General PS3 Question?

[cliffbo]

Yup, except Betamax actually had better picture quality than VHS, Blu Ray is going to win out on picture quality. Same codecs but more storage space, better transfer rate. Going to wipe the floor with HD DVD...

As soon as Sony stop playing silly buggers...

i couldn't agree more apple

[Beenie Man]

But they need to release those damn 50GB Blu-Ray discs.

[Epix]

Yup, except Betamax actually had better picture quality than VHS, Blu Ray is going to win out on picture quality. Same codecs but more storage space, better transfer rate. Going to wipe the floor with HD DVD...

As soon as Sony stop playing silly buggers...

One of the major cons against Blu-Ray is there inferior codecs. HD-DVD is using MPEG-4 and VC-1, while Blu-Ray has been using MPEG-2 so far.

[Beenie Man]

What are you talking about. MPEG-2 is only realized on 50GB discs.

[Epix]

Old habits must really die hard for Sony: once more proving the divisiveness between their content and technology branches, Sony Pictures' senior vice president of advanced technology Don Eklund apparently said, "Advanced (formats) don't necessarily improve picture quality. Our goal is to present the best picture quality for Blu-ray. Right now, and for the foreseeable future, that's with MPEG-2." Quick backgrounder: the Moving Pictures Experts Group who created MPEG-2 later created MPEG-4 AVC (aka h.264), which is spec for both Blu-ray and HD DVD (as well as Microsoft's VC-1, among other codecs) and was designed to be technically superior to MPEG-2, and to ultimately replace it. It's no big deal that one movie studio is choosing not to use a standard, proven, hi def-centric codec, but how poorly does it reflect specifically on Sony that their SVP of advanced tech doesn't get it that h.264 offers the same image quality as MPEG-2, but at lower bitrates, or offers a high def picture at the same bitrates as the old standard? Ultimately this isn't a big deal since they'll surely change their mind eventually, but it makes us a little uneasy about who's at the wheel over there, to say the least.

[Red_Eyes]

Sony doesn't want compression over quality. Sure, the eye may not be able to tell (except for my perfect vision eyes and the critical eyes of every other hardcore Hi-Def guys), but compression still means a loss of quality.

[BahnNZ]

Every so often Sony lies you know. Can't have rumble and motion sensing, can't have VC-1/H264 on Blu Ray. I know you're not supposed to say lie, the correct term is "PR spin".

The quality of Blu Ray is significantly worse than HD DVD right now, the main reason is they're using this horrible 15 year old codec known as MPEG2. To say VC-1/H264 is a better codec than MPEG2 is like saying a rocket engine is a bit more powerful than a lawn mower engine. MPEG2 is designed for the processing power of systems 15 years ago. It sucks now, frankly. VC-1/H264 is designed for todays processing power houses.

They're just totally full of sh*t, sorry. What I think is happening is Sony have invested a lot of money and time into their MPEG2 authoring systems, Sony DVDs are some of the best out there, and their VC-1/H264 encoding studio just ain't there yet. A bad H264 encoder, like the early Apple ones, is no use to anyone.

So Sony are thinking... Wing it for now, in the short term switch to 50GB disks, MPEG2 in 50GB is pretty damn nice, VC-1/H264 when we get out act together, some time off in the future.

There is light at the end of the tunnel, we're waiting on "Training Day" from Warner. Training Day on HD DVD is freaking awesome. Pin sharp,and crystal clear. The whole MPEG2 on Blu Ray is a Sony thing. Warner have an awesome VC-1 encode all ready to go for the Blu Ray edition... The players play VC-1 and H264... Let's go baby. If they re-encode to MPEG2 all us Blu Ray fanactics are going to be well miffed.

Fingers crossed for Training Day, out August 1st!

Also Buena Vista are coming out with their Blu Ray disks soon, we'll see how good they are.

I'm actually told a lot of these awesome HD DVD encodes are only 16GB...

[frosty]

isn't Terminator in VC-1 as well?

[BahnNZ]

Dunno about that one, people have said it's a really good transfer, much better than the DVD version, I know that much. For an old movie shot on a pretty low budget, Terminator is looking great on Blu Ray.

http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/terminator.html << Review

Mines arriving next week. Whoop. Terminator 1 > Terminator 2.

[Beenie Man]

Ok I was wrong(Sony deception again). But at least other studios are using VC1/MPEG-4.

[BahnNZ]

Nintendo/Microsoft/Sony, they all lie, sorry... PR Spin: "No no, it wasn't an accident, the reactor was just ermm... letting off steam".

All corporations have a damage control department, so when they screw up their shares won't tumble.

Best two Blu Rays at the moment (quality wise) are Underworld Evolution, pretty gorgeous transfer, but the best one of all is Stealth. No grain, no blur, pin sharp awesome quality. But they're the exception.

But you know... It's Stealth... Eugh...

And HD DVD has rubbish transfers too. Rattle'n'Hum on HD DVD is really bad, as is Full metal jacket. Possibly just not as many.

I should get off my butt and write this review for the site...

[Viper]

But you know... It's Stealth... Eugh...

This is what is truly hampering the sales of both. Many of the titles they are showcasing just plain suck all kinds of ass.

Bring on the blockbuster hits.

[BahnNZ]

Yup. When it comes down to it, Sony Pictures make some really, really terrible movies, with a few exceptions....

http://www.apple.com/trailers/sony_pictures/

Who gave the green light for all this crap. I shudder at the thought of Click! coming out on Blu Ray.

Thank god MGM, Warner, Lionsgate and BV don't!

[HighOnSunoco]

Yup. When it comes down to it, Sony Pictures make some really, really terrible movies, with a few exceptions....

http://www.apple.com/trailers/sony_pictures/

Who gave the green light for all this crap. I shudder at the thought of Click! coming out on Blu Ray.

Thank god MGM, Warner, Lionsgate and BV don't!

yea, Applefiend I saw Click and it was alright. It definitely wasn't one of Adam's best movies.

but Kate Beckinsale did look hot in that movie....