Recent developments in digital video promise the higher picture quality and greater image resolution of high definition (HDTV) from a regular DVD. For hobbyist videophiles and professional videographers alike, this is exciting news. More and more of us are using high definition video camcorders, and we’re hoping to fill up more and more home theatre HDTV LCD or plasma widescreens with the best looking imagery possible.
Up to this point, it has been a challenge to get our own HD content in front of an audience – be it friends, family or otherwise. The increased picture quality of HD equals increased data requirements that existing technology seemed unable to meet.
Clever videographers could utilize computer hard drives, or even integrate a portable gaming device, to help playback and screen HD video, but putting HD on a regular DVD would be a great way to go!
So, it’s exciting news, but entirely predictable.
The major Hollywood studios and their aligned manufacturers have been fighting over which format is best for HD delivery for years, and the battle lines were drawn as clearly and distinctly as possible. There is to be no compatibility between the formats. There are huge differences in storage capacities and added functionality. Content will not be released universally, and specific titles will only appear on specific formats.
The news means that those so-called format wars (between Blu-Ray advocates and HD-DVD apostles) may have been for naught. That’s a real shame, as the confusion and uncertainty in the marketplace over the comparative benefits of the two competing formats has left many consumers and desktop digital video creators with cold feet, thus putting a drag on the development of effective high def distribution options.
But now, newly-exhibited optical disc recorders from Toshiba and Matsushita (Panasonic) are recording high-definition TV to conventional DVDs, something we were told could never be done. What was once impossible is now called HD REC and/or AVCREC. HD REC comes from the DVD Forum; AVCREC comes from the Blu-ray Disc Association. As you might expect, Toshiba's HD REC and Panasonic's AVCREC formats are incompatible.
The impossibility was because conventional DVDs didn't seem to have the capacity to hold an HD movie. A normal DVD holds around 4.7 GB of data per layer; an HD DVD disc can hold 15 GB and a Blu-ray Disc 25 GB.
But new processing chips and compression algorithms are available that can transcode video in real time into a much more efficient and space-saving format. (We’ve talked about video formats, compression schemes and bandwidth requirements before in DV Or Not DV; briefly, most of today’s TV is encoded at MPEG-2, while these newer formats utilize MPEG-4, AKA, AVC.)
HD REC lays down a 4 Mbps (megabits per second) MPEG-4 AVC stream, while AVCREC in the Panasonic machines records at a higher 5.7 Mbps. Ironically, that should mean a better picture (from higher compression) but also less recording space (from greater data) on each DVD.
The manufacturers say that the new formatted discs and compatible machines can deliver about eight hours of HDTV from a single-sided Blu-ray Disc using MPEG-4 AVC – or roughly four times the amount of video than was possible with MPEG-2. But the format also makes it possible to store about two hours of HDTV on a conventional DVD.
When the enhanced DVD technology hits the marketplace with new-generation machines from Toshiba, Panasonic, Sony and the like, it’s not certain when – or if - it will turn up in cheaper, DVD-only recorders. More likely is an initial slew of high priced, leading edge products – followed by the always anticipatable lowering of prices and broadening of offerings that comes with wider acceptance.
So the electronics giants have another war on their hands, but while they do battle over the new formats, other approaches to HD on DVD are emerging or have already emerged, so consumers are not necessarily caught in the middle.
Pinnacle Systems, as just one example, already offers AVCHD compression tools in its editing programs that let users burn their completed HD video to standard DVD media that can be played back by the latest HD or Blu-ray machines.
There’s also VMD (Versatile Multilayer Disc) that increases a disc capacity by adding more recording layers. A multilayer VMD disc can store about 30GB of information, about equivalent to HD DVD. FVD (Forward Versatile Disc) also adds recording layers and an advanced compression system to enable high-def recording on a DVD-like disc. The HD-DVD itself has recently been specified as a triple-layer disc, pushing its capacity to 30GB as a result.
There’s even a CH-DVD (China High Definition DVD), with specifications for a slightly different approach to hi def delivery.
No, you don’t have to go to China to watch high definition. It’s been a long, slow boat ride but HD delivery using existing media is coming.
Up to this point, it has been a challenge to get our own HD content in front of an audience – be it friends, family or otherwise. The increased picture quality of HD equals increased data requirements that existing technology seemed unable to meet.
Clever videographers could utilize computer hard drives, or even integrate a portable gaming device, to help playback and screen HD video, but putting HD on a regular DVD would be a great way to go!
So, it’s exciting news, but entirely predictable.
The major Hollywood studios and their aligned manufacturers have been fighting over which format is best for HD delivery for years, and the battle lines were drawn as clearly and distinctly as possible. There is to be no compatibility between the formats. There are huge differences in storage capacities and added functionality. Content will not be released universally, and specific titles will only appear on specific formats.
The news means that those so-called format wars (between Blu-Ray advocates and HD-DVD apostles) may have been for naught. That’s a real shame, as the confusion and uncertainty in the marketplace over the comparative benefits of the two competing formats has left many consumers and desktop digital video creators with cold feet, thus putting a drag on the development of effective high def distribution options.
But now, newly-exhibited optical disc recorders from Toshiba and Matsushita (Panasonic) are recording high-definition TV to conventional DVDs, something we were told could never be done. What was once impossible is now called HD REC and/or AVCREC. HD REC comes from the DVD Forum; AVCREC comes from the Blu-ray Disc Association. As you might expect, Toshiba's HD REC and Panasonic's AVCREC formats are incompatible.
The impossibility was because conventional DVDs didn't seem to have the capacity to hold an HD movie. A normal DVD holds around 4.7 GB of data per layer; an HD DVD disc can hold 15 GB and a Blu-ray Disc 25 GB.
But new processing chips and compression algorithms are available that can transcode video in real time into a much more efficient and space-saving format. (We’ve talked about video formats, compression schemes and bandwidth requirements before in DV Or Not DV; briefly, most of today’s TV is encoded at MPEG-2, while these newer formats utilize MPEG-4, AKA, AVC.)
HD REC lays down a 4 Mbps (megabits per second) MPEG-4 AVC stream, while AVCREC in the Panasonic machines records at a higher 5.7 Mbps. Ironically, that should mean a better picture (from higher compression) but also less recording space (from greater data) on each DVD.
The manufacturers say that the new formatted discs and compatible machines can deliver about eight hours of HDTV from a single-sided Blu-ray Disc using MPEG-4 AVC – or roughly four times the amount of video than was possible with MPEG-2. But the format also makes it possible to store about two hours of HDTV on a conventional DVD.
When the enhanced DVD technology hits the marketplace with new-generation machines from Toshiba, Panasonic, Sony and the like, it’s not certain when – or if - it will turn up in cheaper, DVD-only recorders. More likely is an initial slew of high priced, leading edge products – followed by the always anticipatable lowering of prices and broadening of offerings that comes with wider acceptance.
So the electronics giants have another war on their hands, but while they do battle over the new formats, other approaches to HD on DVD are emerging or have already emerged, so consumers are not necessarily caught in the middle.
Pinnacle Systems, as just one example, already offers AVCHD compression tools in its editing programs that let users burn their completed HD video to standard DVD media that can be played back by the latest HD or Blu-ray machines.
There’s also VMD (Versatile Multilayer Disc) that increases a disc capacity by adding more recording layers. A multilayer VMD disc can store about 30GB of information, about equivalent to HD DVD. FVD (Forward Versatile Disc) also adds recording layers and an advanced compression system to enable high-def recording on a DVD-like disc. The HD-DVD itself has recently been specified as a triple-layer disc, pushing its capacity to 30GB as a result.
There’s even a CH-DVD (China High Definition DVD), with specifications for a slightly different approach to hi def delivery.
No, you don’t have to go to China to watch high definition. It’s been a long, slow boat ride but HD delivery using existing media is coming.
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