Commentary: Specs vs. Reality

[Pirate]

Joshua Zyber has posted an essay about specs vs. reality over at HDD. It's an interesting read.

The lossy compressed audio formats offered by Dolby and DTS use perceptual encoding techniques to filter out data from the studio masters in order to conserve disc space. The intent of perceptual encoding is that the data removed should consist mainly of either frequencies beyond the range of human hearing or frequencies that would normally be masked by other frequencies in the track anyway. With the most heavily compressed formats, including basic Dolby Digital and DTS (the standards on regular DVD), often additional frequencies within the range of hearing are affected, and this has resulted in much variability in sound quality. However, Dolby Digital Plus, especially the 1509 kb/s variety found on a disc like the 'Transformers' HD DVD, uses much more efficient encoding techniques at a very high bit rate. The people who actually make these movie soundtracks have found it pretty impressive, and yet average home listeners seem to believe with absolute certainty that the home theater speakers in their living rooms would be capable of resolving with precision the mathematical difference between a high bit rate Dolby Digital Plus track and a lossless one, and that their golden audiophile ears would also be capable of discerning it. Personally, I would like to put these people to a properly-controlled blind test, where all of the audio levels have been carefully matched to the same volume, and then see how well their hearing fares.

More here.

[Iguana Man]

Hear, Hear!

[Ruined]

OMFG, someone who knows their shit posting a news/editorial article!

I have to say, HighDefDigest has been destroying all the other DVD sites. More reviews, better articles, and a more neutral standpoint.

[Pirate]

Originally Posted by Ruined

I have to say, HighDefDigest has been destroying all the other DVD sites. More reviews, better articles, and a more neutral standpoint.

I still dislike their reviewing priorities, but they definitely churn out the most reviews. And I like Zyber's essays.

[Ruined]

Originally Posted by piratehunter

I still dislike their reviewing priorities, but they definitely churn out the most reviews. And I like Zyber's essays.

I think all of the sites fail to seperate compression/encode quality and master quality when assessing video quality and instead just give a blanket "video" rating which ends up telling very little; some even try to humorously extract conclusions on format quality from such inconclusive blanket ratings We need to see sites start evaluating compression quality vs. master quality.

[Pirate]

Originally Posted by Ruined

I think all of the sites fail to seperate compression/encode quality and master quality when assessing video quality. That is a change that we should see and not just a blanket "video" rating.

I also think director's intention should be priority one. When I see a review with a low video score because the reviewer happened not to like a film's intended look, it makes me nuts.

[MJZ]

Just read the article. Very good.

[Derb]

Originally Posted by piratehunter

I also think director's intention should be priority one. When I see a review with a low video score because the reviewer happened not to like a film's intended look, it makes me nuts.

Or how about when a discs transfer is scored lower because it isn't part of the director's intent. (Halloween) There news & blogs are good but aside from that I'll pass due to bias.

I'd also like that blind test.

[dugpa]

Originally Posted by Derb

Or how about when a discs transfer is scored lower because it isn't part of the director's intent. (Halloween) There news & blogs are good but aside from that I'll pass due to bias.

You just need to know how to read the reviews. You really shouldn't even be paying attention to the number ratings. I never even noticed they were there until people here started bitching about them. It's the words in the review itself that count. And it's always pretty clear when reading the review when Bracke is complaining about something that's the fault of the transfer and when it's something that's due to the cinematography. I realize in this modern age it's horrible to ask people to actually read, and even worse to ask them to think though something. But all the info that's needed to make an informed decision on purchasing is in his reviews. I've found Bracke's reviews to be about the most useful online. But then I actually know how to read.
Now Kenneth Brown is another story. His reviews are worthless as he usually has no idea what he's talking about.

[Derb]

Originally Posted by dugpa

You just need to know how to read the reviews. You really shouldn't even be paying attention to the number ratings. I never even noticed they were there until people here started bitching about them. It's the words in the review itself that count. And it's always pretty clear when reading the review when Bracke is complaining about something that's the fault of the transfer and when it's something that's due to the cinematography. I realize in this modern age it's horrible to ask people to actually read, and even worse to ask them to think though something. But all the info that's needed to make an informed decision on purchasing is in his reviews. I've found Bracke's reviews to be about the most useful online. But then I actually know how to read.
Now Kenneth Brown is another story. His reviews are worthless as he usually has no idea what he's talking about.

No disagreements from me there. I was just amazed at the lack of information on Halloween's transfer as it is. About 2 full paragraphs had absolutely nothing to do with the actual transfer of the film to video. Brake has seen a lot of HD & you gotta give him credit for writing 100's of reviews, "full blown reviews", not just snippets like me.

[Ruined]

Originally Posted by Derb

No disagreements from me there. I was just amazed at the lack of information on Halloween's transfer as it is. About 2 full paragraphs had absolutely nothing to do with the actual transfer of the film to video. Brake has seen a lot of HD & you gotta give him credit for writing 100's of reviews, "full blown reviews", not just snippets like me.

If the color timing is wrong as it is with Halloween, then the video may deserve a low score in the master department AND the encoding department, because it was probably a result of the encoding dept saying "HEY, lets fuck with the master to make it look more modern!"

[brian]

I really appreciate the link. The fanaticism the spec sheets and format wars evoke makes me question every minute I spend reading these sorts of forums. It's pretty interesting reading what someone familiar with the audio sources think of the mixes and it's pretty telling of why I shouldn't take just any other consumer's opinions on AV quality too seriously (Except for videoworx. Always take videoworx seriously!)