What is VC-1? VC1 is a video codec that has been accepted the by SMPTE (Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers) and has been implemented in Windows Media Player (since version 9) by Microsoft a few years ago. Since then the codec has been finalized by adding the “advanced profile” (early versions supported “simple and main profiles”) which was designed specifically for High Definition content. VC-1 has also been accepted as one of the 3 codec’s for both of the next generation optical disk formats (HD-DVD and Blu-Ray). VC-1 development was spearheaded by Microsoft and over 70 other companies and has been widely accepted by Broadcast companies and Set-Top Box manufactures around the world.

The codec is superior to MPEG2 in many ways as the codec has been designed to improve on earlier MPEG technologies by focusing on optimization of High Definition content. The codec is optimized for decoding of HD content, has a better SNR (Signal to Noise Ratio – MPEG must encode at 2 to 3 times the bit-rate to match the SNR of VC-1) and supports greater interoperability as various encoders and decoders can be created while maintaining compatibility which is due to the standardizing of the bit-stream in addition to not relying on a specific transport and or container making the use of the codec in a wide range of different products possible (Cell Phones, Set-Top Boxes, HD Players, etc).

The HD-DVD camp quickly standardized on the use of the VC-1 codec for almost all HD-DVD titles that have been released thus far while the Blu-Ray camp has settled for using the aging MPEG2 codec. The use of VC-1 for HD-DVD has allowed the HD-DVD camp to claim the “Visual Quality” title early in the HD Optical Disk wars while utilizing less disk space then its Blu-Ray counterpart.

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"True adaptability involves changing ones self to meet ones environment, not changing ones environment to meet ones needs" - Species8472

First WOW, it has been a really really long time since I posted on this site. I remember posting on this site (I believe under different management/administration) about 4 years ago. Frankly, much of the discussion had nothing to do with high definition at all, however, the discussion was rather amusing.

With that said, I have to make a correction to the initial post on VC-1 that was made some months ago.

VC-1 is supported in both the HD DVD and Blu-ray specifications, and hence, fully supported in all HD DVD and Blu-ray players.

In fact, some studios which publish on both formats use the same VC-1 encoded file for both formats, which saves time & money since only one encoded file needs to be created and can be used to creation an HD DVD and Blu-ray version.

Regards and thanks you friggin' morons

(for those of you who don't know me that last line is an inside joke from my posts many moons ago and not intended to actually call you all morons ... ok morons, good)

~The Insider