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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
squiggleslash @ Aug 27th 2008 10:52AM
Well, ok, but:
“A number of companies have recently launched advertising campaigns claiming their products deliver high definition picture and sound “equal” to that delivered by Blu-ray Disc. These comparisons are irresponsible and are misleading to consumers. Up conversion and satellite broadcast cannot provide a true Blu-ray high definition experience, as neither is technically capable of producing the quality delivered by Blu-ray players and Blu-ray discs. To that end, the Blu-ray Disc Association is exploring these claims further and will take appropriate action, as necessary, to prevent consumers seeking the ultimate in high-definition home entertainment from being misled.”
This is just as misleading as Dish's claims potentially are. There's no suggestion Dish is upconverting anything, and it certainly is technically possible for a satellite broadcast to produce Blu-ray-quality high definition even if Dish isn't doing that. You just need to stream H.264 and TrueHD at an average rate of around 15-25Mbps, peaking at around 35-40Mbps. To suggest this is impossible with current satellite technology is absurd.
I think it's quite possible Dish are not doing anything near that, streaming H.264 at around 10Mbps. But it's certainly not impossible for them to do that. The BDA is being dishonest here. It'll be interesting to see proof that Dish is being dishonest too, I assume we'll get a rough idea of whether they are or not once people start using the VOD service in earnest. There's no reason why they can't do it, the question is are they likely to have done so?
dagamer34 @ Aug 27th 2008 10:56AM
Streaming less than 40Mbit/s isn't Blu-ray quality. Period. And we have to remember that Blu-ray is compressed already. Any further compression after that means you are loosing some quality.
squiggleslash @ Aug 27th 2008 11:34AM
The only Blu-ray discs that have a maximum bit rate exceeding 30Mbps (total, including seven different soundtrack and a PIP feed) are those encoded using MPEG2. The only reason Blu-ray supports rates higher than 30Mbps is that the original spec mandated MPEG2.
And your comment about Blu-ray "being compressed already" is completely irrelevant. Or do you think that Dish's set-up involves buying a Blu-ray disc, ripping the contents, recompressing it, and streaming it at whatever rate they stream at? And you spelt "losing" wrong.
Dish could, in theory (they don't, but they technically can - which is what the BDA is saying they can't) take the raw unencrypted feed from a Blu-ray disk and transmit it directly, without recompression, to their customers. There's nothing technically stopping them from doing that. They could do that even if the source BD was MPEG2 and had a CBR of 50Mbps (I'd like to see that disk!). Their bandwidth isn't measured in tens of megabits, it's measured in gigabits.
If they did that, there'd be no difference in quality whatsoever between Blu-ray and HD VOD.
What the BDA is saying is that this is technically impossible. They're lying. It's technically possible, it's just it's unlikely Dish are doing this.
Talkstr8t @ Sep 3rd 2008 7:23PM
Squiggleslash, the BDA statement isn't referring exclusively to Dish, but also to recent upconverting DVD players claiming the same (hello, Toshiba). They are not suggesting that Dish is upconverting. The point is, however, that Dish's claims are absolutely misleading. Putting aside whether they are capable of delivering a maximum bitrate to provide equivalent visual fidelity, they absolutely cannot deliver equivalent audio fidelity, as none of their supported receivers are enabled for lossless audio. "Blu-ray quality" isn't just about the picture, but also the audio, and there's no way that DD 5.1 at a few hundred Kb/sec compares with lossless PCM, Dolby TrueHD, or DTS-HD MA at 6Mbits/sec or more, let alone offer 7.1 sound.
In addition, the first 1080p selection on Dish, "I Am Legend", was broadcast at an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, while the Blu-ray release was at the theatrical aspect ratio of 2.40:1. Enthusiasts certainly won't appreciate having the outer regions of the picture snipped off.
You're also incorrect regarding maximum bitrate exceeding 30Mb/sec - there are many titles encoded in AVC which have maximum bitrates in the 40Mb/sec range. You can start by looking at many of Disney's titles, including Pirates of the Caribbean (all of them) or Ratatouille.