High Definition Video on SD DVD

[TheLaserdisc]

I know size constraints keep full length High Definition movies off Standard DVD, but is there a way I can say take Episodes of a TV series that are HD, and put them on DVD and retain the HD quality? I know I won't be able to get as many episodes on the disc, but its an experiment. I know about ACHVD, but I am looking for something that would play in a standard DVD player, and be in HD.

[poisondeathray]

I know size constraints keep full length High Definition movies off Standard DVD, but is there a way I can say take Episodes of a TV series that are HD, and put them on DVD and retain the HD quality? I know I won't be able to get as many episodes on the disc, but its an experiment. I know about ACHVD, but I am looking for something that would play in a standard DVD player, and be in HD.

no

[jman98]

I know size constraints keep full length High Definition movies off Standard DVD,

This is not correct. It has nothing to do with size. Well, depending on what you mean when you say "size". It's not the size of the video that prevents this. It's that DVD format does not support HD resolutions. As poisondeathray told you this cannot be done. If you want a DVD disc that can play in DVD players then it cannot be in high definition.

[TheLaserdisc]

Ah, so DVDs cant support the bitrates required for HD resolutions, ok.

[yoda313]

Poisondeathray and jman98 are correct.

You cannot have hd in a dvd format. It is not possible.

Avchd is the only work around for a true disc format. That it has menus and the like.

You can do divx hd but as far as I know divx hd is only for bluray players. I believe all dvd players that support compressed file playback only support sd resolutions.

----------------------

If you don't want avchd you only have a few options to preserve the hd quality:

1 - get a bluray burner and burn with the original bluray quality on bdr

2 - get a media file player like a wdtv player that can play the hd files in their original forms

3 - use an htpc to play the original files ripped from the discs - ie a computer with a hdmi out to your tv so you can watch in hd

-------------------------------

If you don't want avchd those 3 are your only options. - and fyi avchd is only available on computers and bluray players + ps3.

[Cornucopia]

Ah, so DVDs cant support the bitrates required for HD resolutions, ok.

Not totally true either.

4 things affect this:

1. Bitrate
2. Authoring + Hardware support
3. File size
4. Frame size

1. Bitrate - If you can spin a DVD faster than 1x, you can probably get the bitrate up enough for SOME, but not all HD needs. BUT, settop DVD players (not BD players here), when presented with a "standard-looking", authored DVD, always switch to 1x play speed. No exceptions. Thus, the Bitrate is TOO LOW, unless you use a PC, PS3, or BD settop player. Then, you might as well go AVCHD as they support ~3x speed.

2. Authoring + Hardware support - The DVD-Video spec is set in stone, circa 1995, and is meant for Std Def ONLY footage. Sure you can veer off of that by going to DivX, etc on a Data DVD, but then your compatibility suffers greatly, and at that point you might as well use a PC, etc and go AVCHD.

3. File size - This is the easy one. If all you wanted were shorts, you might could fit HD on a DVD, but even an hour is too long filesize-wise for DVD-5 and might even be too long for DVD-9's.

4. Framesize - The DVD-Video spec uses MPG2+MPG1 profiles, specifically MPEG2 MP @ ML, and MPEG2 SP @ ML and MPEG1 CIF/SIF. These are ALL SD-only (or lower). MPEG2 does have HD profiles/levels, but they won't be understood by a player, and you can't author DVD's with them. Nothing special about the framesize except the resulting need for greater bitrate and the needed EXPLICIT profile support for it. WHICH DVD doesn't have.

That's the LONG answer for the nice short one - NO!

Scott

[edDV]

Ah, so DVDs cant support the bitrates required for HD resolutions, ok.

Not bitrate necessarily, DVD max video bitrate is ~10 Mb/s less audio.

The issue is resolution is limited to 720x480/29.97 or 720x576/25.