Honest Review of Toshiba A2 HD DVD Player

I started reading Tom Richmond's blog over at Tom's MAD Blog a couple of weeks ago and I have really enjoyed his posts. Tom is a very talented artist who does caricature drawings; he does a lot of work for MAD Magazine. Tom gives you the inside view of being a freelance artist and a lot of history on MAD all with a little bit of sarcasm and wit. (I recently picked up The New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain to improve my drawing skills from stick figure to, well, more human. I should ask Tom if he has heard of this book and what he thinks about it.)

Anyway, Tom recently posted a review of the second generation A2 Toshiba HD DVD player on his blog that I thought was a very honest review. It also sounds like he has a nice home theater setup so I think he's also got some good metrics to go by. All in all, it seems like he likes it and even has nice things to say about the image quality:

Of course, all that is just an aside when in comes to the really important thing… picture quality. As far as picture quality goes, it’s difficult to describe the difference between an HD DVD picture and even an upconverted regular DVD other than to say it’s incredible. The bigger your screen, the more you’ll notice the difference. The picture on a 42 inch plasma screen at 720p resolution is obviously tighter and clearer with an HD DVD, but get into the 50 inch range and it’s like night and day.

I used to work in the consumer electronic field and could tell you some interesting stories about this player - let's just say that it's more of a computer than high def DVD player. But it's at a decent price now of less than 400 bucks and has good image quality so I think it's a good deal for your home theater setup.

New X Box 360 Elite with HDMI Just a Pretty Paint Job

The reviews are starting to come in about the new X Box 36o Elite with the HDMI connection. Engadget posts about their test between HDMI 1080p and Component 1080p:

But to tell you how subtle it was, we didn't even notice it until we literally started flipping back and forth as fast as we could. Fast motion, spinning, action, all the rest -- it looks almost identical on both consoles.

The truth is you are going to have to know what you are looking for and have an advanced setup to see the differences. Going back and forth between HDMI and component on your 42 plasma (probably not calibrate properly) ain't going to get you there. Since most people aren't going to notice the difference then it's probably not worth going.

(Before you leave a comment and tell me that you can absolutely see the difference and that I don't know what I'm talking about, make sure to tell me that you can tell the difference in a CD recording at 128kbps and 192kbps with your iPod headphones and I'll be sure to send you a T-Shirt that says 'I Got Jacked at The F-Stop Blues' or some other clever saying to indicate you are delusional)

Interview with The HT Guys from The HDTV Podcast

Are you confused on whether to buy an LCD or Plasma HDTV? Are you still trying to figure out all of this 'HDTV' stuff? Then you need to tune into to the HDTV Podcast by the HT Guys. Ara and Braden tell you what you need to know when it comes to HDTV and provide great news and reviews every week. This is one of my favorite podcasts because I learn something new every week and really enjoy the format of the show.

Read on below for my interview with Ara and Braden where we talk about the LCD vs Plasma debate, the convergence of Apple and Microsoft in the living room, and their best value picks for a new HDTV. And remember to subscribe to their podcast!



Why did you start the HDTV Podcast and what's it all about?

We used to work for the sound department of SONY Pictures so we were really into this kind of stuff. Then Ara discovered podcasting and before long was downloading podcasts about all his interests. Then one day at lunch, Ara mentioned, in passing, that we should record our conversations on HDTV and release them as a podcast. We figured if we could get 100 listeners we'd keep doing it. About a month later we added Home Theater to the title. Now almost two years have gone by we have about 35,000 listeners a month. Its grown bigger than we ever
imagined. It's still strange when we get emails from halfway around the world; but with the Internet, we have a global audience.

I know you guys get asked this all the time: Plasma or LCD? What should someone looking for a new HDTV really be concerned about?

Don't be too married to a single technology. The TV you buy should be what's right for you, your environment, and your budget. If you want to go big nothing is going to beat a rear projection TV. We're excluding projectors from this conversation because that is a different animal all together. (In fact we are working on a multi-part series on building a dedicated projector room that will come out in March.) It ultimately comes down to size and cost. If your room can
support a bigger TV, and we are not talking huge, you can save a lot of money buying an LCoS or DLP TV. They have pictures that are every bit as good as Plasma or LCD. Sixty five inch DLPs and LCoS TVs are only about 18 inches deep and weight about 110 pounds. Its a far cry from th first generation CRT based rear projection TVs which needed a team of people to move them into your room. They produce beautiful pictures and have great contrast and detail.

Now the battle between LCD and Plasma is different. Sizes less than 42 inches is owned by LCD. So if you need a TV for your bedroom or you have small living areas, that's the technology for you. Fifty inches and greater is Plasma's territory. Its the middle ground that the war is waging - 42 to 50 inches. Plasma has some inherit benefits that LCD lacks like deep, inky blacks, immediate response times, and vivid colors. LCD has made great inroads into this size but plasmas typically have better a picture so it comes down to cost and features. Prices on plasma screens have come down due to competition from LCD; the consumer can now buy a 42 inch plasma for just over $1,000. That's over $2,000 less than Braden's first Plasma TV.

LCD manufactures are not sitting on their laurels either. They want the LCD TVs they make to go toe to toe with their plasma counterparts in terms of overall picture quality. Towards the end of this year look for LCD TVs with 120hz refresh rates and LED back lights. These two features will increase detail in fast moving scenes, such as sports, and provide for brighter, more vivid colors. We don't know about pricing yet, but you can bet that the competition from plasma will keep prices in check.

Bottom line, there is no right answer. Consumers should choose the technology that they think is best for the price they can afford. Remember, when you get it home, it won't be sitting right next to a display that costs twice as much, and odds are, it will look stunning.

Here's another one: a Tivo or a HTPC for recording HD content?

That's a good one. Before the Series III Tivo you really had one choice for recording HD with a Tivo and that was to get DirecTV. Since then DirecTV and Dish Network have released there own DVRs that can do almost the same thing as a Tivo. So Tivo needed to do something. Enter the series III Tivo. It can record Over the Air (OTA) HD channels plus it supports the cable card. A cable card is a small device that you can plug into your Tivo (or TVs that support cable card) that will allow you to receive the encrypted digital cable channels without the need for a set top box. With the Tivo Series III you can have it all. You can record OTA and Cable HD, Schedule recordings via the Internet, share photos, listen to Internet radio and podcasts, and you can get weather and traffic information delivered right to your Tivo. It costs about $800 and $20 a month.

With HTPCs you can pretty much do the same thing, but until Microsoft Vista, you couldn't use a cable card. Since there still aren't many Vista HTPCs available, you're limited to recording OTA HD, and for this to work the PC must have an HD tuner built in. But an HTPC can do so much more. It can house all your music, photos, and store video files that can be streamed to any other PC in the house. Plus you can play DVDs on a HTPC. Tivos do not play DVDs. Of course being a PC means you can surf the Internet and get your email if you want. When Vista becomes more widely available, an HTPC will be far more capable than a Tivo. Pricing for a decent HTPC is a bit more than a Tivo series III. And you can pay more if you want more storage space or special software. But you can pay less, too. Its all a function of what kind of capability you want. Another plus is that there are no monthly fees.

So which one is right for you, If you don't want to worry about setting up the device and you want to record HD from your cable company now, get a Tivo Series III. But with that said you may want to look into your cable company's own DVR. Some cable systems are including a Tivo interface and only charging a few dollars more for the service. Even if they don't have the Tivo interface you can save a $800 by leasing a DVR from your cable company. If you are a bit more technology savvy and you can wait until for Vista for recording HD from cable, then go with the HTPC that has a HD tuner built in. It will have more functionality beyond the Tivo and won't have any monthly charges.

What do you guys think about the convergence of digital media devices like the X Box 360 and Apple TV in the living room?

We love it! Ara is building a network in his home that will allow him to stream audio and video to any room in the house. That includes HD content. We have been using an xBox 360 for a while now and are very pleased with its ability to play HD content. We like the quality of the videos that you can download from Microsoft. We only have two issues with it today. There are simply not enough titles available and you have to use points to buy and rent the content. If they have as many titles as the iTunes Music Store and display the fees in dollars and cents Microsoft would start eating into Apple's market share. Well that's if they open up the store to anyone with a PC - not everyone with an Xbox 360 is connected to the Internet.

Apple can run away with the market if they increase the video quality of their online content. Almost DVD quality is what they call their content. We call it sub DVD quality. AppleTV could b a big hit with the increased quality of the iTMS and if they opened it up to play more file formats. A Mac Mini with an HD Tuner costs twice as much as an AppleTV but it has much more capability.

So we are getting close to convergence. Technology Savvy people can get there today by putting a bunch of hardware and software pieces together or you can spend allot of money and have a custom installer put some very high end gear together for your. But that really isn't true convergence; it will be a bit longer before we see real plug-and-play convergence that's, as they say, Grandma proof. Ara feels Apple will get there first; Braden thinks it will take a group of CE companies working on an open, industry standard before it truly happens.

Dollar for dollar, what HDTV technology do you think has the best value?

We both like LCoS. JVC calls their LCoS TV HD-ILA and SONY calls theirs SXRD. JVC is the value brand and will produce a nice picture for about hundred dollars less than the SONY. SONY's SXRD is a bit sharper and has more detail. But you can only see that when they are side by side. You can get a 55 inch 1080p SXRD for just under $2000. That's half of what Ara paid for his first DLP three years ago. A 61 inch JVC 1080p HD-ILA goes for $2100.

Give me your top picks for an entry level HDTV for the average Joe

Braden's Pick Panasonic TH-42PX60U Plasma HDTV. Street Price $1300 US

Ara's Pick JVC HD56FN97 56" 1080p HD-ILA Rear Projection TV. Street Price $1850 US

HD-DVD/Blu Ray versus DVD upscalers: is it worth it?

We are pretty much on the fence in the next generation format wars. But last Christmas Ara did buy an HD-DVD add on for his xBox 360. At two hundred dollars there wasn't too much risk. But both of us are not about to get out and spend $1000 on a Blu-ray player. Maybe if the dual format LG player is released and it drops down to $600 we'll jump in.

Until the format war is settled out upscaling DVD players are a good option, but only if your TV does not have a good scaler built in. A cheap upconverting DVD player may do nothing to the picture that your good HDTV can do. But if it eliminates three RGB cables maybe it is worth it just for that. Also a bit of advice never spend more than $20 on a two meter HDMI cable. It will perform every bit as well as the $100 premium cable. We are very impressed with two upconverting DVD players. Those made by Oppo Digital and Neodigits. We have tested these players and seen an improvement over standard DVD players. They are not too expensive and can upconvert to 1080p. It will make it very easy to sit out the format war!

What's your favorite piece of home theater gear?

Ara: I play no favorites. I love all my equipment the same ;-)
Actually its a tie between my Mac Mini and my new Mitsubishi DLP TV

Braden: I couldn't imagine watching movies or HDTV without a good sub woofer. I love my Klipsch RSW-12. The picture is only half the experience, without good surround sound, you're not really experiencing all that high def has to offer. A good set of speakers is your best home theater investment.

Two Unique HDTV Antenna Designs

Terrestrial Digital has recently launched two digital HDTV antenna's that will change the way you think of indoor TV antennas.



The first, the Lacrosse, is a military grade digital HDTV tuner with a range up to 40 miles. It has been designed to look more like an aesthetically pleasing satellite dish than a clumsy antenna.




Their other antenna design is the Picture Frame Antenna that puts a digital HDTV antenna in a 8x10 cherry finish picture frame. This has a much smaller range of only up to 15 miles but will definitely blend into your home decor.

Vizionware HDMI Cables Look Impressive

Austin based Vizionware has some adaptive HDMI cables that look very promising in extending the video quality of your HDMI link. We all know that HDMI is a digital transmission technology making it better than the analog Component; but, it still uses analog cables that have an inherent loss and will degrade the signal.

The way digital technologies like HDMI are evaluated are using eye diagrams at the receiver to determine what the signal quality is. Once the analog cable degrades the HDMI signal enough, it will start to 'close' the eye and then the digital HDMI link will drop frames and you have no picture. Vizionware's HDMI cables use several technnology advancements like load balancing and adaptive equalization to keep a wider eye opening at the receiver. This allows you to run your HDMI cable for a longer length, in theory.



If you are trying to run long lengths of HDMI cable then these special cables might do the trick. But they are not cheap, coming in at $550 for a 10 meter length. Remember, the HDMI spec doesn't specify a certain cable length, rather they specify that any HDMI signal has to have a certain eye opening no matter the cable length.

Take the poll below and let me know what you think:

5 Myths vs. Reality in the LCD and Plasma HDTV Debate

You've heard the hype. You've heard the sale pitches. Now learn what is myth and what is reality when it comes to the plasma vs LCD HDTV debate.

Reality: Plasma will lose it's brightness over time. Because of the phosphor in the plasma over time the screen brightness will diminish; LCD technology does not have this problem.
Myth: However, the time in which this happens is often over-stated. You will most likely be long gone before you notice it. Refer to the graph below from Fujitsu:



Reality: Plasma shows better contrast ratios/darker black levels than LCD. This is due to the LCD technology and how it displays pixels.
Myth: While Plasma may boast much higher contrast ratios than LCD, these tests are typically done in pitch-black rooms and when their is outside light pollution this high contrast ratio is much lower. Also, it is believed that most human eyes can only discern a much smaller contrast ratio than either Plasma or LCD manufacturers state.

Reality:Plasma, because of the phosphor, will display burn-in. You can see this often at airports that leave up flight times for hours at a time. This is not an issue for LCD technology.
Myth: Although Plasma does show burn-in, most new Plasma sets have built-in software to counteract the burn-in and manufactuers recommend not to display 4:3 images on a 16:9 display to further reduce the problem.

Reality: Plasma can show better color range than LCD. This is due to the way that Plasma emits pixels versus LCD use of sub-pixels.
Myth: LCD technology has better color accuracy in gray scaling and some color accuracy is actually better than Plasma because of this.

Reality: LCD image response times are more than Plasma which can cause a picture lag. This is due to the LCD pixels needing time to brighten and darken again.
Myth: Now that LCD displays have sub 8ms response times they are comparable to Plasma displays.

Plasma's claim of higher contrast ratios and darker black levels are lost to real world use. While Plasma does have better color accuracy and faster response time, LCD has now caught up if not passed Plasma in these categories. Plasma does still suffer from burn-in but with newer displays it is easily avoided. Not taking into price and screen size, Plasma still has a slight advantage over LCD.

Winner: Plasma

Take the poll below - what HDTV display do you think is better?

PVR Showdown: HTPC vs Tivo

PVR. DVR. Digital Recorder. Tivo. Call it what you want, but we are now in the age of place shifting our content with TV shows being at the forefront. But if you want to jump onto the bandwagon, then you have to decide: should I use a home theater PC (HTPC) or a Tivo? PVR Wire recently asked this question but I'm going to try to shed some more light onto the matter.

I priced out a standard Dell from their website and compared it to a Tivo HD Series 3 PVR from Best Buy. Here's how the specs compare:


This is just a sample HTPC to compare to the Tivo Series 3 unit. The Tivo does offer HDMI output and in order to get that from the HTPC you would have to upgrade the video card.

Cost

As can be seen, there is not a big cost difference between the HTPC and the Tivo. The base cost of the Dell HTPC was about 600 dollars but I added another 100 for a HD Tuner. You can get a Series 2 Tivo for a lot less (only about 250 dollars) but it can only record standard definition. If you went that route, you could configure a HTPC for a lot less than 600 dollars so I think the cost is still fairly close between the two. Also remember that Tivo requires a monthly subscription fee.

Winner: Tie

Ease of Use

In some sense this isn't a fair comparison because the embedded Tivo software just has to handle the recording TV aspect where the HTPC has a full operating system as well as the PVR software which is Windows Media Center Edition 2005 in this case. However, the Tivo software is definitely easier to use and a much higher acceptance factor among non-technical people.

Winner: Tivo

Setup/Maintenance

Again, the Tivo wins in this category as you simply have to plug and play while the HTPC is a full computer you have to setup. I will say that configuring Windows Media Center is very easy to setup and configure even for non-technical people, especially if you buy a system with the TV tuner cards installed.

Winner: Tivo

Upgrade Ability

While some people with Tivo will disagree with me since in the past you have been able to put in a bigger hard drive yourself (it involves some linux hacking) and with the Series 3 you can add an external eSATA hard drive, the HTPC wins this category. You can always add more TV tuners to your HTPC while the Tivo is limited to two. You can also upgrade the other components in the HTPC such as the video card and hard drive that will provide advantages over the standard Tivo.

Winner: HTPC

Functionality

Both the Tivo and the HTPC have a lot of extra media functionality such as viewing photos, playing mp3s from other devices and even streaming video from other sources. (The Tivo has its Home Media software) But the HTPC has two major advantages: the ability to have a DVD drive (or a HD DVD/Blu Ray drive in the future) to view DVDs and also the ability to better incorporate internet video content as well. Also remember that the HTPC is a full blown PC that can be used for other tasks as well. We can probably all agree that a dedicated HTPC wins in this category.

Winner: HTPC

Conclusion

The Tivo has come a long way and has lots of features available like the ability to upgrade the storage and operate as a central media server. This combined with its easy to use software makes it a tough contender. However, the overall functionality per dollar and upgrade potential you get out of a HTPC is still unmatched and overshadows the Tivo.

Winner: HTPC

Don't agree with the winner? Comment below.

Vista Media Center CableCard Solution is Ugly

One of the big draws for Vista Media Center is the ability to record and watch high definition TV from the major service providers. However, in order to get the big providers to sign up, Microsoft had to agree to some heavy digital rights management protection which makes it so you can't add your own HDTV tuner card that will work with Vista. You have to buy a certified PC that has gone through specific testing from an OEM vendor like Dell. PVRWire breaks it down for us:

The video will be decrypted from cable and then re-encrypted in the tuner with Microsoft DRM. The video will then travel through a USB port to the media center, even if the Tuner is an internal PCI card.

So you will have an external device that holds the digital TV tuner that connects to your PC via USB. You can watch this Microsoft on10 video to see how big it is. This is one ugly solution; I can only hope that eventually you will be able to buy a PC that has the tuner integrated. I know for me this will drive me to just buy my HD content from the Xbox Windows Live marketplace for the TV shows I want to watch.

Can the Xbox 360 IPTV Take on Cable?

Microsoft recently announced IPTV capability in the Xbox 360 with support from ATT using their new FIOS services. You can check out a video of it in action at Xbox's CES coverage. It seems to be very responsive and will include not only PVR functionality but the ability to download and view rental movies from the service provider via a video on demand service.

The bigger picture is will the Xbox 360 replace set top boxes? There was recent news where Comcast lost a court appeal against the FCC about opening the standards used for set top boxes so there will be more competition. This could be Microsofts big push into the living room and with a big company like ATT behind them they could really take on the cable companies. Over at Nyquist Capital Andrew has the same thoughts :

And whether you believe it or not, MSFT is shaping up to be the leading vendor of IPTV middleware. It isn’t a big leap to say an Xbox-Lite (no videogames, MOCA connectivity) would make the perfect set top box.

I think there is a lot more to the IPTV announcement than simply giving Xbox users the ability to watch TV. As some people have pointed out, there is not a huge IPTV user base right now so I don't think that's what so big about the announcement; it's about building the software and hardware to replace the set top box or be the 'box' in the living room whether it be for video games, TV, movies, music, or anything else.

The Battle for the Digital Living Room has Begun with Apple TV

With Apples recent announcement of the Apple TV, the battle for the digital living room has officially begun. Although overshadowed by the announcement of the iPhone, the Apple TV is going to change this whole market. What the Apple TV offers is the ability to pull your video content off of a PC or a Mac from iTunes and play it back on your HDTV via HDMI and component outputs. This is Apples strike back at the Xbox 360's media connectivity. (And the PS3 to some extent) Apple needs to get a foothold in the living room beyond the iPod and this is a great way for them to do it.

But is it better than the Xbox 360? Chris Lanier doesn't think so; actually he says it 'sucks.' And over at Xbox 360 Fanboy they aren't too impressed either. Here are the stat comparisons between the two:

• Apple TV: a 40 GB hard drive, built in 802.11 wifi, digital audio out, HDMI and component video output all for $299. It can output both 1080i and 720p but 720p is the max resolution you can get from the iTunes store. Currently limited to video only from iTunes.
  
• Xbox 360: a 20 GB hard drive, an add on wifi adapter(included in my listed price), digital audio out, and component (no HDMI) out for $499. Can download video content from Xbox Live Marketplace or stream video from a connected PC.

First, there is a big cost difference. For the Xbox 360 to get wifi you need to add a $99 adapter and the hard drive is another $100; that's $200 more than the Apple TV. And the Apple TV works with both PC's and Macs. The Apple TV is limited to iTunes content but someone will find a hack soon enough. The Xbox 360 can connect to your Media Center PC and pull in live TV; and with the announcement of IPTV support in the future it will be able to record TV directly.

Apple has been taking a very low-key approach to getting into the living room; first they announced the Front Row media center application and now they have the Apple TV. But they are in the download service so I don't expect them to be offering PVR functionality in the near future.

Right now I think the Xbox 360 has the best solution, especially if you have a Media Center PC. Even if you don't, I think the Xbox Live Marketplace has just as good video content for download as iTunes. Also remember that you can get a HD DVD player for the Xbox 360 but with downloadable HD content that might not matter in the long run. The Apple TV is a cheaper solution out of the box and has HDMI which is a big plus for future compatability.

But in the long run I can see the real potential of the Apple TV as a cheap media extender that Microsoft might not be able to compete with but we wil have to wait and see.

Buy the Toshiba HD DVD Player and Get 3 Free HD DVD Movies

If you have been waiting to get a new high definition DVD player then now might be the time to pick one up. Right now Toshiba is offering a rebate with the purchase of any of its HD DVD players for 3 free HD DVD's. You get to pick from the following:
Apollo 13
The Chronicles of Riddick
The Rundown
Seabiscuit
U-571
Blazing Saddles
Casablanca
Constantine
The Dukes of Hazard
The Perfect Storm
Four Brothers
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
U2: Rattle and Hum
We Were Soldiers

There are some pretty good movies here but you have to get your rebate in by the end of February. And if you are looking for a good deal on the HD DVD player itself then check out 2buydig because right now they are selling it for $409 with free shipping.

You don't need a better excuse to buy a new HD DVD player then three free HD DVD's!

Progressive vs Interlaced Video Explained

Along with all of the different HDTV resolutions (480p, 720p, 1080i) there is also the progressive ‘p’ and interlaced ‘i’ aspect of the video. Here’s what you need to know about each.

Interlaced video is drawn on your TV screen by first showing you the odd lines of the image and the even lines of the image within 1/60 of a second leaving you with the full picture with some occasional flicker and maybe some distortion.

Progressive video is drawn on your TV screen by showing you the full image at once going left from right in 1/60 of a second giving you a more stable image with less flicker and distortion.

You will often see people discussing whether 720p or 1080i is the best HD resolution. The 1080i has a higher resolution and will have better quality but since it is interlaced video it will be more unstable. The 720p has lower resolution but since it is progressive the image will be more stable and possible less distortion. I think your preference will depend on how your eyes view the images – the 1080i is too jumpy or unstable for some people and they prefer the 720p resolution.

CNET has a nice write-up on progressive scan and offers some good technical details:

Progressive scan works in the same manner as your computer monitor. It writes one full frame of video from left to right across the screen every 1/60 of a second. Since the entire image is drawn at one time--as opposed to an interlaced image where the even lines are drawn first, followed by the odd lines--a progressively scanned video image looks more stable than an interlaced one. Progressive scan also introduces fewer motion artifacts, such as jagged diagonal lines and movement in fine detail, into the picture.

To read more about progressive scan DVD players, check out home theater hi-fi’s great write-up that goes into progressive vs interlaced and what the real differences you may see between your DVD player doing the progressive scan or your TV:

Many current progressive players fall back into a very watchable but very soft video mode when they aren't sure whether the source is film or not. In the worst case, the entire film will look excessively soft, which means they're getting exactly no benefit at all from their progressive player.

So what’s your preference – 720p or 1080i?

Get Hi Def DVD Now with SuperBit

You don’t have to wait for HD DVD or BluRay to get high definition DVD with SuperBit DVD’s. A SuperBit DVD is encoded at double the normal bit rate of a standard DVD giving a higher quality image. This higher bit rate takes more space so a SuperBit DVD doesn’t have any extra features like deleted scenes and commentary. A SuperBit DVD plays in all video devices that can play a normal DVD.

The Superbit™ titles utilize a high bit rate digital transfer process which optimizes video quality while offering a choice of both DTS and 5.1 Dolby Digital audio. Superbit™ DVDs are encoded at about double their normal bit rate while maintaining full compatibility with the DVD-Video format. The result is picture quality that provides outstanding detail and is the closest to the original master available on DVD to date. Superbit™ DVDs play on current players and needs no additional DVD equipment.

You can get a SuperBit DVD for the same price as a normal DVD. Best Buy has a bunch of SuperBit DVD’s going for under 10 bucks.

Okay, so technically these SuperBit DVD’s are not high-definition – actually the resolution is the same. But with a higher bit rate (as all of you know who rip your own DVD’s) you have less compression, which means less loss, which means a better picture. CNET has a good summary:

In other words, the video is less compressed (MPEG-2 is the video compression algorithm for DVDs), which means more detail and better color in the resulting product, even though the resolution is the same.

And hi-fi writer breaks it all down:

The video on a DVD is compressed using MPEG2, a lossy system. This means it throws away some of the data.

MPEG2 is a highly efficient compression system. It not only compresses each video frame, it compresses across time by delivering just one out of twelve or fifteen original frames, and then providing information about how the rest differ from those frames. It is also a variable bit rate system so that sections of video that compress well can be squeezed into even smaller packages, while action sequences or parts with a lot of detail can be provided with more data.

PAL video on DVD, if it weren't compressed, would require over 80 megabits per second. The DVD specification allows a maximum of just 10 megabits per second, and a typical average bit rate for a DVD is around four or five megabits per second.

The idea behind Superbit is to leave virtually all extras off the disc so that all its capacity is available for video and audio. Even the menu is static and plain. All this permits a higher bit rate.

But the proof is in the pudding – is the video quality of a SuperBit DVD better? From most of the reviews that I have read the answer is yes but it seems the better your video setup (i.e. HDTV set, cables, etc) the better quality you will see. I did find an interesting review by a developer of a MPEG encoding/video editing software tool called MPressionist that compared a SuperBit DVD vs a standard DVD frame-by-frame:

Technically speaking, Superbit titles are encoded at approximately 1Mbs higher average bitrate than the corresponding widescreen edition.

…

Under slow-motion or still-frame scrutiny, the compressed picture is indeed of a higher quality. This increased quality is most evident in features shot on a grainy film stock: in Superbit-encoded titles, the grain of the film is much more visible than in the widescreen versions - suggesting that either the Widescreen versions were filtered before encoding, or that the low-pass characteristics of DCT quantization (employed by MPEG compression) was discarding the high-frequency grain structure least visible to the naked eye.

Even more compelling are the frame-difference comparisons for high-motion regions of these films. High-motion footage poses a greater challenge to video compression, and this is evident in comparing Superbit with non-Superbit titles. Typically, in standard widescreen versions, large frame differences can be observed during high-motion (and to a lesser extent, in highly textured) regions relative to the higher bitrate Superbit title.

This is the first I’ve heard of SuperBit so I don’t have one to compare but if you are a SuperBit DVD fan then let me know in the comments.

 

Watch a High Def Clip of Good Morning America

HD Beat has a link to a six second clip of Good Morning America that recently started broadcasting in high definition at 720p. I watched this clip on my laptop and I was very surprised at the quality of the video. To be honest, I think this is the first real sample of high def TV that I have seen. It definitely looks a lot better than normal cable TV. The image just looks a lot sharper and crisper. You have to watch the clip to understand.

What do you think – does high definition TV match the hype?

High Definition TV Terms Explained

HD Beat has a great post giving the definitions of the common terms used when talking about high definition TV. So read up before the next time you go into Best Buy and make sure you know the difference between EDTV and HDTV resolution. Here’s a sample of terms defined:

480p: Four-eighty-p is an EDTV resolution. It means that there are 480 horizontal display lines and they are shown in a progressive format. 480p is not an HDTV format.

720p: Seven-twenty-p is an HDTV resolution. It means that there are 720 horizontal display lines and they are shown in a progressive format. This is the format currently used by ABC, Fox and ESPN-HD.

1080i: Ten-eighty-i is an HDTV resolution. It means that there are 1,080 horizontal lines of resolution and they are shown in an interlaced format. This is the format currently used by CBS, NBC, UPN, WB, HDNet, Discovery-HD, TNT-HD, Showtime-HD, and HBO-HD.

1080p: Ten-eighty-p is an HDTV resolution. Like 1080i, there are 1,080 horizontal lines of resolution, but they are show in a progressive format. There currently is no 1080p programming, however a 1080p set will likely look better than a 1080i set (all things being equal) for faster motion and smoother video.

Stress Test Your New HD TV

I saw this list of movies to test your new HD setup over on HD Beat and thought that they were excellent choices to see the bang for your buck. Here’s the quck list:

• Constantine. Test contrast and light bleeding.
• Pirates of the Caribbean. Test flesh tones.
• Maxtrix Revolutions. Test black color and intense action

(And yes, we are talking about 480p DVD movies but HD DVD isn’t ready yet!)

Does HDTV Rock?

The show My Name is Earl had a nice little present for HDTV viewers – a quick shout out to all the viewers watching in Hi-Def (via digg). This just showcases the details you can see with HDTV programming. 

Too bad there isn’t more programming available. Check out my local Comcast listings for HDTV offering below. I think this is the real reason why Microsoft hasn’t come out with HDTV support yet – there’s no real content. The major three networks are definitely driving the HD content right now but is that enough for someone to get an HD set and Media Center PC? I think people are viewing the sales of HDTV sets in the wrong way. People are buying HDTV sets because they are offering big screens at a good price that has great quality. The appeal of a HDTV set is not TV – it is movies. And even standard DVD’s at 480p is still a lot better on a HD set than your old 20in TV tube. I don’t think the HD content has hit the ‘tipping point’ yet – but it’s coming.

	702	KATU - ABC (HDTV)
	703	KWBP - WB (HDTV)
	707	Discovery HD Theater
	708	KGW - NBC (HDTV)
	710	KOPB - PBS (HDTV)
	712	KPTV - FOX (HDTV)
	734	STARZ!
	735	ESPN
	751	HBO
	754	TNT/HD
	761	Cinemax
	776	Showtime
	788	iNHD
	789	iNHD 2