What codecs will new Blu-ray titles use?

[jgantert]

George Clooney's 'Good Night, and Good Luck' HD DVD is coming out on 8/1: day-and-date with its Blu-ray Disc version.
It will be interesting to compare them side by side.

I'd be willing to bet they will be using VC-1, and be very simular. I can't see Warner doing HD-DVD in VC-1 and BR in MPEG2!

-John

 

[Ilya]

I'd be willing to bet they will be using VC-1, and be very simular. I can't see Warner doing HD-DVD in VC-1 and BR in MPEG2!

I too hope they go with VC-1. Still, the problem is that Blu-ray disc is smaller (25GB vs. 30GB) and they would have to use uncompressed PCM for audio instead of a more compact DD Plus. So, I wonder if the same VC-1 encoded video can fit.
It will be interesting to see what happens. All four upcoming WB blu-ray titles will have their HD DVD counterparts, so this will make for a good comparison of the two formats apples to apples.

 

[teamerickson]

I'd be willing to bet they will be using VC-1, and be very simular. I can't see Warner doing HD-DVD in VC-1 and BR in MPEG2!

-John

Rumors say no advanced codecs until 07.

 

[jgantert]

Rumors say no advanced codecs until 07.

That sounds like a horrible plan. It sounds like Sony is banking on the PS3 being key for BR success. If they are still using MPEG2 when the PS3 comes out, nobody will latch onto BR if the PQ isn't there.

-John

PS> Doesn't the Samsung BR player decode DD+ into the 5 channel analog just like the Toshiba HD-DVD player?

 

[teamerickson]

PS> Doesn't the Samsung BR player decode DD+ into the 5 channel analog just like the Toshiba HD-DVD player?

According to this, no.

 

[Ilya]

Doesn't the Samsung BR player decode DD+ into the 5 channel analog just like the Toshiba HD-DVD player?

I don't think so. Some specs did indicate DD+ support in this player, but this might be a mistake. There is no mentioning of Dolby Digital Plus in the BD-P1000 User's Manual.

For HD DVD, DD+ is a mandatory format (meaning all players are required to support it), so all titles can safely include DD+ as the main audio format. Blu-ray Disc specification, on the other hand, supports DD+ only as an optional format: players are not required to support it. Mandatory formats for Blu-ray are: Uncompressed LPCM, Dolby Digital and DTS, of which only LPCM offers sound quality superior to DVD. That's why the first Blu-ray titles use LPCM. LPCM delivers excellent sound quality, but it takes a lot of space, leaving less space for video.

(Moving this discussion to a separate thread.)

 

[jgantert]

Well, looks like that Samsung player doesn't do much with audio. I stand informed.

So if thats the case, then I can't see the BR version being better since they will have to use a lot more space for audio, even if they use VC-1.

-John

 

[CochiseGuy]

Uh-Oh! WB BD Titles to use mpeg2

Well, looks like that Samsung player doesn't do much with audio. I stand informed.

So if thats the case, then I can't see the BR version being better since they will have to use a lot more space for audio, even if they use VC-1.

-John

http://www.dvdtown.com/announcement/fulldetailsonwarnersblu-raytit/3692/

Updated: We have learned that Warner will use MPEG-2 as compression codec for their Blu-ray releases. Why? We don't know but this sure makes it exciting to compare it against it's HD-DVD releases which uses VC1 (a much better and effective codec when space is an issue)

It is also worth to mention that this will be single layer discs which means that Sony still has problems getting the much hyped dual layer discs to work outside the lab.

It's going to be interesting to read the reviews / comparisons of the first WB releases for BD using mpeg2 25GB SL discs.

Rumor has it & Kiss Kiss might look OK compared to their HD DVD release, because they were both HD/SD combo discs, with the HD encoded on the 15 GB SL side of the disc. If they can't get the BD release on a 25GB disc to looks as good as a HD DVD 15GB release, Blur-ay might as well hang it up. But Training Day HD DVD is a DL 25GB and generally considered to be one of the top quality HD DVD releases. If BD can get it to look as good or better on SL 25GB, they might get a breath of life . . . . . but I'm not betting on it.

 

[Ilya]

We have learned that Warner will use MPEG-2 as compression codec for their Blu-ray releases.

That's sad news
It means that WB titles will most likely look as bad as other Blu-ray titles...
I just don't get it! I understand, there might be technical problems with two layer discs, but why not use VC-1 or MPEG-4, for better picture quality???
25GB is just not enough for MPEG-2 and LPCM. They should accept this.

 

[ghettogreg]

If they can't get the BD release on a 25GB disc to looks as good as a HD DVD 15GB release, Blur-ay might as well hang it up. But Training Day HD DVD is a DL 25GB and generally considered to be one of the top quality HD DVD releases. If BD can get it to look as good or better on SL 25GB, they might get a breath of life . . . . . but I'm not betting on it.

Training Day on HD DVD is a dual layer 30 GB disc, not 25. There is absolutely no way that the Blur ray version of Training Day will be "as good or better" than the HD DVD version. Common sense tells us that a smaller 25 GB disc with an inferior MPEG-2 codec will not be able to compete with its HD DVD counterpart.

Size: HD DVD 5 GB more than Blur Ray version
Codec: HD DVD uses VC-1 which is up to 3 times more efficient than the outdated MPEG-2
Audio: HD DVD version comes with uncompressed TRUEHD soundtrack while all indications say that the Blur-Ray version will not

So far, Blur-Ray is showing up to the gunfight with a toothpick costing twice as much as HD-DVD's armored tank.