Video resolution question

[Retribution]

I downloaded the Dragon Age 2 trailer, which is 2 minutes long, at 1080p. It was 400 megabytes. All of the widescreen movies I have on DVD are around twice that, and they're hours long. What resolution are movies on DVD, and are they true 1080p on Bluray discs?

[JimboUK]

DVDs are lower res, Bluray isn't. Size depends on resolution, bit rate and the codec/format used. DVD and Bluray are very high quality but horribly inefficient, other formats can give similar results using a lot less space.

[Illiad86]

Video you got there wasn't as "compressed" as much...that's why it was so huge.

 

To record moving pictures DVD-Video utilizes either MPEG-2 compression at up to 9.8 Mbit/s (9800 kbit/s) or MPEG-1 compression at up to 1.856 Mbit/s (1856 kbit/s).

 

The following formats are allowed for MPEG-2 video:

 

* At 25 frame/s, interlaced (commonly used in regions with 50 Hz image scanning frequency):

 

720 × 576 pixels (same resolution as D-1)

704 × 576 pixels

352 × 576 pixels (same as the China Video Disc standard)

 

* At 29.97, interlaced (commonly used in regions with 60 Hz image scanning frequency):

 

720 × 480 pixels (same resolution as D-1)

704 × 480 pixels

352 × 480 pixels (same as the China Video Disc standard)

 

The following formats are allowed for MPEG-1 video:

 

* 352 × 288 pixels at 25 frame/s, progressive (Same as the VCD Standard)

* 352 × 240 pixels at 29.97 frame/s, progressive (Same as the VCD Standard)

 

All resolutions support video with 4:3 frame aspect ratio. Only full D1 resolutions support widescreen (16:9) video, via anamorphic DVD.

 

MPEG-1 formats do not support interlaced video. MPEG-2 formats support both interlaced and progressive-scan content, with the latter being encoded within interlaced stream using pulldown.

 

MPEG-2 encoder can add flags in video stream to indicate scanning type, field order and field repeating. A DVD player uses these flags to convert progressive content into interlaced video suitable for interlaced TV sets. These flags also help reproducing progressive content on progressive-scan television sets.

 

 

Blu-Ray...from what I read...are 1080p...I've never seen one with my own eyes though.

 

Comparison to other video formats

 

Below is a list of modern, digital-style resolutions (and traditional analog "TV lines per picture height" measurements) for various media. The list only includes popular formats.

 

Analog formats:

 

* 352×576/480 (250 lines): Umatic, Betamax, VHS, Video8 (PAL/NTSC)

* 420×576/480 (300 lines): Super Betamax, Betacam (professional) (PAL/NTSC)

* 480×640/480 (480 lines): Analog Broadcast (PAL/NTSC)

* 590×576/480 (420 lines): LaserDisc, Super VHS, Hi8 (PAL/NTSC)

* 700×576/480 (500 lines): Extended Definition Beta (PAL/NTSC)

 

Digital formats:

 

* 352×288/240 (250 lines at low-definition): Video CD (PAL/NTSC)

* 720×576/480 (500 lines): DVD, miniDV, Digital8 (PAL/NTSC)

* 720×576/480 (480 lines): Widescreen DVD (PAL/NTSC)

* 1280×720 (720 lines): Blu-ray Disc, D-VHS

* 1440×1080 (760 lines): miniHDV, D-VHS

* 1920×1080 (1080 lines): Blu-ray Disc