VC-1 vs AVC/H.264 - First Impressions

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VC-1 vs AVC/H.264 - First Impressions

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dblbogey7

Suspended due to non-functional email address

29. July 2006 @ 05:01

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I just spent the last couple of nights on my SXRD with a few Japanese HD-DVD discs encoded in AVC.

Chronicles of Riddick - yes this is my 3rd Riddick disc and 2nd HD-DVD version!
http://us.yesasia.com/en/PrdDept.aspx/code-w/section-videos/pid-1...

Shinobi - Japanese historical/romance
http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-aa-77-7-49-en-15-shinobi-70-1...

Keith Jarrett's Tokyo Solo 2002 Concert
http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-af-77-3-49-en-15-keith%2Bjarr...

My opinion: The VC-1 version of Riddick still takes the prize but now only by a very very slim margin. The AVC comes up a wee bit soft in a few scenes and may be described as less detailed in some action sequences but is still a very satisfying experience. The AVC disc soundtrack is still top notch. Overall the PQ is still better than HBO-HD.

The PQ of the Shinobi disc is excellent as well. I got this disc because of a recommendation from a videophile website which I can't link to right now. Even without English subtitles the film is engrossing and visually rich - a similar experience to HOFD but with better PQ.

The Keith Jarrett disc was specifically for my audio system (hat tip to eatsushi). I tried both LPCM stereo and DTS 5.1 and the results were amazing - my B&W speakers definitely got a good workout. The PQ is as good as you can expect from a concert video.

Is AVC/H.264 ready for the big time? From what I've seen with these discs the answer should be yes.

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eatsushi

Senior Member

3 product reviews

3. August 2006 @ 06:08

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Thanks for the mini-review.

Regarding the HD-A1: Have you been using the analog outs instead of the digital coax? How would you compare the two? Do you have Dialogue Enhance ON or OFF?

Thanks in advance.

[ + quote]

"The emergence of a single, high-definition format is cause for consumers, as well as the entire entertainment industry, to celebrate."
-Craig Kornblau, president of Universal Home Entertainment Feb 19, 2008

dblbogey7

Suspended due to non-functional email address

3. August 2006 @ 17:10

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I'm using the analog output now as it sounds more "full-bodied" to me (Rotel pre-pro/amps and B&W speakers). I guess it will depend on your equipment. My Dialogue Enhance is also turned OFF as I get a few dropouts with the analog outs. With digital coax I set the DE on w/o problems. This thread on avs furums has been very helpful:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=640949

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dblbogey7

Suspended due to non-functional email address

4. August 2006 @ 04:30

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I just found this interesting discussion on VC1 vs AVC/H.264:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=706748

From post #24

Quote:
As a result, in test after test, AVC is softer in comparison to VC-1 at the same rate. Yes, you can dial up the bit rate very high, manually turn the filter off, and show good demos. But on real content with real space constraints, compression artifacts pop up, the filter kicks in to soften them, and you lose resolution.

From post #29

Quote:
No video codec running at BD or HD DVD optical rates can produce artifact free content for the difficult segments. At 20 Mbit/sec, we are talking about 50:1 compression so only 2% of the signal is representing the original! So the loop will kick in with AVC no matter what. And with it, resolution gets lost. Or you see compression artifacts as is the case with many Japanese AVC titles.

Probably explains my preference for the VC-1 Riddick compared to the AVC version.

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This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 4. August 2006 @ 04:37

dblbogey7

Suspended due to non-functional email address

10. August 2006 @ 05:35

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I got another Japanese HD-DVD in the mail yesterday - the region-free AVC encoded version of The Brothers Grimm:

http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-ad-49-en-15-brothers%2Bgrimm-...

This time the AVC encoding was IMO not up to par with a little more video noise and less detail in some scenes. I wonder if they used a different master or if it's an encoder issue.

For foreign HD-DVD's that don't have English subtitles I just found out that it's possible to download alternate subtitle streams using the player's ethernet port:

http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=414949&SiteID=1

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diabolos

Suspended due to non-functional email address

10. August 2006 @ 05:49

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Wow, I never thought about downloading more subtitiles. Thats somehthing DVD could never do!

Ced

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My Afterdawn page:
http://my.afterdawn.com/diabolos/

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