So we know the Blu-ray specification for video and audio codecs are the following:
Video:
- H.264 (commercially known as MPEG-4 AVC)
- VC-1
- MPEG-2
MPEG-2 is what was used in the DVDs, it also act as the encoder for all the HD programming we see on TV. Pretty much all of the TV broadcasts are encoded with .m2ts container, which stands for MPEG-2 Transport. The reason why they choose this is that it allows for signal breakup, as .m2ts files are all in small segments and can be disrupted and the decoder can always pick up from the next successful transmission.
A little bit more confusing in the audio specifications, as there are both mandatory codec support, as well as optional codec support.
Audio mandatory:
- Dolby Digital
- DTS
- Linear PCM
Audio optional:
- Dolby Digital Plus
- DTS-HD High Resolution Audio
- Dobly TrueHD
- DTS-HD Master Audio
Looks like Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio are now the more popular formats, and they downmix to Dolby Digital and DTS equivalents when outputting on devices not able to decode these lossless formats.
So here’s the kicker.
MPEG-4 AVC vs. VC-1 AND Dolby TrueHD vs. DTS-HD MA, what’s better?
