While the company already shoots in hi-def, it also will be encoding all new content in hi-def, which makes a substantial difference in the picture quality of the final product, according to Matrix Content Vice President Rashaan Hayes.
“We believe in providing only the best content, [so] we figured, in order to back that idea, 100 percent hi-def was a must,” Hayes told XBiz, adding that Matrix also will be encoding its existing catalog of hi-def videos and recompressing its library of standard (not hi-def) content using the highest bandwidth possible according to today’s standards.
Matrix’s Asher Hardt said the company also recently started using the 22-megapixel H1D camera from Swedish manufacturer Hasselblad, known during the 1960s as the official cameras of the Appolo space program.
“Now that we have 100 percent hi-def videos and the corresponding pictures are shot with the new Hasselblad, we’ve obtained the pinnacle of quality,” he said.
There are, however, limitations associated with hi-def delivery over the Internet — namely, that most monitors currently cannot play hi-def video.
New computer players that handle hi-def video are equipped with Protected Video Path Output Protection Management, or PVP-OPM, a content protection scheme. PVP-OPM uses something called High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP). In laymen’s terms, HDCP is used to help a computer figure out if content is being illegally recorded off of a computer. If a user’s monitor doesn’t support PVP-OPM, then HDCP considers that a red flag and bars the video from playing on the computer.
Currently NEC, Samsung, Sony and ViewSonic are beginning to produce HDCP monitors, but production is still in early stages, and Windows users will have to upgrade to the new Windows Vista operating system if they want to watch hi-def video on their computer.
