# Broadcast HD vs HD/BluRay DVD



## gitarzan (Dec 31, 2005)

Anyone care to help setttle a debate? Can broadcast OTA HD or Satellite set top box HD provide quality as good as HD DVD or BluRay (audio and video)?


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## phat78boy (Sep 12, 2007)

gitarzan said:


> Anyone care to help setttle a debate? Can broadcast OTA HD or Satellite set top box HD provide quality as good as HD DVD or BluRay (audio and video)?


It will eventually be done, but not for many more years to come. Providing 1080P would take twice the amount of data space as current HD channels. Also, even if they did provide 1080P, it would be compressed much more then a HD-DVD or Blu-Ray movie.

IMHO there is no realistic way for this to be done in the next 5-7 years.


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## Jim5506 (Jun 7, 2004)

Isn't the data rate for OTA HD about 17MBps while Blur-Ray is 32MBps.

That tells the story.


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## John in Georgia (Sep 24, 2006)

gitarzan said:


> Anyone care to help setttle a debate? Can broadcast OTA HD or Satellite set top box HD provide quality as good as HD DVD or BluRay (audio and video)?


Not today.


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

It's a loaded question.

IF we compare maximum available bandwidth OTA vs space on a Blu Ray or HD DVD disc AND consider bitrates... then if each transmission method is maximized, OTA should not be able to provide as good of quality as the DVDs.

However... Some OTA might be better than some Blu Ray or HD DVD if the particular transfers are not of as high a quality as possible for the medium. There have been some DVDs rated as poor transfers, in which case OTA could meet or surpass those possibly.


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## elaclair (Jun 18, 2004)

Jim5506 said:


> Isn't the data rate for OTA HD about 17MBps while Blur-Ray is 32MBps.
> 
> That tells the story.


Max video bit-rate for Blu-Ray is currently 40Mbps and HD-DVD is 28Mbps, and overall video/audio transfer rate is 54Mbps for Blu-Ray and 36.55Mbps for HD-DVD...though I doubt any release on either format approaches their max.


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## Tower Guy (Jul 27, 2005)

gitarzan said:


> Anyone care to help setttle a debate? Can broadcast OTA HD or Satellite set top box HD provide quality as good as HD DVD or BluRay (audio and video)?


Yes, absolutely!

Film that is shot at 24P is displayed on your TV as progressive even if transmitted at 1080i. Hence there is no resolution nor refresh advantage for discs. (Assuming that you're not watching FOX or ABC.)

The maximum data on an HD-DVD is 34 GigaBytes, so the average streaming rate for a 2 hour movie calculates to 37.7 Megabits per second. This compares to a maximum data rate for broadcast of 19.39 Megabits per second. What does the extra bandwidth get you? Nothing but room for extras, trailers, and FBI warnings. Once the disk space for the extraneous material is factored in, the data rates are similar.


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## mssturgeon (Dec 8, 2004)

Not with today's broadcast standard. They would need to come up with a new one, and do another DTV conversion.

The current ATSC standard can support ~19Mbit/s
HD DVD cap is 36Mbit/s
Blu-ray cap is 54Mbit/s

So in terms of capabilities, OTA will likely never see bandwidth capacity of HD DVD and/or Blu-ray in our lifetime.

In terms of specific content, I've seen some OTA content that "looked" as good or better than some *early* Blu-ray content. But that is the exception to the rule.

- Shane


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## Stuart Sweet (Jun 19, 2006)

Of course it is all subjective. If you have a 32", 720p TV then it's possible that you'll see no difference in your viewing environment, which is just fine.


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## HIPAR (May 15, 2005)

Blue laser with its higher bit rates does a much better job concealing the macroblocks. It's the size and density of the macroblocks that determines the ultimate picture clarity.

--- CHAS


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## phat78boy (Sep 12, 2007)

Tower Guy said:


> Yes, absolutely!
> 
> Film that is shot at 24P is displayed on your TV as progressive even if transmitted at 1080i. Hence there is no resolution nor refresh advantage for discs. (Assuming that you're not watching FOX or ABC.)
> 
> The maximum data on an HD-DVD is 34 GigaBytes, so the average streaming rate for a 2 hour movie calculates to 37.7 Megabits per second. This compares to a maximum data rate for broadcast of 19.39 Megabits per second. What does the extra bandwidth get you? Nothing but room for extras, trailers, and FBI warnings. Once the disk space for the extraneous material is factored in, the data rates are similar.


When viewing on a 32" from 5 feet away, I would agree. But on anything 50 or larger you would notice the difference in detail between 1080P and 1080i, not to mention the detail that comes from increased data rate also. Lets not leave out the loseless audio specs for both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray.


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## Tower Guy (Jul 27, 2005)

phat78boy said:


> When viewing on a 32" from 5 feet away, I would agree. But on anything 50 or larger you would notice the difference in detail between 1080P and 1080i,.


The sampling of 1080i is 1920 by 1080 pixels.
The sampling of 1080p is 1920 by 1080 pixels.

There is no difference in detail!


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## Jim5506 (Jun 7, 2004)

That all depends on what the frame rate is.

1080i30 is not equal to 1080p60.


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