Blu-ray Disc And HD-DVD Camps Missed The Memo
Dear Gary:
Introductions of the first HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc releases have been a resounding thud. Though both camps missed the “Product Introduction 101” memo, Sony’s Blu-ray Disc marketing team screwed up worst because they missed an opportunity to establish early preference over their rival. Blu-ray Disc including PCM audio to the detriment of video image quality is an absolute no-no, if for no other reason than it’s a harder sell in the showroom.
I was hugely disappointed to see Blu-ray Disc image quality only marginally better than upscaled SD DVD. Varying image quality from scene-to-scene is a hallmark of too much MPEG-2 compression. Unless there is a hidden MPEG-4 or VC-1 licensing fiasco, bonehead decisions by Sony disc marketing have cost them preference points with early adopters. Movie titles released on 25-GB discs with uncompressed 5.1 PCM audio should have screamed out to Blu-ray Disc product marketing to use a VC-1 or MPEG-4 video codec. Both Discrete Cosine Transfer codecs perform at least twice as good as MPEG-2.
HD DVD disc product marketing screwed up too. Since they used VC-1, they had bit space on a 30-GB disc to include both Dolby® Digital for backwards compatibility and DTS-HD™ or Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD Master Audio for forward compatibility. Until there is sufficient space for the highest quality image and sound with special features, put special features on a second disc !!!!!
Again, I am thankful that Widescreen Review reveals no Blu-ray Disc title merits a 4.5 picture quality rating while HD DVD already merits several and has even scored a 5.0 picture quality rating. Conversely, Blu-ray Disc has scored its first 5.0 audio quality rating, a feat HD DVD has yet to achieve.
I will not buy a Blu-ray Disc player or disc until the Blu-ray Disc camp switches to MPEG-4 or VC-1 codec-encoded movies on a 25 GB disc or manufactures 50 GB movie titles. I will not buy an HD DVD disc until the HD DVD camp includes an HD audio codec.
The good news––HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc players will soon remove image softening filters and include 1080p/24 output. Furthermore, more movies will be re-mastered with less edge enhancement and other artifacts. Then we’ll have an HD disc battle worth arguing about.
Thomas Dorsey
mailto:publisher@soulofamerica.com
Editor-In-Chief and Publisher Gary Reber Comments:
Don Eklund, Senior Vice President Advanced Technologies, Sony Pictures Entertainment Comments: Thanks for giving me the opportunity to respond. Mr. Dorsey makes many assertions about picture coding that are incorrect, as we demonstrated to your [WSR’s] staff during a recent visit. Any opinion that I can offer to Mr. Dorsey will undoubtedly be received as biased, but I hope that you [WSR] will take the opportunity to share your observations made at SPE. Each codec has its place, but none is clearly superior or more efficient than another, at least not in their current form.
Perhaps Mr. Dorsey will be receptive to the praise that Ridley Scott gave for the early version of Kingdom Of Heaven.
Editor-In-Chief and Publisher Gary Reber Comments: I realize that the serious enthusiast community has some anxiety about the current state of affairs with respect to the first titles and player released in the Blu-ray Disc format. I, based on perhaps a bit of insider perspective, believe that the true merits of the Blu-ray Disc format are yet to be appreciated, but soon will be. I believe that once the delayed first-generation reference players, particularly from Sony and Pioneer Elite, are introduced, this anxiety will cease. I think that the bit rate at which the three different codecs are run is critical to producing their very best picture quality. Each has its own “sweet rate” for optimized picture quality. I think that all of this will play out and the studios will settle on one or two video codecs optimized for their “sweet rate” and following that, Blu-ray Disc releases will show themselves to be every bit as good and consistent in quality as HD DVD releases, if not even more impressive. Once the studios and the player manufacturers master the execution of the respective formats, we will all appreciate the incredible picture and sound quality that both formats are capable of delivering. We need to be patient, while at the same time letting the format developers know our desires for “the best that it can be” in picture and sound quality as the formats evolve.
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