Comments

p@mast3rs wrote on 2/7/2005, 6:58 PM
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it doesnt look like M$ will have thier codec be part of the HD-DVD/Blu Ray standards. Seems they were quite misleading about their codecs and their claims of quality over H.264 AVC. Personally, WM9 softens video way too much and doesnt retain a lot of the detail that AVC does.
Coursedesign wrote on 2/7/2005, 7:16 PM
In the meantime, WM9 is widely available now, and the price is right...

Come fall, the situation will probably be different, with high quality commercial AVC codecs available for purchase, and perhaps some free ones as well.

Btw, this article had nothing to do with future HD-DVD or Blu-Ray standard disks. It was only about what you can do right now with what you already have.
Spot|DSE wrote on 2/7/2005, 7:36 PM
Course, FWIW, everything he talks about in that article is in the HDV book...plus a few more options.
farss wrote on 2/7/2005, 7:36 PM
If you're interested Sonic already have an authoring solution available.
Whatever they put their weight behind is pretty likely to become an industry standard if it isn't already.
I don't know where the idea that WMV 9 'softens' the video comes from, I've seen 1080 from WMV 9 quite some time ago and it looked pretty sharp to me but it has transferred from film. I've also heard it's being used for cinema projection.
Many network broadcast servers are also WMV 9 based, I think it was a Tanberg system I saw that converts all media to WMV.

Bob.
Spot|DSE wrote on 2/7/2005, 8:06 PM
Bob, Patrick's right, WMV compared to AVC is horribly soft. I've tested most of these for a client we have, and believe me, AVC is the best answer at the moment.
We're going to be holding a VASST contest soon where we'll give away the entire Nero Digital suite, which hasn't been announced/seen yet, but it's awesome....Some great H264 options coming our way soon
p@mast3rs wrote on 2/7/2005, 8:29 PM
I may not be that skilled as a video editor, but compression is an area that I definitely excel in. Spot, just imagine that H.264 AVC from Nero will get even better once they implement their high profile. It truly gets better with each release.
Coursedesign wrote on 2/7/2005, 8:37 PM
I have read about the upcoming Nero AVC, will be very interesting to see the quality.

It just struck me that with WM9 one could store a 20 minute 720p30 HD demo reel on a 1GB Flash keyring fob, and this could be played on just about any PC or reasonable laptop anywhere, with the player already installed. Having seen WM9 at 720p30 projected quite large, I think it is beyond good enough for this purpose and more.

With AVC, one would probably have to carry an extra keyfob (or CD-ROM) for the AVC codec and install it before the demo and uninstall after.

Any word on free AVC players or at least codecs that people could download?

Anyone know if the AVC codec from Nero will run inside WMP?
p@mast3rs wrote on 2/7/2005, 8:46 PM
Course,

Neros AVC will work in Windows Media Player. Free players are www.videolan.org for once. FFdshow can decode H.264 AVC as well.
Spot|DSE wrote on 2/7/2005, 8:51 PM
There are other options (and other great things) forthcoming. Players, and more.
p@mast3rs wrote on 2/7/2005, 8:54 PM
Still havent received any word back on DRM protection and a estimate on implementation.

Still would be nice to even purchase a Nero Digital ASP player here in the states. Only seen one thats in Europe currently.
Coursedesign wrote on 2/7/2005, 9:37 PM
I think AVC running in WMP is important. Most people have had enough of installing new players, especially if they have ever installed RealPlayer.
B_JM wrote on 2/8/2005, 7:04 AM
to bad that windows media player sucks so bad though -- even internally it has been leaked that MS is aware of its short comings and is planning a complete redesign (though i suspect it will just get more bloated) ..

players like Media Player Classic are far better, and with plug-ins can play all QT and RM (though who wants to) files also .. plus i's free ..

the current state of AVC can be found on the doom9 forums ..