Whats the quality of DVD-Video? Why do some demos look so bad?
DVD has the capability to produce near-studio-quality video and better-than-CD-quality audio. DVD is vastly superior to videotape and generally better than laserdisc (see 2.8.). However, quality depends on many production factors. Until compression experience and technology improves we will occasionally see DVDs that are inferior to laserdiscs. Also, since large amounts of video have already been encoded for Video CD using MPEG-1, a few low-budget DVDs will use that format (which is no better than VHS) instead of higher-quality MPEG-2. DVD video is compressed from digital studio master tapes to MPEG-2 format. This “lossy” compression removes redundant information (such as areas of the picture that don’t change) and information that’s not readily perceptible by the human eye.
DVD has the capability to produce near-studio-quality video and better-than-CD-quality audio. DVD is vastly superior to videotape and generally better than laserdisc (see 2.8.). However, quality depends on many production factors. Until compression experience and technology improves we will occasionally see DVDs that are inferior to laserdiscs. Also, since large amounts of video have already been encoded for Video CD using MPEG-1, a few low-budget DVDs will use that format (which is no better than VHS) instead of higher-quality MPEG-2. DVD video is compressed from digital studio master tapes to MPEG-2 format. This “lossy” compression removes redundant information (such as areas of the picture that don’t change) and information that’s not readily perceptible by the human eye.
