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

[neo_reloaded]

Dial norm does not effect any portion of the soundtrack's data - it is simply a flag to make the receiver turn down the volume (the whole soundtrack volume, not just dialogue or any other portion) to a specific reference so all movies have a standard dialogue volume. To COMPLETELY undo ANY effects of dial norm, simply turn your receiver's volume higher.

[AnimeOnBlu]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

Very

JP4 Early Concept Art

[Slec]

Originally Posted by AnimeOnBlu

JP4 Early Concept Art

HA! I had a bunch of those as a kid

[NoQuestion]

Originally Posted by Slec

HA! I had a bunch of those as a kid

As did I. Man, I miss those toys.

[SBrooks1]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

Music licensing hell

Does that mean it's actively being worked on or did the powers that be give up due to the music licensing?

[crackinhedz]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

Music licensing hell

all they need is the opening theme song...all other music can be generic elevator music for all I care.

Thanks for the reply.

Man, they've been having this [licensing] trouble for years now. Don't they realize they are depriving their fans (ME!) of a true classic tv show?!!

[Jeff Kleist]

Originally Posted by SBrooks1

Does that mean it's actively being worked on or did the powers that be give up due to the music licensing?

Neither one, because nothing can be done till they clear the music

[QuasidodoJr]

Hey there, Bill and Jeff:

Since The Thing, Halloween, Assault on Precinct 13 and Ghosts of Mars have all been given the high-def treatment, should I continue holding my breath for possible releases of Big Trouble in Little China, Escape From New York, The Fog (1980), Prince of Darkness, In the Mouth of Madness and Vampires, or are the rest of these John Carpenter films still a ways off?

Thanks in advance for any responses!

[Jeff Kleist]

Big Trouble will probably be coming soon. It's coming out in a few weeks in Japan with what looks to be a port of a Fox disc

http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=FXXA-1502

[QuasidodoJr]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

Big Trouble will probably be coming soon. It's coming out in a few weeks in Japan with what looks to be a port of a Fox disc

http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=FXXA-1502

That alone makes me very happy! I'll take just about whatever John Carpenter I can get... I've already proven that by purchasing a BD copy of Ghosts of Mars.

[racerx1965]

I think this was missed with all the hub-bub over LOTR, but is there any word if the Spider-mans will be sold individually?

Thanks!

[DaViD Boulet]

Dial norm does not effect any portion of the soundtrack's data - it is simply a flag to make the receiver turn down the volume (the whole soundtrack volume, not just dialogue or any other portion) to a specific reference so all movies have a standard dialogue volume. To COMPLETELY undo ANY effects of dial norm, simply turn your receiver's volume higher.

Sadly, not exactly true.

Dialog Norm "decoding" takes place entirely in the digital domain prior to d/a conversion... it has nothing to do with the analog attenuator that is your primary volume control (for folks who think that their receiver has "digital" volume control because they see digital numbers on an LED screen, that's not the case. all but the very highest-end product do their volume attenuation in the analog domain... the digital numbers are just there for a reference point).

Back to dialog norm: so what happens is that the lossless "bit for bit" data is first decoded bit-for-bit, but then according to the DB reduction specified by the DN flag, the ENTIRE waveform is recalculated to this new level by mathematic division prior to d/a conversion. Some argue that in the 24-bit realm (where many current chip designs opperate), the process should be transparent. That's open to debate. But one thing is for certain, the digital audio waveform is not the same series of bits after DN is applied compared to the bits that came out of the original "lossless" decoded stream, and since DN is not defeatable by spec standards, I personally feel that calling any TrueHD track with DN applied as "lossless" is technically incorrect, since bit-for-bit data can not be obtained at the point of d/a conversion.

[Jeff Kleist]

I think this was missed with all the hub-bub over LOTR, but is there any word if the Spider-mans will be sold individually?

No plans

You can find the set on sale cheaply quite often. If you want them now, go for it, otherwise just wait for the SEs when Spidey 4 hits

[neo_reloaded]

Originally Posted by DaViD Boulet

Sadly, not exactly true.

Dialog Norm "decoding" takes place entirely in the digital domain prior to d/a conversion... it has nothing to do with the analog attenuator that is your primary volume control (for folks who think that their receiver has "digital" volume control because they see digital numbers on an LED screen, that's not the case. all but the very highest-end product do their volume attenuation in the analog domain... the digital numbers are just there for a reference point).

Back to dialog norm: so what happens is that the lossless "bit for bit" data is first decoded bit-for-bit, but then according to the DB reduction specified by the DN flag, the ENTIRE waveform is recalculated to this new level by mathematic division prior to d/a conversion. Some argue that in the 24-bit realm (where many current chip designs opperate), the process should be transparent. That's open to debate. But one thing is for certain, the digital audio waveform is not the same series of bits after DN is applied compared to the bits that came out of the original "lossless" decoded stream, and since DN is not defeatable by spec standards, I personally feel that calling any TrueHD track with DN applied as "lossless" is technically incorrect, since bit-for-bit data can not be obtained at the point of d/a conversion.

The point is that it's a volume adjustment alone, and not any kind of dynamic range compression which so many people think it is. Yes, there is potential for loss of precision between a digital volume change and an inverse analog volume change - but whether or not that has any noticeable effect is certainly up in the air. I understand that that kind of statement doesn't mesh well with the "lossless is lossless, an exact mathematical duplicate" mindset, but in reality NOTHING in the analog domain is capable of creating a perfect mathematical duplicate. The loss of precision between the various forms of volume scaling is a drop in the bucket compared to all the variables that enter the system the moment the signal becomes analog. So unless you're enjoying your audio as a series of hex values streaming across a monitor, I think the point is moot. Hell, just look at the 24-bit support that is available - next to nobody is getting full precision out of all those DTS-HD MA 24-bit soundtracks.

[MerrickG]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

No plans

You can find the set on sale cheaply quite often. If you want them now, go for it, otherwise just wait for the SEs when Spidey 4 hits

I saw that Spiderman 3 had a budget of $250 million. How the HELL would anyone in their right mind allow a movie budget to be that big?


Is that why they are filming 4 and 5 back to back?

[Jeff Kleist]

It's more that it's cheaper. 30-40% cheaper overall because you lack starup costs. Also it's hard to get a lot of these actors free at the same time

[vetster7]

I work for a retail company that Rents Blu-Ray movies and PS3 games. Of course as most people know you don't take care of what's not yours resulting in scratched discs. We have a Venmill buffing machine that does wonders in taking out scratches. Dilemma, with my boss, can you resurface Blu-Ray or PS3 game discs without destroying the protective coating on the discs. I have been doing this for several months and have had no issues or complaints that a disc is not working after "buffing" the disc out. Although my Store manager seems to think that one buff will destroy the disc therefore causing a loss, I disagree. Also the solution that we use to "buff" the disc is for anti-static and does not add any sort of protective coating to the disc. Please I really need a professional opinion on what we should do. Thanks in advance for all your advice.

[DMC86X]

Hey guys any word on when se7en will be released on blu in the USA??

[Jeff Kleist]

Do not resurface Blu-rays, the data layer is much much closer to the surface of the disc than it is with DVDs, and it's a miracle you haven't wrecked one yet.

You are at the very least seriously compromising the coating and the data layer, and you may be introducing tiny holes that will lead to oxydation of the data layer (disc rot) that will take months to show up.

Anti static solution will do nothing on any kind of disc. I don't know what's in it, but any ammonia or alcohol based cleaner will strip the coating right off.

Nothing for Se7en, basically anything New Line is delayed until WB finds places to put them in.

[DMC86X]

Why would they release Se7en in Canada but not the USA??