Blu-ray Wins—But Don’t Drop The Ball Going Forward
Dear Gary:
Given my earlier criticism of both the Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD format camps for not meeting their potential, today I tip my hat to Sony and the Blu-ray Disc camp. The Blu-ray Disc camp exploited their technical, title, and retail advantages to win the HD Disc War. I’d like to expound on the technical advantage due to their unfinished business going forward.
In November and December 2006, you graciously published two of my letters in Widescreen Review in which I excoriated movie studios for not properly using their disc-storage capacity to attract more early adopter purchasers. I was hardest on the Blu-ray Disc camp because having more disc storage capacity, its promise was greater. At the time, I should have mentioned the importance of re-mastering film-to-video as well.
Pleasant Outcomes Since My Letters To Widescreen Review
In 2007, many more Blu-ray Disc titles included DTS-HD Master Audio or PCM audio tracks on 50-GB discs. Of all the things a studio can do to improve picture quality, remastering film-to-video is the most important. By summer 2007, most of the studios recognized that 2K dupe masters had too many limitations. Budget permitting, they bought or contracted to use more 4K telecine systems with state-of-the-art editing tools and began the arduous task of remastering film-to-video. Invisible to the public, 4K remastering decisions are a key reason many movie titles were announced, then postponed.
Since the third quarter 2007, Fox has produced the most titles with a combination of technical traits desired by early adopters:
• 4K re-mastered source tapes
• Advanced video codec
(MPEG-4 or VC-1) at 24
Mbps or higher
• Lossless audio (DTS-HD
Master Audio, PCM, or
Dolby TrueHD)
• 1080p special features
• 50 gigabyte discs
Hearing the chorus of praise for Fox Blu-ray Disc releases, the entire Blu-ray Disc movie studio camp is responding.
Purchasing mostly 50-GB Blu-ray Disc movies from Fox, Disney, Sony, and Lionsgate and 50-GB Blu-ray Disc movies from Warner, it was insightful to also see Fox using the highest bit-rates on most titles. In fact, the reference-quality Man On Fire release by Fox is a lesson to all studios releasing 145- to 160-minute movies, when for cost reasons, a second disc is undesirable. Couple MPEG-4- or VC-1-encoded video at 25 to 30 Mbps (average) with lossless audio and omit special features. At the end of the day, early adopters value movie fidelity more than special features. We early adopters will continue to heap praise on movie titles done right and special efforts by movie studios. Major kudos to Sony for remastering and re-releasing The Fifth Element the right way.
As a movie studio releasing titles on both HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc, Warner (and for a time, Paramount) had an additional constraint. Warner uses the VC-1 codec on all movies and includes higher quality audio on shorter movies. My perception is that Warner feared complaints/confusion from the HD DVD camp and chose not to exploit the extra capacity on 50-GB Blu-ray Disc over 30-GB HD DVD to deliver better video and audio. Or for cost reasons, Warner chose to create only one video dupe master for both the HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc markets. With the war ending, Warner will no longer have those constraints.
Unfinished Business
Many movie titles are still being released on Blu-ray Disc without the desirable combination of technical traits. And in the race to market during a disc format war, many 2006 to mid-2007 movies were sourced from 2K masters, MPEG-2 encoded, limited to Dolby Digital audio and/or placed on 25-GB Blu-ray Discs with little or no 1080p special features. Given that Bram Stoker’s Dracula was delayed, it should have been 4K remastered, not just MPEG-4 encoded with DTS-HD Master Audio on 50-GB disc. Other high profile movies that come to mind are Million Dollar Baby, Training Day, Enemy Of The State, Swordfish, The Usual Suspects, Dirty Dozen, and Courage Under Fire.
Given the high prices early adopters pay while driving a nascent market, we deserve better. All the movie studios owe a makegood to early adopters like Sony did for The Fifth Element. The aforementioned titles and more should be 4K remastered, MPEG-4- or VC-1-encoded at higher bit-rates, lossless audio included, and re-released on 50-GB disc. Furthermore, movie studios should include a Good Housekeeping-type labeling statement of best effort—words to the effect of “best possible film source was used in a state-of-the-art transfer to video,” to imply that this disc was sourced from the best possible film elements to 4K telecine transfer.
Lastly, to ensure that the Blu-ray Disc brand always represents a compelling upgrade from DVD, movies longer than 160 minutes should have special features placed on a second disc. Very long movies of 170 to 220 minutes should always be split onto two discs.
Early adopters would love to hear responses from the movie studios.
Thomas Dorsey
Editor-In-Chief and Publisher Gary Reber Comments:
I totally agree with your assessment and likewise hope that now that there is a single format the studios—and don’t forget the manufacturers of players—will rise to the opportunity to make every release “the best that it can be,” using the very best source components, codecs, and mastering skills they can muster to produce the full potential of the Blu-ray Disc format.
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