Originally posted by: Jobel
There's still this bizarre idea that capacity = better for a movie playback platform. The plain and simple fact is that a VC1/AVC encoded movie will not need 50GB. Not even with extreme picture quality. Not even with the inclusion of lossless audio codecs.
Uhh, so, you believe the amount of data a disk can hold doesn’t matter? Is that why I have a two 200 GB hard drives on my computer?
There are many useful reasons to support a format that has higher storage capacity beyond simply watching a single movie. It’s ridiculous to simply toss aside such an advantage lightly. If we’re going to have some new format forced on us by electronics and entertainment companies, then I say we should get the one that is more versatile and will last longer in general.
Did I say ‘bandwith’?
It is the transfer rate that is higher on a Blu-ray disc, and that is what I meant by “faster” reading and burning. The reason the transfer rate is higher is because of the way data is written on the disks. A BD does not need to spin as quickly to be read as fast. That means for the same speed drive, a BD will get you more information in the same amount of time. This is a nice step beyond DVD and HD-DVD.
Originally posted by: Jobel
Blu-Ray most certainly is not the only proper option. HD-DVD is just as 'proper.' That's the whole point, the formats are interchangeable. Being an advocate of either is ludicrous.
There's still this bizarre idea that capacity = better for a movie playback platform. The plain and simple fact is that a VC1/AVC encoded movie will not need 50GB. Not even with extreme picture quality. Not even with the inclusion of lossless audio codecs.
Uhh, so, you believe the amount of data a disk can hold doesn’t matter? Is that why I have a two 200 GB hard drives on my computer?
There are many useful reasons to support a format that has higher storage capacity beyond simply watching a single movie. It’s ridiculous to simply toss aside such an advantage lightly. If we’re going to have some new format forced on us by electronics and entertainment companies, then I say we should get the one that is more versatile and will last longer in general.
Originally posted by: Jobel
At the end of the day, the Bluray discs have so far delivered disappointing image quality compared to HD-DVD. I think that speaks for itself.
According to what objective standard? Image resolution? Visual compression? Frame rate? If so, those elements are decided by the type of codec used and the way it is used, not the disc format.
Even then, I don’t quite understand your attacks on Mpeg-2. Maybe it is disappointing as you say, but I’m guessing your sources on that are not analytical. I could be wrong and Mpeg-2 could truly be as inferior to VC-1 as you claim and, if it is, I’m willing to be educated on those technical details.
Either way, Blu-ray players handle all of the same codecs that HD-DVD players can work with. It is the content providers that decide to use the Mpeg-2 codec when placing the actual data on the Blu-ray discs, not the discs or the players. At the very most, Blu-ray is not a mature technology yet and you’re expecting too much, too soon. It won’t be long at all before it uses other codecs if they truly offer so much more.
Originally posted by: Jobel
Bandwidth between the two is pretty much the same actually.
At the end of the day, the Bluray discs have so far delivered disappointing image quality compared to HD-DVD. I think that speaks for itself.
According to what objective standard? Image resolution? Visual compression? Frame rate? If so, those elements are decided by the type of codec used and the way it is used, not the disc format.
Even then, I don’t quite understand your attacks on Mpeg-2. Maybe it is disappointing as you say, but I’m guessing your sources on that are not analytical. I could be wrong and Mpeg-2 could truly be as inferior to VC-1 as you claim and, if it is, I’m willing to be educated on those technical details.
Either way, Blu-ray players handle all of the same codecs that HD-DVD players can work with. It is the content providers that decide to use the Mpeg-2 codec when placing the actual data on the Blu-ray discs, not the discs or the players. At the very most, Blu-ray is not a mature technology yet and you’re expecting too much, too soon. It won’t be long at all before it uses other codecs if they truly offer so much more.
Originally posted by: Jobel
Bandwidth between the two is pretty much the same actually.
Did I say ‘bandwith’?
It is the transfer rate that is higher on a Blu-ray disc, and that is what I meant by “faster” reading and burning. The reason the transfer rate is higher is because of the way data is written on the disks. A BD does not need to spin as quickly to be read as fast. That means for the same speed drive, a BD will get you more information in the same amount of time. This is a nice step beyond DVD and HD-DVD.
Originally posted by: Jobel
Blu-Ray most certainly is not the only proper option. HD-DVD is just as 'proper.' That's the whole point, the formats are interchangeable. Being an advocate of either is ludicrous.
I’m advocating that one format is superior to the other. What is “proper” for individual people is another matter entirely. Just for me, personally, I want Blu-ray to be the dominant format since that will make my life easier if that’s the format I choose to go adopt (which is where I am leaning). Otherwise, I have no other fondness for either the Blu-ray or HD-DVD formats, if that’s what you were implying.
You on the other hand are attacking Blu-ray technology before it has even had a chance to mature and in unfair ways (codecs). So, who exactly here is the one being a “ludicrous” advocate?
Oh, and boris is right about the copy protection nonsense. But, I’m not personally afraid of it. It won’t be too long before it is bypassed and cracked. After that the entertainment industry should be too afraid to alienate its average customers by ever removing functionality from certain HD-DVD or Blu-ray players. Is called free market economics.
If entertainment companies insist upon making access to their products so difficult for average people, we will only be more inclined to go through bootleg and other “illegal” sources. In that case the movie industry will die out.
As for Blu-ray being worse than HD-DVD in terms of copy protection, that is potentially true, but they probably won’t implement every possible feature. Even if they did, its not that much worse compared to HD-DVD.
Otherwise, the “region codes” for Blu-ray seem to embrace simplicity more than DVD. There are only three:
A North America, South America, East Asia except for China
B Europe and Africa
C China, Russia and other countries