HD on standard discs

[dhollister]

OK so...

HD-DVD and Blu-Ray pretty much use the same codecs. (H.264, VC1) The new players will also play back standard DVD's as well, I hear. Or at least HD-DVD should (and I hope Blu-Ray does, or some people are going to be pissed.)

Theoretically then, if you used the correct HD codec and could fit it on a regular DVD, would they play in HD/Blu-Ray players? (Like back with VCD's?) Or are you going to need to burn them using actual HD burners?

[MikeCurtis]

At least one of them will, can't recall which at the moment (it's somewhere on my blog). But it does need to be discretely addressed. If it is HD-DVD that supports it, you essentially author a small HD-DVD that fits on a DVD-R and do it that way and the spec supports playing that in a consumer deck. That was a biggie.

I'm not sure whether it is one or both, but at least one of the two formats supports it for sure.

[dhollister]

I am pretty sure that it's HD-DVD. I think Blu-Ray was the one that has its own disc format that may or may not read old discs.

If both players somehow end up supporting them, that could be the best option! Instead of produce for just Blu-Ray or just HD-DVD and pay thousands for the equipment, just use a $.15 DVD-R and author one that will play on both. :)

Man, that would be the budget filmmaker's dream right there.

[morisato]

I am pretty sure that it's HD-DVD. I think Blu-Ray was the one that has its own disc format that may or may not read old discs.

If both players somehow end up supporting them, that could be the best option! Instead of produce for just Blu-Ray or just HD-DVD and pay thousands for the equipment, just use a $.15 DVD-R and author one that will play on both. :)

Man, that would be the budget filmmaker's dream right there.

You have to remember that a DVD-R is only 4.38gb while an HD DVD is 30gb. I dont know how much space HD requires, but ASSUMING 30gb is for a 90 minute movie, that would mean that 1gb is 3 minutes, meaning a regular DVD-R holds 13 minutes of HD footage. Nice for short shorts, but you'll need to split your 90-minute feature up into 4 dual layer DVD-Rs. What a hassle... remember VCDs and LaserDisc? "Please insert disc 2"

Dual layer DVD-R would be perfect for TV shows though... 26 minutes fits a single episode perfectly. 24 discs for a season XD

[dhollister]

With H.264, you could conceivably put a 90-120 minute 720P movie on a 4.7GB DVD-R without looking too bad. This may not be the most professional option obviously, but for cheepies like me who don't necessarily need lossless quality, it might work.