Blu-ray, in General

[jon]

Well, I think I've just been converted. Xbox360 HD-DVD drive, here i come.

[Cinesimilitude]

just edited my post to make it even more worth it for you. also, for the cost, 199.99 canadian with king kong included (and king kong xbox 360 game included at most future shop locations), it's a steal.

[mbalson]

Is that a realistic comparison of HD to regular DVD?

If so, HD is much more powerful than I had imagined. It makes the regular DVD image look like VHS.

With regard to that comparison you also have to remember that those captures are more or less in SD-DVD's native dimensions. The HD capture has been reduced in size to match. In actuality the HD version has a native dimension much larger and is able to convey a staggering amount of detail at screen sizes much larger than anything regular DVD can produce.

[denti alligator]

Is that a realistic comparison of HD to regular DVD?

If so, HD is much more powerful than I had imagined. It makes the regular DVD image look like VHS.

Ok, so the HD looks amazing, but the regular ol' DVD caps are definitely inferior to what DVD can look like. They look as if someone didn't calibrate the video properly. These should look better, no?

[The Invunche]

Denti, I thought the exact same thing. The SD caps look surprisingly soft.

[denti alligator]

Denti, I thought the exact same thing. The SD caps look surprisingly soft.

And the colors aren't right. I'd like to see a Beaver style comparison of these, though. Can anyone post caps of these frames from the existing DVD making sure your PC player is properly calibrated.

[Ornette]

Here's a screen cap from the Nordic DVD release of FOTR using Zoom Player, with ffdshow handling the upscaling to 1920x1080. Fiddling with a setting called Luma sharpen in ffdshow it can even look as good as this.
Keep in mind though that I've yet taken the time to do a proper video calibration on my PC, but it nevertheless gives a more truthful representation of the DVD in terms of sharpness and detail.

The caps from jon's link: The HD recording & the DVD

[jon]

that site was posted previously in this thread, but yah, it was inferiorly captured

[davebert]

I'll just chime in and completely agree that the SD DVD caps are ridiculously misrepresented. The HD-DVD looks great, natch, but there's no need to overly handicap things.

[The Invunche]

AACS DRM cracked by BackupHDDVD tool?

[denti alligator]

How far are we from seeing the end of this format war?

I really want them to get their shit together so that Criterion and others can step up.

Also--following up on remarks in the Army of Shadows thread--there is really no reason to have that red border on the cover, or even to stick with the odd-shaped case.

[denti alligator]

But there's still hope for HD, no?

[denti alligator]

The HD Searchers is staggeringly good for detail and sharpness but the new color timing is even MORE annoying to me in this otherwise flawless incarnation.

Hey, I don't mind if it can play Sd or not.

So why is the color worse? And why can't anyone give me a straight answer on the colors on this release? Some say it's perfect; others (you) that it's an abomination. The HD of Searchers is one reason I want to go HD.

[Cinesimilitude]

I never saw the searchers until I saw the HD-DVD so I have no idea what all the fuss is about, and I've read the related articles, but the problems they mention didn't stand out for me.

[davebert]

Yeah, I hope that BluRay sinks as fast as possible, because 2007 will be the year of HDDave, and I just can't allow myself to purchase an HD-DVD player (my clear preference) for a planned HDTV purchase knowing it's not immediately future proof. Perhaps my case times millions of consumers will make electronics distributor middlemen and others antsy, throwing them into the ring to start sorting things out--Best Buy would surely prefer me to open my wallet.

[Cinesimilitude]

I thought there were issues of day and night scenes being really off in tone, but if all they did was add some yellow, I don't mind at all. although, If there were an HDTV that could adjust colors in CMYK...

[Cinesimilitude]

Yeah, I own it and agree. for a classic it's outstanding, although the recently released Casablanca may be a contender... The Melville HD should be fantastic although due to my getting into photography and exciting life stuff, I'm scaling back my purchases immensely...

[devlinnn]

Not sure if this is old news, but reported here yesterday -

Hybrid discs, players could end format war
THE AGE - January 4, 2007

The battle between the Blu-ray and HD DVD disc formats could be drawing to a close, now that players and discs supporting both formats are on the way.

Next week, Warner Bros, a movie studio division of Time Warner, plans to present a new high-definition disc, Total HD, at the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Total HD discs will carry movies that can be played on high-definition DVD players using the Sony-backed Blu-ray format, as well as players using the Toshiba-backed HD-DVD format.

Yesterday, LG said it plans to sell the first DVD player that will play both HD DVD and Blu-ray discs.

The LG unit will also be unveiled at next week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, LG said. Details, including pricing and availability, will become available then, the company said.

The two DVD formats have been battling for market share since being introduced last year. Both are expected to get a boost this year as more
studios release films in the formats and more players become available.

But the formats are incompatible, forcing consumers to choose. Studios and electronics makers have said the resulting format war would delay widespread adoption of high-def DVDs, which contain sharper images and extra features not possible with standard definition discs.

LG, based in South Korea, said it expects its dual-format player to "end the confusion and inconvenience of competing high-definition disc formats."

AP and Reuters

[The Invunche]

I really can't see how the hybrid disc would end anything. The studios would still have to choose to support it. And what about quality if each layer is being used by each format?

Also, if the LG player has two separate drives it'll be pretty expensive.

[exte]

For the films that have been distributed onto both formats, like MI:3 I think, has anyone compared both versions and found one to be the best? Or is an HD transfer an HD transfer, no matter what the medium? I know at my local Best Buy, they're pushing Blu Ray completely, relegating the single HD-DVD display to a small LCD with a component connection, so any observations would be appreciated. Thanks.

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

Most dual-format releases these days use the exact same VC-1 encode on both formats, so the differences depend mainly on the player. Paramount still uses MPEG2 for their Blu-ray releases (including MI3) and the consensus is that the HD DVDs have a slightly perceptible advantage.

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

Not all dual release BD titles use the VCI/264 codec, only a couple of titles so far (because Sony wont pay the licnecing fee.)

Warner (who are responsible for most dual-format releases) switched to VC-1 for Blu-ray in September. They no longer use MPEG2. It's more like a couple of dozen than a "couple." And I'm not sure how Sony's refusal to pay licensing fees for VC-1 has any bearing on dual-format releases, given that any company issuing titles on both HD DVD and Blu-ray is obviously not Sony.

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

There's a list of BD discs by codecs either on the AVS forum or at DVD Times (I can't remember). Last time I looked it was something like three titles.

Wild guess, but maybe the last time you looked was in September? List of VC-1 Blu-ray titles, with corroborating links:

16 Blocks
The Ant Bully
ATL
Blazing Saddles
A Christmas Story
Corpse Bride
Firewall
Flightplan
House of Wax
Lady in the Water
The Lake House
The Last Samurai
Lethal Weapon
Lethal Weapon 2
Million Dollar Baby
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
Phantom of the Opera
The Searchers
The Sopranos Season 6 Part 1
Space Cowboys
Superman
Superman II: The Donner Cut
Superman Returns
Swordfish
Syriana
Under Siege

This may be a partial list, since it only includes major studio releases. A couple may have just slipped by me as well. All but one (Flightplan) is a WB title. Nearly all are dual-format and every comparison I'm aware of has concluded that both formats use the same encode.

If you are trying to argue the case for BD please do so

It should be obvious that I'm actually answering another forum member's question, since your effort on that score left something to be desired. Next time I'll be sure to include some tangenital knocks against Blu-ray unrelated to the poster's query, out of consideration for your blood pressure if nothing else.

but I've put money where mouth is. If for NO OTHER REASON you would be mad to take on a technology that imposes region coding, meaning you can only buy discs from the same country you bought the player in. And you have the privilege of paying between twice and four times as much for the player as you would an equivalent HD one. Not to mention ongoing problems with the Samsung (base level) player at AUD 1500 (over $1000 US.)

Being right about some things does not make you any less wrong about others, nor does the fact that you've spent money on something make your hazy recollections more correct than easily verifiable facts. For future reference, we have a dedicated forum for this kind of thing, where you can lay into the sorry Blu-ray apologists (real and imagined) with as many non-sequiturs as you like.

[The Invunche]

Well, it had to be said.

[denti alligator]

When are the first HD DVD drives for HTPCs going to be available?