Paramount: Transformers HD-DVD doesn't have enough space for High-Res Audio

 

When audio specs for 'Transformers' were announced, there was a collective sigh of disappointment from early adopters when High-Def-Digest learned that there would be no high-res audio tracks included on this disc. Given that this is such a flagship title for the studio, the decision was quite the head-scratcher.

 

Indeed, High-Def-Digest had the opportunity to attend a special 'Transformers' media event with Paramount late last week, and the question was asked almost immediately -- why no Dolby TrueHD or uncompressed PCM? The studio's answer was that due to space limitations on the disc, the decision was made to limit the audio to Dolby Digital-Plus 5.1 Surround only (here at 1.5mbps). Unfortunately, this confirms the long-held theory that the 30Gb capacity of an HD-30 dual-layer HD DVD disc has forced studios to choose between offering a robust supplements package (as they've done here) and the very best in audio quality.

 

http://hddvd.highdefdigest.com/1110/transformers.html

... or offer a 2DVD set like what has become common in the Standard DVD realm... which they'll do eventually.

Is Blue-ray any better? Really?

Is Blue-ray any better? Really?

It has a much larger storage capacity, so yes.

 

Although if anyone can really tell the difference between 1.5mbps audio and uncompressed audio, they must have dog ears or something.

Yeah, I read that BluRay has several times more space. But 30Gb is alot of space. How friggin big is a non compressed movie, Jebus!