Jump to content

HD DVD

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 204.141.189.253 (talk) at 21:24, 7 August 2006 (Factually incorrect re: differences between HD-DVD and BluRay. Both encode film content at 24p, but neither displays at 24p--both display at 60p.). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

HD DVD logo
HD DVD logo

HD DVD (High Density Digital Versatile Disc or High Definition Digital Video Disc) is a digital optical media format which can hold high definition video or other data. HD DVD is similar to the competing Blu-ray Disc, which also uses the same CD-size (120 mm diameter) optical data storage media and 405 nm wavelength blue laser. HD DVD is promoted by Toshiba, NEC, Sanyo, Microsoft, and Intel, among others. In terms of major studios, HD DVD is currently exclusively backed by Universal Studios, and is non-exclusively backed by Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros. Studio Canal, and The Weinstein Company.

At CES 2006,neeraj kumar Microsoft announced that there will be an external add-on HD DVD drive for the Xbox 360 game console, due in late 2006. Also at CES 2006, "companies backing HD DVD said that nearly 200 titles would be available for the format by the end of the year." [1]

On March 31, 2006, Toshiba released their first HD DVD player in Japan at ¥110,000 ($934)[2] . HD DVD was released in United States on April 18, 2006[3], with players priced at $499 and $799.

Overview

HD DVD has a a single-layer capacity of 15 GB and a dual-layer capacity of 30 GB. Toshiba has announced a triple-layer disc which offers 45GB of storage. HD DVD can offer both the current DVD and HD DVD formats on one disc, which means that special HD DVD discs will play in any DVD player, old or the new high definition players. This makes retail marketing and shelf space management easier. For consumers, shopping is simplified as they can simply buy a movie that plays in any DVD player in their house, standard definition or high definition. The HD DVD format also can be applied to current red laser DVDs in 5, 9, 15 and 18 GB capacities which offers an even lower cost option to content owners wanting to sell short form content.

The data layer of an HD DVD disc is 0.6mm below the surface, akin to the common DVD. The numerical aperture of the optical pick-up head is 0.65, compared with 0.6 for DVD (a lower surface layer and numerical aperture allow for tighter focus and so increased data density). Both of the new formats are likely to be backward compatible with DVDs and both employ the same video compression techniques: MPEG-2, Video Codec 1 (VC1) and H.264/MPEG-4 AVC.

HD DVD can be mastered with up to 7.1 channel surround sound using the linear (uncompressed) PCM, Dolby Digital and DTS formats also used on DVDs. In addition, it also supports Dolby Digital Plus and the lossless formats Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD. Currently, most DVD movies are made with 5.1 channels of surround sound. There are relatively few titles that offer 6.1 channels of surround sound. On HD DVD the Dolby formats are mandatory, meaning that a Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, or Dolby TrueHD track may be used as the sole soundtrack on a disc, because every player will have a decoder that can process any of these three bitstreams.[4] For lossless audio in movies in the PCM, Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD formats, HD DVD discs support encoding in up to 24-bit/192kHz for two channels, or up to eight channels of up to 24-bit/96kHz encoding.[5] For reference, even new big-budget Hollywood films are mastered in only 24-bit/48kHz, with 16-bit/48kHz being common for ordinary films.

The HD DVD format supports a wide variety of resolutions, from low-resolution CIF and SDTV up to HDTV formats such as 720p, 1080i and 1080p.[6] All movie titles released so far have had the feature encoded in 1080p (although the currently available HD DVD players do not have a 1080p output option), with supplements in 480i or 480p.

Physical size Single layer capacity Dual layer capacity Triple layer capacity
12 cm, single sided 15 GB 30 GB 45 GB
12 cm, double sided 30 GB 60 GB 90 GB
8 cm, single sided 4.7 GB 9.4 GB
8 cm, double sided 9.4 GB 18.8 GB

[7]

History

On November 19, 2003, the DVD Forum decided that the HD DVD will be the HDTV successor of the DVD. At this meeting they renamed it to HD DVD, while it had been previously called the "Advanced Optical Disc" (AOD). Blu-ray Disc was developed outside of the DVD Forum, and was never submitted to the forum for consideration. This is however a not very surprising extension of the previous DVD-R/RW versus DVD+R/RW war, where - (dash) was the format defended by DVD Forum, and + (plus) the format defended by the DVD+RW Alliance. The DVD Forum generally has focus on CE (Consumer Electronic) and Japanese market development (where CE happens to be very strong). The DVD+RW Alliance has invested more on the PC market with technologies such as Background Formatting and defect management through "Mount Rainier" (unreleased).

The current specification version for HD DVD-ROM and HD DVD-Rewritable is version 1.0. The specification for HD DVD-R is currently at 0.9. The first HD DVD-ROM drives were expected to be unveiled by Q4 2004, with mass production to start in Q1 2005. The actual product launch of both CE and PC units occurred in 2006.

Common disc structure

Backward compatibility will be available with all HD DVD players, allowing consumers to have a single drive in their homes to play both HD DVD and DVD discs. There is also a hybrid HD DVD which contains both DVD and HD DVD versions of the same movie on a single disc, providing smoother transition for the studios in terms of publishing movies, and letting consumers with only DVD drives to still use the discs. DVD disc replication companies can continue using their current production equipment with only minor alterations when changing over to the format of HD DVD replication. Due to the structure of the single-lens optical head, both red and blue laser diodes can be used in smaller, more compact HD DVD players than for the competing Blu-ray drives.

Laser

HD DVD uses a blue-violet 405 nm laser to read information from the disc (DVDs use red 650 nm lasers).

The shorter wavelength reduces diffraction and maintains a smaller spot size of the laser. This allows data to be read from a higher density on the disc surface. While DVDs and HD DVDs will be the same size physically, the ability to store data at a higher density results in a larger total data capacity in HD.

Access restriction technology

Commercialized HD DVDs integrate content protection technology specified by AACS LA (Advanced Access Content System License Administrator). "Audio Watermark Protection" is also being considered by AACS for use on HD DVD. If Watermark is adopted by AACS, all HD DVD players will have a sensor that listens for inaudible audio watermarks in the soundtrack of movies. Studios may insert this invisible mark in the soundtracks of theatrical motion pictures. If a HD DVD detects the invisible mark, it means the disc is playing back a copy made from a theatrical print (probably from illegal camcording), and will cause the player to refuse to play the disc. The mark is made by varying the waveform of speech and music in a regular pattern to convey a digital code. These variations are too subtle to be heard by the human ear. Another variation of this system can be used to prevent the playback of discs created by using a camcorder and microphone on a home entertainment center playing a legitimate disc purchased by a consumer. This variation for home entertainment utilizes a watermark that differs from the cinema mark in that it is permitted in normal, signed ROM discs, but generally not permitted on recordable discs.

In addition, HD DVD players must follow AACS guidelines pertaining to outputs over analog connections. This is set by a flag called the Image Constraint Token (ICT), which restricts the resolution for analog outputs without HDCP to 960×540. The decision to set the flag to restrict output ("down-convert") is left to the content provider. Warner Pictures is a proponent of ICT, and it is expected that Paramount and Universal will implement down-conversion as well [8]. As of March 2006, 5 of the 6 studios releasing HD DVD content have announced they will not use ICT/down-conversion for the time being [9]. AACS guidelines require that any title that implements the ICT must clearly state so on the packaging.

Interactive content

HD DVDs use the iHD Interactive Format to allow interactive content to be authored for discs. iHD is based on web technologies such as HTML, XML, CSS, SMIL, and ECMAScript (JavaScript), so authoring in iHD should be a fairly easy transition for web developers. No existing DVD authoring experience is required. In contrast, a subset of Java will be used to implement interactive menus on Blu-ray discs. DVD video discs utilize pre-rendered MPEG segments, selectable subtitle pictures, and simple programmatic navigation which is considerably more primitive. The Blu-ray Java Version will be called BD-J and will be a subset of the Globally Executable MHP (GEM) standard. GEM is the world-wide version of the Multimedia Home Platform standard. BD-J should offer interactive features similar to those of iHD, although features that are guaranteed in HD DVD (such as networking and persistent storage) may not be implemented on all Blu-ray players.

Even though Blu-ray players have now become available, it is not possible to make a comparison between the two since BD-J is not yet used in any titles. Only HDMV ("Movie Mode") is implemented, which lacks many features of iHD. Several titles from Warner Bros. that have been released in both formats offer more interactive features on HD DVD (bookmarks, zoom, etc.) due to the missing features in Blu-ray. There are concerns that the additional royalty costs of Java and MHP may add significant cost to Blu-ray players (which already cost as much as $1000 USD).

Released titles

Main article: List of HD DVD releases

The first HD DVD titles released on April 18, 2006 were The Last Samurai, Million Dollar Baby, The Phantom of the Opera by Warner Home Video; and Serenity by Universal Studios [10].

To date, 37 titles have been released in the United States.

First released players

On April 18, 2006, Toshiba released the first HD DVD player for the United States, the Toshiba HD-A1 and Toshiba HD-XA1. They are powered by an Intel Pentium 4 processor and contain 1GB of RAM; the drive mechanism is also an IDE HD DVD drive. The units run a specialized version of the Linux operating system booting off a USB thumbdrive. Due to high demand, they were reported to be sold-out in many stores in the United States after the first shipment. (Although the number of HD DVD players shipped has not been released)

On May 16 Toshiba released its first PC with a HD DVD drive, the Toshiba Qosmio 35. This PC is the first to have a slim height optical disc drive. Toshiba's Digital Products Division, introduced Toshiba Qosmio G35-AV600, the latest version of its flagship "4-in-1" audio-video entertainment notebook with new enhancements. The Toshiba G35-AV600 is a complete package featuring Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 and integrated TV tuner, digital video recorder (DVR), virtual surround-sound stereo, and HDMI output. The notebook includes the world's first 1-bit digital amplifier in a notebook PC. [citation needed]

Microsoft has also confirmed that they will be releasing an add-on HD DVD drive for the Xbox 360, which will be purely for movies and not have a HDMI port, it will attatch to the console via usb cable. Despite rumours to the contrary, the Xbox 360 will not include an internal HD DVD reader in future releases.[11] Microsoft have also previously stated that though it is possible to add a Blu-ray drive for the Xbox 360, they currently have no plans to do so.

Marketing

A $150 million dollar ad campaign is being planned for the HD DVD. The ad campaign is being handled by the same company who did the "Got milk?" ad.[12]

The initiative will encompass all media: print, internet, television and other outlets. All advertising will boast the tagline "The Look and Sound of Perfect." A new Web site was also launched on 11th of July 2006, [13], which touts the HD DVD's superior video and audio capabilities and includes trailers of HD DVD movies. [14]

See also

Alternative disc technologies

References

  1. ^ http://news.com.com/HD+DVD+backers+promise+200+movies/2100-1026_3-6019023.html "HD DVD backers promise 200 movies"
  2. ^ http://digital-lifestyles.info/display_page.asp?section=platforms&id=3146 "Toshiba HD-DVD Player: First Release In Japan"
  3. ^ http://www.videobusiness.com/article/CA6324750.html "HD DVD set to launch quietly. Toshiba to ship between 10,000 to 15,000 players"
  4. ^ Dolby Audio Coding for Future Entertainment Formats (PDF)
  5. ^ "Requirements Specification for HD DVD Video Application" (PDF). Version 1.0. July 2005. Retrieved 2006-06-27. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  6. ^ HD DVD – A technical introduction
  7. ^ Picture from Blu-Ray website
  8. ^ "High-def ‘down-converting’ forced. Consortium backs technology to prevent piracy on analog signals"
  9. ^ "Universal won't downsample HD DVD content"
  10. ^ http://www.videobusiness.com/article/CA6323662.html "Uni delivers Serenity to HD DVD. Sci-fi adventure first from studio on high-def format on April 18"
  11. ^ "Microsoft Says No to Xbox 360 Internal HD DVD".
  12. ^ "HD-DVD Marketing Strategy".
  13. ^ http://www.TheLookandSoundofPerfect.com
  14. ^ "HD DVD Backers to Launch Massive $150 Marketing Blitz".
  15. ^ Marc Perton. Early HD DVD flicks to be 1080p. April 13, 2006.

News

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=HD_DVD&oldid=68268183"