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Microsoft Longhorn To Support HD DVD Format
MSDVD writes "Microsoft's Japanese Division reported that its upcoming operating system, code-named Longhorn, will support HD DVD format. HD DVD is an enhanced version of the standard DVD technology. According to online reports, Microsoft is pushing the next-generation blue-laser DVD technology like NEC and Toshiba. Blue-light technology can read and write data much faster and at higher densities, which is needed for high-definition content. Few Japanese companies said they will have HD DVD content based DVDs by next year to support the players."
MPEG video is encumbered by patents for a few more years, but at least the details are publicly available.
I'm glad that Microsoft will support this :)
English is easier said than done.
Not really. Blu-Ray has a rather large group of companies behind it including Hitachi, JVC, LG, Panasonic, Philips, Pioneer, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, Dell, HP and Zenith.
Microsoft likes HD-DVD because it uses their hacked up MPEG-4 CODEC. Microsoft "supporting" it in Longhorn doesn't mean much as both formats are supposed to start shipping years before Longhorn exists (2005). No doubt any PC drive manufacturers will have to write their own drivers.
The rest of the industry likes Blu-Ray because it has a higher storage capacity (54 GB vs. 30 GB), uses MPEG-2 so movie/television companies don't need to re-encode their HDTV streams and has Sony behind it (movie studio/music label).
The world is neither black nor white nor good nor evil, only many shades of CowboyNeal.
HD DVD is a blue laser disc format but the manufacturing techniques are similar to those for red-laser discs.
As explained the main difference is that BluRay places the recording layer 0.1 mm below the surface of the media to maximize data capacity at around 27gb for single and 54 gb for dual layer. This will require disc manufacturers to build new factories because this is completely different from DVD and CD specifications. Because of this the layer of protective plastic will be very thin which some have speculated will initially require either a special layer of protective plastic which has been reported to decrease reliability or it will require the discs to be contained in a cartridge (think magneto-optical). Carts would, of course, increase production costs and REALLY increase end user costs.
HD DVD places the recording layer at 0.6mm below the surface which is currently the standard used by DVD so that DVD manufacturing plants can make either format discs on the same assembly lines. This is at a cost, though, with a reduced capacity at 15gb for single layer and 30 gb for dual layer. And, of course, the existing protective layer will be sufficient as it is the same as the standard DVD.
The actual codecs supported will be the same for both formats. Both will support MPEG-2, MPEG-4, and (probably) Microsoft's WM9 codecs. As part of Microsoft's deal to get WM9 included in the HD DVD spec it was forced to open the specification to allow competitors to make products for encoding and decoding. Their benefit will be a share of the royalties for products that encode or decode HD-DVD content and sales of encoding/decoding software that they produce, but the deal does not include in any way a monopoly on encoder/decoder software.
The main difference, as stated, is the distance for the recording layer from the surface of the media which changes the maximal capacity because of the effect on the intensity of the laser as it passes through the media.
> What hacked up MPEG-4? You thinking of old versions of DivX?
According to the Xvid faq, MS MPEG-4 is not ISO compliant.
You are grossly misinformed .
As a condition to Microsoft before it could establish VC-9 as a standard, it had to strip VC-9 of proprietary status, Majidimehr said.
H.264 is an international standard from MPEG and ITU, sometimes known as MPEG-4 Part 10 or MPEG AVC (Advanced Video Codec).
And yes, if they're supporting HD DVD, they will be supporting H.264, since it's one of the required codecs for HD DVD, along with VC-9 and MPEG-2.
See here.
1080i is 1920x540x60 - it's an interlaced format so only has 540 lines on each frame and not 1080.720p is 1280x720x60p (less horiz resolution but more lines) and 480p is 640x480x60.
I'm all in favour of progressive scan modes (720p for preference) if we have the choice - interlacing is just a PITA. It compresses badly, stills have mice teeth etc etc. Ugh.