Re: CES 2008
CES 2008: Pioneer Blu-ray Player
Posted January 7, 2008 by Ben
Pioneer is currently showing a new BD model that has no model number, release date or price point. The player is Bonus View (profile 1.1) compatible and internally decodes Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD MA. Pioneer has promised more information at their product show in May.
Source:
Blu-ray.com |
Permalink
CES 2008: Dolby Laboratories
Posted January 8, 2008 by PeterTHX
I sat with Craig Eggars, Senior Manager at Dolby Laboratories today. Craig was excited about Blu-ray disc and the next generation of audio technologies associated with it, such as Dolby TrueHD and Dolby Digital Plus.
At the Dolby booth here in CES, a wide variety of Dolby technologies were on display beneath a full-sized version of Bumblebee from
Transformers. Blu-ray displays were everywhere, playing clips from some of the biggest hit films of the past year with Dolby TrueHD soundtracks. Craig discussed how Sony requested TrueHD on the Blu-ray disc of
Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds: Live at Radio City: even on a BD50, there wasn't enough room for a 5.1 24-bit PCM @96kHz track without serious compromises to the video quality. Using TrueHD cut the required storage space for audio nearly in half, without sacrificing any of the high quality lossless audio and video Blu-ray owners have come to expect.
Another interesting “bit” of information was that Dolby Plus on Blu-ray (used for discs with 7.1 soundtracks) actually encodes 9 channels in the bitstream. Embedded is a 5.1 optimized mix, and then if the user is able to take advantage of 7.1 the surround back channels are added, with different L+R surround channels substituted. This approach lets the listener get the full soundtrack in either 5.1 or 7.1 setups.
Unfortunately, other than the upcoming
Celine Dion: A New Day... Live in Las Vegas, Craig was unable to discuss any upcoming titles in TrueHD or Dolby Digital Plus. He also stressed that consumers like us are the biggest driving force in getting what we want as far as audio goes on Blu-ray…so don't be afraid to tell the studios! I also asked him about comments and questions about why certain titles were encoded at a certain bit resolution, or used Dialog Normalization or were in TrueHD in some territories and not others. Craig was careful to emphasize that it is up to individual studios, not Dolby, to encode their titles. Other than providing guidelines and technical support, Dolby leaves it in the hands of the content owners in how they present their product to us. He again underscoring that it up to us to let the studios know what we want and what we don't.
The new technology Craig was most excited about is Dolby Volume. While it is not Blu-ray specific, it can be used for any playback through a receiver. Using a prototype Onkyo receiver (modified TX-NR905) and a Panasonic DMP-BD10, he demonstrated how various sources can have wildly different playback levels. Dolby Volume divides the signal into 40 bands and analyzes the gain, leveling out the sound between sources without affecting dynamic range or clarity, something older systems like dbx tried to do but introduced artifacts like “breathing” or “pumping”.
Another advantage of Dolby Volume is the ability to maintain clarity of the soundtrack no matter the volume level. Analyzing the volume level set by the listener, it brings up quieter sounds that would be otherwise inaudible at low levels. It also enhances the surround immersion normally lost at low level listening. Dolby Volume is optional, with different preset levels available to the consumer. It can be used on any input source: be it BD, DVD, Satellite/Cable, iPod, XM/Sirius and so on. Dolby Volume will be available later this year.
Finally, I attended a demo in their Home Theater room. Various clips of films and concerts were shown in High Definition, including one from
Transformers. Interestingly enough, it was a PlayStation 3 running the demo (make that what you will).
I would like to thank Craig Eggars, Joshua Gershman, and the entire staff at the Dolby booth for a entertaining and interesting visit.
Source:
Blu-ray.com |
Permalink
CES 2008: Hitachi
Posted January 8, 2008 by PeterTHX
BDA member Hitachi had their Blu-ray Disc camcorders, the DZ-BD70A ($1299 MSRP) and the DZ-BD7HA ($1499 MSRP) on display here at CES. Although these models have been out a few months, unfortunately Hitachi did not have any new models or BD players to show.
Both models share a 5.3 megapixel CMOS, full 1920x1080p recording to mini BD-R or BD-RE discs, SD memory card for photos, full sized HDMI output, and the ability to record either HD (on BD-R/RE) or standard (to DVD-R/RW/RAM) video. The DZ-BD7HA adds a 30GB HDD to record and store either format. Although it can record an hour on the 8cm BD-R/REs, you can appreciate how much having the hard drive helps. Both cameras can also download directly to PC via USB 2.0.
Another interesting feature is the ability to capture screen shots directly to the SD card. You can dub down to SD-DVD using the transcoding, and both cameras allow for extended recording time using a 1440x1080i mode. While it is a lower HD resolution, it's still much better than standard DVD.
When asked why Hitachi was not bringing out a BD player, the answer was that Hitachi was still evaluating the market for a BD product with their branding. They are still solidly Blu-ray though, and are quite proud of their BD camcorder solution. While no new models were displayed or discussed, they expect to refresh the product line in time for the 2008 holiday season.
Source:
Blu-ray.com |
Permalink
