Interesting Interview With Producer of R&B Films

[Blu Titan]

Richard J Casey is the Executive Producer for R&B Films (Nature's Journey). Great explanation on the technical superiority of Blu-ray.


http://www.hidefpreview.com/Breaking%20News.html

[joeorc]

this is one of of the best statements to boot HD DVD zealots in the HEAD with...


5. Which HD format is less expensive to produce for? Details?

Well, if you asked me this question a year ago, the answer would be different. However, from a production standpoint, there is no difference in cost between HD and BD formats.

Also, as the professional tools for production mature, I have seen the cost for HD / BD authoring come down quite a bit.

However, when it comes to replication of the discs, BD clearly costs more money to produce. We pay approximately 30% more for a BD Replicated Disc than we do for an HD replicated disc. To us, this is a negligible difference at this early stage of the game.

Blu-ray Disc is a new format using somewhat different technology from HD-DVD. I expect it to cost more in the beginning. However, like anything else, pricing will drop on BD replication as the installed base of players increase and some of the R&D Costs are recouped.

like more playstation 3's..more Blu-Ray disc's sold means cheaper replication costs for a Blu-Ray disc...those wonderful BOGO sales we are getting are sure sign of thing to come in price reductions for Blu-Ray.

[Luis_A51]

Ive known this for a while, but its nice to see someone in the biz finally say that the added cost of BD is negligible. And will possibly drop below HDDVD at some point since our installed base is much much bigger. Assuming HDDVD isnt dead by that point, of course

[jkwest]

Industry people need to realize that the PS3 is not just a game console...i know two people that use it solely as a movie machine...and this is the crux to HD DVD's scheme...

I would never own a standalone after seeing how phenomenal this machine is.

(Was this off topic?)

[frank_t]

Originally Posted by jkwest

Industry people need to realize that the PS3 is not just a game console...i know two people that use it solely as a movie machine...and this is the crux to HD DVD's scheme...

I would never own a standalone after seeing how phenomenal this machine is.

(Was this off topic?)

I tend to agree. I'm thinking of another PS3 for another HD set in the house. Kind of weird to think I'll have 2 PS3s in the house. Even I find it hard to not think of it as a game console (in spite of using it 80% for BD movie playback)

Interestingly, other hardware manufacturers probably don't take comfort in this as they are competing with the PS3. Sony has a delicate dance to do here.

[calcajun]

My Sony PS3 is a Blu-Ray player.

Whats a game console?

[beatboy77]

Thanks for posting the link to this article. Richard was a pleasure to do the interview with and a very knowledgeable member of the industry.

We are currently negotiating interviews with other industry insiders regarding the format war, so check back often

~Josh

[sj001]

I am surprised that he hasn't decided to go BD exclusive, just from the way he was treated by the HD-DVD red ants.

[beatboy77]

Originally Posted by sj001

I am surprised that he hasn't decided to go BD exclusive, just from the way he was treated by the HD-DVD red ants.

You have to remember that Richard is a businessman first and currently is makes more sense for him to release on both formats. It goes to show you though that a small company like R&B Films has the resources to do seperate encodes for each format to maximize their technical capabilities and yet a company like WB continues to give Blu-ray the dumbed-down version of their releases as they simply mimic the HD-DVD encode. When/If WB goes Blu-ray Exclusive I know we will see some stunning releases from WB

~Josh

[joeorc]

Originally Posted by sj001

I am surprised that he hasn't decided to go BD exclusive, just from the way he was treated by the HD-DVD red ants.

well with new's like this i would not be worried about Blu-Ray..i would be more worried about HD DVD if i cared about HD DVD ANYWAY...READ ON:

. The most recent to announce exclusive support of Blu-ray is Home Theater Specialists of America, the largest home theater installation consortium in the nation. That's also big-time, since these folks depend on word-of-mouth customer satisfaction for their livelihoods, and their decision to back one format exclusively was based on a poll of all their members working in the home entertainment field. Blu-ray was what they recommended to the 11 million "luxury lifestyle" clients they serviced a whopping 92 percent of the time.

http://www.dvdtown.com/news/story/4880

i don't think Studios can ignore market share at all and that is with out counting also the playstation 3's install base ...

[sj001]

Originally Posted by beatboy77

You have to remember that Richard is a businessman first and currently is makes more sense for him to release on both formats. It goes to show you though that a small company like R&B Films has the resources to do seperate encodes for each format to maximize their technical capabilities and yet a company like WB continues to give Blu-ray the dumbed-down version of their releases as they simply mimic the HD-DVD encode. When/If WB goes Blu-ray Exclusive I know we will see some stunning releases from WB

~Josh

Right, and I like him because he did separate encodes, and then he gets blasted by the red ants for it.

It's like, "OK, sorry that I optimized the version for BD to utilize it's potential, didn't mean to offend you guys."

[sj001]

Originally Posted by joeorc

well with new's like this i would not be worried about Blu-Ray..i would be more worried about HD DVD if i cared about HD DVD ANYWAY...READ ON:

. The most recent to announce exclusive support of Blu-ray is Home Theater Specialists of America, the largest home theater installation consortium in the nation. That's also big-time, since these folks depend on word-of-mouth customer satisfaction for their livelihoods, and their decision to back one format exclusively was based on a poll of all their members working in the home entertainment field. Blu-ray was what they recommended to the 11 million "luxury lifestyle" clients they serviced a whopping 92 percent of the time.

http://www.dvdtown.com/news/story/4880

i don't think Studios can ignore market share at all and that is with out counting also the playstation 3's install base ...

Oh, believe me I am not worried about BD. I think the HTSA endorsement is a big thing, and like you said, word-of-mouth from 11 million people is big!

[CptGreedle]

Based on feedback from AVS, I will utilize the exact same audio, DTS-HD-MA Lossless for both HD and BD releases. With this approach, the Video Encode will be lower, but we will work diligently to assure that we tweak the Video Encode for maximum Picture Quality at lower encoding rates.

HAHAHA!! They complained so much that they didn't have the best Audio, that they are now going to give them the audio they want but take away the video!! HAHA!! Sux to be you HD-DVD!

[Rob71]

Originally Posted by sj001

Right, and I like him because he did separate encodes, and then he gets blasted by the red ants for it.

It's like, "OK, sorry that I optimized the version for BD to utilize it's potential, didn't mean to offend you guys."

Very funny, but true. Amir showing up and stirring things up, just to get smacked down was pretty good also.

Originally Posted by CptGreedle

HAHAHA!! They complained so much that they didn't have the best Audio, that they are now going to give them the audio they want but take away the video!! HAHA!! Sux to be you HD-DVD!

Beware of what you wish for.

[richard lichtenfelt]

I'm sure the cost difference is even less for the major studios producing tens of thousands of copies.
Warner could really learn something from Mr. Casey.

[corduroygt]

Originally Posted by joeorc

well with new's like this i would not be worried about Blu-Ray..i would be more worried about HD DVD if i cared about HD DVD ANYWAY...READ ON:

. The most recent to announce exclusive support of Blu-ray is Home Theater Specialists of America, the largest home theater installation consortium in the nation. That's also big-time, since these folks depend on word-of-mouth customer satisfaction for their livelihoods, and their decision to back one format exclusively was based on a poll of all their members working in the home entertainment field. Blu-ray was what they recommended to the 11 million "luxury lifestyle" clients they serviced a whopping 92 percent of the time.

http://www.dvdtown.com/news/story/4880

i don't think Studios can ignore market share at all and that is with out counting also the playstation 3's install base ...

I'd like to know what they recommended the other 8% of the time. My guess is it's just DVD for those rich old folks whose eyesight and hearing have degraded due to old age.

[Blue]

This has been discussed before
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=19341