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Getting to High Def:
HDV Video to High-Def DVD on your PC
by Douglas Dixon,
www.manifest-tech.com
High-Def DVD Playback /
High-Def DVD Authoring
Consumer HD
InterVideo Software
CyberLink Software
Roxio / Sonic Solutions
Getting Blue
References
High-def is
here! At least mostly here. -- You can buy
HDV camcorders for around $1400 and
shoot in real HD resolution (www.hdv-info.org),
and then you can burn and share the results
on high-def DVD burners for around $1000.
Yes, it seems we've been talking about these
forever, and the products are just starting
to get to market, and the prices are still
high, and the hardware and software are
still new and a bit rough. But, on the other
hand this next generation is coming much
faster and dropping in price more quickly
than the previous transitions from analog to
DV video, and from videotape to DVD. --
Remember the good old days of early DVD,
when only high-end pros could work with
$17,000 burners and $50 discs?
This time
around for high def, we already have
consumer / enthusiast HD camcorders with
compatible editing software, and the first
blue-laser recordable discs with basic
consumer authoring tools, all becoming
available within just a year or so of when
the first professionals started authoring
commercial high-def DVDs. Sonic Solutions
just shipped the first packaged film
authoring tools earlier in 2006, and now
we're talking about consumer tools from
several companies -- albeit significantly
less sophisticated -- becoming available
later this year.
So let's look
at what to expect through the rest of this
year, as high-def DVD comes to PCs along
with consumer burning software. Just be
warned that this is all a little tricky and
fuzzy -- the combination of the technical
complexity of these new formats, the costs
of the associated royalty pools, and the
restrictions from the layers of copy
protection mechanisms all have combined to
limit what you can do with high-def DVD,
relative to the extensive freedom we are
used to when working with DVD.
We'll focus on
the recently announced set of Sony HDV and
Blu-ray products, since they cover the range
from set-top to desktop, and HD DVD
recorders are not yet shipping. Apple's pro
and consumer suites also support HDV editing
and early HD DVD authoring, but we'll look
here at the wide variety of new tools coming
available under Windows.
Before we get
started, we need to address the added
confusion of the all-out format war between
the two main high-def disc formats -- HD
DVD, championed by Toshiba and NEC, and
officially adopted by the DVD Forum (www.hddvdprg.com),
and Blu-ray Disc (BD), championed by
Sony and Panasonic, with strong support from
the consumer electronics and computer
industries (www.blu-raydisc.com).
While HD DVD was designed as an incremental
improvement beyond DVD, offering 15 GB of
capacity per layer and 30 GB for dual-layer,
Blu-ray is a more aggressive step forward,
with 25 GB per layer and 50 GB for a DL disc
-- making it a much more interesting choice
for PC-based data backup and video sharing.
The initial
first-generation set-top players for both
formats came onto the market in the first
half of 2006, beginning with the Toshiba
HD-A1 High Definition DVD Player for HD
DVD (www.tacp.toshiba.com/hddvd)
and the Samsung BD-P1000 Blu-ray Disc
Player (www.samsung.com/Products/Blu_ray).
These shipped with a limited selection of
movie titles (some exclusive to individual
formats). And these are playback-only: no
set-top recorders are available, even though
one obvious motivation for these new formats
was to record HD television.
Samsung BD-P1000 Blu-ray Player
Toshiba HD-A1 HD DVD Player
In addition,
the movie industry has loaded these formats
down with extensive layers of copy
protection technology to protect their
content in its full high-def digital glory.
As a result, the set-top high-def DVD
players will only display their picture in
full HD on displays that support the HDMI
interface (all those HD video and
multi-channel audio connections combined
into one convenient cable) -- and only on
newer devices that implement full HDCP
copy protection. Otherwise, you'll need to
buy a new display, or the titles may permit
display at lower resolution on older analog
displays.
Similarly, you
can't expect to play back these HD discs on
any old PC, like you are used to with DVDs.
Full HD playback will require significant
upgrades or a new system, with good
performance, updated drivers, plus a secure
digital connection with hardware HDCP
support in both the video card and the
display across a DVI interface. Again, the
title otherwise may permit reduced playback
at standard resolution.
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And what about
authoring to these HD formats? The good news
is that the first Blu-ray PC drives are
shipping, with software for burning data
files and at least basic video discs.
However, these new high-def DVD formats have
very sophisticated capabilities, much like
Web interfaces -- with pop-up menus floating
on top of playing video, multiple layers of
motion video and audio, programmability for
developing games and other applications, and
even networked interfaces for accessing and
downloading additional content.
Both formats
therefore define two distinct layers of
programmability (and therefore authoring
complexity) -- basic video playback
(standard or video mode) and full-up
(advanced or movie mode), plus a simpler
video recording mode for set-top recorders.
To simplify, HD DVD provides Standard
Content mode similar to current DVD
capabilities, plus Advanced Content (with
Web-like markup and scripting using iHD).
Blu-ray provides basic video recording with
BDAV (Audio/Video) mode, DVD-like playback
with HDAV authoring mode, and full
customization with BDMV (Movie mode, with
BD-J Java programming).
The initial
software tools will start with basic
recording of clips to disc like a set-top
recorder (i.e., BDAV mode), and then expand
to DVD-like menu design and navigation
(Standard / HDAV mode). Full-up
programmability (Advanced iHD/BD-J) is
currently reserved to the high-end tools
like Sonic Scenarist 4.
But first
before we can think about burning HD video
to disc, we need to shoot and edit some
high-def material. The consumer HD pieces
started really fitting together in July,
when Sony announced its expanded line of HDV
camcorders and its Blu-ray Disc (BD) PC
drive, which means you can go from the HD
camcorder to recording on BD media -- up to
four hours of 1080 HD video on dual-layer
discs with 50 GB of storage (that's 10X the
capacity of a standard DVD).
First, Sony
expanded its line of HDV Handycam camcorders
to include units that record on tape, DVD,
and hard disk. The original Sony HDR-HC3
1080i Handycam Camcorder (around $1499)
captures either DV or high-def HDV video to
standard MiniDV cassette tape. The new
HDR-UX1 records to 8 cm mini-DVD discs
($1399, due in September), and the new
HDR-SR1 records to a built-in 30 GB hard
disk ($1499, due in October). Sony also
introduced double-layer +R 8 cm DVD media
($12) which provides around 45 minutes HD
recording (www.sonystyle.com).
To share your
video, all three Handycams have HDMI output
to play directly on an HD display. Both of
the new units use the new AVCHD
format sponsored by Sony and Panasonic
(MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 high-def video,
www.avchd-info.org).
AVCHD support
means you can remove the DVD from the
camcorder and play your high-def video
directly on the Sony BDP-S1 Blu-ray Disc
player (around $1000). Or you can
transfer to regular DVD with the Sony
DVDirect DVD Recorder (around $200).
Even better
for video enthusiasts, today's video editing
software can edit videos in HDV format, so
you can do HD editing on your own PC much
like you are used to with DV -- if your
system is equipped with reasonable
processing power and disk space.
But what about
sharing your edited HD productions? You can
play them back from a HD camcorder, or
export them in MPEG-4 or Windows Media Video
HD format to play on PCs, but it would be
even better to burn your videos to high-def
discs.
The first Blu-ray
PC drive was the Pioneer BDR-101A Blu-ray
Disc/DVD writer ($999,
www.pioneerelectronics.com). This
external drive burns single-layer (25 GB)
Blu-ray write-once (BD-R) and rewritable
(BD-RE) discs, as well as recordable DVD
formats (but not CD). Spinning at 2X, it can
burn a full disc in around 45 minutes. The
25 GB disc can hold around 3 1/2 hours of
1920 x 1080 video using MPEG-4 AVC
compression at 12 Mbps, along with multiple
audio tracks.
Pioneer BDR-101A Blu-ray Disc/DVD writer
Sony then
introduced the Sony BWU-100A
Internal Blu-ray Disc Rewritable Drive
($749), so you can burn HD video to 50 GB
Blu-ray discs to play back on a set-top
player or on a PC. It supports burning to
dual-layer Blu-ray, DVD, and CD media.
Sony also
ships Blu-ray drives with the Sony VAIO
RC Blu-ray Disc Desktop PC (around
$2300) and VAIO AR Blu-ray Disc Notebook PC
($3500), which include the dual-layer drive
and HDMI output to HDTVs.
These Blu-ray
drive products include software suites for
Blu-ray disc playback, data burning, and
video recording, which are extensions of the
products that you are probably already
familiar with.
The Sony Blu-ray
VAIO notebook ships with a suite of tools
from InterVideo, including InterVideo
WinDVD BD for playback and Ulead BD
Disc Recorder. These are part of the
InterVideo / Ulead suite of disc burning
and digital media creation tools (www.intervideo.com,
www.ulead.com).
-
InterVideo WinDVD player software is
being extended to support playback of both
the Blu-ray and HD DVD formats. The new
versions should be available as retail
products in Fall 2006.
-
InterVideo Burn Now provides data
burning and backup for data and music,
burning and copying, to also support burning
and backup to Blu-ray format.
And for HD
video disc creation, InterVideo is enhancing
its line of Ulead editing and authoring
tools.
- Ulead BD
Disc Recorder can capture from DV / HDV
camcorders, import video clips, rip from
DVD, and burn or append to Blu-ray disc in
BDAV format. It also supports Straight to
Disc recording direct from tape to disc. The
result is much like a set-top recorder, with
a simple menu of the clips on the disc But
it's a real, playable Blu-ray disc, so you
can finally share your HD productions on
disc.
- Ulead DVD
MovieFactory provides disc authoring
with menu creation and navigation design.
Again, expect support for BDAV recording
relatively soon, followed by more
interesting menu authoring before the end of
the year.
The Sony
BWU-100A Blu-ray drive ships with an
extensive suite from CyberLink with a
similar range of tools, also being updated
to support the high-def video and DVD
formats (www.cyberlink.com):
- CyberLink
PowerDVD player software provides
playback of BDAV discs, but not prerecorded
commercial Hollywood BDMV discs in the
initial release. Retail update packs for
both Blu-ray and HD DVD are due later this
year. Note that playback of high-def video
with advanced compression requires
significantly more processing power than SD
DVD playback -- CyberLink recommends a 3+
GHz Pentium or 2 GHz Core Duo or equivalent.
CyberLink also
is extending its tools for data burning and
backup to CD, DVD, and Blu-ray.
- CyberLink
InstantBurn is packet-writing software
for drag and drop burning in Windows
Explorer.
- CyberLink Power2Go provides easy
burning of data, videos, photos, and music.
- CyberLink PowerBackup is data
archiving software.
And CyberLink
is expanding its video and HDV editing and
authoring tools:
- CyberLink
PowerDirector editing software supports
HD and widescreen video, with automated
editing and enhancement. The current bundled
version burns to DVD, but not yet Blu-ray.
- CyberLink
PowerProducer is BD/DVD authoring
software, enables the capturing, authoring,
editing, and burning video to CD, DVD, and
basic Blu-ray.
CyberLink
expects to have more advanced menu authoring
for the high-def DVD formats implemented by
the end of 2006.
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The Sony Blu-ray
VAIO notebook also ships with basic Blu-ray
data burning tools from Roxio (a
division of Sonic Solutions), called
Roxio DigitalMedia (www.sonic.com).
 
Meanwhile,
Sonic is preparing a new release of its
Roxio Easy Media Creator suite to
support the HD disc formats, with tools for
data backup and copy; audio, photo, and
video media creation and editing; and media
conversion and playback over a wide variety
of formats and devices.
The first
release of the suite will provide basic Blu-ray
data burning and video recording.
-
CinePlayer for playback of HD discs
(consumer BDAV recording mode, not
commercial titles).
- VideoWave
video editor for HDV editing.
- Quick BD
Disc Creation for recording video clips
to disc (BDAV mode).
- MyDVD
authoring for standard DVD, with menu design
and navigation control (not Blu-ray).
Roxio will add
support for HD DVD support once PC drives
are available, and you can expect more
advanced playback and authoring features to
become available as the know-how and
technology trickles down from Sonics's
professional tools which currently are being
used to create commercial titles.
As you can
see, the roll-out of consumer access to HD
is in some ways impressively fast,
especially compared to the years it took for
DVD to extend from high-end professionals to
reach similar consumer functionality and
price points. However, while HDV camcorders
for shooting HD video and the associated
video editing software are looking good, the
deployment of the new HD disc formats is
going to be more confusing.
Between copy
protection restrictions for playback,
technology and licensing restrictions for
advanced features, and just plain format
complexities -- plus the ongoing format war
-- we cannot expect to have the same
seamless experiences as with current DVD
moving either prerecorded titles or recorded
discs between set-top devices and desktop
computers.
On the other
hand, it's a very liberating experience to
fire up a DVD backup application and see the
capacity indicator read "50 GB free." So
look forward to high-def DVD, at least in
its early phases, for data burning and basic
video recording and playback. Then hang in
there a little longer before expecting fancy
menu editing. And start planning some
equipment upgrades for a full HD
movie-viewing experience.
HDV Format
www.hdv-info.org
HD DVD
www.hddvdprg.com
Blu-ray Disc
(BD)
www.blu-raydisc.com
AVCHD
Information
www.avchd-info.org
Toshiba - HD
DVD
www.tacp.toshiba.com/hddvd
Samsung - Blu-ray
www.samsung.com/Products/Blu_ray
Pioneer
Electronics
www.pioneerelectronics.com
Sony Style
www.sonystyle.com
CyberLink
www.cyberlink.com
InterVideo /
Ulead
www.intervideo.com
www.ulead.com
Sonic / Roxio
www.sonic.com
Originally
published in
Camcorder & Computer Video magazine, 22,
7, Oct. 2006.
Manifest
Technology®
Copyright 1999-2006,
Douglas Dixon, All Rights Reserved
Manifest Technology is a registered
trademark of Douglas Dixon
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