Chapter Six. Compressing for DVDs

For many compressionists, optical media, whether standard-definition DVD or Blu-ray Disc, will be the sole, or certainly primary, delivery medium for their compressed content. In this regard, it’s an exciting time, and also kind of a scary time, to be a video producer.

Though many of us have had a high-definition TV set in our living rooms for years and perhaps even an HDV or AVCHD camcorder, the ability to deliver in a useful HD optical format is relatively new. Even as recently as November 2006, there were no optical formats that you or your clients could use to play back high-definition video on your living room TV.

Then, the first “hybrid” disc technology appeared, which allowed producers to record high-definition ...

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