Depression: Star Trek Still Assimilated By The Hd-dud Collective

[Sean4000]

Hey Everyone,

Has there been any news on Paramount losening up and allowing some titles to be released on Blu-ray? I am extremely saddened that my favorite franchise is still held by the throat in the dying world of HD-DUD.

Can't Paramount see that Blu-ray is winning the format wars?!?!?!?!!?!?!

And the classic TOS series has gotten an HD treatment along with some pretty bad new CG shots but never the less I would still like to see that show on BD! My real wish is to see ST: Enterprise, and the movies in HD-BRD theatrical glory.

Check out some interesting articles on www.trekmovie.com BUT BEWARE THAT THEY ARE HEAVILY BIASED TOWARDS HD-DUD. I'm Sean4000 over there be sure to see how I defend Blu-ray and all other arguments presented against me fall apart.

http://trekmovie.com/2007/11/10/tos-...n-new-hd-dvds/

Here is a sad attempt to equalize BD and HD -DUD by Matt Wright:

""""""Hmm that article is slightly dubious. Also his basic premise is essentially a subjective/esthetic one. VC-1 in fact preserves grain better then H.264 (MPEG4-AVC), so he may be confusing “pleasing” with “grain blurred out”, many people do. He also accounted for the drop in HD DVD scores, which was that Universal was hurrying some catalog titles out and didn’t seem to do a good job with them (which studios on both sides are guilty of, Universial is the worst offender though). Further the number of titles released on each format isn’t totally equal, but getting close [HD DVD 338 titles vs Blu-ray 365 titles]. Now whether this is statisically significant between the two I’m not certain, the differences in numbers are probably close enough to be compared properly, but the overall sample size of both formats is far too small to really get any kind of solid conclusion from. Which really sums up the whole format war, there just isn’t enough of anything, players, movie titles, etc. sold yet to call anyone a victor, we have short term information that can swing wildly from week to week depending on what is released on any given Tuesday.

Further his “BR has superior encodes thanks to disc size” doesn’t quite carry the weight he thinks it does, Warner publishes to both formats and uses the same VC-1 encode on both. Many Warner films have had high ratings. So if Warner has a good transfer on BR it does on HD DVD as well, and vice versa.

Also he is arguing different things all mixed in, one of his arguements is about codec choice, not optical disc format. He likes the compression effect of AVC over VC-1. Both HD DVD and Blu-ray titles may use VC-1, AVC, or MPEG2 if they choose. It is up to the studio/production house to pick a codec they feel is best. Sony and Fox eventually chose AVC, Warner has been behind VC-1 since day one, so has Universal, Paramount experimented with all the codecs at different times, eventually choosing AVC. So perhaps AVC is the way to go, but that isn’t about the format per say. The format with the most AVC titles is Blu-ray, yes. But that is a false logic to conclude that the HD DVD platform is somehow poor. That is the choice of the studios releasing titles, not an inherent technical deficiency in one platform or another.

Of course I would argue that that guy doesn’t really know what he’s talking about. VC-1 actually does much better at the subsample level and can use a finer and a more adpative matrix of video blocks then AVC can (which is how it can preserve grain better). The predominant VC-1 encoder application is being refined on an ongoing basis, this is one reason why when Nine Inch Nails went to produce a concert in high definition, for both Blu-ray and HD DVD, they used VC-1. It turns out Microsoft worked closely with the producers to optimize their VC-1 encoder product to deal with the complexities of a live rock show that had fast light changes, etc. The results are stunning and you won’t find reviews complaning about image quality (as it pertains to the codec). Likewise, Shrek the 3rd is near reference quality, again thanks to the VC-1 encoder being tweaked and refined for the best quality in animation as well as live action film, and video sources (such as concerts). Another example of a more recent title is the BBC Video release of Planet Earth which uses VC-1 (it gets high marks). Sadly the US version of Planet Earth seems to have been done poorly and it was done in AVC. So it isn’t so cut and dry, production houses can definitely screw things up, and different masters can make differences as well.""""""

Take care and Blu-ray is the way to go!

Sean "Sean4000" Burns

[Sean4000]

Star Trek 8 was suposed to be released on Blu-ray but this was before they sold their souls to Micro$oft.

[JTK]

Originally Posted by Sean4000

Hey Everyone,

Has there been any news on Paramount losening up and allowing some titles to be released on Blu-ray?

No.

Not even remotely close. At a least a good year away thereabouts if even that.

[Sean4000]

JTK, That is horrible news. I might have to switch camps and get one of these HD-DVD players

[sj001]

Originally Posted by Sean4000

JTK, That is horrible news. I might have to switch camps and get one of these HD-DVD players

Sorry you feel that way. Buying into HD-DVD too is just going to add fuel to the fire. You should try to hold out for a while, things maybe changing in the next few months. Even Paramount may have a backout clause in their contract if things go belly up.

[Kirsty_Mc]

Indignation burns in me at the way Para$hite treated us. I would be a major customer for their Blu-Ray releases .

I have an unsophisticated format drive in my HTPC... but I'm not buying any of them on principle. When they release on BD, I'll get them then, and only then.

Combo discs... Pathetic, Horrible, Nasty!!!!!!!!!

PS The unsophisticated drive in my HTPC is vastly underused, It's a shameful admission I know... quite embarrassing really. Due to be replaced by a region A BD.

Ohhhh the shame of it

[MallardRider]

Star Trek (the remade film) won't debut until Christmas 2008. I'm hoping the format war would be long over by then. Paramount has to go to BD by then, the numbers are just too large not to ignore.

[Sean4000]

I hope you're right. Sony better start getting more competitive with their pricing to finish off HD-DUD once and for all. Personally, I want Microsoft as far away from my home as possible. I've since bought all Macs and use Linux on higher end PCs (none are Toshiba)