Archived: Insiders Thread

[Y3k Bug]

To the insiders:

In your minds, how will the format war come to an end? Will it be a spectacular explosion where the other side says "we give up", or will it be a slow death where they simply fade into nothingness? Will it be studio switching that ends it, or will MS pull out when they think their downloads are ready to take on the world? Perhaps something else?

I'd like to know how it all ends in your opinions, and if you want to share a "when" you think it will happen, that'd be cool too.

[WickyWoo]

Just because the 360 might have an HD-DVD drive doesn't mean games would have to be on HD-DVDs. Just like early PS2 games came on CDs (the blue discs), 360 games could very easily still be on DVDs.

This isn't the place to go further on it, so please look in OT for the dedicated thread on this.

[sonicbox]

Originally Posted by atomik kinder

Wow, If he worked for the company I worked for, he would be fired. Good enough is not good enough. Anyone can be good enough. It takes something much better than Good Enough to get and keep customers.

I read the rant. It's generally sarcastic in tone. So, I'm a little confused with the feedback I'm seeing here.

[paidgeek]

Originally Posted by sonicbox

I read the rant. It's generally sarcastic in tone. So, I'm a little confused with the feedback I'm seeing here.

Someone I know once said sarcasm is disguised anger..

[patrick99]

Originally Posted by paidgeek

Someone I know once said sarcasm is disguised anger..

Perhaps not so disguised in this case. . .

[Proteus]

I think the Insider's Thread is losing some direction here and has become a discussion thread. Perhaps if we would like to respond/discuss on topics here we can make a new thread with an appropriate (short) title and add a *Insider's* in it so people can recognize as well as qoute the post here in the OP of the new thread?

Trying to bring it back on track:


Paidgeek, I think you are most qualified to answer this for me...

Something I would very much like to see with future releases is a PSP capable version included on the disc (I guess we would just move it to the PSP via a USB plug on the player? Or, BD drive in the PC... Obviously, PS3 transfer to PSP would be perfect). Is this even a remote possibility?

Frankly, and I'm sure I'm not the only person to feel this way, I'm pretty pissed off that I own so many movies on DVD/BD and I'm expected to 're-buy' them for my PSP only to have cumbersome UMD discs to have to deal with when I can easily fit a movie file on my Memory Stick and, as far as I'm concerned, I already own the rights to privately view the movie. It feels dirty to me and I feel like I'm getting robbed, to be honest.

Just something I would REALLY like to see happen in the near future and I know you hinted at it awhile back in this thread. Would just like some clarification and if/how it's moving along. I think this would be a great up-sell for BD to this niche market as well.

Thank you.

[cjamescook]

Originally Posted by cjamescook

Okay, this seems the perfect time to ask (and since my girlfiend is Russian), how come it seems that Russian subtitles are never offered?

I would have bought the explanation that there was too much bootlegging going on in Russia, but that was also true in some Asian locales and yet we are now offering Chinese and Japanese subtitles.

Originally Posted by paidgeek

The short answer is that this disc is supposed to be sold in Asia, but not Russia.

My apologies, I should have done at least a Google of "Blu-ray Russian subtitles". The answers are all there. In fact, leave off "subtitles" and you find news of a blu-ray production line being sold for installation in Russia.

Cheers!

[gand41f]

Originally Posted by paidgeek

You are welcome to cross post the information I provided.

I don't know what the display will do with a film originated 60p signal. Someone will have to experiment to confirm.

Thanks Paidgeek. One more question, I assume the new Sony V3000 and W3000 series LCD's don't do 5:5, right?

By the way, if you ever get a chance to chat with someone with Sony Electronics, you may want to tell them to put a mention to 5:5 in an unambiguous way on their website. A lot of people are wondering about this (for the past few months in fact). I know I would have bought the XBR the week it came out if 5:5 pulldown was listed on Sony's website.

thanks
gandalf

[hoser]

Originally Posted by Ben

The release of 28 Days Later was specifically timed with the release of 28 Weeks Later. I would have to disagree with you on one point: By releasing these two films simultaneously, Fox has allowed consumers to build a complete collection of these films in HD and that indicates to me that a lot of thought was put into the decision. Once consumers are able to build a film COLLECTION on BD, they will be much more comfortable in abandoning DVD. Much like Sony has done with their pending release of the entire Spiderman trilogy. While the video of 28 days looks a little rough, it is presented precisely how it was intended to be seen. Make no mistake, no DVD could even come close to the look of 28 Days Later on BD. The sound alone is worth the upgrade.

Preserving the Director's intent and accuracy to the source are vital in making BD a dominant format. We have seen the idiotic reprecussions of uninformed zealots who somehow think that their idea of what HD should look like somehow trumps the artistic intent of the filmmakers. Hopefully for every fool who thinks Dracula was flawed, there are a dozen people out there who truly understand the complexities and beauty of what film really is. BD is the only format that has the capability to truly make that a reality.

I accept the BD of 28 Days Later looks "as it is intended to look."
That isn't what concerns me here.
What concerns me is the successful adoption of BD by JSP or the Great Masses or whatever term is appropriate.

Humans are VISUAL animals.
Vision is the primary sense we use to interpret reality (no, I don't want to get in to a discussion of the success of Talk Radio ).

The BDA studios must demonstrate, at every opportunity, that BD has an obvious added benefit for consumers of DVDs.
Otherwise, BD will go the way of DIVX, Beta, DVD-A, etc.
What we need, in a nutshell, gentlemen, is Eye Candy.

Other than SQ and the last 5 minutes of the film, the 28 Days Later BD offers no compelling reason to upgrade from DVD.
As I said, this isn't the way to foster success for the format.

BD Studios MUST lead with their best weapons: release popular blockbusters (new and catalog), exploit the format's inherent technical advantages (50gb, bandwidth, etc), vast studio support, superior hardware support, etc.
I believe by focusing on these things, the competition can be destroyed quite easily.
And nothing would please more.

[amillians]

Originally Posted by paidgeek

Full profile and BD-live players have mandatory outlining support for text based subtitles.

Thanks...that's pretty big news...if I understand correctly, might this limit how a studio deploys subs down the road (I'm assuming you can only define subs "one way" and not have *both* text-based and graphics-bases subs, playing your "best" hand for all profiles)? I guess I'm asking if graphics-based subs will remain the de facto standard for legacy purposes, since text-based sans outlining can/will look like poop compared to grahics-based subs?

Originally Posted by paidgeek

Our XML format was designed for subtitle vendors to describe all the required subtitle parameters, that's all..

Dumb question...is BND used for all Blu-ray subs, or is it an option (enhanced) way of doing subs? There's very little documentation out there on this kind of stuff...I've tried www.highdefsubtitlefileformatsfortotalgeeks.com, but they don't seem to have any articles.

[pro-bassoonist]

A question for Mr.Paidgeek:

I was wondering if you and your team at SONY know the Fox crew of engineers. It is probably a forgone conclusions that some of you know each other but, truly, on a professional level, do you interact with them on a regular basis?

I am asking because last night I went through Fox's The Day After Tomorrow for a second time and truly Fox's crew have outdone themselves. I am curious as to how close you interact with them and what are your overall impressions.

To sum it all up I have been very impressed with Fox as of late and am enormously happy that they have set the bar so high.

This being said, since I am a bit older than the assumed average crowd on this board, I impatiently await the announcement for Lawrence of Arabia, or at least a hint of it.

Sincerely Yours,

Dr.A

[ErikR]

Question for Paid...

I was looking at the inner covers of my Disney blu-ray titles, and most if not all have the chapter listings on the back side of the cover art. It looks really nice since you can see through the cases. Has Sony ever thought of doing this as well? From what I can tell, the only company that is doign this currently is Disney.

[dobyblue]

Originally Posted by hoser

Other than SQ and the last 5 minutes of the film, the 28 Days Later BD offers no compelling reason to upgrade from DVD.

I beg to differ, the audio on the BD is a huge reason to upgrade.

[jorg]

Originally Posted by schultz

Paidgeek, do you have any info on which cell is used in the 40/80gb PS3's? Whether it is the 90nm or 60nm? Sorry if this has already been asked.

aaa theres only 1 vesion of cell out yet they both use teh same version and both cells are 90nm

[WriteSimply]

Originally Posted by pro-bassoonist

A question for Mr.Paidgeek:

I was wondering if you and your team at SONY know the Fox crew of engineers. It is probably a forgone conclusions that some of you know each other but, truly, on a professional level, do you interact with them on a regular basis?

I am asking because last night I went through Fox's The Day After Tomorrow for a second time and truly Fox's crew have outdone themselves. I am curious as to how close you interact with them and what are your overall impressions.

I think paidgeek answered this already. Or maybe not. But Panasonic Hollywood Labs (PHL) did the encoding for TDAT and many other Fox titles. I don't know if Fox has any engineers working on their BDs or HD masters.


fuad

[Jack Torrance]

Originally Posted by dobyblue

I beg to differ, the audio on the BD is a huge reason to upgrade.

I agree 100% Doby. Though the uptick in picture quality maybe marginal, it is better than the DVD, and the last sequence really pops.

This is a great disc from Fox and definitely worth the purchase.

[Frode]

Thanks for the replies so far. I do have another question though, does Blu-ray support 30p? The reason I wonder is that for some reason HD DVD is listed as supporting it in wikipedia, and I don't understand why they would support it, and Blu-ray not. It could be someone trying to skew the views of the formats, but I would like official confirmation, if possible.

Another related question, is how would would you handle source material that has mixed frame rates? This is relevant for some TV anime for instance, where the opening sequence is animated at 30p, while the show itself is 24p. Would you be forced to use MPEG2 to encode it since that supports using RFF flags to facilitate playback of different frame rates? What about AVC? Back when, Amir claimed that for VC1 24p would be forced on/off, so if you had materials with mixed frame rates you'd have to use 60i instead and rely on the display's deinterlacer. Would this hold for the others as well?

[Shu76]

Where is Sin City?

[pro-bassoonist]

Originally Posted by WriteSimply

I think paidgeek answered this already. Or maybe not. But Panasonic Hollywood Labs (PHL) did the encoding for TDAT and many other Fox titles. I don't know if Fox has any engineers working on their BDs or HD masters.


fuad

The part I put in bold black is precisely what I would like to know

Thanks
Pro-B

[Nick Graham]

I know there isn't anybody directly affiliated with Disney on here, but since the newly released standard def version was taunting me today at Hastings, have any insiders heard if or when Disney might reschedule "The Hoax" on Blu-Ray?

It was advertised day and date, then got yanked just a few days later with no explanation. It's one of my favorite little sleepers of the year, and I'd grab it in a heartbeat.