10 replies to this topic

[Mary Lynn]

Hi All,

Just successfully tested an HD DVD I authored with menu and chapter markers created in DVD Studio Pro 4.1.2 and played back on a Toshiba HD-D2KU set-top HD DVD player connected via HDMI to a 50" plasma 1920x1080 HDTV! Looks fantastic!

And the best part is that the HD DVD video asset is the original HDV sequence exported from my FCP timeline as a self-contained 1080i60 HDV movie. (HDV is HD MPEG-2.)

There had been a good amount of talk on various DVDSP-related forums about the Toshiba HD DVD players not recognizing menus created in DVDSP 4.x, but usually playing tracks OK. An update for DVDSP was just released by Apple, and the resulting HD DVD, including menu and chapter markers, works perfectly in the Toshiba!

Now, of course, the downside is that because I burned the HD DVD on my G5 to a standard 4.7 GB DVD, I'll be limited to around 15 to 18 minutes or so of HDV footage (depending on the size of the additional menu assets). I've yet to test encoding the video using an H.264 compression of the original HDV sequence, which will be my next step.

But this is great for shorter HDV vids where you might want to maintain the full HDV resolution. And the Toshiba HD DVD player is coming down in price--now available at Costco here in SoCal for $449 USD.

Mary Lynn

[Drew]

I suggest using a DL DVD for now until HD DVD burners come out. It does take a long time to write one though.

[wagsy]

Hey Cool Mary.

Sony BD player with a firmwire will play BDMV disks and so will the PS3 with a firware update as well.
Samsung needs a fireware update as well.

The Panasonic plays them all. BD-R, BD-RE

I have a Blue Ray disk burnt from the Pioneer BDR-101A
It was made with ROXIO DVDit PRO HD on a PC. $700 AUD

It's all way too $$$ yet.....have to wait for those $1000 burners to come down to $150 and the $25 disks:)

[NickJ]

That is great news Mary Lynn. I have been burning HD DVDs from my Quad onto standard 4.7gig DVDs and playing them back on the monitor for a while, but I've been looking for a convenient and cost effective solution that takes this material to the home theatre set up. Looks like we are making progress. Once you see HD on a fully compliant HD TV you never want to go back to SD!

15 to 18 minutes is more than enough for an HD 'short' while we wait for the arrival of cheaper burners.

Unfortunately I'm still on DVDSP 4.0.3, which I guess is the latest version before the big FCS upgrade. My FCP is version 5.0.4 and I don't really want to pay more $$ before FCS 6 comes out .... Maybe by that time Blu-Ray and HD DVD burners will be down to a couple of hundred bucks

[shawnh]

I was at the Apple store today talking with a specialist. We brought a Apple Intermediary Codec 720p FCP movie file into DVD Studio Pro. He set the project setting to HD H.264. We then burned on a std single layer dvd. I just popped it in my standard dvd player and it plays beautifully on my HD set. It looks really good but since the folder on the disc says Video_TS, not HVDVD_TS...i think i must be really good SD.

[Mary Lynn]

It's all way too $$$ yet.....have to wait for those $1000 burners to come down to $150 and the $25 disks:)

Yeah, that's why I was so stoked about being able to just burn a completely functional HD DVD using HDV assets on my G5's standard super drive to a standard 4.7 GB disc, and have it play back on a set-top HD DVD player that's now available for under 5 bills USD. It's starting to come within reach!

ML

[TheRealDrew]

It looks really good but since the folder on the disc says Video_TS, not HVDVD_TS...i think i must be really good SD.

Yup, if you see the VIDEO_TS folder it is not a HD build. Very strange because if a project is set or changed to HD it cannot go back to SD (at least up to the most recent update, not sure if something changed, do not think so.) My bet is the specialist probably just went to the preferences and changed the encoding settings for HD projects and did not make a HD DVD. Specialists at Apple Stores sometimes leave a bit to be desired

[Mary Lynn]

Yup, if you see the VIDEO_TS folder it is not a HD build.

That's accurate about needing to see an HVDVD_TS folder in the build. And an HD DVD won't play in a standard set-top DVD player. Shawn, it sounds like the AS made you a standard DVD from your very high quality video file, which should look great but will be a standard MPEG-2 video file muxed in the build.

I understand that there'll be a dual BlueRay/HD DVD player out very soon, but not sure if it'll be ridiculously expensive to start out with (probably) or whether the DVDSP 4.1.2 HD DVD builds will be compatible in the beginning (who knows).

ML

[TheRealDrew]

I understand that there'll be a dual BlueRay/HD DVD player out very soon, but not sure if it'll be ridiculously expensive to start out with (probably) or whether the DVDSP 4.1.2 HD DVD builds will be compatible in the beginning (who knows).

Will be interesting to see, the new update addressed some pressing issues and seems to work with the Toshibas now Maybe the HD/blu-ray issue will one day get straightened out (Lately blu-ray has been selling more titles it seems due to a few factors, but the jury is still far from out on that issue.)

Rumor mill is buzzing about what the new Mac Towers will have, rumblings of a blu-ray in it, but who knows. Would be impressive if the next roundd of DVD SP implements more of the features of HD and blu-ray, but not holding my breath on that one.

Did you see the Apple UK site had the "Octo" posted for a brief bit of time, maybe NAB and the April event, got my credit card on standby just in case.

[Mary Lynn]

Did you see the Apple UK site had the "Octo" posted for a brief bit of time, maybe NAB and the April event, got my credit card on standby just in case.

There's just no end in sight to cool new stuff out there--looks like I'll be working forever to be able to even keep up a little bit! I tried to find info for you on the FCStudio crossgrade promotion from awhile back which allowed crossgrade to 5.1 for pretty cheap if you sent your old discs in, but I couldn't find it. (That's how I went to 5.1 (DVDSP 4.1.x).)

Anyway, it's all pretty darn cool!

ML

[TheRealDrew]

I tried to find info for you on the FCStudio crossgrade promotion from awhile back which allowed crossgrade to 5.1 for pretty cheap if you sent your old discs in, but I couldn't find it. (That's how I went to 5.1 (DVDSP 4.1.x).)

Anyway, it's all pretty darn cool!

Very cool indeed The crossgrade was extended from the end of December to the other day, but now it is over, but I got a few before it went away.

FCP 6 Suite at NAB I hope