Ask questions to The Digital Bits team (Bill Hunt, Jeff Kleist et.al.)

[jpaul1972]

Anyone know if there was a delay on this title? I had thought that it had been marked with a Feb 8th, 2011 release date, but looks like that may have slipped. Anyone have a clue?

[Jeff Kleist]

Not a clue, sorry

With Blu-ray, based on the enthusiasm patterns I've seen for upgrading, I always recommend releasing multi-season packs at a reasonable price, for example 24 1-4 At a street price of $99-129.99. Fox France is exporting hundreds of sets of Prison Break complete at around $90 in an attractive and sturdy box (and with less French on it than your average Canadian release), and it's a great value IMO. Friends went what, 10 seasons? Then do 4 seasons up front and then 2 more of 3 (just make sure the boxes are the same size for the OCD among us )

[rkish]

Hey Jeff...sorry to sidetrack you with this, but I know that I'm not the only one with this issue.

After playing EVERYTHING I've thrown at it, my Panasonic BD 55 refuses to play Disney's latest BD release of the animated "Alice In Wonderland" (1951).

Do you know offhand if Panasonic plans to make FW updates available for the slightly older players like the 30, 35, 55, 65, etc. ?

Thanks!

[MerrickG]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

No, I have no idea what the status of Clark The Supervillain Slayer is either

Come on Jeff.

No bashing Smallville (shouldnt it be called Metropolis now?).

We all know how disappointed you were when Tom Welling wasn't given the call for Snyder's film.

[Jeff Kleist]

After playing EVERYTHING I've thrown at it, my Panasonic BD 55 refuses to play Disney's latest BD release of the animated "Alice In Wonderland" (1951).

Do you know offhand if Panasonic plans to make FW updates available for the slightly older players like the 30, 35, 55, 65, etc. ?

I would say that the 60/80 series and the 65/85s are probably safe. 30s and below not as sure on at timely one there

[Jeff Kleist]

Good news for Ghibli fans, I have confirmed that the new Nausicaa disc is a fully restored DTS HD Master Audio 2.0 Japanese track.

You may now exhale, and buy with confidence

Those who are happy, if you want to post something here I'll make sure it's passed on.

[Azyiu]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

Good news for Ghibli fans, I have confirmed that the new Nausicaa disc is a fully restored DTS HD Master Audio 2.0 Japanese track.

You may now exhale, and buy with confidence

Those who are happy, if you want to post something here I'll make sure it's passed on.

Good news, I suppose... but I already bought the HK version.

Something sort of related. Ok, so I was at a relative's home the other day, and I spotted his copy in a regular BD case... Knowing there are no words yet on a Taiwanese / HK version, I got curious and picked it up to view it. Guess what? I "claims" it was released by a media company based in mainland China!

You may call me whatever you want, despite its BD-look-alike case (it is in a much much darker shade of blue) I just don't trust the quality or legitimacy of disc-based medias from the mainland. Plus, while the Japanese version is on a 50Gb disk, this version claims it is only on a 25Gb disk.

Either way, could anyone confirm if this China version is legit or not?

[jd213]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

Good news for Ghibli fans, I have confirmed that the new Nausicaa disc is a fully restored DTS HD Master Audio 2.0 Japanese track.

You may now exhale, and buy with confidence

Those who are happy, if you want to post something here I'll make sure it's passed on.

Yeah, I kinda figured they would be doing that. The JP Laputa BD used 2.0 DTS-MA instead of LPCM like the JP Nausicaa, even though using DTS-MA 2.0 means the audio actually has a higher bitrate than uncompressed LPCM. But major US studios are allergic to LPCM nowadays even if it takes up less space than a lossless codec, so the JP arm was probably convinced they had to follow suit.

But as long as its not lossy, whateva.

[Jeff Kleist]

You may call me whatever you want, despite its BD-look-alike case (it is in a much much darker shade of blue) I just don't trust the quality or legitimacy of disc-based medias from the mainland. Plus, while the Japanese version is on a 50Gb disk, this version claims it is only on a 25Gb disk

I'm not aware of any mainland china licensor, but actual pressed Blu-ray bootlegs are extremely rare. It might be real, it might not. I know IVL is the HK/Taiwan licensor

Yeah, I kinda figured they would be doing that. The JP Laputa BD used 2.0 DTS-MA instead of LPCM like the JP Nausicaa, even though using DTS-MA 2.0 means the audio actually has a higher bitrate than uncompressed LPCM. But major US studios are allergic to LPCM nowadays even if it takes up less space than a lossless codec, so the JP arm was probably convinced they had to follow suit.

I think it's more that they just want to make one disc and ship it everwhere

Lossless is lossless, so I join you in happy

BTW JD, do you think that Yamato will hang around in general release until March 13th? If so, where do you recommend I see it? I haven't gone to a Japanese movie theater since Mononoke.

[jd213]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

I think it's more that they just want to make one disc and ship it everwhere

Hmm, not sure about that. Pretty sure the Laputa disc still has JP menus when played in a US PS3.

BTW JD, do you think that Yamato will hang around in general release until March 13th?

Looks like the last showings are on the 18th of this month, unfortunately: http://gekijyo.toho-movie.com/theater.php?no=107
Maybe check back before you go to see if they've added any encore showings.

If so, where do you recommend I see it? I haven't gone to a Japanese movie theater since Mononoke.

Well, if you do decide to go see a movie, I like the Oizumi T-Joy near Toei's studios. It's a 10 minute walk or so from Oizumi Gakuen station which is a bit of a train ride away from Ikebukuro, but they usually have stuff on exhibit whenever a major Toei anime or tokusatsu film is out, and their main theaters all have Sony 4K projectors, I believe.

[Azyiu]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

I'm not aware of any mainland china licensor, but actual pressed Blu-ray bootlegs are extremely rare. It might be real, it might not. I know IVL is the HK/Taiwan licensor.

That said disk was definitely not released by IVL... darn it, now I don't recall the name of that company on the back cover.

[Doctorossi]

Jeff, you da man and you've seriously made my week. Thanks for your diligence. I really hope that this can be read as an indication of intent for future Ghibli releases from Disney, as well.

[Jeff Kleist]

Hmm, not sure about that. Pretty sure the Laputa disc still has JP menus when played in a US PS3.

Swap the menus, keep the assetts, or just keep the ability to interchange. Tell you what, I can let you know once I"m in Tokyo

Looks like the last showings are on the 18th of this month, unfortunately: http://gekijyo.toho-movie.com/theater.php?no=107
Maybe check back before you go to see if they've added any encore showings.

Total bummer, maybe it'll still be playing out in the sticks in Gunma where I'm going first I don't want to burn favors to see it

Well, if you do decide to go see a movie, I like the Oizumi T-Joy near Toei's studios. It's a 10 minute walk or so from Oizumi Gakuen station which is a bit of a train ride away from Ikebukuro, but they usually have stuff on exhibit whenever a major Toei anime or tokusatsu film is out, and their main theaters all have Sony 4K projectors, I believe.

Sounds sweet, that is a hike, but if it's still playing it's worth it Knowing my luck, these will occur at the same times I have late meetings Thanks for looking it up tho

[jd213]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

Swap the menus, keep the assetts, or just keep the ability to interchange. Tell you what, I can let you know once I"m in Tokyo

Yeah, if they can just re-use the encode it would make things easier. The old behind the scenes footage for Laputa would need subtitles added, though. But the disc is pretty full, so they'd need to re-encode or add another disc if they want to add in footage of Justin Timberlake recording the English dub or whoever it is they got.

[Azyiu]

@jd213

Since you are in Tokyo, and I am visiting there in mid-April, may I PM you for any Tokyo-related questions?

[jd213]

Sure, although I'm not too familiar with a lot of tourist attractions and stuff since most of the time I'd rather watch BDs and anime than go sightseeing.
I know a good bit about more general stuff though, or at least I can look it up fairly fast.

[Jeff Kleist]

Have you avoided such knowlege on purpose? Living in Philadelphia I am intimately familiar with the historical sites because I have to play tour guide 4-5 times a year

The last time was in the fall, when we took Harajuku fashion designer Takuya Angel to do the Rocky Run up the art museum steps, pretty funny

[jd213]

Yeah, I'm just not all that interested in doing touristy stuff. I like doing it, I just like modern entertainment more is all. I live a short walk from Asakusa but have only been there to see the sights once or twice in the past 6 years.

[Azyiu]

Originally Posted by jd213

Yeah, I'm just not all that interested in doing touristy stuff. I like doing it, I just like modern entertainment more is all. I live a short walk from Asakusa but have only been there to see the sights once or twice in the past 6 years.

Don't worry, I likely won't be bothering you on touristic-related stuff, rather I just want to know if you know any local used books / cds / dvds stores? I am more interested in finding older J-pop artists / bands (Alfee, Anzen Chitai, Moritaka Chisato etc) concert dvds. Or any other special interest dvds / BDs etc.

[Jeff Kleist]

Az, where are you located? I'm working on something right now that might be to your taste (can't be more specific than that, sorry)