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

[Raphdude]

Originally Posted by WickyWoo

Toshiba was counting on Warner and Paramount to go at the same time

I agree. I think that's exactly what they were hoping for.

[Spankey]

Downloads are good for one thing. Rentals. Rentals for people that don't care about quality. Then again, they have On-Demand now. There is no reason to go to a downloadable business model. It will not have the demand as physical media when it comes to movies.

[Rob Tomlin]

..

[Blu Titan]

Originally Posted by Spankey

Downloads are good for one thing. Rentals. Rentals for people that don't care about quality. Then again, they have On-Demand now. There is no reason to go to a downloadable business model. It will not have the demand as physical media when it comes to movies.

Your comments sums up the entire download dilemma in 3 lines. Excellent point...That is exactly what I have been thinking all along.

[MerrickG]

Originally Posted by WickyWoo

Toshiba was counting on Warner and Paramount to go at the same time

This is true. Nickerson went behind the company executives and was trying to make an exclusive deal with Toshiba but people such as Jeff Bewkes and Barry Meyer caught wind of the deal and Nickerson got fired. Although he was allowed to "resign" to save face.

Regardless of what you say about Warner and their lack of good bluray releases, you have to appreciate that there were those in the company who werent short sighted like those in Paramount were.

[ottscay]

Originally Posted by Raphdude

I agree. I think that's exactly what they were hoping for.

I don't think they were "hoping" for anything, from what's been reported I think they were negotiating pretty heavily with both studios (well, some people in both studios) to announce concurrent switches to HD DVD, they just failed to convince Warner. Hence the rapid announcement by Warner that they werew staying neutral, the rumors that they had been offered an insane amount of money to go HD DVD exclusive, and the subsequent stepping down of pro HD DVD executives. It even explains the insider report that "other studios" called Paramount to tell them it was a bad choice (which I've always assumed was Warner, since the stance of Disney, Fox, Lionsgate, and Sony would not have required personal clarification).

The large(er) sum paid to DW Animation was to make it complete; indeed, since the point was to end the format war Paramount may even have made signing DWA a requirement in the deal.

[mystiksuicide]

Hey Bill,

Sorry if this has been asked already but when can we expect to see Universal / Paramount come out with titles and release dates?

I know some Paramount catalogue titles are hitting the shelves again but I have yet to hear them come out and say anything. Are they just selling surplus or have they actually started pressing again. Shooter for example hasn't shown up yet so it seems they are just selling surplus.

[JamesN]

Bill,
Any idea when Criterion might be coming into the fold? They have long stated that they have been doing all their latest mastering in HD and were just waiting for the format war to be settled.

Thanks!

[dialog_gvf]

Originally Posted by Maxpower1987

I think the latest play by Katzenberg is to try and squeeze as much as they can out of Toshiba by going 'public' with their payoff, and to put Toshiba into a bad light as possible if they look like reneging on commitments.

That last part is my personal speculation, but bear in mind that this is what I get paid to do for my company and so far I have got a pretty good record...

To me it reads like Katzenberg is saying "we expect you to deliver your side of the agreement". They will stay HD DVD exclusive and release, since that was the agreement.

Not releasing on Blu-ray never seemed to be an issue for them when they were releasing nothing.

Katzenberg was very HDM negative leading up to the deal. For him, getting $100 mil of movie funding for an occasional HD DVD release, is a big win for them. And he wants (and needs) that money.

Gary

[DaViD Boulet]

Bill,
Any idea when Criterion might be coming into the fold? They have long stated that they have been doing all their latest mastering in HD and were just waiting for the format war to be settled.

Thanks!

They better get some new 1080p LCD/projection displays to evaluate those HD transfers/masters when they do. Their DVDs are generally filtered and have too much EE when viewed on a projection system. I'll bet Criterion is still monitoring on direct-view CRT.

[fronn]

Originally Posted by DaViD Boulet

They better get some new 1080p LCD/projection displays to evaluate those HD transfers/masters when they do. Their DVDs are generally filtered and have too much EE when viewed on a projection system. I'll bet Criterion is still monitoring on direct-view CRT.

You don't need a projection system to see all the EE in Criterion movies. It's offensive even on relatively modest sized LCDs (I've watched them on smaller HD sets -- my girlfriends 26" -- and found the EE to be just as ridiculous as on larger TVs).

It's kind of frustrating... they do some of the best packaging and extras and usually have the best transfer around, but then they'll use enough EE to make you think you're seeing doubles. Hopefully on BR they'll feel they won't need to use EE (at least not as much, if they do fancy it for some reason).

[WickyWoo]

The question is whether that EE is on the tape, or a result of compression

[Jason One]

Originally Posted by DaViD Boulet

They better get some new 1080p LCD/projection displays to evaluate those HD transfers/masters when they do. Their DVDs are generally filtered and have too much EE when viewed on a projection system. I'll bet Criterion is still monitoring on direct-view CRT.

Don't knock direct-view CRTs. Criterion's EE is clearly visible on my Sony KD-34XBR960.

[WickyWoo]

I think the real problem has simply been size. Most reference monitors are about 19" or so, certainly no bigger than 27.

[DaViD Boulet]

HD masters and encodes for HDM should be viewed at no farther than 1.5 screen-widths to ensure proper transparency.

If the video monitor does not allow for artifact-free-viewing from that angle (ala revealing shadow-mask or pixel-structure or other problems that interfere with the ability to discern image quality) then it's not up to par.

[Clark Kent]

Amir has said that his HD compressionists with Microsoft would look for artifacts on 50" displays(I believe LCDs like the Bravia but this is hazy) at 1 to 2 feet away.

[Deciazulado]

I'd watch 1.85 movies at about 4 feet from a 16:9 50" and at 3 feet for letterboxed Scope ones if I were me

Most people being raised with DVDs and VHS sit at 6 to 9... :<

[Anthony P]

I think the latest play by Katzenberg is to try and squeeze as much as they can out of Toshiba by going 'public' with their payoff, and to put Toshiba into a bad light as possible if they look like reneging on commitments.

agree.that ius what I think as well.

[Anthony P]

Originally Posted by Raphdude

I frankly don't think that Toshiba got their money's worth from the Paramount/Dreamworks deal.

don't know, I don't think it was Paramount/Dreamworks "fault" I think it was more of too little too late

Originally Posted by Geoff Gibson

But I wonder if the whole point of the Paramount deal was to simply add an exclusive to Universal.

agree, I think with all the positive BD news that summer Toshiba realized the war could be over in 2007 and thought/hoped that the announcement (two studios going HD DVD only) might be enough to brake BDs momentum and turn this into a long drawn out war (by scaring BD supporters into buying HD DVD players) but I think most realized it was a desperate move and did not get conned into adding an HD DVD player for all those movies they would not be able to watch because the war will go on for a long time.

[Jason One]

Bill: Have you heard of the DTS-HD MA problem with the Die Hard 2 BD?

People at AVS (here's the thread) discovered that its DTS-HD MA track is defective, and the best anyone can get out of it is the standard DTS core. Fox is giving everyone the runaround by e-mail, suggesting it's a player problem when it clearly isn't.

Could you bring this issue to the attention of your contacts at Fox?