HD-DVD

[innopac]

I was interested to read Andre Yew's comments on watching HD-DVDs and thought this deserved more discussion. What are people's experiences switching from watching ballet on an old CRT television to a high definition LCD or Plasma screen? And what are the pros and cons of watching HD-DVDs? Andre mentions a focus problem in his post:

"But the high resolution also exposed production problems. The cameramen that night had issues with their focus. The director would cut to a closeup, and you'd see the camera hunting for its focus as the picture went into focus, then out, then in again. I never saw this on the regular DVD."

[carbro]

And I'll welcome any comments from people able to compare/contrast HD DVD and Blu-Ray. I will probably sit out the format wars until this generation's BetaMax definitively bites the dust, but in the meanwhile, I'm interested in how a casual consumer might sum up the pros and cons of each.

[Andre Yew]

I second carbro's sentiments given recent announcements at the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show that put the future of HD-DVD in doubt. Now is a good time to wait.

In the meantime, it looks like Opus Arte has committed to bringing out Blu-Ray (AKA BD) versions of their HD releases, with the PNB performance of Balanchine's Midsummer Night's Dream just released on Blu-Ray.

As far as visual quality goes, BD and HD-DVD are the same. BD has more storage capability, so it can hold longer movies, or higher-quality movies, or higher quality soundtracks. I wouldn't worry about this advantage for now as it's mostly important to audiophiles. The Opus Arte BD releases are going to take advantage of this, and have higher quality soundtracks than their HD-DVD counterparts, but the differences are vanishingly small unless you have a very nice audio system.

BD is the more unfinished format right now --- there are a couple of technical updates for it around the corner that may render current players obsolete --- whereas HD-DVD is basically done.

I'd say that you would see the most benefit from a large, high-resolution (eg. 50- or 60-inch 1080p) screen, but the results can be appreciated on a smaller screen as well. An old CRT tube won't gain you any advantage because its resolution is the same as a DVD. You'll need at least 720p to see any difference from normal DVD.

--Andre

[Andre Yew]

As far as visual quality goes, BD and HD-DVD are the same. BD has more storage capability, so it can hold longer movies, or higher-quality movies, or higher quality soundtracks.

Rereading this sentence, it sounds confusing: they look the same, but they may not look the same? Current BD and HD-DVD releases look the same. BD has the potential to look better in the future, but it's not clear whether it will give an appreciably better picture. I believe Opus Arte is also maxing out their video bandwidth, along with the audio, for the BD Swan Lake release.

--Andre

[Amy Reusch]

I keep wondering about the framing. It must be wonderful for the wide shots, but I wonder how it affects the tighter shots... are they as strong? Watching football on HD the other day, it seemed like they've decided extremely wide angle lenses are the way to go, exagerating the closer subjects but still keeping a full background... adds a lot of movement but in a rather distorted way... is it too much for classical ballet? I trust there are no problems with the music marrying to the image at this high quality compressoin? I find it very annoying when the music drifts to a different time than it actually happened. What might seem very minimal with other subject matter would be subltly destructive to the artistry of a dancer's phrasing.

[Andre Yew]

The framing and production direction looks very much like normal DVDs shot in widescreen. There are closeups and there are far shots that show the whole stage, except on HD, you can actually recognize many faces in the far shots!

The music so far seems to be well-synced.

--Andre

[Jack Reed]

It's not the main thrust of this discussion, but I'd just like to put in a word for new CRT's -- I think Consumer Reports's claim, that they give the best picture for the money is correct, with particularly beautiful black. But then why doesn't C.R. review them? I'll never understand. That may even contribute to the continuing drop in sales of CRT's, aside from the inconvenience of their bulk and weight, not that panels are lightweight either.

Anyway, I'm very pleased with my 30" CRT Sony HD-TV, just a couple years old now; it seems to bring out the best in everything I feed into it, including what I've recorded off-air on my hard-disc HD recorder. (No ballet yet, but someday?)

But more to the main theme here, Warner Brothers (whom we all love for what they did to Mr. B's Nutcracker, right?) has lately announced they're not going to release any more HD-DVD, haven't they? Sounds like the beginning of the end for that format. I share carbro's thoughts, as do many of our countrymen: Let 'em sort this thing out, and then we'll consider purchasing.

Yes, as Amy reminds us, the framing matters! Now they've got even less justification for partials. There's been some sarcasm hereabouts about that, IIRC. Closeups in HD. See the makeup cake on the sweat, and never mind about how the dance and the music form a partnership, or not. (Can you see dance in a "partial" -- a shot showing less than a dancer's full body?) *sigh* With HD, they could just about frame the stage and sit down. Just about.

As to synchronism between sound and picture, I think everything has become so arbitrary in the digital age that it's mainly a matter of whether anybody's paying attention or not. For example, the first hour of one of the two Choreography by Balanchine DVD's is badly off (the one with Tzigane), although the VHS issue was fine, and the rest is okay (except maybe McBride is a little late in Tchai Pas at the very end of the four programs; there's discussion about this on Amazon.)

Edited January 30, 2008 by Jack Reed

[Amy Reusch]

I wonder, when that sort of thing happens, is the problem always with the DVD or is it possible different DVD readers (players) have issues?

[Jack Reed]

Sorry to leave your question dangling, Amy, but I've been on the road. Anyway, in this particular case, since the problem I've seen doesn't happen over the entire DVD, it's hard for me to think that the player is at fault. I think it's careless mastering.

(I want to say again for clarity's sake that the DVD where I've seen this is the one with Tzigane. The second-hour program on it is pretty much okay.)