Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems Bob Stuart Slams HD-DVD & Bluray

Some quite interesting comments in this thread.

[devil's advocate mode on]

For years people in the HiFi fraternity have been saying "Listen to the music and not the HiFi.It's only a means to an end." When the public show more interest in the program content than the video quality, we now criticise them for lack of judgement.

[devil's advocate mode off]

the World Cup may open up HD to a wider audience in the UK...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4834322.stm


Tom

Daniel,

I will be jumping in to both formats - already got a bunch of discs on pre-order and am now looking for a source for the players (I'm in the UK so need to export from the US).

Malcolm, you are absolutely right - the content is the most important aspect, however the impact of that content can be "lessened" by poor presentation, and in particular when that content is displayed on a large screen. HD video has the opportunity to remove many of the bottlenecks of DVD and allow us to go to large(r) screen projection without compromise to image quality. I find the (often poor) quality of DVD distracts me from my enjoyment of the material.

My audio system is based around a Mark Levinson Reference setup, Revel Salon speakers and TacT digital room-correction - a very capable system, and yet I still derive a huge amount of pleasure from the same material through my PC speakers when working. It's the content that is important to me.

However, I believe our eyes see problems more readily than our ears hear them, for instance lossy movie soundtracks have thus far not been a problem for me (though I am looking forward to lossless), but compression artefacts in SD material, drive me to distraction. DVDs have improved immensely from their earliest releases but the bitrate limits still conspire against them.

Having enjoyed HD DVHS material in my cinema I know how good HD looks compared to the best SD material, which is why I am so excited about the new formats and will be supporting them from day one.

Cheers,

Mark

The irony here is the "Blades of Grass" headline. On typical OTA broadcast these blades are usually the first victim of aggressive noise reduction and as soon as the camera moves they smear into an homogenous green blur.

Still, anything that gets consumers excited about the idea of HD is good and sports is always a good hook.

Mark.

I'm surprised you guys are bothered by compression artifacts with DVD. I hardly ever notice any. I just enjoy the film. Now on the other hand watching Satellite TV the artifacts are all over the picture in every scene on the SD stations. Some are better than others because of less compression. Even some of the HD channels have a ton of compression and on some days don't look much better than SD or they look like DVD resolution. So I think you can understand where my perspective comes from. I haven't seen DVHS. I never bothered to buy it cause I figured it would eventually be another useless component. Maybe I would be thinking differently if I had experienced DVHS? I'll let you know after I see HD DVD.

Cheers,

Ron

Ron,

DVHS was always going to be a temporary format, but I now have a collection of around 60 D-Theater movies and a whole bunch of OTA HD recordings and have been enjoying them for the past couple of years and will continue to do so until they are replaced over time by the new formats. What it very clearly demonstrated was how good high bit rate mpeg2 could be. And there is every expectation that the new formats will be even better...

OTA broadcasting is a poor advertisement for HD, IMO, as there is a conflict of interest between quality and quantity (more channels and consequently lower bitrates = more revenue opportunity for the broadcasters).

You've seen yourself that SD DVD is better the OTA SD; it will be the same with HD discs vs OTA HD. If you want high quality HD, the new formats will be the best opportunity to get it...

Cheers,

Mark

Further debate on this subject here....

http://www.dtg.org.uk/news/news.php?class=countries&subclass=0&id=1602

Mark, you might want to have a word with Elliot at PJ-HiFi . He'll be sourcing hardware into the UK for both formats. For HD DVD he'll be doing the A1 for �500 and the XA1 for �650. Prices are inclusive of the shipping and import duty//VAT…etc. He's a good chap, very reliable. Powerbuy thread here at AVTalk though it looks like you'll need to be quick if interested. I'd probably get one form him myself if I had the means to view hi-definition a this time.


Heck, I'm bothered by them and I'm still stuck with a 32inch interlaced CRT display! Some discs are better than others of course, as I am sure will remain the case with HD discs. Titles are only going to be as good as the talent of those doing the mastering and compression.

Keep in mind, this is what I think, which could be completely opposite of what M might do. They don't consult me as to what they should do. That's definitely a good thing, as they are better at marketing than I am

I think it is unlikely (sorry).

With HDMI capabile of handling an 8-channel bitstream I think there's little impetus to create a proprietary transport solution. I'm not saying it can't be done, I just think the price is too dear and limits the audience of their products.

It's too bad you feel that way, I do wonder if there's a relationship between screen size, and wanting to go to a High Def optical solution.

I definitely want to go HD for videos, and I'm at the low end of front projection with an 80" wide screen. I see a huge difference between SD content scaled and HD content.

Cheers,

Thats probably why you see them. Bright picture...eyes respond to it easier! With a projected image on a screen I have my image brighness set at cinema levels. My eyes don't notice it as much. Plus I'm using an LCD projector and the response time is slower and that might mask some of what your seeing. Just a guess of coarse. I do remember when I was using a smaller screen and my picture was very bright that I could see more artifacts but that was with earlier DVD's.

Ron

Dan,

Elliot will be supplying some kit for my new cinema so I'll ask him to add me to the list. Thanks for the tip!

Mark

I guess that I am one of the lucky ones, I have both the source and a couple of HD-DVD's (Phantom of the Opera and Serenity). My system is comprised of the following: G68ADV, DSP speakers, a Sony Ruby projector and a DVDO VP30. Here are my initial impressions : The picture is very good, however, I was left feeling somewhat disappointed, expecting a much bigger improvement (my screen size is 132", 16 X 9). I guess I have reached that point of diminishing returns or maybe the DVDO is not the best scaler for the Ruby. SD DVD's upscaled through the VP30 and played through the Ruby were very, very good. The Toshiba A1 with high def material probably gives you a 12-15% increase in sharpness (this is subjective, of course).

The Toshiba A1 player is very impressive, seems to be well-built and the sound and picture on SD DVD's is definitely first rate. Earlier this year I had picked up a Denon 3810 to check out the video using the player's HDMI output. The Toshiba is a much better player and costs less as well.

I am slightly concerned about the audio on Phantom. It sounds wonderful on the SD version played at 79 on the G68. When I put in the HD version, I have to up the volume to 89 to approach the same sound level. I don't know if this is an adjustment in some obscure menu or if this is just the level that Phantom was mastered. I have not watched Serenity yet, I plan to this evening, so I check to see what volume is needed for that disc. I post findings along the way.

Rudy