2005 HDTV Report, Part 11: High Definition DVD

[Rodolfo]

This part summarizes the main aspects of Hi Def DVD, such as formats, studio support, types of discs, competition from China, introduced models, copy protection, audio and video codecs, etc. The complete review of the State of the High Definition DVD Technology has been covered in an article I recently wrote for the DVDetc magazine, please consult www.hdtvetc.com for access to that information, they also have an online service. Regarding video, both groups/formats (Blu-ray and HD-DVD) selected MPEG-2, MPEG-4 H.264, and VC-1 (originally known as Microsoft's WMV-9 and VC-9) as mandatory video codecs for players; discs would have to be encoded in at least one of them. VC-1 is now an open standard and was voted by 19 companies from the DVD Forum steering committee as best in picture quality. According to Microsoft, the company was to remain neutral regarding format support, and we are starting to see differently lately (4Q05) due to the networking capabilities and copy protection features of HD DVD. Regarding audio, HD DVD and Blu-ray groups approved Dolby
Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 as mandatory for HD players; pre-recorded discs must include at least one of the formats, at the election of the content provider. Later, the DVD Forum decided to include also Dolby Digital +... (more in the article). Several companies announced enhanced HD products such as combo discs and high capacity HD discs. With the introductions from JVC and Toshiba movie buyers will save when purchasing a combo disc, play it as SD on today's DVD players, and later play it as HD in their future HD DVD player. Production costs and manufacturing are similar to DVD; studios and distribution chains would also be benefited when not dealing with two versions of the same movie. Last year at CES I met with a Chinese manufacturer of the EVD player, the Chinese Hi Def DVD, the company was one of the nine Chinese electronics manufacturers that made an EVD industry alliance in 2003 to develop and promote EVD players. EVD is not alone anymore; the Chinese industry has grown to four formats now. The four formats use red laser: High-Definition Videodisc (HDV), High-Definition Versatile Disc (HVD), Enhanced Versatile Disc (EVD), and in November 2004, the Forward Versatile Disc (FVD) was introduced in Taiwan. Are you ready for another format war?

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[holoman]

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