Blu-ray yes...but... video bitrates!?

[LeKiD]

Hey guys,
I've been looking for info the whole morning about blu-ray, the new fcs and burners compatible with an early 2008 mac pro. Up to that, no big deal.

My boss found a contract with a company asking to shoot with a very expensive camera for blu-ray authoring purposes. We usually shoot with Sony's Ex1 cams at 35 Mbps. The company is asking us to shoot with a more expensive camera because it shoots at around 50 Mbps.

The worry on there side seems to be the image quality based on the bitrate.
I'm actually trying to find info confirming or not that shooting with the Sony's EX-1 cam would give a professional Blu-Ray video quality.

Any blu-ray pros? Thanks guys!

 

[TheStrudel]

I am by no means a "Blu-ray pro", but I know enough about various specifications to tell you that there's more to quality than maxing out bitrate. You'd want high color fidelity, among other things. A Blu-ray is capable of delivering absolutely stunning picture quality and, I think, less chroma subsampling. But things like this will be nigh-impossible to notice for most people. You're shooting 4:2:0 MPEG-2 on the EX1s, right? What are you planning to replace with? Or more to the point, what is the company requesting, specifically? It can't just be down to Mbps, as plenty of cameras at the higher end will let you dial in your bitrate, essentially. What format are they asking you to use? DVCPROHD?

I guess to answer your question more directly, if you're shooting extremely capably with the EX1 - low gain, well lit, well shot - 70% of people wouldn't know the difference. It is capable of delivering what most people would consider professional Blu-ray video quality. But quality can be a very subjective thing - and most people buy blu-rays for feature films. What are you shooting?

 

[LeKiD]

Thanks for the reply Strudel,
the company is a state company so they have high expectation for the delivery product. I also though the EX1 was able to deliver a high hand result despite the bit rate. The request on their part is probably based on the specs given by blu-ray discs of 54 Mbps. So, according to them, they would like to have a camera able to shoot with these specs and they are asking us to shoot with the Sony HDW-F900 capable of a higher Mbps than the EX1.

This is for a documentary like movie for the company and to be delivered on blu-ray disc(s). Up to now, it's the only info I have got so far.

Thanks for your help!