I recently bought a Panasonic HD camcorder which records the videos in m2ts format. m2ts is a high definition MPEG format used in Blu-ray discs and AVCHD. After I copied the files to my desktop, when I tried to play the video using VLC, it was jerky. It wasn’t smooth at all. When I played the video using the Panasonic supplied HDWRITER software, it was smooth. After Googling, I got VLC to play the video smooth. All you have to do is, go to Tools – Preferences in VLC, select Input & Codecs option and select ALL from the drop down menu for Skip the loop filter for H.264 decoding (picture below). Save the preference and play the video. The video should be smooth and perfect. I tried this in Ubuntu 9.10, but it should work with all OSes.
Technorati Tags: m2ts, Panasonic, AVCHD, Blu-ray, Codec, H.264, Ubuntu
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VideoLAN team has released VLC 1.0 (codenamed Goldeneye), a wonderful multimedia player that works on different operating systems and play any type of codecs. Here are some of the features of VLC 1.0:
- Independant of systems codecs to support most video types
- Live recording
- Instant pausing and Frame-by-Frame support
- Finer speed controls
- New HD codecs (AES3, Dolby Digital Plus, TrueHD, Blu-Ray Linear PCM, Real Video 3.0 and 4.0, …)
- New formats (Raw Dirac, M2TS, …) and major improvements in many formats…
- New Dirac encoder and MP3 fixed-point encoder
- Video scaling in fullscreen
- RTSP Trickplay support
- Zipped file playback
- Customizable toolbars
- Easier encoding GUI in Qt interface
- Better integration in Gtk environments
- MTP devices on linux
- AirTunes streaming
- New skin for the skins2 interface
For more information, visit VLC.
Technorati Tags: VLC 1.0, Codec, AES3, Dolby Digital Plus, TrueHD, Blu-Ray, Real Video
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A disc that can store 500 gigabytes (GB) of data, equivalent to 100 DVDs, has been unveiled by General Electric. The micro-holographic disc is the same size as existing DVD discs. Micro-holographic discs can store more data than DVDs or Blu-ray because they store information on the disc in three dimensions, rather than just pits on the surface of the disc
While the technology is still in the laboratory stage, GE believes it will take off because players can be built which are backwards compatible with existing DVD and Blu-ray technologies.
I think it’ll be few years before the technology really takes off. According to BBC, General Electric will need to work with hardware manufacturers if it is to bring the technology to the consumer market. The challenge for this area of technology has been to increase the reflectivity of the holograms that are stored on the discs so that players can be used to both read and write to the discs. Plus, the cloud computing technology and online digital distribution might render this unnecessary in the future. We have to wait and watch.
Source: BBC.
Technorati Tags: General Electric, micro-holographic, DVD, Blu-Ray
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Posted 22 Dec 2008 — by Arun
Category News
Infinity Storage Media has released the first Blu-Ray/DVD hybrid disc in Japan. According to My Digital Life,
The new technology, which embeds both Blu-ray and DVD compatible contents on the same disc is believed to be able to smoothen the migration process from DVD to most desired full HD (High Definition) Blu-ray standard especially for those users that still stick with existing DVD standard.
The benefit is obvious, now users will be able to run the same copy of DVD disc in both conventional DVD players and Blu-ray players without worrying about the old favorite movies compatibility with new Blu-ray machines. The mechanism behind is it is based on the different laser wavelength that can penetrate into different layers (isolated by semi-reflective film) embedded in the disc to read DVD and Blu-ray media contents respectively. For instance, it reflects blue light on upper layer for Blu-ray contents readings while able to pass through red light to the DVD layer underneath.
I’m not sure if there will be performance impact compared to using either just Blu-Ray or DVD.
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Posted 08 Jan 2008 — by Arun
Category News
You might have read the news that Warner Bros. moved to Blu-ray and dropped support for HD DVD, couple of days back. It’s now being rumored (1, 2) that Paramount might do the same. This will bring the format war close to death and it would be a big blow to Microsoft and Toshiba and to me too since I bought a HD DVD player recently. 
Though it’s sad, it’s a relief for general public since they don’t have to scratch their head on what to buy. Blu-ray is also slightly superior to HD DVD technology and storage wise. Blu-ray utilizes a lens with a greater numerical aperture than HD-DVD, the laser spot can be focused with greater precision to fit more data on the same size disc. Blu-ray was designed from ground up for HD. HD-DVDs carry the same basic structure as current DVDs. Blu-ray can store upto 25GB on a single sided disc whereas HD DVD stores only 15GB. I hope Sony drops the price of Blu-ray players below $200.
Technorati Tags: Blu-ray, HD DVD, Sony, Toshiba, Microsoft, Paramount, Warner Bros
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Posted 17 Dec 2007 — by Arun
Category News
I somehow missed this news. I accidentally came across this news in PC World today. The news was 3 months old. It was talking about a new technology, namely HD VMD (Versatile Multilayer Disc) which was supposed to be cheaper than Blu Ray and HD DVD. It uses the current DVD technology, the red laser technology, unlike Blu Ray’s and HD DVD’s blue laser technology. HD VMD discs holds 30GB on a single disc (one sided). The format uses MPEG-2 and VC1 video formats to encode at 1080p resolution for the time being, and will possibly move to the H.264 format in the future.
The 1080p set-top players, which use the HD VMD (Versatile Multilayer Disc) format, should be on sale on Amazon.com and in stores such as Radio Shack and Costco for around $150. People are already pulling their hair between the Blu Ray and HD DVD war and I don’t think we want another format now. I’m not sure if any movie studio is supporting this format.
I have a Toshiba HD-A2 HD DVD player. One cool new feature I like (not yet tested) in HD DVD player is sharing movies with families and friends. If you and any of your friend’s or families have HD DVD player (in separate places) and both are connected to the internet through the ethernet port (all HD DVD players have ethernet port, but it’s not the same with Blu Ray players), you can play a movie and share it with the other people through the internet connection. They can watch whatever you are watching, but they won’t have the control to operate or pause or stop the movie. It’s a cool features, but I’m not sure how useful it’ll be in a practical world. (Source: Tech Consumer).
Technorati Tags: HD VMD, HD DVD, Blu Ray, PC World, Tech Consumer, Toshiba HD A2, DVD
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