Episode 18: DVDs, the ESRB, PC VS. Console Games and More!

12/5/2005 5:31:10 PM

Host: Kristin Hatcher
Chow down on another show chock full of techy goodness. (This product contains nuts).

The future of Television
The chemistry of love
High definition DVDs and holographic DVDs
The BlackBerry lawsuit
PC vs. Console Games
The ESRB gets an ‘F’ from NIMF
Tom’s Game Pick of the Week
WindowBlinds 5 released!

Important Links:
Tenth Annual MediaWise® Video Game Report Card

Download Full Show

6 Comments

Segments : Episode 18: Tech Segment Episode 18: Game Segment Episode 18: Tom’s Game Pick of the Week Episode 18: PC vs. Console Games

dj_atomix

12/5/2005 5:26:42 PM

lol oooh first post - I am blessed listening right now - have been listening for 4 episodes now people in scotland - its brilliant ... Brad.. your just plain odd

GeneralVyper

12/5/2005 11:47:35 PM

On the topic of violence in video games, I recently dug up this article while rummaging through google news:

http://www.collegenews.org/x5107.xml

If you're like me, it should get you fuming.

And again, can't say it enough, great show

W33Man

12/6/2005 1:31:36 PM

Another great episode guys, keep it up

Brad cracks me up

Alex-P

12/6/2005 7:17:53 PM

Great episode as usual.

On the topic of the next-gen discs... they mention movies not lasting many hours, but don't forget TV shows, with a decent compression system you could fit an entire series (or even EVERY series!) on one disc...

Also other than the studios and the manufacturers, one thing that's likely to effect the success of the formats, is consoles. The PS3 and Xbox360 will have a big effect...

navpacktwo

12/12/2005 2:55:55 AM

Yeah great show but....

I'm not sure where you got your info from cause it isn't hard to find that it is completely wrong! It would really help if you corrected your comments on a future podcast!

The codecs aren't the difference between the formats. They (HD DVD & Blu-ray) support the same audio and video codecs. H.264/AVC, VC-1 & mpeg-2 are all mandatory for players so it's upto the studios what they use. The reason mpeg-2 is there is so HDTV recordings are supported, you can fit lots of SD footage on a disc for those without a HD set-up etc.

Blu-ray has a larger capacity than HD DVD. Blu-ray can produce more interactive titles in standard authoring mode (HDMV) than HD DVD in its standard authoring mode. But to push things further you need to author in BD-J mode or iHD mode for HD DVD.

1920x1080 HD (50i, 60i and 24p) is supported too. Like I said you should just visit their sites cause all the info is public! or at least hit wikipedia.org and search...

PS3 will play a big role IMHO but Blu-ray's BD-J interactive mode is based on a micro edition of Java and next gen Windows isn't going to support it!

FWIW, replication houses can update their systems to support HD DVD pressing but Blu-ray mastering is a whole new set-up.

So there is a lot to this topic and it goes a lot further than I can comment on in this comments section. But I just thought I'd clarify that pretty much all audio and video is supported by both but only some are mandatory for players. Studio support, copy protection implementation and PS3 penatration are probably going to be bigger factors than the fact they support mpeg-2. But I better save those topics for another day...

Cheers,

Jay

WishX

12/12/2005 9:56:26 AM

Thanks for the info, Jay. If (probably when) we cover the topic again, we'll be sure to include the information you posted.

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