Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems BR Is the King OF HD.

Thanks guys for some enjoyable reading.

best regards,
Jerry

PS3 sold over 500k units in the US as of yesterday.

I spent yesterday going through my small collection of Blu-Ray films with my new Sony BDP-S1. Not one of them came close to the average picture quality that we are seeing with HD-DVD.

The encoding was generally clean and there was a pleasing absence of the typical MPEG2 artefacts, though on a number of discs the FBI warning was a mess of i-frame pulsing (but that's nitpicking as it's the main feature I am interested in, but it does leave one a little concerned about what to expect). I did notice some macro blocking and aliasing in Ultraviolet. But as I say, generally the films were pretty clear of artefacts. The only artefacts I see while watching HD-DVD are attributable to my DLP projector.

But my main feeling with the films was that they never look as sharp or detailed as HD-DVD and so every film feels soft - it's almost like the Blu-Ray films are not encoding the full resolution in order to make the most of the bitrate they have... There is also a kind of artificiality with most of the titles - HD-DVD can look very smooth and filmic but Blu-Ray seems to be a level back from that.

Today I'll see if I have any D-Theater titles which I also have on Blu-Ray and see how the higher bit-rate of the tapes stacks up.

The player itself is very nice though - quick startup times and discs play quickly. Biggest downside for me is no RS232 control so now I have to build up the remote codes for my Crestron system.

If I had not seen HD-DVD then I suspect I would have been happier with Blu-Ray, but I have, and so now I am spoiled. This makes me even more concerned about the format war, because if Blu-Ray wins without being forced to improve their image quality then we all lose...

I've ordered a couple of the VC-1 releases to see how they look. I suspect this should raise Blu-Ray's image quality to that of HD-DVD but until we see all releases using the newer codecs my image quality ratings are as follows:

HD-DVD: 10/10
Blu-Ray: 7/10

Cheers,

Mark

Is anyone going to the Amir presentation at PJ's on Wednesday? I am going to the 4pm presentation. I believe that there are still some free places for this. There are details on AVForums here .

The issue with first wave of BD titles were the MPG2 but as of recently the newer releases are on par or even better then HD. I will name a few: Ice Age the Meltdown,Kingdom of Heaven: The Director's Cut,The Searchers,League of Extraordinary Gentlemen,Monster House,Mission Impossible III,Tears of the Sun. Theses are the titles I bought and although some are MPG2 but still it looks good.BD with my system is a knock out and mind you I have both system. Finally why does Scott has so many of his movies have directors's cut?...
People for some reason go with VC-1 as a better codec then MPG2 ,but to my eyes I prefer the MGP2 and if you read this guy's review you agree with me.
http://Bluray.highdefdigest.com/worldtradecenter.html

I'll grab MI:III as I have the VC-1 HD-DVD so will be a great comparison for the MPEG2 Blu-Ray.

Mark

"I tend to find MPEG-2 gives an image a slightly coarser, harder-edged look. Noise is a tad bit more pronounced versus VC-1, which gives off a smoother veneer. "

He confirms my observations above... MPEG2 looks artificial compared to VC-1...

Mark

does the ps3 and stand alone Sony player support the advanced audio codecs out-of-the-box?...

I know the PS3 does- it has HDMI 1.3 out of the box. So I ask my cynical question again:

With seemingly so much at stake in the format, look who undercuts most of the market place with a machine that not only can play back the discs, but can play them back with the newest spec (1.3, which means 1080p) and by the way, its also a world class gaming system that people want badly...

I say:
"Do one thing and do it well."
"Jack of all trades, master of none. "

"Do or do not, there is no try"

btw- my feelings now having lived with the HD DVD for a little while- at least when comparing to HD Sat broadcasts (I know these are res and bitrate contstrained) and also comparing to the HD content on my Kscape- it comes with two HD documentaries I would say that VC-1 is much more in line with my preferences. I completely agree with the assessment Mark quoted above. I don't mind seeing film grain in an image, if thats how the original film/ movie/ is meant to look. But when its digital noise- thats not good. The Kscape gives a good chance for comparison because until I saw the image off the HD DVD I would have sworn to all of you that this was the best HD image I've seen. In just about every way the VC-1 is more in line with what I like. What I prize most of all is what I would call image stability- that is an absence of noise, ringing and ghosting, colors not smearing, details looking clean and crisp when appropriate. I would also add that I am a sucker for color depth.

I still think DVD is the workhorse for the consumer marketplace, but I have forever been ruined by HD DVD- or probably more correctly VC-1. I am curious to see how H.264 stacks up. I think if you got a BR movie that is encoded in VC-1 the resulting image should be very similar and the differences will come down more to the players and perhaps any bit rate changes- the BR should allow for an even greater bit rate... It should be better.

I still think both formats will join SACD and DVD-A as what I will call "curiosities" but for me just like with DVD-A which I enjoy, I will now, thanks to Mark, enjoy HD DVD. If they ever come out with Star Wars or LOTR on these I will be very pleased!


best regards,
Jerry

PS3 does, however, there is no 5.1/7.1 analog output; so until M offers an HDMI input ....

Stand alone Sony player does not, yet!

Yes, yes, yes!

When I watch a movie I don't want to be constantly reminded that I am watching a lossy compressed format, which was always my experience with MPEG2 on DVD. With VC-1 I have yet to see the codec intrude in any obvious or negative way - any deficiencies can be attributed to the film master or the projector/scaler. This is the closest to the original film we have yet seen...

I see no reason why a Blu-Ray disc using VC-1 wouldn't also look as good and perhaps those attending the Amir Roadshow can ask him what his group is doing to encourage the Blu-Ray camp to adopt it...

Mark

With all these obvious reasons why people still buy BD players?.