This news is a bit old, but we are getting close to release of the first generation of new equipment concerning the blue laser. We decided to make everyone aware of this interview, just in case you had not seen it like us, we thought better late than never! It seems to hold some information of value that may not be common knowledge and can make for some good discussion points for us here as well. We know already that Microsoft favors the HD-DVD format as they are sure that it is more consumer and PC friendly than the rival Blu-ray, or at least this is the stance at the moment. So, it should be interesting to read an interview held with Sage Schreiner, HD-DVD Program Manager at Microsoft, right? The show being referred to here is of course the CES 2006.
| Audioholics: The second question I had is based on some feedback I received from the RCA booth whereby they indicated that the titles were not currently mastered in 1080p. Are you aware of whether the movie studios are planning on re-releasing HD DVD software titles in the 1080p format once the second generation players are available? The overarching question is - are the studios aware of any eventual plans for 1080p and the timeline for these second generation players? Sage: The initial / first generation content will be encoded at 1920x1080p/24. Case in point, playback from a PC, right now, will output 1920x1080p/24 without doing any conversion steps. The primary issues around encode quality are: quality of the source, encode method used, and bit rate. Modern codecs, like VC1, are capable of delivering a better quality encode at a more moderate bitrate than MPEG2. The primary limitation you will see with 1st generation movies in either format is the use of MPEG2 to encode, even at high bit rates. On a quality 1920x1080p display, MPEG2 will not look as good as VC1 (or H.264). Most (if not all) of what was on display in the HD DVD booths was VC1. You may want to investigate the actual encoding method of a given movie to really get a handle on its likely quality. |
It's not a very long interview, but the questions that they do ask are good ones. To see what else Mr. Sage has to say, head on over to this link at Audioholics!
Source: Audioholics
