Industry Insiders Q&A Thread: only Questions to insiders please - Page 85  

I believe it was already stated why it was delayed. I think they did a new encode to fit a True HD track, if I'm not mistaken.

I thought it was waiting around for IME....

It's been as released from the start. No additions/changes. We just wanted it to be done right. The IME code for all the titles has been the most hectic part, so that may have been it, but I can't say for sure. Anyway, here it comes!!!

Cjplay.

Thanks for the info.

On an unrelated question, do you have any knowledge of how Warner Bros. Japan is handling their releases? We just received word of the 11/23 release of Brave Story over there (3 DVD editions plus an HD DVD and Blu-ray release all on the same day) but getting information on what they're using for encoding, etc is pretty hard unless you have direct connections to the studios.

Hopefully WB in the US will pick it up, I'd love to hear your opinions on a title like that for authoring since it's unlike most animation that Warner Bros. has done for the domestic market.

Yo Ben,

Do you know if the Serenity HD DVD to be released in Germany will use that “recent master†or a different master?
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...53#post8464453

If you are still having shoulder problems, PM me.

amir/ben,

can you discuss any work that might be ongoing to improve/enhance the vc-1 standard, eg, add new profiles beyond the simple, main and advanced, addition of cabac, etc?

i realize the current version only just was released in feb 2006, but i'm just curious if any changes to the standard might be forthcoming in line with constantly improving your encoder/encoding suite.

talk, what use of bd-j are you most excited about and can't wait to be put to use on bd?

tom/kjack,

is there any chance that within 2007 timeframe we could see standalone bd/hd dvd portable players? in car players? will the current broadcom/sigma products allow for such an ambitious product this soon or is there still much work to be done in optimizing soc solutions to meet the demands of these high def formats?

cj, i doubt you wil answer, but i don't want you to feel left out :D

what are some exciting titles coming out this holiday season that you yourself can't wait to see hit the shelves...things we don't yet know about ;)

on the bd side, does bd use mpeg2 synchronization layer? if not, how is synchronization achieved?

Depends how long you want the batteries to last. :)

Not sure where you're coming from here. I have no dog in this fight other than to say that Don is a well-respected professional colleague.

My company supports both blue-laser formats. We have customers on both sides.

And if it is compression you're talking about I can assure you that MPEG-2 at sufficient bitrate is indisguishable from H.264/AVC or VC-1. As a member of MPEG and the JVT, I am an expert. Despite all the hocus pocus and hao-do Ju-Ju you hear from other parties about deblocking filters and what not; give it a rest.

The use of MPEG-2 is a pragmatic choice based on today's encoder technologies and the need to get the format launched. Microsoft has invested tremendous energies to make their VC-1 encoder come up to snuff. Just now we are seeing Panasonic's H.264/AVC encoding capabilities come into fruition.

It'll all come to pass. Just give it time.

Is BMW/Mercedes/Porsche going to pay? (You can notice my affinity for German cars....).

I guess I would ask the counter-question: what would be the viewing conditions? If the back seat could it really make sense for an HD display given the viewing conditions and contrast ratio? Maybe, maybe not. It certainly wouldn't be in the front seat.

Might there be a new SW platform totally different from BD or HD DVD that's used in cars of the future? Imagine something with a hard drive or flash ROM that's totally downloadable. Imagine the auto companies coming up with a new SW stack to compete with BD or HD DVD.

:D

I was thinking more in terms of if this is the replacement format, how will we be able to view when on the road...i certainly am not going to be buying an sd dvd in addition to a hd dvd ... so not concerned about the hd experience when on the road :p

longer than my wife can carry on a conversation in one sitting :D

Me: Let me know if I turn right, go straight or go left up ahead.
My wife (navigating with map): Go left back there.

Zipping down country roads south of Limerick trying not to scrape the stone wall on my left or the rear view mirrors of the oncoming farm equipment on my right (this road can't be more than 12 feet wide and the speed limit is 100 km/h).....

Town up ahead. Slowing now, 100 km/h, ....80 km/h, ....60 km/h, ....50 km/h, ..... T-intersection and stop sign up ahead.

Come to the stop. Road goes left. Road goes right. Pub dead in front of me.

Me: Which way?

My Wife (with the map): Well, we definitely don't want the road to the left.

Me: So, ....I go right?

My Wife: I don't think so, that wouldn't be the right way.

Me: ?!?!

Me: There are people behind me.

My Wife: Well, we definitely don't go left.

Me: You want me to turn around or go in reverse?

My Wife: We've been there, dear! Don't be a jerk.

Me: So I go right, right?

Wife: No.

Me: I am going right.

My Wife: OK suit yourself.

...about a mile down the road....

My Wife: Aha! We go left there, I thought this would be the right way since the other way was wrong.

Amirm,

I am using the xbox 360 vga cable to connect my 360 to my dlp projector, to watch movies and stuff and I have noticed it is a bit sharper in terms of picture quality i would say equal to the sharp ness of hdmi, my question is is the picter quality sharper when running through the vga cable vs. the component when playing hd dvds

Cjplay: do you know what was the ABR of the other studios?

I've heard that Uni's DD+ streams are 1.5Mbits. And the TrueHD's are like 5.5Mbits. Subs and stereo tracks are the same, though. Toss them into a PC and see for yourself. I can't give the BR's of UHE titles for the same reason as Warner. NDA is my least favorite acronym...

Cjplay.

Sept. 26th and Oct 10th's release lists made me cry. We worked so hard on many of those releases, then to see them come out in droves like that made us really happy. Especially for you guys. I hope you like Corpse Bride, but Batman took the most time to get right. Anyway, enjoy!!

Cjplay.

If Memory-Tech in Japan did the first encode, there's a chance we will use it as well. As for the rest and the release schedule, I've not seen it for the US. It's possible MT could do the US authoring. Again, this is all "possibly".

Cjplay.

thanks, cj.

from what we've heard from others who got to see bb, i'm sure we're in for a treat...can't wait!

now my wallet on the other hand...this week it finally got a breather since i picked up backdraft last week...good thing as the following weeks are going to be quite jam packed.

i wish there was some setting on the players that permitted you to see exactly what was going on at any given moment, eg, bitrates, etc

tom, is there some yet undiscovered way to get into a super secret screen on the tosh players that might permit the broadcom chip to report its present decoding duty status? :)

And this is why I never let my wife drive anywhere :) If she is riding she falls asleep..To ask a question did you finally get there? And after about 15 minutes of that the correct direction would have been straight into the pub for a beer. :)

On a battery note for the most part anywhere that portable movie watching is a go for me (in the car, plane, work etc) I always have a power plug nearby so the battery life is unimportant,
In mobile application (for me) size matters most. Is there anything on the horizon to have a unit small enough? Or do you really need effectively a PC wrapped around them to (like a laptop) to decode it all?
On a secondary power note do these SoC/drives draw considerably more power that standard DVD players? Would hate to see a 10.4" portable HD or BD player come out that weighed 8 pounds with a 17 pound power brick.

There is a big difference between BD/HD DVD for portable and car applications. For cars, heat and vibrations are two major issues for the low distance of BD pick up to the media. Companies such as Alpine have expressed serious concern about being able to make a BD transport ever work in a car at full temperature range. Even regular DVD player is hard to keep working at full temp since life time of the laser diode is reduces substantially at temperatures reach and exceeding 100 degrees F which is not too uncommon inside a car in many parts of the country. Current auto DVD players from low-end companies have very high failure rate due to this issue (most probably fail in a couple of years in hot areas of the country).

For portable application, the problems are not as severe but suspension mechanisms may be necessary to keep the BD head from crashing into the media. HD DVD being very similar to current DVDs, doesn’t have this issue.

Note that some BD companies have claimed that they can overcome the above problems. We and a number of industry experts reserve judgment on such claims :).

As to power consumption, etc., yes these devices will use more power for probably a couple more generation of SoCs and drive electronics. The higher bitrates and more sophisticated algorithms mean higher power consumption. In this regard, MPEG-2 will use the least power, followed by VC-1 and then MPEG-4 AVC due to difference in the amount of MIPS required to decode video although higher bitrates for MPEG-2 could negate some of its advantage here.

Note that we did show a portable WMV-HD player design with help of Sigma Design at last year’s CES. Those of you who attended Joe Kane’s home theater cruise, saw a sample of it under Samsung brand. So I expect this to be possible for HD DVD but probably not marketable right now.

if this was answered please forgive me...

Amir or Tosh HD-DVD insiders.... why is BLACK CRUSH DVI still a nagging issue? many say it was working with firmware 1.2 and was later broken and still broken.

FWIW i can't calibrate my H78DC3 with Avia DVD using my HD-A1 however dont' have a "native hd-dvd" calibration disc. i can calibrate fine with my HTPC over DVI so it's not the PJ obviously.

I've asked this question before, but didn't get a straight answer (and I apologize if it's been answered elsewhere....I haven't check this thread lately).

But, does the Toshiba HD-A2 have the same chipset as the HD-A1?

AND, if it doesn't, will the HD-A2 likely have better picture quality?

I am not going to answer this specifically. But generally speaking, it is a different machine than first gen. It will have a different drive (think faster response time and different error correction logic) and electronics supporting it.

Better picture than HD DVD? Don't think that is possible :D.

Seriously, as with any new design, I am sure there will be a lot of discussion around the corner cases (RGB/YUV treatment, chroma bug, below black support, etc.) and other features such as upscaling and downscaling. But picture quality for HD DVDs driven at disc resolution should be comparable. Note that we are not involved in this part of the design so I am speculating.

Thanks, Amir.

I guess with the HD-A2 coming out soon, I'm sure we'll be reading plenty of A/B comparisons to the HD-A1. :)

Now, the new HD-XA2 coming sounds like it will definitely be the top performing HD DVD player to date.

Amir,
Can we expect a better 'error correction' tweek in the next firmware update for both A1 & XA1 or is this as good as it gets?
Thanks,
Will.

I honestly don't know Toshiba's plans here. They may be upgrading them still.