Provisional approval of MPEG-2, WMV9 and H.264 as mandatory for HD-DVD

[bond]

On the last meeting the DVD Forum made a
Provisional approval of MPEG2, WM9 (VC-9) and MPEG4 AVC(H.264) Video CODECs as mandatory for the HD DVD Video specification for playback devices, subject to (a) an update in 60 days regarding licensing terms and conditions, (b) a presentation by each of the respective licensing bodies at the next SC meeting and (c) possible elimination of any of the above CODECs at the next SC meeting. as it can be found here (http://www.dvdforum.org/25scmtg-resolution.htm)
before some unfounded speculation starts i want to put emphasis on provisional and possible elimination of any of these codecs


- anyways it seems that the idea of using blu-ray is now totally abandoned (also because the DVD Forum approved a HD DVD-RW (http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/63/35889.html) format)

- also it seems that m$ had a success in promoting their Video Codec for the HD DVD specs (i hope its better tuned for HD-DVD content than it is for 1 CDR stuff :D )
damn its a horror vision for me in having to look at m$ stuff when watching HD content, i am sure h.264 will stomb wmv9 (they now call it vc-9, i guess to get away from the windows/m$ biased name) into the ground qualitywise :D

- the next thing maybe interesting was that the DVD forum rejected theApproval of DD+, DTS++, and MLP as mandatory audio codecs to be included in the High Definition Video formatthey ask for a "new recommendation ... that includes at least one lossless audio codec"


well to sum it up:
one thing that is 100% sure is that whatever codecs HD-DVD will use, the content will be protected as hell
consumers be happy about the new stuff the industry gives you and enjoy the "brave new world" ;)

[GIR]

hmmm interesting:

Approval of Motion: Delay voting on Macromedia Flash in order to allow for a reevaluation of the need to complete E-Nav as a standalone specification in light of the upcoming HD-DVD Video application spec., which will include SD video.

Flash for menus I assume.

[SeeMoreDigital]

Yep, interesting indeed,

At least one good thing has come out of it. Chipsets that can encode and decode a maximum of 1920x1080 (2,073,600 total) pixels. Instead of the current 720x576 (414,720 total) pixels!

And as long as the cost of blank media keeps falling and we get standalone recorders fitted with large hard drives, who needs BluRay...

Cheers

[RadicalEd]

Blu-ray isn't dead, it's just become a multi-corporation proprietary format instead of a DVD Forum standard. HD-DVD competition and such. I'd cite the magazine if I had it on hand.

[resonator]

What's really great about the upcoming standard is, that it MPEG4 H.264 will be a standard, so since every player will have to support it VFR will probably become an option for encoding tv-shows like Babylon5, Star Trek and the likes.

I hate to see WM9 in the mix though, it think this codec blows.

[Wolfman]

VFR ?? wos dis?

[bond]

variable frame rate i suppose, tough this is also already possible with many other codecs (ie mpeg-4 part2)

[resonator]

Yeah, theoretically possible, but in fact it's not supported by a single standalone player in the world. Yet.

[cypher_soundz]

heres a link to another article on cnet , good job i searched before posting ;) http://news.com.com/2100-1041_3-5166786.html?tag=cd_lede
Regards
cyph

[lexor]

so wait a minute... they include MPEG2 but not MPEG4 (the one XviD is based on) and skipping it for H.264? I see no reason why Mpeg2 should be included then.

[SeeMoreDigital]

Originally posted by lexor
so wait a minute... they include MPEG2 but not MPEG4 (the one XviD is based on) and skipping it for H.264? I see no reason why Mpeg2 should be included then. Mpeg2 will always be in the mix because it's the standard TV transmission format, whether it be Std-Def 720x480/576 or Hi-Def 1280x720p or 1920x1080i

Cheers

[bond]

mpeg-2 has to be supported anyways because hd-dvd players should stay backwards compatible with normal dvds, which means mpeg-2

h.264 is also part of mpeg-4, but its technically much more powerfull than the "profiles" we know as xvid, divx5 aso

[SeeMoreDigital]

Hi "MPEG-4 Addict"

Personally speaking, I would really like to see some decent looking Std-Def Mpeg4 H.264 encodes!

Cheers

"MPEG-4 Addict" #2

[The Belgain]

Am I mistaken in thinking that MPEG4 ASP (which includes XviD, DivX, 3ivx, etc...) is a subset of MPEG4 AVC (ie h.264)? In other words, any player capable of decoding h.264 content, should be able to decode "normal" MPEG4 which we use today?

Or am I wrong on this one?

[bond]

Originally posted by SeeMoreDigital
Hi "MPEG-4 Addict";)

Personally speaking, I would really like to see some decent looking Std-Def Mpeg4 H.264 encodes!you can try your luck with the mainconcept encoder
altough its still pretty alpha it already provides nice results (apart from that their decoder is buggy :( )

Originally posted by The Belgain
Am I mistaken in thinking that MPEG4 ASP (which includes XviD, DivX, 3ivx, etc...) is a subset of MPEG4 AVC (ie h.264)? In other words, any player capable of decoding h.264 content, should be able to decode "normal" MPEG4 which we use today?altough it would be nice if "ASP" would be a subset of "AVC", but its not
meaning h.264/AVC decoders cant handle ASP :(

[SeeMoreDigital]

Originally posted by bond
;)...you can try your luck with the mainconcept encoder
altough its still pretty alpha it already provides nice results (apart from that their decoder is buggy :( ) Yes. I had a couple of goes with this encoder and the results were very encouraging.

I was hoping there might have been away to mux MainConcepts .mpg video stream into an MP4 container or even AVI (like Moonlights promo stuff) but it was a no-go for me.

Have you tried this yet #1


Regards #2


EDIT: My mistake, Moonlights promo stuff has an .H264 extension