Blu-ray Review: Get A Load Of This!

[Jerry Jones]

http://tinyurl.com/pcpgj

"Although the footage of watches looked crystal clear, with details as fine as those of any 1080p demo I've ever seen, it wasn't perfect."

"During one zoom-out from a watch face that happened to have numerous fine concentric circles, I saw the lines slowly disintegrate into a crosshatch mess as they reached the limits of the disc's--or perhaps the TV's--resolution."

"I also couldn't help but notice some video noise in Memento and in other material, which appeared as wispy motes mainly visible in backgrounds."

AND WHAT MAY HAVE BEEN THIS VEILED CRITICISM OF ULEAD "BD DiscRecorder" SOFTWARE:

"CNET's Dan Ackerman and I had also burned a BD-RE (Blu-ray rewriteable) disc of 1080p test clips from DVE Pro and other sources using the Sony VAIO RC310G and its Ulead BD DiscRecorder software, which is designed to create discs that can be played on set-top units such as the Samsung."

"Although the disc played fine on the VAIO using the InterVideo WinDVD software player, the Samsung spit it back as unplayable."

"Of course, with first-gen authoring software and hardware, the fault might not be the Samsung's."

Isn't that a ripper?

Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net

[Jerry Jones]

But here was the key observation of the review:

"Of course, the differences were more obvious on the large, 1080p HDTV, and I was paying close attention from a close seating distance of about 7 feet."

"Change any of these factors, and the difference between DVD and Blu-ray will narrow."

Is that worth several thousand dollars to you?

(It isn't to me.)

Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net

[Jerry Jones]

Also -- with regard to the HYPE about 1080i vs. 1080p:

"Much ado has been made of the fact that Blu-ray players can output 1080p resolution while first-generation HD-DVD players, namely the Toshiba HD-A1 and its ilk, can output "only" 1080i."

"I've said before that it's nearly impossible to tell the difference between 1080i and 1080p sources on a 1080p HDTV, and after the following test, I feel even more confident that 1080p output capability is overrated."

"Using the same two players hooked up in the manner described above, I put a Memento Blu-ray disc in each and set one to 1080i mode and the other to 1080p."

"I chose one of the few scenes with a lot of motion--Leonard's final drive back from the vacant lot to the tattoo parlor--where interlaced artifacts from 1080i, such as jagged or moving lines, should be more visible."

"Bouncing back and forth between the 1080i and 1080p versions, I could see no differences whatsoever."

"From the white lines dividing the street to the buildings and the parked cars alongside the road flashing by, to close-ups of Leonard and his wife (Jorja Fox), the two looked identical."

"I can imagine material that might show more of a difference, such as sporting events with lots of camera movement, but it wasn't there in the scene I watched."

Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net

[Brian Ellis]

I don't think I would expect a difference on a non-CRT display, provided that the field order of i-signals is correctly interpreted. In a CRT, the image is decomposed into fields in real time and differences between fields, with fast movements, can be discerned. With 1080p or i, with LCDs or plasma displays, the whole frame is displayed, at a given time, not just a field and this is refreshed 2-3 times/frame. One of the beauties of the technology is that, as each frame has to be taken into memory, it is possible to compensate for 1080i field differences by averaging. This would ensure zero "combing".

I sense BR technology will attempt to con potential clients with pseudo-science to justify the price. I hope they come a-cropper. Any way, I'm probably still >2 years before I have to decide, by which time I may have popped my clogs, so the argument may be purely academic.

[wkulecz]

http://tinyurl.com/pcpgj

"Although the disc played fine on the VAIO using the InterVideo WinDVD software player, the Samsung spit it back as unplayable."

http://www.jonesgroup.net

Same old same old of the DVD-R DVD+R mess. IMHO, forget about it until the players, burners, and disks, are cheap enough for compatability to not really matter.

I was hot for DVD-R, it was a large waste of time and money and even now compatability of burned disks on a random stand-alone player still can't be assumed!

The "blame" runs in circles -- its the player -- its the burner -- its the media -- its the authoring software. Bottom line, optical RW technology has promised far more than it can actually deliver.

--wally.