Blu-ray and HD-DVD: The factsTip 1: The benefits
High-definition video (usually abbreviated to hi-def, or HD) represents the crème de la crème of visual entertainment in the home. Where standard-definition (SD) sources such as DVD deliver their images at a resolution of 720 x 576 pixels (or 720 x 480 pixels in the US and Japan), HD resolutions can reach the giddy heights of 1,920 x 1,080 pixels--which means they contain roughly four times the amount of detail. HD video also tends to be better encoded and less compressed than SD pictures, which makes colors brighter and artifacts such as noise less visible. Feed some HD video to the right television or projector and you'll get an experience far beyond what DVD can offer. Take the climactic Empire State Building sequence of Peter Jackson’s version of King Kong. Watch the standard DVD edition on a big TV and Kong's fur will be a largely indistinct mass of dark grey and black; the buildings and streets of Manhattan, lying in the background, will be slightly fuzzy; and behind them, you'll notice little speckles of noise in the clouds where the video information has been compressed. Swap it for the HD-DVD version and it's as if you've removed a layer of grime and vaseline from your screen: Individual bristles can be made out on Kong's back as he climbs the building, while the cityscape behind leaps to life with clean, razor-sharp edges and the sky becomes crystal-clear and noise-free. The improvement, especially on a screen of 42 inches or larger, is nothing short of a revelation. Different hi-def flavors HD-DVD and Blu-ray can deliver HD video in three formats: 720p, 1080i and 1080p. 720p offers the lowest pixel count (its resolution is 1,280 x 720 pixels) but each frame is scanned on to your screen progressively, or in its entirety, which results in smooth edges during motion.
But HD-DVD and Blu-ray's talents don't begin and end with rapier-sharp picture quality. They also offer the best sound available. As long as the right hardware is hooked up to your disc player, you can experience lossless Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio--new digital audio formats encoded so efficiently they lose none of the original recording's quality when they're decoded by your disc player or home cinema receiver. The new disc formats also take DVD's interactive menus and extra features one step further. Both can incorporate complex, fully animated menus, including pop-ups that can be browsed while you're watching a movie, and both can offer picture-in-picture video--although this feature is not supported by all Blu-ray hardware currently. Also available to both formats is the ability to drag in more content from the Web--as long as your player is equipped with a network connection, certain discs will allow you to access exclusive online content, including videos and updatable stuff such as cast bios and filmographies.
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1: Tip 1: The benefits- Talkback
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