Back to the Future and ET on DVD....and more

[Calhoun07]

From the latest issue of Video Store magazine....

The digital technology group of Santa Monica, Calf.-based Zeroes and Ones, claims it has squeezed five full length feature films on a single DVD intended to demonstrate "the power of its revolutionary new high-quality digital video compression engine, MC-10," which is touted as "achieving ratios between three to ten times compression with the same or superior level of image quality to MPEG2." The movies digitized on to the disc, which is for demonstration only, are City of Angels, Back to the Future, ET, RoboCop, and Batman and Robin.-Holly J Wagner


Now, isn't that just a kick in the pants? I've been waiting for Back to the Future and ET on DVD ever since I got my DVD player, and here they go putting it on DVD for demonstration only. But this does strike me as good news, over all. What is that? About ten hours on ONE DVD? Imagine how that could revolutionize TV shows on DVD!

[Lonestarr]

Ten hours on DVD?! You could put whole seasons of shows on DVD. This is a marvel. Would that Nickelodeon and MTV could get behind this technology for their animated programs.

[Jowy Blight]

What I wouldn't give for a BTTF DVD. I've been waiting forever for it.

[Calhoun07]

Originally posted by Jowy Blight
What I wouldn't give for a BTTF DVD. I've been waiting forever for it.

Too many of us have been waiting for this one! I just hope that when they do get it out, it is a sweet box set with all three movies, and that the extras make it well worth the wait.

[Jowy Blight]

it is a sweet box set with all three movies, and that the extras make it well worth the wait.

That would be sweet, it should have some commentarys from Fox and the other actors as extras.

[BourgeoisBuffoon]

Ten Hours....(whistles) imagine....actually, as Lonestar said, you could put whole seasons on....perhaps in the future we can just "buy" a new season of our favorite shows?

[Bird Boy]

wow.. 10 hours.. they could fit like every episode of The New Batman Adventures on ONE DVD..that'd kick.

And why'd they waste that kind of technology on Batman & Robin? Geeeesh....I'd love to have B2TF on DVD..I loved those movies...

-BB

[Patrick McCart]

You can put an average of 2 hours of average multimedia (video + audio) per layer (2 layers per side, 2 sides per disc tops)

You could put 8 hours of average video on a single DVD (AVERAGE, not optimal)

You could put 20 hours on a single layer of a DVD (Yes, it's possible), but would you really want to watch it?

More compression = lesser quality.

[Calhoun07]

Originally posted by Patrick McCart
You can put an average of 2 hours of average multimedia (video + audio) per layer (2 layers per side, 2 sides per disc tops)

You could put 8 hours of average video on a single DVD (AVERAGE, not optimal)

You could put 20 hours on a single layer of a DVD (Yes, it's possible), but would you really want to watch it?

More compression = lesser quality.

That's true. I've seen some long DVDs that don't look that good because of the compression (tho I disagree that you can get 20 hours on a single layer DVD. Do you have a reputable source for that information?) But the point of the article I quoted from that this new MC-10 technology allows for the compression while "achieving ratios between three to ten times compression with the same or superior level of image quality to MPEG2." That tells me these ten hour discs will look as good and sharp as your two hour DVD does today. And I agree that the best application of this technology is to get TV shows out on the format.