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

[woodlandwolf]

I know that thismay get me introuble with some blu people but after reading what you been saying like doctor who wont be on blu and other tv shows and so on, then blu wont be the format to replace dvd if everything wont be able on blu, i understand that blu is better in picture and sound and can hold more info but eally whats the point of buying two formats to get what you really want. I have some people that won cross over cause they think what they like wont be on blu, then they are true, how do you sell a format that wont see the likes of dvds on the market. Maybe Im reading to much into this, but that is what Im thinkinga nd readying. Now dont get me wrong, I love blu and now have 164, but Im a little upset that I sold all my dvds thinking that everything on dvd will be on blu. and now it may not. I dont care if some older tv shows or movies may not look the complete cleanest or perfect image, but that is what makes great classic tv and movies, it just adds to it. Thats my rant for now. Thanks for reading.

Woodlandwolf

[Jeff Kleist]

Are we going to see as many new transfers with furture Blu-ray re-releases, or is it likely to be far and few between?

Depends on if it needs it I'd guess.

but eally whats the point of buying two formats to get what you really want.

DVDs play in a Blu-ray player, the discs superficially look the same, I don't see a big deal

I certainly haven't dumped my DVDs, I get rid of them as I replace them with Blu-ray. There's stuff on VHS that hasn't come out on DVD even (where's My Best Friend is a Vampire Trimark???)

[tippykitten]

Jeff,

Any word on the following films coming to Blu: The Last Of The Mohicans(1992), Hotel Rwanda, and The Ghost and The Darkness?

Thanks

[MerrickG]

Did I hear correctly that the Riddick films are tentatively scheduled for March?

[PeterTHX]

Originally Posted by tippykitten

The Ghost and The Darkness?

If only to see it in the original 2.35 ratio.

The DVD recycles the LaserDisc transfer which was cropped to 2.0 to 1 and insult to injury is 4x3 letterbox

I missed it somewhere but my Dad saw it broadcast in HD (Showtime I think) and it was 2.35 (and looked great), so a BD would be most welcome.

[Jeff Kleist]

Any word on the following films coming to Blu: The Last Of The Mohicans(1992), Hotel Rwanda, and The Ghost and The Darkness?

Sorry

Did I hear correctly that the Riddick films are tentatively scheduled for March?

Yes, but as late as April to tie in with the new game (ship date 4/7)

[Blu Titan]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

Sorry



Yes, but as late as April to tie in with the new game (ship date 4/7)

That is some good news.

[DenonCI]

Jeff,

When will we see Grease from Paramount?

[MerrickG]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

Sorry



Yes, but as late as April to tie in with the new game (ship date 4/7)

SWEET!!!

Thanks for that info. I have to give props to Universal, they seem to be doing a good job of putting out their most requested HD-DVDs.

[Michael.Schinke]

Hey guys. After a trip to our local FYE my girlfriend and I got into a conversation about the price of Blu's vs the price of DVD's and she began to ask me about the reasons behind the difference. Aside from the idea of Blu being the, "premium format" at the moment, what exactly determines the cost and MSRP of a Blu-ray disc?

[Jeff Kleist]

Internal pricing structures mostly, which aside from the premium factor are also determined by the much much higher cost of compression and authoring and the much lower volume compared to DVD

[MerrickG]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

Internal pricing structures mostly, which aside from the premium factor are also determined by the much much higher cost of compression and authoring and the much lower volume compared to DVD

I would think that it would actually be cheaper to compress blurays given the higher bitrate over DVD.

As for actual disc costs, Id bet bluray is still much higher than dvd. However, its been a while since there have been any doom and gloom reports regarding replication capacity, so Id say blu is doing well in that regard.

Right Jeff?

[Michael.Schinke]

What really threw her off was the $5 DVD sales that stores like Best Buy run and the number of discs that retail in the sub-$10 catagory. Since it's unlikely that many stores are unwilling to take a loss by selling these below cost, that says to me that manufacturing cost must have fallen at some point. I'm also starting to see FYE stores, some of the mall stores that retail at MSRP, are beginning to carry BD's in the sub-$20 and sometimes sub-$15 range. It was the staggering differance in these prices, coupled with the fact that certain discs never seem to go down in price, that really started to rankle her.

[DenonCI]

never mind

[Jeff Kleist]

I would think that it would actually be cheaper to compress blurays given the higher bitrate over DVD.

Bitrate has nothing to do with it. DVD is typically encoded in real time for each pass off the tape, and they could probably go a lot faster with a digital master

Blu-ray on the best setup currently running manages 25% of real time on a good day with a low complexity film. DVD can be done with a PCI card in a decently powerful desktop. Blu-ray takes a server farm to accomplish that 25%, and a heck of a lot more technician time. A Blu-ray easily costs 6-10x what the DVD costs to author and compress.

The stores are selling those DVDs under a special arrangement with the studios when they sell them for $5, essentially as loss leaders. The store makes a few cents on them at best.

What really threw her off was the $5 DVD sales that stores like Best Buy run and the number of discs that retail in the sub-$10 catagory. Since it's unlikely that many stores are unwilling to take a loss by selling these below cost, that says to me that manufacturing cost must have fallen at some point.

The cost of pressing the media doesn't even factor into the SRP for the most part. It's what's on the media and getting it there. A DVD-9 costs about $0.30 to press these days in studio bulk, maybe as low as a quarter.

There's plenty of stuff that never goes down. Did you know that it took Hackers over 5 years to be priced down for retail sale on VHS? Seriously, the movie came out before there was DVD, and the DVD was out for over a year before the VHS got dropped.

If a title is selling well at its existing price, there's little reason to drop it

[Michael.Schinke]

Wow, I had no idea it took so much horsepower to encode a BD. Fraking awesome to think about though, the kind of energy that goes into putting a move on a disc. If you stop to think about it, it really boggles the mind. Makes me appreciate the format and the people involved even more.

[aygie]

Hi Jeff

Last year the Bits & here reported that Michael Mann was overseeing the BD version of Heat, is this still on track?

I'm assuming that it might have a release around July when Mann's Public Enemies is released.

Thanks

[Jeff Kleist]

I really don't know. I know it's supposed to come out next year, but that's it. I would assume that would be the approximate time as well

[MerrickG]

Hey Jeff,

Im sure you cant get into specifics, but can we expect some really cool things at CES this year in regards to new title announcements and such?

Thanks!

I posted the same question in Pentons thread

[Jeff Kleist]

I think you're building it up to be a lot more than it is

Without the format war, there's little reason to blow their wads at CES.