Are Blu-ray discs / DVD's just containers? - Blu-ray Forum

Peleus · 09-03-2008, 04:31 AM

Hi all,

First post here, sorry if its an often asked question.

What I'm wondering is this - IGNORING capacity, is there much of a technical difference between bluray and DVD's? An example I would give is lets say I have 1 minute of Full HD VC1 encoded footage as a file on my computer. The size of this file is 3gb. Can I put this footage onto a blank DVD, pop it into my Bluray player, and watch it? Would it look exactly the same as if I had put it on a Bluray disc?

Looking at the FAQ it lists 720 x 576 as the highest resolution of a DVD, can we not put higher resolution files on a DVD and watch them? Please note I'm mainly talking about what is possibly to do with blank DVD media, not what are the pre-produced DVD's you buy off the shelf.

Can we not put AVCHD footage on a normal DVD player and play them in a bluray player? (Or any other AVCHD supporting player).

Is the bitrate the only technical difference between the formats? Do you actually notice this or do most productions not use the full 10mbps capacity of the DVD's?

Cheers.

ixlegitballinxl · 09-03-2008, 05:14 AM

all blu ray players can play dvd. I could be mistaken...but it would seem blu ray is better quality because bigger file sizes can be put on a blu ray disc vs a dvd. If you put the same file on both a dvd and a blu ray, im assuming the PQ would be the same...better PQ with bluray due to bigger files size

Anthony P · 09-04-2008, 02:14 AM

there are two things.

1) BD and DVD are just containers

2) BD and DVD are not just containers

both are true

In essence you can put anything on any disk (like you said just a container). But if it is not the right king of content then it won't work on a set top player. You can put MP3 on a DVD or CD but if your player does not play MP3s it won't know what to do with the data. So to answer your content, yes you can put HD material on a DVD and it will play in your BD player, but that DVD (container) must be formatted as BD on it, if not it won't be in the specs and it would depend on if the player was built to support it.

09-03-2008, 04:31 AM	#1
Peleus New Member Member since:Sep 2008	Are Blu-ray discs / DVD's just containers? Hi all, First post here, sorry if its an often asked question. What I'm wondering is this - IGNORING capacity, is there much of a technical difference between bluray and DVD's? An example I would give is lets say I have 1 minute of Full HD VC1 encoded footage as a file on my computer. The size of this file is 3gb. Can I put this footage onto a blank DVD, pop it into my Bluray player, and watch it? Would it look exactly the same as if I had put it on a Bluray disc? Looking at the FAQ it lists 720 x 576 as the highest resolution of a DVD, can we not put higher resolution files on a DVD and watch them? Please note I'm mainly talking about what is possibly to do with blank DVD media, not what are the pre-produced DVD's you buy off the shelf. Can we not put AVCHD footage on a normal DVD player and play them in a bluray player? (Or any other AVCHD supporting player). Is the bitrate the only technical difference between the formats? Do you actually notice this or do most productions not use the full 10mbps capacity of the DVD's? Cheers.

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09-03-2008, 05:14 AM	#2
ixlegitballinxl Banned Member since:Feb 2008 Location:Magic Kingdom, FL Home Theater Gallery:7 Blu-ray collection:631 Trading Score:22	all blu ray players can play dvd. I could be mistaken...but it would seem blu ray is better quality because bigger file sizes can be put on a blu ray disc vs a dvd. If you put the same file on both a dvd and a blu ray, im assuming the PQ would be the same...better PQ with bluray due to bigger files size

09-04-2008, 02:14 AM	#3
Anthony P Blu-ray Count Member since:Jul 2007 Location:Montreal, Canada	there are two things. 1) BD and DVD are just containers 2) BD and DVD are not just containers both are true In essence you can put anything on any disk (like you said just a container). But if it is not the right king of content then it won't work on a set top player. You can put MP3 on a DVD or CD but if your player does not play MP3s it won't know what to do with the data. So to answer your content, yes you can put HD material on a DVD and it will play in your BD player, but that DVD (container) must be formatted as BD on it, if not it won't be in the specs and it would depend on if the player was built to support it.

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