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

[thebluemax]

Bill:

If you are able to answer, what is going on with Paramount? Still under contractual agreement with Toshiba over $$$$? If so, have any idea when it will be resolved and on with Blu-Ray

[Bizdady]

Bill Great job!! You single handedly killed HD DVD lol goto

[micks_address]

looks like Paramount are on board now

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/...969933f25fc601


be great to see some release schedules now from all sides

[Elder]

I find this part of the quote interesting:

"As we look to (begin) releasing our titles on Blu-ray, we will monitor consumer adoption and determine our release plans accordingly."

Any ideas exactly what that means? They should have all their titles ready for Blu-ray by the summer or shortly thereafter, but that quote sounds like they still have a lot of stuff going on in the background.

Anyways, I'm very glad that Paramount is back onboard.

[aygie]

Originally Posted by Elder

I find this part of the quote interesting:

"As we look to (begin) releasing our titles on Blu-ray, we will monitor consumer adoption and determine our release plans accordingly."

Any ideas exactly what that means? They should have all their titles ready for Blu-ray by the summer or shortly thereafter, but that quote sounds like they still have a lot of stuff going on in the background.

Anyways, I'm very glad that Paramount is back onboard.

Their gonna wait for mass adoption to release the big titles. Thats what i think. No Transformers just yet.

[plee]

Originally Posted by Elder

I find this part of the quote interesting:

"As we look to (begin) releasing our titles on Blu-ray, we will monitor consumer adoption and determine our release plans accordingly."

Any ideas exactly what that means? They should have all their titles ready for Blu-ray by the summer or shortly thereafter, but that quote sounds like they still have a lot of stuff going on in the background.

Anyways, I'm very glad that Paramount is back onboard.

I think they got jittery with the poor sales of DUD (what were they expecting ) so they will be more cautious about releases. So I think catalog titles (aka. tos startrek hd since they were not paying for it) may be last on the list and only big/mega/current blockbuster type titles are more likely to happen.

[ezcobar411]

Originally Posted by Aygie

Their gonna wait for mass adoption to release the big titles. Thats what i think. No Transformers just yet.

That is unfair. We deserve Transformers

[makaveli21]

Originally Posted by Aygie

Their gonna wait for mass adoption to release the big titles. Thats what i think. No Transformers just yet.

that kind of seems like a vicious circle to me. They want mass adoption before they release big titles, but they need the big titles released to get mass adoption.

[WickyWoo]

Guys, it's just typical circular marketing BS meaning "We're not ready to go into specifics yet"

[OokieSpookie]

Originally Posted by WickyWoo

Guys, it's just typical circular marketing BS meaning "We're not ready to go into specifics yet"

I think that this needs to be highlighted again to get past the boo hoo woe is me crap.

[blitz6speed]

Dear bill,

I just saw the specs for Appleseed Blu-Ray from warner. It says it is not going to have the original Japanese Audio and will only be in 640 DD 5.1. Could you clarify (i.e. Confirm) that this is true? And if it is, could you please kick someone at warner in the nuts by telling him it is a travesty beyond measure to not include the original japanese language with Subs at the BARE minimmum,let alone the need for Lossless audio? Thanks good sir.

p.s. - Everyone i know who was planning on buying this title dropped their pre-orders already. It is a HUGE deal and will impact how the fans/customers will see warner with this type of shoddy release.

[DaViD Boulet]

Agreed.

If Warner can't provide lossless for the original language track *and* the english dub track tell them to shelve that title until they get their act together. I'm sick of Warner BDs on my shelf that got stuck with lossy sound. I'm made as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!

[Living Near Shamu]

Originally Posted by DaViD Boulet

Agreed.

If Warner can't provide lossless for the original language track *and* the english dub track tell them to shelve that title until they get their act together. I'm sick of Warner BDs on my shelf that got stuck with lossy sound. I'm made as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!

Tell me about it. I have a copy of Gods and Generals with only Dolby Digital 5.1 on it

[Robert Siegel]

Originally Posted by DaViD Boulet

Agreed.

If Warner can't provide lossless for the original language track *and* the english dub track tell them to shelve that title until they get their act together. I'm sick of Warner BDs on my shelf that got stuck with lossy sound. I'm made as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!

I agree with you. I am not buying a single thing from them with compressed sound unless it is a must have (and I mean something I really want bad). They have the space for it and 3 formats to choose from, Dolby True, DTS MA and PCM. There is absolutely no reason for this.

Now Bill talked to them and they did say they were going to do something about that, but with new announcements like this, assuming they are starting work on it, and it still contains lossy, are they really going to change? Why did the hd-dvd versions of Ant Bully, Happy Feet and Superman Returns have Dolby True and the blu-rays didn't and they have more space? The biggest question is why are they continuing this.

[DaViD Boulet]

I thought I would post this and get your thoughts Bill. Appearently Toshiba refuses to give refunds to Hd Dvd player owners.

Of course not. Why would they? Format wars have risks and consumers need to be wary. It's one reason many consumers stayed away from both formats until a clear winner emerged.

[Kage99]

Originally Posted by mntwister

I agree with you. I am not buying a single thing from them with compressed sound unless it is a must have (and I mean something I really want bad). They have the space for it and 3 formats to choose from, Dolby True, DTS MA and PCM. There is absolutely no reason for this.

Now Bill talked to them and they did say they were going to do something about that, but with new announcements like this, assuming they are starting work on it, and it still contains lossy, are they really going to change? Why did the hd-dvd versions of Ant Bully, Happy Feet and Superman Returns have Dolby True and the blu-rays didn't and they have more space? The biggest question is why are they continuing this.

I think those HD-DVD titles had TrueHD because there was the understanding that not all BD players would be able to decode TrueHD (at that time, anyway). And WB was not keen on PCM audio at that time (until the Departed).

Things have obviously changed since then, and I hope we move in the right direction.

Kage99.

[Icemage]

Originally Posted by blitz6speed

Dear bill,

I just saw the specs for Appleseed Blu-Ray from warner. It says it is not going to have the original Japanese Audio and will only be in 640 DD 5.1. Could you clarify (i.e. Confirm) that this is true? And if it is, could you please kick someone at warner in the nuts by telling him it is a travesty beyond measure to not include the original japanese language with Subs at the BARE minimmum,let alone the need for Lossless audio? Thanks good sir.

p.s. - Everyone i know who was planning on buying this title dropped their pre-orders already. It is a HUGE deal and will impact how the fans/customers will see warner with this type of shoddy release.

+1

I am horrified that any movie would ship without its original audio track. This was one of my most anticipated niche titles, and having it hamstrung in this fashion just is not acceptable.

[jason_grumpy]

Originally Posted by Icemage

+1

I am horrified that any movie would ship without its original audio track. This was one of my most anticipated niche titles, and having it hamstrung in this fashion just is not acceptable.

I concur with this thought. My future wife is quite an Anime buff (I don't get it, but that's just me), and REFUSES to buy anything without the original Japanese sound track. That's the first thing she looks for on the package. She hates English dubs on all Japan originated Anime. Anime buffs can be just as fanatical about this as we are about lossless audio. Please pass on the word that this is definitely unacceptable not including Japanese tracks and lossless to boot as space is certainly not the issue.

[OokieSpookie]

Originally Posted by Icemage

+1

I am horrified that any movie would ship without its original audio track. This was one of my most anticipated niche titles, and having it hamstrung in this fashion just is not acceptable.

/Agree

[MarekM]

Originally Posted by DaViD Boulet

Agreed.

If Warner can't provide lossless for the original language track *and* the english dub track tell them to shelve that title until they get their act together. I'm sick of Warner BDs on my shelf that got stuck with lossy sound. I'm made as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!

+100000000

Marek