Why no HD-DVD support?

Jeff9329 wrote on 7/19/2007, 1:56 PM
After getting Ulead Movie Factory+ and authoring some awesome HD-DVDs on standard DVD media, I have to wonder if Sony will/can in the future support the HD-DVDs.

I guess they are on the Blu-Ray bandwagon (sort of) at the moment, but all Blu-Ray hardware & software solutions are currently an expensive joke.

This current HD-DVD solution is awesome, you can actually use regular DVDs. That's never gonna be an option with Blu-Ray. And just look how long it took DL-DVDs to come down in cost. Actual Blu-Ray (and HD-DVD) media will be very expensive for years.

Come on Sony.

Comments

ctbarker32 wrote on 7/19/2007, 8:56 PM
I want to second my support for the need for Sony to provide a way to create HD-DVD using standard DVD media.

Most home videos are short in length and would fit well on standard DVD even when using higher bit rate HD-DVDs.

I anticipate buying an HD camcorder this year as prices drop.

Right now Sony doesn't provide a complete solution with VMS 8. I can edit HD but I can't author to a disk medium.

Please don't become a slave to a Blu-Ray only future!

-CB
zap wrote on 7/21/2007, 12:52 AM
I just bought a Toshiba HD-A2 and Ulead Video Studio Plus. I was amazed at how easy it was to burn a hybrid HD DVD using Ulead. I input a short m2t file from Vegas. Ulead converted and burned it and it looked great on my HD TV.

I suspect that if HD-DVD players (and combo HD-DVD / Blue Ray) become popular, that the HD-DVD hybrids may become a very economical distribution media for videos up to 50 minutes in length.

I've used Vegas and DVDA for many years now and have always upgraded to the new versions. After using Ulead I would probably not upgrade to a new version of DVDA, except now it looks like it's packaged with Vegas. Sony is already way behind in supporting HD authoring, and it most likely is because of the HD DVD/Blue Ray competition. Maybe Blue Ray will go the way of BetaMax. And maybe they will also lose Vegas customers.

I like Vegas and I hope that they will support HD DVD authoring in V8. Ulead is inexpensive and looks pretty good to me, but I admit my only experience with it so far is a one 3 minute HDV on a DVD-RW.

-Sid
ctbarker32 wrote on 7/21/2007, 8:49 AM
You know, the more I think about this the more I want Sony Creative Software to make a public statement about their intentions.

I would hope that they could be brave enough and at least say they are format agnostic when it comes next gen Hi Def DVD formats. That is they will support both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray.

I may be out of my mind given the corporate parent of Sony Creative Software that they would support HD-DVD but hope springs eternal.

I do not believe it is enough to remain silent on this topic. I will interpret silence as tacit acknowledgment that the Sony parent company has exerted the thumbscrews. In this situation, I will have to vote with my dollars and buy something like the Ulead product that has received numerous good reviews here.

-CB
bStro wrote on 7/21/2007, 8:45 PM
You know, the more I think about this the more I want Sony Creative Software to make a public statement about their intentions.

Not likely to happen. They don't make a habit of announcing details about future developments. In all likelihood, you will never know what's in a new update or upgrade to DVD Architect until the day it's released.

Also not likely to happen: HD-DVD content on standard DVDs. They have have been sure to have DVD Architect follow the official DVD specs as close as possible. I suspect they will maintain that same commitment if and when they support Blu-Ray, HD-DVD, or both. (And yeah, most likely it'll just be Blu-Ray.)

Rob
ctbarker32 wrote on 7/22/2007, 9:14 AM
Of course you are probably right in your observations. It is still disappointing.

I would think that the amount of homemade HD recordings will start to explode as new lower cost cameras come on the market and now that many households have HD TVs.

It is just so nice that one can fit about 20 minutes of HD-DVD material on standard DVD media which I believe is perfect for typical edited home movies. All that is required is software instead of having to buy an HD-DVD burner and still expensive HD-DVD media.

-CB
ECB wrote on 7/22/2007, 10:40 AM
Sony Creative Sofware did state their position. http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/news/ShowRelease.asp?ReleaseID=634 You can author your BD disks now with if you have $50,000 to spare. :)

IMHO I will be very surprised if the big players in this game will loose control as they did with SD.

If you want to view your HD video on your HD TV consider a Digital Jukebox. They work great. :)

Ed
Jeff9329 wrote on 7/23/2007, 8:22 PM
Reading these posts is a bit of a bummer. It seems safe to say Sony won't be helping HD distribution anytime soon, probably in either format.

With the large lineup of Sony HDV camcorders, it just dosen't make sense from a consumer point of view.

We are now 4+ years into HDV and still no widespread distribution method. A smart company, say Canon, could start packaging their HDV cameras with some sort of HD-DVD software package and it could start tipping the scales to that format.

Everyone is so non-commital on a format, nothing is happening good.
MPM wrote on 7/25/2007, 4:38 PM
AFAIK DivX, Xvid, VC1, AVC, & MPG2 are commonly used for HD content distribution; Vegas supports all of them. Menu systems for HD & BluRay are more advanced than regular DVDs. I'd think current levels of menu support of either/both would mean quite a bit of re-tooling DVDA -- not sure really whether SCS would consider it worthwhile, though Encore is bundled with Prem/Pro & will do both, but for a higher price. I'd guess it depends on where they want to be in the market, although they might feel a need for something to bundle with their cameras.

Whatever they decide having support for HD on DVD doesn't seem like the folks in Madison's style. Unless it turns out to be popular for short clips commercially for biz customers, personally don't think they'd go a route that today seems more of a hack.

Not sure how popular HD on DVD is going to be either, especially with DivX gaining more support in hardware.
zap wrote on 7/25/2007, 8:21 PM
Since HD-DVD and Blue Ray players are now available to the home user, it would seem that DVDA should support authoring in both of these formats, especially since inexpensive software will do it.
Jeff9329 wrote on 7/28/2007, 2:08 PM
AFAIK DivX, Xvid, VC1, AVC, & MPG2 are commonly used for HD content distribution; Vegas supports all of them.
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That's never been an issue.


Menu systems for HD & BluRay are more advanced than regular DVDs. I'd think current levels of menu support of either/both would mean quite a bit of re-tooling DVDA -- not sure really whether SCS would consider it worthwhile...
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What are you saying here? The next formats for content distribution on optical discs is difficult to develop menus for, so Sony probably won't support it?


Whatever they decide having support for HD on DVD doesn't seem like the folks in Madison's style. Unless it turns out to be popular for short clips commercially for biz customers, personally don't think they'd go a route that today seems more of a hack.
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A hack? This is part of the HD-DVD standard specifically to expand options for distribution. The HD-DVD content, format, menu system, etc. burned on a regular DVD is exactly the same as the HD-DVD disc. Blu-Ray did not include this option in the Blu-Ray standard. Do you think you will be getting a Blu-Ray disc with some promo material in your cereal box in the forseeable future? Do you think you might get a HD-DVD regular DVD as a freebie in the near future? Much more likely, due to lower cost. Do you burn a 25 MB file on a CD or a DVD? I think most people go with the CD, it's cheaper, less wasteful and gets the job done.