WMV HD
Dear Gary, love your magazine because you guys are CRAZY! I mean this in a good way. Examples: your desire for a DVD format that was LaserDisc-sized so the amount of compression wouldn’t have to be so high. Your championing of the obviously irrelevant D-VHS format. You have an enthusiast’s passion and for that I let slide some of the wackier positions your magazine takes. You were SO against DVD before the format was launched because you want things to be the best they can be. And to your credit, when you saw DVD was good you embraced it. I also applaud your in-depth coverage of topics far more arcane than your competitors would tackle (the HUGE amount of coverage of D-VHS for example). How is this “ancient” history (relatively speaking) relevant to this letter? We are on the cusp of a new paradigm shift and another format war––so informed consumers will be of paramount importance in deciding the outcome. I am speaking of the battle for a high-definition DVD format. To that end, I read and reread your interview with Microsoft (to be referred to as "M$" hereafter) Vice President Amir Majidimehr with GREAT interest and ALARM. Alarm because I think M$ is a blight on humanity. They dominate the world of personal computing with a second-rate operating system and bloated, poorly designed software. I find M$’s desire to dominate EVERY aspect of computing to be terrifying. They continually try to move into every market they see. I laugh (and then cry) each time I hear Bill Gates use the word “innovate.” To quote Andre the Giant’s character in The Princess Bride, “I do not think that word means what you THINK it means!” M$ has dominated the office environment with its suite of software. It has tried to overtake Apple in the publishing and educational markets. It has succeeded in destroying Netscape and is now trying to gain control of the Internet. Now M$ wants to take over media creation and distribution with the new standard WMV HD re-named “VC-9.” I did not see the demo you mentioned at last year’s NAB but I HAVE seen the Step Into Liquid and T2 DVDs projected at a friend’s house. They ARE impressive. I dispute Majidimehr’s claim that the hardware requirements for VC-9 aren’t stiff because they are VERY stiff! Just read the DVD package these titles come in! I also dispute his claim that the H.264 HD requirements can’t be done by PCs today because I have seen demos of that (on a Mac). I also seriously doubt that ANYTHING M$ does is of better quality than anyone else because their history of mediocre products indicates that this would be a FIRST for them. So I find it hard to believe Majidimehr’s claim that their audio compression is “twice” as good as any other company’s algorithm. Some of the claims he makes for VC-9 are almost word-for-word the claims made by others for H.264 (used from the Web to phones to HD, for example). How do we sort out all of these claims and counter-claims? What should be done is a double-blind test of material compressed at equal data rates with both systems––set up INDEPENDENTLY. Then unbiased results can be seen by all. Source material should be Sony’s HDCAM SR, which is currently the highest quality HD tape format available (4:4:4 color space and smallest compression ratio). I also fear a “standard” created by just ONE company (whoever it may be). Just because they are offering good licensing rates now doesn’t mean they’ll remain that way. Last I checked, they are still giving away a “free” Internet Explorer Web browser that is built-in to an expensive OS! Another thing mentioned in the article is VERY scary: the fact that the use license can be revoked at ANY time. I’m sure Disney LOVES that idea! I would be most displeased if my HD copy of Beauty And The Beast suddenly became unplayable because Mr. Eisner decided to put the title on moratorium. Gary, you’ve pulled off some coups in the past. If you can arrange this sort of a test and report on it, I would be inclined to believe the results. I’m sure you will try to do some sort of a shoot-out between Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD when the opportunity rises. I’m all for technological progress, and if VC-9 does turn out to be the best way to make HD DVDs, then I’ll be all for it. I get EXTREMELY annoyed every time I fire up my DirecTiVo and am forced to watch all of the artifacts. Digital cable is even worse! If DirecTV told me I had to buy a new box using VC-9––but I would receive an artifact-free picture because of it, I’d run over my grandmother in the street in my haste to buy one! But the HD battle is TOO important to take one company’s word for it. I look forward to WSR’s continuing coverage of this topic.
Kraig Bailey
Editor-In-Chief and Publisher Gary Reber Comments:
I have always advocated and fought for technology that will deliver “the best that it can” performance, whether video or audio. We are doing our best to stay on top of the technological offerings now in the forefront of standards adoption. The WC-9 codec has been adopted by the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) as an open standard, which has now been renamed “VC-1.” And as you pointed out, H.264 is a part of the MPEG-4 open standard being developed by a consortium of companies. Further, both HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc high-definition optical disc formats have adopted VC1 and H.264. We have seen A/B testing of VC1 compared to MPEG-2. VC1 is currently delivering the better video performance when compared to MPEG-2. Joe Kane, one of Widescreen Review’s long-time contributing editors and an acknowledged guru in the video industry, is working to bring further improvement to the VC1 codec, and we will feature a story by Joe on these developments and comparative results with other codecs in an upcoming issue.
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