Well if it's Hollywood's wish to get rid of regional encoding, which i guess could be possible, i would expect Bluray to follow suit. It only makes sense afterall. If the formats follow Hollywood's word, Bluray will follow them too. Especially seen how it seems almost 100% of Hollywood is behind it.
HD-DVD, Blu-ray, and region codes...
- Thread starter Carl B
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Doesn't Blu-ray have 0 region, just as DVD's, that can be played in all regions?
If it is the movie studios that do no longer want region coding, what stops them just using the zero region?
Or say if Warner wants to release all their high definition movie dics without region coding, and Columbia wants to region code their high definition movie discs, what stops Warner using R0 and Columbia using the region locking?
Isn't BR more versatile when viewed from industry pov? For consumers no regions would of course be fine and danny, but really will the big studios go for free regions if there is an option?
If a movie is released almost simultaneously across the world, like for example many recent big films have (like SW:EPI-III), the DVD's are also already released almost simultaneously across the regions. Still, they are not the same disc everywhere.
Why do they still use region coding? Why don't they just release them all in region 0 disc, the same disc across the world with the exact same content, playable on everybody's TV and DVD player anywhere in the world........?..........EXCEPT, remember there still are different TV standards across the world (an NTSC disc has a bit lower resolution than a PAL disc, am I right?), and most countries need subtitlings and even different cuts because of different standards in acceptability of violent content etc....
If it wasn't for region controlling because of different release schedules, most of the films would still have to be released regionally, because of different requirements for content.
I just see no reason, however good it would be for the consumer, the film industry abandoning control over release schedules across the world.
hmmm.. makes me think, would it be possible that the film industry might indeed want to get rid of the present region coding system and tech, thus making the HD-DVD discs essentially "region free" by today's standards.
There could be other, more versatile for the industry, ways to control what and when you'll be able to play in your HD-DVD player...... something like online activation,......managed copy..... now am I onto something here... must think
If it is the movie studios that do no longer want region coding, what stops them just using the zero region?
Or say if Warner wants to release all their high definition movie dics without region coding, and Columbia wants to region code their high definition movie discs, what stops Warner using R0 and Columbia using the region locking?
Isn't BR more versatile when viewed from industry pov? For consumers no regions would of course be fine and danny, but really will the big studios go for free regions if there is an option?
If a movie is released almost simultaneously across the world, like for example many recent big films have (like SW:EPI-III), the DVD's are also already released almost simultaneously across the regions. Still, they are not the same disc everywhere.
Why do they still use region coding? Why don't they just release them all in region 0 disc, the same disc across the world with the exact same content, playable on everybody's TV and DVD player anywhere in the world........?..........EXCEPT, remember there still are different TV standards across the world (an NTSC disc has a bit lower resolution than a PAL disc, am I right?), and most countries need subtitlings and even different cuts because of different standards in acceptability of violent content etc....
If it wasn't for region controlling because of different release schedules, most of the films would still have to be released regionally, because of different requirements for content.
I just see no reason, however good it would be for the consumer, the film industry abandoning control over release schedules across the world.
hmmm.. makes me think, would it be possible that the film industry might indeed want to get rid of the present region coding system and tech, thus making the HD-DVD discs essentially "region free" by today's standards.
There could be other, more versatile for the industry, ways to control what and when you'll be able to play in your HD-DVD player...... something like online activation,......managed copy..... now am I onto something here... must think
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No. I'm saying that if the studio's don't want this, as people (including me) suspect, how'd it get cleared? Which suggests it is something the studios want, though in which case, why would BRD have regional encoding?PC-Engine said:
It really is the publishers who push for this kind of stuff - the studios don't care because they make money wherever someone buys a product (unless it's a bootleg!). The hardware manufacturers don't care because it doesn't affect sales much (though I suppose a more easily region hackable player might prove a bit more popular).
The PSP UMD thing I think shows that the movie distributors are still a bit more reticent whereas the game people have recognised the pros outweigh the cons.
However there's also the issue of ratings and censorship - movie studios won't want to risk the wrath of ratings bodies by openly distributing films rated in a more lenient country than the target audience. The irony for me here is that the films most likely to fall foul of ratings are porn - which has the most diverse guidelines between countries. However porn is quite often R0 rather than specifically encoded...
Finally there's the issue of video formats... different regions have different TV standards. Though R2 from Japan is different to R2 in Europe so I guess DVD didn't really fix that anyway. With the advent of HD, there's less excuse for distinction - even the european HD standard includes 60 as well as 50 so it would be possible to standardise on 60 if desireable.
So I think that any successful format will need to have the possibility of region locking built in, but I would hope that a more progressive attitude from the distribution side would see it used very little.
After all, DVD may have region protection but many films release with either multiple regions enabled, or as R0 which should be playable anywhere.
I doubt Sony particularly want region locking to be a big feature either - if it didn't exist, they'd be in a far better position to crack down on modchipping and piracy. As it stands, the excuse of playing imports is used as a blanket justification for removing protection - I expect that's a loophole they'd like to see closed.
The PSP UMD thing I think shows that the movie distributors are still a bit more reticent whereas the game people have recognised the pros outweigh the cons.
However there's also the issue of ratings and censorship - movie studios won't want to risk the wrath of ratings bodies by openly distributing films rated in a more lenient country than the target audience. The irony for me here is that the films most likely to fall foul of ratings are porn - which has the most diverse guidelines between countries. However porn is quite often R0 rather than specifically encoded...
Finally there's the issue of video formats... different regions have different TV standards. Though R2 from Japan is different to R2 in Europe so I guess DVD didn't really fix that anyway. With the advent of HD, there's less excuse for distinction - even the european HD standard includes 60 as well as 50 so it would be possible to standardise on 60 if desireable.
So I think that any successful format will need to have the possibility of region locking built in, but I would hope that a more progressive attitude from the distribution side would see it used very little.
After all, DVD may have region protection but many films release with either multiple regions enabled, or as R0 which should be playable anywhere.
I doubt Sony particularly want region locking to be a big feature either - if it didn't exist, they'd be in a far better position to crack down on modchipping and piracy. As it stands, the excuse of playing imports is used as a blanket justification for removing protection - I expect that's a loophole they'd like to see closed.
Does anyone here know what exactly are the big differences between iHD and BD-J features?
Can someone give concrete examples as of what would be possible with iHD that wouldn't be possible with BD-J?
..and please, none of the "XX only supports feature YY as an option, meaning nobody will use it" cr*p, as I really don't get what is the big advantage of something being an option over "standard" unless it is a feature that absolutely WILL be used on every high def disc and actually WILL be a feature worth boasting (talking commentator head I don't see being such, as I don't see nearly every disc featuring such even if it were a "standard" feature of iHD)
Are there speed advantages over the other standard? Is it faster to navigate a disc?
Is the other supporting higher resolution and colours? Better animation?
If someone has first hand experience working with them, it would be really interesting to hear.
Can someone give concrete examples as of what would be possible with iHD that wouldn't be possible with BD-J?
..and please, none of the "XX only supports feature YY as an option, meaning nobody will use it" cr*p, as I really don't get what is the big advantage of something being an option over "standard" unless it is a feature that absolutely WILL be used on every high def disc and actually WILL be a feature worth boasting (talking commentator head I don't see being such, as I don't see nearly every disc featuring such even if it were a "standard" feature of iHD)
Are there speed advantages over the other standard? Is it faster to navigate a disc?
Is the other supporting higher resolution and colours? Better animation?
If someone has first hand experience working with them, it would be really interesting to hear.
rabidrabbit said:
Democoder covered it quite well, go up a few posts, he knows his stuff.
...but his posts are so looooooooong
besides, Demo Coder hasn't posted in this thread yet.
besides, Demo Coder hasn't posted in this thread yet.
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Actually DC didn't really go into much detail as to why he *thinks* BD-J is better than iHD or why iHD is not as good. If you really want to know why iHD is better go read the AVS thread where Amir of MS has first hand knowledge of how iHD is better than BD-J. In fact you could ask him yourself.
I've no idea!PC-Engine said:
But isn't he from Microsoft? His post must be so biasedPC-Engine said:
So that's gonna be an unbiased opinion thenPC-Engine said:
Could you provide a direct link?AFAIK Java is a full language so you can do 'anything', whereas iHD is more like an HTML webpage structure. But I'm far from an expert and could be completely wrong. That's why it'd be good to read a bit more, and a link to Amir of MS would present one educational perspective.
Would the differences/advantages be about the same as (mobile?)Java vs. XML?
Now what are the differences betwwen those.... I don't know.
Now what are the differences betwwen those.... I don't know.
Yes Amir from MS may be biased but he doesn't lie.
Regardless he provides very good information and it's up to you to decide what to do with that information. Also you can hear the BD-J side of the equation from the others who post there too.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6336035
Regardless he provides very good information and it's up to you to decide what to do with that information. Also you can hear the BD-J side of the equation from the others who post there too.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6336035
Is he a saint or something? Everybody lies
Yeah, MS never lie. And X360 has 300GB/s total bandwidth.
When we want an "unbiased" opinion, we'll look somewhere neither Sony nor MS employees have participated in discussion.
When we want an "unbiased" opinion, we'll look somewhere neither Sony nor MS employees have participated in discussion.
Are you sure that's the right link? I found one post from Amir on that page of the thread that was talking about disc numbers and player number. Nothing on specs. And I am NOT wading through 13,000 posts to find his input! I can't believe all that info is in only one thread. That's mental!PC-Engine said:Yes Amir from MS may be biased but he doesn't lie.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6336035
I'll wait for people to release proper specs then, rather then wade through mountains of text for individual takes. If I want to read that much text I'll pick up a good novel
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