Whats the quality of DVD-Video?
DVD has the capability to produce near-studio-quality video and better-than-CD-quality audio. DVD is vastly superior to consumer videotape and generally better than laserdisc (see 2.8.). However, quality depends on many production factors. As compression experience and technology improves we will see increasing quality, but as production costs decrease we will also see more shoddily produced discs. A few low-budget DVDs will even use MPEG-1 encoding (which is no better than VHS) instead of higher-quality MPEG-2. DVD video is usually encoded from digital studio master tapes to MPEG-2 format. The encoding process uses lossy compression that removes redundant information (such as areas of the picture that don’t change) and information that’s not readily perceptible by the human eye. The resulting video, especially when it is complex or changing quickly, may sometimes contain visual flaws, depending on the processing quality and amount of compression. At average video data rates of 3.5 to
DVD has the capability to produce near-studio-quality video and better-than-CD-quality audio. DVD is vastly superior to videotape, and can be better than laserdisc (see 2.8.). However, quality depends on many production factors. Until compression knowledge and technology improves we will likely see DVDs which are inferior to laserdiscs. Also, since large amounts of video have already been encoded for VideoCD using MPEG-1, some early DVDs will use that format (which is no better than VHS) instead of higher-quality MPEG-2. DVD video is compressed from studio CCIR-601 format to MPEG-2 format. This is a “lossy” compression which attempts to remove redundant information (such as sections of the picture that don’t change) and information that’s not readily perceptible by the human eye. The resulting video, especially when it is complex or changing quickly, may sometimes contain “artifacts” such as blockiness or fuzziness. It depends entirely on the quality of compression and how heavily the
