"Club Penton" - Ask questions to Hollywood insider "Penton-Man"

[mainman]

@ Penton-Man

PS3 will internally decode DTS Master Audio right?

Will the PS3 also get DTS MA and Dolby TrueHD passthrough? To let the receiver do the decoding?

[Nick Graham]

That sucks to hear about Ken. That doesn't bode for any delays of Universal releasing on Blu (aside from what is already expected) does it?

[dialog_gvf]

Originally Posted by JamesN

It should be noted that the current generation of LCD shutter glasses don't work well with LCD displays. They're designed primarily for CRT and DLP displays.

Flip it around too.

Once the concept of 3D is important to CE, the hardware that allows for it will be made available. Anything that differentiates from the cheap Chinese competition will be important.

As for content delivery: If DVD 2.0 or downloads are there to support 3D before Blu-ray, then what?

It really doesn't require much more at this point than a working committee for a Profile 3D But, something needs to be put in motion.


Gary

[dialog_gvf]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

Also, b.t.w., in regards to the above link and Uni, there is a certain person that I previously mentioned to you guys to be kind to because he is a nice guy and was just doing his job in support of HD DVD during the format war. Well, I don’t believe any of the trades have discovered it yet but, this stuff inevitably leaks out so, let me be the first to tell you that said person has *moved on*.

I imagine some people will be doing somersaults over this news but, I personally take no pleasure in the change of employment status of anyone……….except of course for the barbecue-meister who *retired*. He should reap everything that he sowed in terms of online rhetoric. Heck, it’s not like K.G. came onto a forum everyday, set himself up as a High Priest of a religious sect and made daily pontifications to the blinded followers about the merits of HD DVD and the deficiencies of Blu-ray like the retired fellow did.

I wish K.G. all the best in his future endeavors.

When C.K. announced the support for Blu, instead of allowing K.G. to have the honour, it was obvious K.G. would go.

Gary

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Nick Graham

That sucks to hear about Ken. That doesn't bode for any delays of Universal releasing on Blu (aside from what is already expected) does it?

No, his departure has no bearing on that whatsoever as Blu-ray publishing by Uni has moved downstream from his dept. into the techno geeks dept. as they are asking for help/guidance in entering the world of Blu.

That’s why when I read that article that somebody linked from gizmodo, it just made me shake my head as to how clueless the author is concerning some studios and their place in the process of eventually producing their first Blu-ray titles. I really don’t know who feeds this garbage to the bloggers.

Regarding that, I’m unsure if this is news to anyone as I don’t follow what is said about this replication line business in the forums as I find it about as exciting as watching my grass grow but, I’ll tell you that Techie as well as Sony are adding new lines….if that makes some bean counters happy.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by mainman

@ Penton-Man

PS3 will internally decode DTS Master Audio right?

Yes, otherwise I have no specifics.

[WickyWoo]

That’s why when I read that article that somebody linked from gizmodo, it just made me shake my head as to how clueless the author is concerning some studios and their place in the process of eventually producing their first Blu-ray titles. I really don’t know who feeds this garbage to the bloggers

Gizmodo is well connected to their local red anthill

[frank_t]

Originally Posted by dialog_gvf

Flip it around too.

Once the concept of 3D is important to CE, the hardware that allows for it will be made available. Anything that differentiates from the cheap Chinese competition will be important.

As for content delivery: If DVD 2.0 or downloads are there to support 3D before Blu-ray, then what?

It really doesn't require much more at this point than a working committee for a Profile 3D But, something needs to be put in motion.


Gary

DVD 2.0 -- I just posted a link to an article over in the off-topic area. What a weird half-assed spec that is. I suppose this all comes down to money (read: Tosh / Panasonic) and confusion (read: Microsoft).

I can only hope Tosh takes another one on the chin with this.

[unreal1080p]

Originally Posted by sj001

Hopefully he will end up somewhere where he can utilize his skills effectively

Somehow, I see this bumper sticker in KG's future:





Or perhaps the home shopping network --> http://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=41382

[FourToedStatue]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

Honestly, my hopes are becoming dimmer and dimmer that he will ever make an appearance as an official Insider posting on his thread.

The simple fact of the matter is that he is lucky if he has the time to take one bathroom break during the course of his day much less post on any forum. Initially, when he was encouraged to participate here, he predicted his workload would decrease after the 1st of the year……….and it just has not.
It may have even become more intensive and time-consuming.
I wouldn’t hold my breath regarding his debut here.

I will tell you though that it is a certainty that the PS3 will get DTS HD MA.
Well, let me rephrase as the only certainties in life are death and taxes.

I say you can pretty much hang your hat on getting the above with a future firmware upgrade for the Playstation 3.

Was the DTS-MA delay because of hardware obstacles or is it just something they left for later for their own reasons?

Also, about the SCE insider does the same apply to our Fox insider? I know he posted briefl over at HDD (he even answered a PM of mine over there last year).

[WickyWoo]

Our insiders stop in when they have time. They're very busy people and their jobs come first.

DTS=MA is to allow dedicated players with the feature to reach market without undercutting them with the subsidized PS3

[iwanttobeabmoviestar]

i apologize if asked but any truth to that listing posted for sweeney todd on blu apr 1st or is it a fools prank . i know that alot of blus ie beowulf and sweeney had uk release dates why dont they pay distributors to just release here instead of reprinting a usa version ??

[Petra]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

Also, b.t.w., in regards to the above link and Uni, there is a certain person that I previously mentioned to you guys to be kind to because he is a nice guy and was just doing his job in support of HD DVD during the format war. Well, I don’t believe any of the trades have discovered it yet but, this stuff inevitably leaks out so, let me be the first to tell you that said person has *moved on*.

I imagine some people will be doing somersaults over this news but, I personally take no pleasure in the change of employment status of anyone……….except of course for the barbecue-meister who *retired*. He should reap everything that he sowed in terms of online rhetoric. Heck, it’s not like K.G. came onto a forum everyday, set himself up as a High Priest of a religious sect and made daily pontifications to the blinded followers about the merits of HD DVD and the deficiencies of Blu-ray like the retired fellow did.

I wish K.G. all the best in his future endeavors.

yup in the end, you still gotta respect your enemy. He's doing his job, just like we all do.....that Microsoft's so-called spokesman on the other hand is just an instigator

[SGRSBSKIER]

I asked this before but you were on vacation, I also asked this in Bill Hunts thread but that was right when he stopped posting. So its a little old 2/27/08.

Netflix CFO Barry McCarthy said:

He expects to see about 1,300 to 1,500 Blu-ray releases by the end of the year, including 300 new titles, and the remaining, catalog.

http://www.homemediamagazine.com/new...ticle_id=12196

The first 2 months of this year we had only 55 releases. To get that many releases there would have to have be an average of at least 30 titles a week. Is he way over estimating or should we really expect to see that many titles released on Blu-ray this year?

[Penton-Man]

I’ve received some PM’s over the past couple weeks from people that watch Blu-ray movies on large screens (greater than 100”) and occasionally, but rarely see annoying edge enhancement with some titles, no matter what the studio. This term appears to be a buzzword on some internet forums now that the format war is over.

First, I’ll ask the inquiring minds to answer a question for me in order to gauge their perspective. Be honest.

Have you seen the Blu-ray…….Michael Clayton ?
At the very end of the movie, when George gets into the taxi cab, did you notice that he gives a hint of a wry smile?

Or, did you completely miss that part of the ending because you were too absorbed in looking at the rolling credits on the right side of the screen projected over the backseat of the taxi cab in order to examine the letters of the credits for their resolution and/or any possible artifacts ?

Well, if you’re a member of the later camp (rolling credit examiner), then as far as I’m concerned you are not a film aficionado whatsoever, and would also enjoy making a game out of looking for blemishes or wrinkles on the face of God. So, instead of playing a quality control specialist online, you might as well man up and apply for a real job in the industry and do it for money. Or, perhaps pursue a career in looking for dull spots on polished ball bearings all day long.

If you’re a member of the former camp (i.e. you indeed noticed the hint of a smile from George Clooney at the very end), then I’ll let you in on a little production pipeline secret and my next post is provided for your sharpened enlightenment.

P.S.
If you haven’t seen Michael Clayton at all, and despite reading what I’ve stated above, you just can’t control yourself and are compelled to still examine the credits on the right side of the screen at the end, then I say, you have real problems……unless, of course you’re checking to see that they spelled your name correctly in one of those credits if you were involved in the theatrical production in some way.

[Penton-Man]

In regards to sharpening and the potential for possible resultant “annoying” edge enhancement visualized on larger consumer screens in the home theater environment….
Well, the problem is that it is sometimes a cumulative effect of more than one step in the process.

You see, during the production of the 2K digital intermediate (hell, this even applies also to telecine output [i.e. the Spirit Datacine], sharpening is not uncommonly applied at the bequest of the filmmaker – because of focusing/lens deficiencies during the primary photography. You often have some shots with focus problems that undergo subsequent D.I. sharpening……. and at the other end of the scale you may have a whole film that the Director feels needs some grain reduction during the D.I. process. This *de-graining* often necessitates some compensatory sharpening. I guess like most all things in life, moderation is the key here.

One nice thing about good 4K capture* or 35mm capture with subsequent 4K DI work (which is few and far between) is that you’ve got so much production headroom (i.e. so much resolution) that you don’t have to edge sharpen….at least, except infrequently for some problem shots regarding focusing.

Anyway.......further on down the chain, sharpening can also potentially be added during HD digital master production or even by the Blu-ray compressionist…… and some displays even have it built-in as a default mechanism. So, you should now understand how the cumulative process can potentially yield a suboptimal end product by the addition of sharpening at more than one step along the production chain.

The good thing is, paidgeek is particularly cognizant of this fact and the potential for a suboptimal outcome due to the later steps in the process, of which he has some control over.

* b.t.w. not all 4K camera systems (camera/lens) are created equal and I think it is naive thinking to solely define cameras in terms of megapixels. There is a much better metric that manufacturers could use to help out cinematographers.

[Penton-Man]

^ ^ ^
P.S.
The potentially worst case scenario is with a film that a Director/D.P. has intentionally utilized optical diffusion for creative intent (such as Munich or more recently, Atonement [black stocking used])
and the person in charge of the of HD digital master production or Blu-ray encoding is clueless to that fact, so intercedes by boosting the sharpening thinking that he is increasing the PQ for the home enthusiast – i.e. a “better” product.

Even if this behavior doesn’t translate into visible annoying artifacts, it has broken the creative intent of the Director if prior approval was not obtained.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by SGRSBSKIER

Is he way over estimating or should we really expect to see that many titles released on Blu-ray this year?

I think that’s an overestimation.
Plus, I hope that no BD authoring and compression techs read that or else, they probably would have suffered a stroke by now.

[Penton-Man]

Happy St. Paddy's Day everyone.

[Bullseye]

In a way it’s a pity Kenny G. Is not going to be involved in the pushing of Blu Ray on Universal’s behalf. But currently there have been zero announcements on Blu Ray anyway so maybe they did not want to be paying someone for six months when there was nothing to be said.

PS. I noticed George's smirk at the end of that enjoyable film.