HD MPEG2 players?

[FredThompson]

Do DVD players which support 1080i MPEG2 exist? Seems like a natural thing to me since most HD is still MPEG2. A ts set can be converted to a standard MPEG2 stream with HDTVtoMPEG2 then authored into a DVD ISO set then run through DVDShrink...I hope. The result would be a "DVD" with HD resolution and DVD control structures. Granted, this wouldn't be the "best" option for long source but should be just fine for the 45-47 minute/hour format of most commercial TV and would be quite easy to produce and faster than all the re-encoding necessary to go to MPEG4.

[SeeMoreDigital]

Yes they do exist :)

But (there's always a "but".... although I could have said "however") - with varying degrees of success!

A few months ago I started a Sigma chip-set Information - High Def (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=84003) thread.

In there you should be able to find links to all the current players/devices based around Sigma's EM8620L chip-set. Which to date, is the only chip-set capable of displaying 1080 (1088)i MPEG-2 content!

EDIT: Most devices have also been designed with network connectivity (ethernet and/or wireless), so you don't have to be limited to disc based storage media sizes ;)


Cheers

[Kika]

Maybe you should read these sites:

http://www.amlogic.com/products.html
http://www.neuneo.com/body/product/HVD2081/feature.asp

But nobody knows this chinese HVD-Format. :(
I have three of these HVD-Disks (DVD9 with 960x720 anamorphic MPEG2-Video), but they are scrambled (looks a bit like CSS) and i don't know how to author own HVDs.

[SeeMoreDigital]

Hi Kika,

The specification of this player leaves me quite confused.... All I can find are references to "up-scaling" - ie: high-definition output. I can't find anywhere where it states that this player can be fed with high def sources, whether it be 720p or 1080i, or their anamorphic variants.

Here's an extract from the players spec: -

http://img320.imageshack.us/img320/5076/neuneohvd2085highdefinitiondvd.png


Cheers

[Kika]

The specification of this player leaves me quite confused....

Me too, me too..., but i have one of these things (the NeuNeo 2081) and it plays China-HVDs.
I have tricked the Player to play back my own Videos (960x720 30 fps MPEG2 MP@HL) and it works. To do this, i had to combine a short file from the HVD with my own video - quick and very dirty.

[SeeMoreDigital]

Strange indeed :eek:

Square pixelled encodes/sources of 960x720 represent an frame ratio of 4:3 (1.33:1). One would presume with DAR signalling they can be stretched to 16:9.... have you tried this?

Also, given that 960x720 totals to 691,200 pixels, have you experimented generating square pixelled encodes at other pixel ratios. Such as 1280x528 (2.40:1 approx)?

Just interested...

[Kika]

have you tried this?

Yes, it works. I can use both: 4:3 and 16:9 (anamorphic). No problem so far.

have you experimented generating square pixelled encodes at other pixel ratios. Such as 1280x528 (2.40:1 approx)?

Not yet, because cheating the player to playback my own Videos is a bit tricky. I have to use a MPEG-File of an existing original HVD-Video as a start-sequence for my Video - and both of them have to have the same resolution.
But i think, MPEG2 is more restrictive than MPEG4, you have to use "correct" vertical resolutions (this makes a lot of sense).