All first titles are expected to be limited to a single layer.
  
• There are two Blu-ray modes: Movie Mode (used for high definition films) and BD-J Mode (a fully programmable mode that includes interactive features, like games and Internet connectivity). Both modes can be used on the same disc.
  
• Sony and MGM titles will be encoded on the discs at 1080/24p. The user will set the player to convert this native resolution as required to match the capability of his or her display.
  
• At this time Sony has no immediate plans to implement the Image Constraint Token (ICT).
  
• All of the Sony and MGM titles will initially be encoded using MPEG-2, at a variable bit rate, but up to a maximum of 30Mb/sec.
  
• When other codecs exceed MPEG-2 at all data rates, Sony will begin using them.
  
• On the audio side, all Sony and MGM titles will include both conventional Dolby Digital and DTS soundtracks. Dolby data rate is still unconfirmed. DTS data rate will be 1.5Mb/sec. Additionally all Sony/MGM releases will include a 5.1 uncompressed PCM audio track.
  
• The first Sony and MGM titles will each have a hidden Easter Egg containing several setup test patterns— a sweep, a standard SMPTE pattern including, among other things, a PLUGE, color bars, and a resolution monoscope. These patterns can be accessed by entering 7669 on your Blu-ray player's remote (7669 is S-O-N-Y on a telephone).

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His impressions of the visual demo:

The most exciting part of the event involved demonstrations of Blu-ray using Sony's flagship 4K D-Cinema SXRD projector producing a peak light output of 14 foot-Lamberts onto a 23' wide screen. A split-screen image was used to compare DVD with Blu-ray, and the program source was a trailer from the upcoming film Click. It was no contest; the stunning Blu-ray was a 16-ounce New York strip sirloin next to the DVD's ground chuck. This wasn't entirely a surprise, given the size of the screen. Another split-screen presentation compared the 400Mb/sec HD master with the Blu-ray file mastered at 25-30Mb/sec. Here, only the tiniest differences were visible on film grain and the finest picture details—and we had to freeze the image to (barely) spot those.

Click was shot using the new Sony Panavision Genesis 1080/24p HD video cameras. The detail in the image, as seen on Blu-ray and presumably transferred directly from a digital file, was incredible. A final demonstration, of a clip from the conventionally filmed A Knight's Tale was not quite so jaw-dropping, but still looked better than most theatrical film presentations in all but the very best theaters equipped with state-of-the-art projectors and pristine prints.