Are HD-DVD/Blue Ray meant to Replace DVD's or expand on them?

[KoDt]

My question is basicly this: Will all movies be able to take advantage of HD resolutions?

I have heard that 35MM film can capture resolutions higher than any HD resolution and with alot of movies being shot digitally they could take advantage of the higher HD resolutions. So obviously an HD format is needed.

But what about older flims? Many were remastered to DVD and look somewhat better than VHS versions, but obviously not as good as movies such as the latest Star Wars movies. Will remastering these movies to HD-DVD or Blue Ray result in better image/sound quality? I seriously doubt it. If HD-DVD and Blue Ray are not backwards compatible and the market expects us to throw out our DVD's and rebuy all our movies on HD-DVD (as we did with VHS but then it made sense) it will be unacceptable.

I suppose nothing is stopping you from keeping your DVD's and DVD player for movies you dont need to buy on HD-DVD but to pahse out DVD's completley and re-relase all these movies on an HD format is something we do NOT need.

[GettinDegreez]

As I understand everything, all film shot in 35mm is by nature better than HD resolution. Full HD, 1080p is something around 2 megapixels. To get the full 35mm image resolution in digital format you need something like 20+ megapixels. So anything shot on film can be transfered to our current high def specs no problem. Remastering these films to HD will provide better quality compared to VHS or DVD now. The reason a lot of old films can't look as good as knew films, has to do with the equipment used back in the day when shooting, converting to HD won't improve that. You can't improve on what was never there. In a good 30 years when UHDTV rolls around with a resolution of 7,680 by 4320 which is something like 32 megapixels, then it'll be better than the 35mm equivalent today and be shot in a different format(65,70mm? not sure).

As far as rebuying all your DVDs in HD that's pretty much what you have to do if you want the benefits. Everyone had to rebuy their LPs in cassette, then cassette in cd, and now even sacd and dvd-audio. My family hopped on the bandwagon a little late, and we don't own that many movies anyways, we mainly just rent. Switch to HD DVD won't be much of an issue if the players aren't ridiculously expensive.

The big problem I see is that I a lot of people won't care. I mean all the format switches past have been completely new mediums. The HD movies are still just on a disk and a lot of people out there (ie. my dad) are gonna be like I really don't care about HD DVD, if I put the movie in and it plays and I can see it on my TV, then that's all I'm concerned about.

[Jedi2016]

As long as the originals were shot on film, then converting them to HD will be a cakewalk. The only time it won't make any difference is with things shot on video.. a lot of old TV shows, for example.

HD will replace DVD eventually, but it's going to take a while. Until then, it'll pretty much expand on it. For example, I don't intend on replacing my entire DVD collection with HD versions. Just a few select titles will be replaced. But, once I have all the gizmos to play back HD, everything I purchase from that point on will be HD. Most of that will probably wait until after the format war is over and it's decided who the winner is. No sense spending a bunch of money on something that may not last.

[BMXTRIX]

I would say, yes, HD discs are supposed to replace regular DVDs. Which format will do it is still well up in the air. (HVD anyone?)

But, there is no question that with the proliferation of 16:9 displays, having a disc technology that can give you full 16:9 resolution out of the player is long overdue. Most movies for the past few years that have been restored from old film stock were restored at a resolution higher than HD discs even are going to support. Something like 4M pixels per frame instead of the 2M which 1080p gives you.

There was a good article about the early days of HDNet in one of the magazines recently where they talked about the early days of HDNet and the only HD material they had was stuff that was originally shot on film, then was converted to HD. Things like Hogans Heroes and such.

Going forward, all movies are being mastered to DVD in HD format, not the lower quality DVD resolution. So, going to Blu-Ray, HD-DVD, or any other format the studios want is going to be quite easy.

Plus, you replace your old DVD player with an HD model and your HD discs still play back fine in it. So, you don't lose your old DVDs, you just get a new player that can do the old and the new.

[furrycute]

My TV is only 32 inch, and I don't intend to replace it anytime soon. For now at least, DVDs look fine on that 32inch.

I probably wont replace much of my DVD collection (I only have 30 or so discs). Better yet, I'll go bargain hunting once the prices on DVDs start dropping like flies. Then I will be able to get all the anime series I have been lusting after for years now.

[BMXTRIX]

...and I don't intend to replace it anytime soon...

I'm sorry, you will have to leave this site.

Really, upgraditis is a disease that many people have. The PS3 will put Blu-Ray into a million homes overnight and you may find that you have the ability to buy Blu-Ray discs and play them. So, then those who are more serious about DVD and movie collecting will be buying HD discs just because they can. Even if their TV doesn't yet support HD. The player will still output a format that your current TV can handle.

Your next TV will be HD though.

Most likely at least... Wouldn't you like to get the most out of it?

[djoxygen]

As I understand everything, all film shot in 35mm is by nature better than HD resolution. Full HD, 1080p is something around 2 megapixels. To get the full 35mm image resolution in digital format you need something like 20+ megapixels.

There is a certain grain to film (varies depending on stock) that limits the resolution of film. It is widely believed by industry folk (i.e. the Lucases and Spielbergs of the world) that 4K rez (4096 x 2160, or almost 9 megapixels) is enough to capture the grain and yield a digital master that, to the human eye, is effectively indistinguishable from the original in their uncompressed state. 4K rez is the current benchmark, and most HD deliveries and future digital cinema presentations of big-budget movies like Star Wars, LOTR, and such will (or at least should) be down-sampled from 4K masters.