News What high-definition will do to DVDs

The beeb talk to one of the head honchos at THX on the future of DVD content once new high density DVDs (either Blue-Ray of HD-DVD) take off:

First it was the humble home video, then it was the DVD, and now Hollywood is preparing for the next revolution in home entertainment - high-definition.

High-definition gives incredible, 3D-like pictures and surround sound.

The DVD disks and the gear to play them will not be out for another year or so, and there at are still a number of issues to be sorted out.

But when high-definition films do come out on the new format DVDs, it will profoundly change home entertainment.

For Rick Dean, director of business development for digital content company THX, a high-definition future is an exciting prospect.

He has worked on the Star Wars DVD trilogy, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles and Indiana Jones.

"There was a time not so long ago when the film world and the video world were two completely separate worlds," he told the BBC News website.

"The technology we are dealing with now means they are very much conjoined.

"The film that we see in theatres is coming from the same digital file that we take the home video master," he says.

But currently, putting a master feature film onto DVD requires severe compression because current DVD technology cannot hold as much as high-definition films demand.

"As much as you compress the picture data rate wise, you also take qualities away from the picture that we fight so hard to keep in the master," he explains.

"I would love to be able to show people what projects that we worked on really look like in the high-def world and I find it very exciting."

More here

Bring it on!

 

can't wait for my dvd collection to be worth 2p.

but i'm kinda creaming myself over this, lucky yanks & japs with their HD-TV.

 

Indeed

 

There's no lack of HD hardware in Europe. I have a HDTV. Just no content to watch on it, until 2006 when Sky start their HD service.

 

im in the same boat as goo hi-def tv not a whole not of content, only some (very crappy) things are in hdtv like nature shows and such
this is gunna suck, every non hi-def tv is gunna need a tunner that are not cheap

 

I can't wait, although I have never seen any HD stuff in real life, everything I read about it makes me wet myself in anticipation.

Sadly though, after having spent a small fortune on DVDs & 'special editions / limited editions etc.' I am not looking forward to replacing all my favourite films which will undoubtedly be re-released in 'super-duper' HD DVD box sets.

I wish we could get cash back for returning our old DVDs

 

Mr Lucas must be rubbing his hands together with glee!

Yet another chance to re-release all the Starwars films.

Again!

Edit: Which TVs are you guys using that support HDTV?

 

I've got a Pioneer PDP-434HDE

 

You have to be careful with the way 'HD ready' TVs are marketed. There isn't really a set standard here yet for what defines HD ready but basically it has to support HD resoloutions 1280x720(720p standard) and have an HDMI or DVI input which is HDCP (High Definition Copywrite Protected) compatible.

A list of LCD HD screens available in the UK can be found here:

http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=176212

A favourite choice at the moment is the Toshiba 32WL48 which is fully HD compliant and can be found for as little as £1200

 

check these trailers out for some examples of high def, so so nice.. esp the t2 dvd [click me]

 

I'm a yank with a Samsung HL-P5663W DLP HDTV. I've got it matched up with an HTPC and a digital HD cable box. I'm really looking forward to my first Superbowl with an HDTV. It's going to be great. Don't mean to rub it in.

GOO - Why buy an HDTV if you've got nothing to watch on it (well except DVD's). They'll have better cheaper models by the time programming is available in your area. I've only got a few channels in HD but they cover most of what I watch on TV.

My HTPC is a 1.18 TB DVD server across 5 hard drives. Finally got it running really well although a tad noisy at times - fixing that soon. Can't wait for HD DVD's to come out but my DVD server will probably be a thing of the past as storing all those HD movies will take up way too much space.
My question is - will it be worth it to re-buy all your old favorites in the HD format when it comes out? I'm sure the movie companies will try to convince you it's better but I guess that depends on the original source material and the HD transfer?

 

anything which really makes films look alot better is a good thing imo - they do get recorded in so so good quality, its nice for them to give that back

and wow - 98% compression from recording quality to dvd quality! thats intense, especially since DVDs are such good quality anyway!

 

Because I wanted a replacement for my old, noisy, fan cooled Philips plasma TV. The main reason I bought the Pioneer was due to the resolution and excellent colour & picture reproduction on SDTV and DVD, and the lack of cooling fans. The fact that it was HDTV ready and HDMI enabled was a bonus, and saves me having to 'upgrade' again for some time.

 

Tell me about it GOO. The way electronics go these days your always upgrading. It's nice to not have to once in a while. I've had my set since August and Samsung just released the model I had been waiting for but they kept delaying. It's the 5674. Thin bezel and better DLP chip. Overall I'm happy with my set. SD doesn't look all that great but HD is very very good.

 

A problem with HDTV that many people don't think about is what you can actually see. if you look at an actual tv set you can see paint marks scuffs and many other flaws because its pretty expensive to make a set thats put up and torn down all the time to begin with. as of now all of those flaws aren't noticable because of the lack of resolution. but with HDTV you will be able to see if theres a hair painted into the wall let alone poor brush strokes. also makeup has a similar problem at such high resolution. tricks used to get certain effects will now look fake and whole new techniques will have to be developed, and probably new products, to get over this. It would probably be good for the industry in the end, but during the transition alot of $ is going to be spent upgrading everything and creating finely detailed sets. and this $ is probably going to be passed onto the consumer eventually as well as a change in the pay of people that actually work at these jobs.
personally I could give a rats ass about having better resolution. it think whats out is fine, I would rather have people concentrate on developing better stories and scripts than flashy effects.

 

When you start complaining about a plasma, that may be a good time to exam how much your investing in electronics.

 

GOO has every right to complain about a plasma. When you look at cost compared to picture quality plasmas are the worst value tv you can buy.

I still want one though.

 

I just got a 50" plasma, and it is pretty darn sweet.

Some DVDs (such as the Star Wars trillogy) are a major dissapointment on it, because the quality just is not there (you can see the pixelation)

However other DVDs (such as LOTR) and the high-def content avalible from my cable provider rock this world, and make the entire thing worth it.

Using my cable service, I rented a movie the other night in high-def format (which isn't true theartre 16:9, but meh) and wow, it was incredible.

I can not wait for the format wars that will try to bring high-def dvds to my hdtv. Hopefully Sony will buck up and make a player that does both

 

LOTR Looks super fine on everyhing i have watched it on so far does HDTV Make a huge differance?

As for the upgrading thing, i tihnk its totally pointless upgrading to anything other than whats bog standard atm anyway, unless your really one of these people who demand the highest quality no matter whats on tv. The kind of person who buys a game not for the content but rather for the nice pretty graphics (which get boring after about 1 hour, and since the gameplay is a bit crap, then it gets put to one side, and thats £17 you have wasted). Its the same with graphics cards - people will happily upgrade to a X800 (or whatever) from a 9800 because the framerate in doomIII goes up by 20 and you can have one resolution up.

Its the biggest waste of money i know, bigger than these commercialised holidays such as valentines day for sure. People complain that its such a commericalised holiday, that they have to pay £30 for a bouquet of roses (or however much) - when they will quite happily buy a tv 4" bigger than there previous one (well, 15 to 19 i can understand, im talking big screens
), or as GOO said, Plasma screen to HDTV. Big waste of money imo!

edit: and that money could be given to a charity, or saved for your childrens futures (or similar)... so could there be a moral thing here... a selfish sort of thing.

I know a guy who buys no end of pointless upgrades for his computer (3200+ XP to 3600+ etc). His daughter stayed in the home town because they said they couldnt afford for her to live in uni accomodation.

How many people here complain about taxes while there doing the same ?
How many complain how much the royals are costing them when there doing the same ?
How many complain not enough big companies give to charity when there doing the same ?

im sure this wont go for everyone, and by no means am i saying i am perfect, (did i really need even my current PC ? no), but does it go for you ?

edit2: sorry for going so off topic

 

Its all down to people's interests though. If people are crazy about PC's they spend the money there, if its cars they are into then thats where the money goes.

People who are into home cinema then those extra few inches in screen size are what they want. A lot of people who overclock do it becuaset hey want to not because they need the extra perfromance. Plus screen size has to do with your room size too. My 28" widescreen has done me well but in my new place its honestly a bit small. 36" would be perfect.

Do we need HD? Do we really need colour TV when black and white does the same job?