Why do studios edge-enhance Blu-ray?
 

Or any other "enhancements" to the video. They're supposed to make the video better on small displays, right? Well, who the heck runs Blu-ray on a 20" or smaller screen? Everybody I see with Blu-ray are buying big LCDs and plasmas, even the people who don't really understand what they're buying. I am quite certain that on average these screens are more than large enough to show off the badness of enhanced video. Do the studios not bother watching on a regular 35" LCD to see what the video actually looks like to the consumer, or are they using 13" studio monitors so they don't see the problem?

Re: Why do studios edge-enhance Blu-ray?
 

That is a mystery that I believe will never be answered.

For the record, I've seen DVD's and BD's on a 20-ish TV my mom has and edge enhancement doesn't look good even when that small. Instead of making everything seem "sharp," it just looks like someone painted a white outline around everything (almost like a bad chromakey).

Re: Why do studios edge-enhance Blu-ray?
 

I recall a tech guy mentioning that they use 42-50 inch monitors when they work on these things. Can't remember who made that statement though.

You would be surprised how many people turn the sharpness setting up way too high on their TV, thinking they are getting a better, more detailed, picture.

Re: Why do studios edge-enhance Blu-ray?
 

They think it helps them earn their pay. That's my best guess. But I don't really know why they like to overkill what would be good transfers into suckage due to excessive edge-enhancement and other shenanigans.

Re: Why do studios edge-enhance Blu-ray?
 

Of course some sets actually start filtering the image after a certain point so those that set the sharpness way down may in fact be robbing detail from the image as well.

This'd be a lot easier if set manufacturers included an option to bypass the notch/sharpness filter altogether.

Re: Why do studios edge-enhance Blu-ray?
 

A large amount of it is due to the bitching the first couple of years, on these same internet forums, about certain features not looking high-def. Now of course, they're all bitching about processing. Most of their pleas are falling on deaf ears since the studios no longer pay attention to them, after throwing up their hands trying to figure out how to satisfy the lunatic fringe.

fitprod

Re: Why do studios edge-enhance Blu-ray?
 

It didn't look high-def because of the recycled transfers and cheap MPEG-2 encodes. Now that they're doing good transfers and using real HD codecs they think they still need to overprocess the video to make up for defects in the video chain, hence the complaints about processing. There's a word for such muddled thinking on the part of the studios, but it cannot be repeated in polite company.

Re: Why do studios edge-enhance Blu-ray?
 

There are a lot of factors involved. Look at who is doing the authoring/mastering of the disc, the execs who are peering over everyone's shoulder, the source elements, etc. There is no way to give a blanket answer and each disc needs to be looked at on a case by case basis. Remember that 99% of the people out there buying discs (who Hollywood really cares about) don't know what DNR, etc is.
One BD project I managed took a lot of hits because a senior person took the test disc home and watched it on their sub-par TV. If you're looking for a straight, logical answer when dealing with the studios, you'll go crazy. If you accept this, the voices in your head go away, the clouds are fluffier, etc.
Remember it's not "Show Friends" it's "Show Business."

Re: Why do studios edge-enhance Blu-ray?
 

Part of the problem is with masters that were done several years ago, when people were watching on smaller displays. If you look at new releases, they generally don't have problems with this.

Re: Why do studios edge-enhance Blu-ray?
 

Most of the Blu-rays that have problems with edge enhancement are catalog titles whose high-def transfers are sourced from older DVD masters. New releases or titles recently remastered rarely have this problem anymore.

Re: Why do studios edge-enhance Blu-ray?
 

Though rare on newer titles, the fact that shennanigans such as DNR and EE still creep up on newer releases is a sign that some are still sticking to old practices. Just look at Warner Bros. They still use DNR (though not as bad as it used to be) and EE creeps up from time to time. Though not as frequent, it's still a problem worth mentioning. If not, it'll just keep happening because they'll assume customers are fine with that.