Ken_F
Stunt Coordinator
- Joined
- Nov 13, 1998
- Messages
- 136
Most of the problems with broadcast high-def occur because the ~18.2Mbps peak data rate for the video stream isn't sufficient for complex scenes with lots of movement, and the result is either a lot of artifacting, or a lot of vertical filtering (softer picture) to eliminate potential artifacts.
Disney will be using MPEG-2 VBR and will not be constraining themselves in the same way. Some scenes on Disney films will use 10Mbps, while intensive scenes will use 25-30Mbps or more, such that the average video stream works out to around 16Mbps. Transfers will be processed once -- from 1080p/24 studio master to 16Mbps VBR 1080p/24 MPEG-2; compare that to television content that is processed once for uplink via satellite to network affiliates and/or cable, and processed again for transmission from affiliate to OTA viewer; in the case of locals on DirecTV, it is processed a third time (to MPEG-4) for distribution via satellite.
The net result will be significantly better high-definition picture quality on Blu-ray and HD-DVD (even for MPEG-2) than what you can get now via broadcast, cable, or satellite.
Studios don't really have any production-quality options other than MPEG-2 for Blu-ray at the moment, unlike HD-DVD. The first production-quality AVC/H.264 tools for Blu-ray will likely be the new Sonic/Panasonic suite announced at CES, expected for final release late summer or early fall. After release, there will probably be some additional testing in the field, and then we should see the first BD movies encoded with AVC/H.264 late this fall or early next year.
With dual-layer and VC1/AVC on release, HD-DVD definitely has the capacity advantage for much of 2006. However, as has been noted many times, that advantage is temporary. More than 90% of Blu-ray titles this year will be on BD-25 media, and probably 75% of those will use MPEG-2; next year, though, we could see 75% of new BD movies using AVC/VC-1, with 20-30% or more of new releases on BD50 media, depending on BD player adoption and Blu-ray disk sales.
Disney will be using MPEG-2 VBR and will not be constraining themselves in the same way. Some scenes on Disney films will use 10Mbps, while intensive scenes will use 25-30Mbps or more, such that the average video stream works out to around 16Mbps. Transfers will be processed once -- from 1080p/24 studio master to 16Mbps VBR 1080p/24 MPEG-2; compare that to television content that is processed once for uplink via satellite to network affiliates and/or cable, and processed again for transmission from affiliate to OTA viewer; in the case of locals on DirecTV, it is processed a third time (to MPEG-4) for distribution via satellite.
The net result will be significantly better high-definition picture quality on Blu-ray and HD-DVD (even for MPEG-2) than what you can get now via broadcast, cable, or satellite.
Studios don't really have any production-quality options other than MPEG-2 for Blu-ray at the moment, unlike HD-DVD. The first production-quality AVC/H.264 tools for Blu-ray will likely be the new Sonic/Panasonic suite announced at CES, expected for final release late summer or early fall. After release, there will probably be some additional testing in the field, and then we should see the first BD movies encoded with AVC/H.264 late this fall or early next year.
With dual-layer and VC1/AVC on release, HD-DVD definitely has the capacity advantage for much of 2006. However, as has been noted many times, that advantage is temporary. More than 90% of Blu-ray titles this year will be on BD-25 media, and probably 75% of those will use MPEG-2; next year, though, we could see 75% of new BD movies using AVC/VC-1, with 20-30% or more of new releases on BD50 media, depending on BD player adoption and Blu-ray disk sales.