Chapter 1

TABLE 3-2 HD-DVD Proposals
Chapter 2) and may also use advanced encoding formats, probably supporting
1080p24 video.
As of early 2003, five proposals have been made for HD-DVD, with the
possibility of others. Table 3-2 provides a summary.
HD discs will not play on existing players. Even HD-DVD-9 discs, which
the player can physically read, require new circuitry to decode and display
the HD video. HD-DVD-9 discs could play on DVD PCs with the right software
upgrades. Blue-laser discs require new optical assemblies and controllers.
HD players will undoubtedly read existing DVDs, so your collection
will not become obsolete when you buy a new player. None of the HD formats
will be used for movies until 2005 or 2006.
HD-DVD-9, aka HD-9
DVD Technical Details 113
Data Capacity (single
Format depth Laser Video layer/dual layer) Data rate
HD-DVD-9 0.6 mm Red (650 nm) New codec NA/8.5G (ROM) 11 Mbps
AOD 0.6 mm Blue (405 nm) HD MPEG-2 15G/30G (ROM), 36 Mbps
and new 20G/40G
codec (recordable)
Blue-HD-DVD-1 0.6 mm Blue (405 nm) AVC 17G/NA 25.05 Mbps
Blu-ray 0.1 mm Blue (405 nm) HD MPEG-2 27G/50G 36 Mbps
Blue-HD-DVD-2 0.1 mm Blue (405 nm) AVC 17G/NA 31.59 Mbps
HD video on existing dual-layer DVD-9 discs, or HD-DVD-9, will require new
players to handle the new video encoding format and the higher data rate.
The format is under development within the DVD Forum, primarily backed
by Warner. It was originally positioned as a transition format to future HD-
DVD, but it is now touted as a compatible but cheaper to replicate companion
to blue-laser HD-DVD.
A two-hour movie can fit on a DVD-9 at data rates of 6 to 7 Mbps. Given
advances in video compression technology, it should be possible to get HD
quality of at least 720p24 at these data rates (720 lines of progressive video
at 24 fps). Shorter movies could be encoded in 1080p24 format. H.264
(MPEG-4 part 10) is the likely encoding standard.