Just got back home and found 2 HD-DVD discs I ordered from HDNet in my mailbox. These are Best of Get Out! Vol 1 and Best of HDNet World Report Vol 1.
Even with the fatigue and jet lag after a 9-hour flight I could really appreciate the great PQ from these discs - sharp detail, great colors and prcatically no noise. The surprise is that these discs were encoded in MPEG2! Granted these were relatively short - no more than 90 mins - and video based programs shot with high-def cameras, the results were absolutely stunning. PQ is comparable and sometimes even better than HD nature and travel shows from from PBS-HD and inHD. It would be interesting to find out the bitrates used for the encoding. Also note that the soundtrack is plain DD and not DD+ or uncompressed PCM so more disc space can be used for the video. The discs are available only from the HDNet website www.hd.net.
In a few weeks I should be getting a couple of titles from Japan to see how H.264 compares to VC-1. We'll see how it goes.
Thanks for the feedback. I think video based material should have less problems with MPEG2 compared to film. I'm looking forward to your comparison of VC1 and H.264.
BTW off topic but from where was your 9-hour flight if you don't mind my asking?
MPEG-2 isn't a crappy codec, especially at high bit-rates. The problem with the Blu-ray movies is primarily that the film transfers where bad. Any "video" content should look great when compressed with MPEG-2 as long as the encoder and decoder are of good quality.
I see the thread already; Title Fight: AVC vs VC-1 :)
There's also some word going around the internet that Disney and Fox will use AVC instead of MPEG2 for its BD releases probably using the Panasonic facility. This is good news for BluRay.
Also can anyone confirm the rumor that the Sony BluRay player will be a rebadged Pioneer minus some connectivity features? I've pre-ordered the Sony but may consider spending the extra $500 if the additional features in the Pioneer are worth it.
@eatsushi: -Off topic- The 9 hour flight was from Maui - took my girlfriend for golf and snorkeling in Kapalua.
Quote:As mentioned at the beginning of this report, a few days before this review was posted I had the opportunity to visit Pioneer in Long Beach and get a sneak peak at their upcoming Blu-ray player. They had a sample of the Samsung, as well. I watched excerpts from several BDs using duplicate titles on both players, viewed side by side on matched Pioneer 50-inch 1080p plasmas.
In every case, the Pioneer produced a more detailed image. The difference was not night and day, but it did make the difference between merely acceptable and superb high definition. While there were a few instances where I felt that the Pioneer might actually have been a little too sharp (it will take test patterns to determine if this was the case), overall it did not appear to be. Rather I was starting to see the same sort of resolution from Blu-ray on the Pioneer that I expect to see from a premium HD format, and which looked like it could, with top grade program material, equal what I've seen from HD DVD in image quality.
I think the Sigma Designs SMP8630 chip will allow it to output 1080p directly. That plus the ability to stream 1080p content will make it attractive. If the Sony will be a rebadged Pioneer then I'll probably get the Sony.
@dblbogey7: Off topic - I'm sure you enjoyed Maui. We went to Kaanapali last year and had a blast. Any chance you'll be traveling to Japan?
Quote:It uses the new AVCHD format: a versitile encoding format that uses MPEG2 and H.264 encoding chips to create high definition video at bit rates up to 24 Megabits per second. The format is so versitile because the video can be stored on a DVD-R disk, a hard drive or flash media.
