Preparing your customers and your facilities for Blu-ray
description
Transcript of Preparing your customers and your facilities for Blu-ray
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Preparing your customers and your facilities for Blu-ray
A powerful format that leads to new challenges in authoring and
creative design
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Exceeding expectations
After several years of development, consumer and industry expectations are high
DVD was a leap in complexity, BD will be as well Expect a transition to happen over the next year
in how titles are developed The best products are expected to have not only
great picture and sound, but also added value that drives product sales
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Blu-ray data structure
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DVD vs. Blu-ray
Mature authoring tools
Ubiquitous MPEG2 video Mature audio codecs Mature subtitles creation Little or no programming
possible Mature QC processes Creative design built around
DVD capability
New authoring tools New compression codecs New audio codecs New subtitles New programming
environment New QC complexity New creative process with
many possibilities
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SPE authoring tool development
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The current DVD world with PAL and NTSC compression
At present, most Film based DVD content sold in Europe plays 4% fast in order to manage the difference between 24fps film and 25fps PAL video This affects the consumer experience, the video
speed is not noticed, but correspondent change in audio pitch is obvious
Studios have to conform elements and compress video for both NTSC and PAL standards adding cost and complexity to DVD manufacturing
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The European standard
Movies can and should be encoded to one standard - worldwide
EICTA – “HD ready” sanctioning body http://www.eicta.org/files/LicenseAgreement-114914A.pdf
Basic Requirements (information copied from license agreement) The display device accepts HD input via:
Analog YPbPr and DVI or HDMI HD capable inputs accept:
1280x720 @ 50 and 60 hz progressive (“720p”) and 1920 x 1080 @ 50 and 60hz interlaced (“1080i”)
The DVI or HDMI input supports content protection (HDCP)
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Blu-ray Video Codecs
AVC – computation intensive, some LSI implementations exist, but typically uses blade servers
VC1 – also computation intensive, software implementations
MPEG2 – less efficient at very low bit rates, but equivalent performance at >15mbps. Encoding and decoding readily available.
Master tape quality – results of tests
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New audio codecs
Both Dolby and DTS have new codecs included in Blu-ray
Studios are already expressing interest in using “lossless” coding
Decoding hardware needed before new codecs can be used
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New subtitles
HD resolutions Both Unicode and BMP available 256 colors available – excellent anti-aliasing New standards for delivery New methods of delivery – network
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BD-J A programmable environment
Blu-ray provides an implementation of Java that can be used to create newer forms of disc interactivity
DVD authoring and BD-J authoring are not the same skill set
Game / web development skills are converging with packaged media development
Keeping order – spiraling complexity
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Blu-ray Movie Mode
Similar to DVD functions with improvements Ideal for first titles Can provide a better user experience than
DVD The first step in player development and
compatibility Low level conventions are used in BD-J
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QC for Blu-ray
What display Consider scaling artifacts – full resolution avoids
this Screen size, two to three picture heights Professional versus Consumer devices Interlace artifacts – should allowances be made? Interactive disc QC
Network connection Game style capability
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The creative process
Balancing improved performance and graphic complexity
Re-educating the industry on what can be accomplished
Providing better tools to eliminate redundancy
Balancing format capability with time to market
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Priorities – before the first order
Staffing - Blu-ray has capabilities through Java programming that are not in the typical skill set of most DVD tool users
Video encoding – MPEG2 encoders are available and can do an outstanding job for this application. Adoption of alternative codecs may not be needed for a while
Data handling – can your network and storage systems handle HD?
Quality control – How will you check HD video? Display choices are limited.
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Launch timing (estimated)
JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC
- BD players in market
- BD authoring in progress from Nov 05’
On time!
- BD software in market
- BD software with Java based navigation
-BD player/software network usage
Demand for software and players
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Summary Blu-ray will launch in the Spring – the time to
prepare for compression and authoring is now 24p encoding worldwide is a win – win Consumer broadcast experience with HD is
uneven, packaged media should set the benchmark… again…
The distinction between authoring games and authoring movies will start to blur. Hiring for development and QC needs to adapt accordingly