Video Asylum

Oh, I agree that there is constraint relative to Blu-ray

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This Post Has Been Edited by the Author

In Reply to: RE: I think the bandwidth limitation (in addition to storage) severely constraints HD DVD. posted by oscar on October 19, 2007 at 22:10:56

But I think your use of "severely" is harsh and exaggerated. On top of that, I wonder if it will make a real difference anytime soon, or if we can chalk it up to another one of your "upside" possibilities for the murky future.

We've yet to see a significant number of music video discs in either format. So far most of the ones that have been released don't have much in the way of hi-resolution audio tracks; probably because they were originally intended for DVD release and got "upgraded" to the newer video formats.

As to the dearth of lossless on movies - When I put on my marketing hat and think about what I'd choose for a commercial release if I were in charge of it, it occurs to me that most players and HT receivers currently on the market don't do a very good job of working with the new lossless audio formats, if they even handle them at all. If I'm the marketing guy trying to get mainstream acceptance of my product, why would I put something on the disc that only a handful of my customers can use, especially if it gets in the way of the bonus features J6P says he wants instead? If it costs any extra money to put on the disc, and only a handful of the buyers would ever utilize it, it isn't going on there. Period. Even if there's space and bandwidth galore.

When the hi-def formats fail in the mass market and become the niche products they are destined to be, I'm sure there will be more focus put on the audio tracks, because that's one of the things the niche market will want. Until then, as long as the big studios are putting out the bulk of the discs, we should expect to see the lowest common denominator on most discs, regardless of format - especially the anticipated big sellers.

Having said that, I'll be pleasantly surprised if either format ends up with a significant number of music video discs with 5.1 24/96 lossless. Nearly all of the ones on the market that do have lossless (regardless of format) seem to have 24/48 at best. It costs less.

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