Dan Hitchman
Senior HTF Member
- Joined
- Jun 11, 1999
- Messages
- 2,712
Dear Hollywood Studios and A/V Manufacturers,
Please hear our pleas for the best possible high definition discs. Compromises must be set aside once and for all, and the mistakes of the DVD format must not be repeated.
You now have the tools to make "the best it can be" consumer products within the limits of today's technologies. Let's get this right the first time.
There really is absolutely NO reason both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray can't give us these minimum specs given today's more efficient codecs [such as Microsoft's VC-9 for video and Meridian Lossless Packing (MLP) for audio]:
Artifact and color-banding free, full 1920x1080 with pure progressive encoding (interlaced video should be a thing of the past) and multiple frame rate (ie. 24, 25, 30, etc. fps) and refresh rate support. Bitrate optimized. With full 1920x1080p display devices becoming available, there is absolutely no reason to limit product to inferior 1080i and 720p resolutions. Obviously, this is original source material dependant (ie, we don't expect 1080p for video taped shows like All In The Family unless new scaling techniques can make older 480i masters look better than ever; but we do expect 1920x1080p for wide-screen film based material).
Zero edge enhancement, zero High Frequency filtering, zero resolution down-rezing.
~21x9 anamorphic enhancement for super wide ratio movies with no loss in resolution while maintaining the correct aspect ratio (especially 2.35:1). In order for this to be realized, this also applies to my next point below.
1.33:1 and 1.37:1 ratio sources encoded at optimal resolutions for those ratios. Internal player scaling can manipulate this for whatever ratio TV is being utilized.
Video mastered and encoded from raw/uncompressed, pristine, filmmaker (or expert film restorer when necessary) supervised 2k or 4k digital archive telecine sources or full digital-to-digital transfers from digital files for animation sources (such as Disney's CAPS archives, PIXAR's digital file archives, etc.). No up-converts from substandard source material allowed (ie, dusted off 1080i masters converted to 1080p and pawned off as full 1080p transfers-- we're more astute than that).
(Up to) 8 (or more if there's room) channel discrete lossless primary/original language soundtracks at resolutions from 24/96 to 24/192 PCM on all channels for video applications from the best master audio source material. Finally we can liberate ourselves from matrix encoding and have real discrete stereo side and rear channels (or whatever channel and speaker position combinations that can be dreamed up by creative sound engineers) with no fidelity compromises! No dumbing down for the lowest common denominator home theater manipulation allowed! Full flexibility made available.
Super charged music-only applications can have 24 bit to 32 bit PCM resolutions and up to 10.2 discrete channels of lossless or uncompressed audio. Better than SACD-quality for Direct Stream Digital (DSD) sources.
DTS and/or Dolby Digital lossy track for backwards compatibility only. This is how DVD-Audio is handled, for example.
Low bitrate 192 kilobits/sec Dolby Digital for commentary sub tracks where audio fidelity is not necessary.
Given the extra 20 GB of space on a dual layered Blu-Ray disc I don't see why high bitrate VC-9 fully optimized for 10 bit, 4:4:4 component ratio per pixel color depths couldn't be implemented along side the audiophile-worthy audio specs. listed above.
100% seamless layer changes mandated.
High resolution subtitle bitmaps with many different font styles and colors available so that they integrate with the images on screen and are not distractingly poor like today's DVD's (they can now look like they were originally burned into the negative). Fully adjustable in the X/Y axis dependant upon the user's display needs.
Extras must be set aside to a separate disc(s) except for commentary tracks. The main feature's audio and video quality must be given first priority. No more disc over-stuffing! This goes doubly for Disney and Sony, but applies to all content providers.
Longer movies and other programming should be split to two or more discs for optimal A/V quality.
Original Aspect Ratio (OAR) transferring is to be respected and upheld at ALL times. NO...MORE...PANDERING! The expression "Modified To Fit Your TV" will be relegated to the scrap heap of history.
Built in, high caliber digital scaler that is fully user adjustable for aspect ratio, resolution and refresh rate, given the many different television technologies and their capabilities in the market today. Full resolution throughput available sans scaling for the purest pixture as well.
Up to date, universal industry standard HDMI spec. digital A/V outputs.
Universal industry standard Firewire IEEE digital outputs. Mainly for high resolution audio tracks for those manufacturers that haven't switched over to HDMI yet.
No down-rezing of component analog output.
No dial up and/or Big Brother-like DRM encryption OF ANY KIND! This will be a make or break item for me. If you add this "feature" I will not buy your products, jaw dropping HD video and audio performance or not.
I'm sure I'm missing some finer points and I haven't gone into technical white paper specifics, but at least this gives you something to go on... and there are other topics along these lines from other quality conscious consumers throughout this forum, and on other home theater sites as well. Please check them out.
Thank your for your consideration.
Dan
Please hear our pleas for the best possible high definition discs. Compromises must be set aside once and for all, and the mistakes of the DVD format must not be repeated.
You now have the tools to make "the best it can be" consumer products within the limits of today's technologies. Let's get this right the first time.
There really is absolutely NO reason both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray can't give us these minimum specs given today's more efficient codecs [such as Microsoft's VC-9 for video and Meridian Lossless Packing (MLP) for audio]:
Artifact and color-banding free, full 1920x1080 with pure progressive encoding (interlaced video should be a thing of the past) and multiple frame rate (ie. 24, 25, 30, etc. fps) and refresh rate support. Bitrate optimized. With full 1920x1080p display devices becoming available, there is absolutely no reason to limit product to inferior 1080i and 720p resolutions. Obviously, this is original source material dependant (ie, we don't expect 1080p for video taped shows like All In The Family unless new scaling techniques can make older 480i masters look better than ever; but we do expect 1920x1080p for wide-screen film based material).
Zero edge enhancement, zero High Frequency filtering, zero resolution down-rezing.
~21x9 anamorphic enhancement for super wide ratio movies with no loss in resolution while maintaining the correct aspect ratio (especially 2.35:1). In order for this to be realized, this also applies to my next point below.
1.33:1 and 1.37:1 ratio sources encoded at optimal resolutions for those ratios. Internal player scaling can manipulate this for whatever ratio TV is being utilized.
Video mastered and encoded from raw/uncompressed, pristine, filmmaker (or expert film restorer when necessary) supervised 2k or 4k digital archive telecine sources or full digital-to-digital transfers from digital files for animation sources (such as Disney's CAPS archives, PIXAR's digital file archives, etc.). No up-converts from substandard source material allowed (ie, dusted off 1080i masters converted to 1080p and pawned off as full 1080p transfers-- we're more astute than that).
(Up to) 8 (or more if there's room) channel discrete lossless primary/original language soundtracks at resolutions from 24/96 to 24/192 PCM on all channels for video applications from the best master audio source material. Finally we can liberate ourselves from matrix encoding and have real discrete stereo side and rear channels (or whatever channel and speaker position combinations that can be dreamed up by creative sound engineers) with no fidelity compromises! No dumbing down for the lowest common denominator home theater manipulation allowed! Full flexibility made available.
Super charged music-only applications can have 24 bit to 32 bit PCM resolutions and up to 10.2 discrete channels of lossless or uncompressed audio. Better than SACD-quality for Direct Stream Digital (DSD) sources.
DTS and/or Dolby Digital lossy track for backwards compatibility only. This is how DVD-Audio is handled, for example.
Low bitrate 192 kilobits/sec Dolby Digital for commentary sub tracks where audio fidelity is not necessary.
Given the extra 20 GB of space on a dual layered Blu-Ray disc I don't see why high bitrate VC-9 fully optimized for 10 bit, 4:4:4 component ratio per pixel color depths couldn't be implemented along side the audiophile-worthy audio specs. listed above.
100% seamless layer changes mandated.
High resolution subtitle bitmaps with many different font styles and colors available so that they integrate with the images on screen and are not distractingly poor like today's DVD's (they can now look like they were originally burned into the negative). Fully adjustable in the X/Y axis dependant upon the user's display needs.
Extras must be set aside to a separate disc(s) except for commentary tracks. The main feature's audio and video quality must be given first priority. No more disc over-stuffing! This goes doubly for Disney and Sony, but applies to all content providers.
Longer movies and other programming should be split to two or more discs for optimal A/V quality.
Original Aspect Ratio (OAR) transferring is to be respected and upheld at ALL times. NO...MORE...PANDERING! The expression "Modified To Fit Your TV" will be relegated to the scrap heap of history.
Built in, high caliber digital scaler that is fully user adjustable for aspect ratio, resolution and refresh rate, given the many different television technologies and their capabilities in the market today. Full resolution throughput available sans scaling for the purest pixture as well.
Up to date, universal industry standard HDMI spec. digital A/V outputs.
Universal industry standard Firewire IEEE digital outputs. Mainly for high resolution audio tracks for those manufacturers that haven't switched over to HDMI yet.
No down-rezing of component analog output.
No dial up and/or Big Brother-like DRM encryption OF ANY KIND! This will be a make or break item for me. If you add this "feature" I will not buy your products, jaw dropping HD video and audio performance or not.
I'm sure I'm missing some finer points and I haven't gone into technical white paper specifics, but at least this gives you something to go on... and there are other topics along these lines from other quality conscious consumers throughout this forum, and on other home theater sites as well. Please check them out.
Thank your for your consideration.
Dan