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

[Esox50]

Originally Posted by Bill Hunt

I've said previously that the studios wanted to make a splash. Unfortunately, as is often the case here on the Net, it got blown out of proportion. And nothing makes 100% of people happy. However, from the perspective of the Universal, they did make a splash. So it's all relative. I could tell you all to be patient again, but you know...

Maybe I'm reading into it, but is the implication here that Paramount (i.e. numero uno "loser" studio) is going to "react" to the Universal announcements a la the Fox Blu-Ray PR last August when Paramount dopped Blu...

[SeanMF]

How come Blood Diamond isn't available on blu-ray on warner bros. and amazon? What happened there?

[HeavyHitter]

Originally Posted by Esox50

Sorry, but anyone expecting Jurassic Park as part of this initial announcment is out of his/her mind.

Exactly. I wonder if the OP was disappointed in Fox's return last fall because they didn't announce Star Wars.

[FFObsessed]

Mr Hunt, I am delighted with the news of Heroes Season 1 + 2 hitting Blu-ray later this year. Do you know if Universal plans on keeping their region free philosophy with their upcoming Blu-ray releases?

[broganreynik]

Originally Posted by Esox50

Sorry, but anyone expecting Jurassic Park as part of this initial announcment is out of his/her mind.

OK, forget I said those, they were just the first two Universal movies that came to mind that weren't expected.

[Chaka]

Originally Posted by seanfarley2

How come Blood Diamond isn't available on blu-ray on warner bros. and amazon? What happened there?

ughh it is still there.

Blood diamond blu-ray

[broganreynik]

Originally Posted by HeavyHitter

Exactly. I wonder if the OP was disappointed in Fox's return last fall because they didn't announce Star Wars.

I did not say I was EXPECTING JURASSIC PARK! I was merely using that as an example, albeit extreme, of unexpected titles. So everyone just get the hell off my back and stop crapping in my Cheerios just because you're pleased with what you were already expecting.

[Penton-Man]

^ ^ ^

Well, I’m not addressing you in particular but, since you brought this notion to the table, let me say that there is always several months from when the decision is made to do a new title and the street debut of that title.
Deciding upon….. and putting together the added value and/or interactivity is the real time-consuming piece of the puzzle for the high profile titles and that can delay the process even longer……..not to mention bean-counting considerations regarding the current user base.

It kinda amazes me that in regards to one essentially revolutionary [at least in terms of price-point] camera (the Red One) people on the forums and at the shows (NAB) are so willing and without reservation to accept the delays, weaknesses and outright missteps by one company trying to build a foundation for one camera……..whereas, when a large group of diverse studios and diverse consumer electronic companies try to do the same for a revolutionary format having a much higher degree of associated complexity and just coming out of a heated format war to boot…….some people have far less patience and understanding.

P.S.
Bill, please stick around for awhile as I’m just back from NAB and it will take me the rest of this week and all of next week just to catch back up with all my normal workload.

[Alan Gordon]

Originally Posted by WickyWoo

And unlike with HD DVD, it's actually possible to do those 50 titles, since there ARE HD DVDs that are quite nice, like Pitch Black that would do just fine being repurposed for Blu with the additiona of TrueHD or PCM. (Riddick on the other hand is a little iffier). I seriously doubt they'll re-encode 40 year old Virgin or Knocked up for example.

Sorry to derail the thread a little Bill, but while I held my tongue during the "space show" talk, I just have to ask WickyWoo what was wrong with "Riddick" (other than the movie) as I thought it looked AMAZING on HD DVD?

~Alan

[Blu Titan]

Thanks a lot for your efforts Bill. I am extremely happpy with the announcements. I am just a little surprised that Universal announced before Paramount. Anyways..lets enjoy this one.

[Eternal_Sunshine]

Bill,

do you think Universal will, over time, release all the titles on Blu-ray that have been released on HD DVD?

I'm asking because allthough I'm sure they will release their "bigger" titles, I'm especially interested in a number of smaller/arthouse titles that probably didn't sell very well on HD DVD and fear that Universal might think it's not worth the effort to release them on Blu-ray.

I'm talking about titles like Being John Malkovich, Lost In Translation, Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas, Friday Night Lights, In Good Company, Seabiscuit and also older titles like The Sting, Casablanca, Adventures Of Robin Hood, Sneakers, 12 Monkeys, Meet Joe Black.

[Chaka]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

^ ^ ^

Well, I’m not addressing you in particular but, since you brought this notion to the table, let me say that there is always several months from when the decision is made to do a new title and the street debut of that title.
Deciding upon….. and putting together the added value and/or interactivity is the real time-consuming piece of the puzzle for the high profile titles and that can delay the process even longer……..not to mention bean-counting considerations regarding the current user base.

It kinda amazes me that in regards to one essentially revolutionary [at least in terms of price-point] camera (the Red One) people on the forums and at the shows (NAB) are so willing and without reservation to accept the delays, weaknesses and outright missteps by one company trying to build a foundation for one camera……..whereas, when a large group of diverse studios and diverse consumer electronic companies try to do the same for a revolutionary format having a much higher degree of associated complexity and just coming out of a heated format war to boot…….some people have far less patience and understanding.

P.S.
Bill, please stick around for awhile as I’m just back from NAB and it will take me the rest of this week and all of next week just to catch back up with all my normal workload.

Am I the only one that has to read Penton's post at least twice to make sure I didn't miss anything?

[Esox50]

Originally Posted by Chaka

Am I the only one that has to read Penton's post at least twice to make sure I didn't miss anything?

I read it three times, don't get "it" (if there is anything to get).

But then again, I'm pretty patient as I understand how these companies work. Patience...everything is going to be all right.

[MerrickG]

I think Universal made a very pleasant splash. The only way everyone would be 100% satisfied is if Universal said they were going to release every title in their library tommorrow bluray optimized with AVC on a BD50 with lossless audio.

I do hope, that "more catalog releases planned" does include Serenity, Chuck, BSG, Hot Fuzz and the Bourne films. But I was quite happy with many of the films mentioned.


Universal making an announcement for bluray....its just still a shocker at this point. Not to mention Craig Kornblau making all those quotes of excitement.

[rbd3000]

Bill,

I am wondering if Paramount will feel pressure to announce something as soon as possible now that Universal has laid out their plans. I just don't see how they can sit and wait now that they are the only studio left to not announce anything. I mean even the Weinstiens told us when to expect their titles at least.

[Chaka]

Originally Posted by rbd3000

Bill,

I am wondering if Paramount will feel pressure to announce something as soon as possible now that Universal has laid out their plans. I just don't see how they can sit and wait now that they are the only studio left to not announce anything. I mean even the Weinstiens told us when to expect their titles at least.

rumors been that Spiderwick will be the first Paramount announcement by next week from various posters. I wonder how much truth to that there is.

[rbd3000]

Originally Posted by Chaka

rumors been that Spiderwick will be the first Paramount announcement by next week from various posters. I wonder how much truth to that there is.

I heard that as well, which would put them about a month ahead of Universal's Mummy releases. I just hope that the pressure is on them to announce their plans for the rest of the year. I am at the point now where I don't care when they start releasing their movies, I just want to know their plans.

[WickyWoo]

, I just have to ask WickyWoo what was wrong with "Riddick" (other than the movie) as I thought it looked AMAZING on HD DVD?

Too much DVNR mostly. Theatrically the whole film had this pleasant texture that's been hit with a couple rounds of digital sandpaper and blurred it out, particuarly during the frequent, incredibly busy action scenes. Check out for example, where he swings on the rope to save jack from the sunlight. It's obvious that it's one continuous shot intercut with the other footage. Watch the quality drop on the part of the shot cut to when he actually swings.

It looks nice, but it certainly could look nicer. This was probably hampered by the length of the film. Pitch Black on the other hand has no substantive extras to stuff on there, for the most part is a much easier film to compress (high action comes in spurts and not much for the first hour, over half of the film takes place in bright light) as well as being a solid 20 minutes shorter and not having a few extra audio tracks to deal with probably had something to do with it.

I'm positive, based on the several theatrical screenings I saw in a good theater that with a Blu-level encode (and of course lossless) that Riddick could get back that last 10% and become an uber reference title

They'd also do well to replicate the extras on the excellent Best Buy bonus disc. It's sad when it's obvious with that and Tenacious D that these discs were obviously meant to be disc 2 of the SE, and were left off when the film didn't do so well.

[owa]

Originally Posted by Blu Titan

Thanks a lot for your efforts Bill. I am extremely happpy with the announcements. I am just a little surprised that Universal announced before Paramount. Anyways..lets enjoy this one.

I agree, this is a moment to be enjoyed. It's great to hear from Universal and I'm very pleased with their annoucement.


Bill, thanks for taking the time to answer questions and keep us informed, both here and at The Digital Bits.

[Alan Gordon]

Originally Posted by WickyWoo

Too much DVNR mostly. Theatrically the whole film had this pleasant texture that's been hit with a couple rounds of digital sandpaper and blurred it out, particuarly during the frequent, incredibly busy action scenes. Check out for example, where he swings on the rope to save jack from the sunlight. It's obvious that it's one continuous shot intercut with the other footage. Watch the quality drop on the part of the shot cut to when he actually swings.

It looks nice, but it certainly could look nicer. This was probably hampered by the length of the film. Pitch Black on the other hand has no substantive extras to stuff on there, for the most part is a much easier film to compress (high action comes in spurts and not much for the first hour, over half of the film takes place in bright light) as well as being a solid 20 minutes shorter and not having a few extra audio tracks to deal with probably had something to do with it.

I'm positive, based on the several theatrical screenings I saw in a good theater that with a Blu-level encode (and of course lossless) that Riddick could get back that last 10% and become an uber reference title

They'd also do well to replicate the extras on the excellent Best Buy bonus disc. It's sad when it's obvious with that and Tenacious D that these discs were obviously meant to be disc 2 of the SE, and were left off when the film didn't do so well.

I don't have my HD DVD collection anymore as I sold it months ago (probably would have gotten more for it had my auction not run out the weekend of WB's announcement), so I can't check the disk, and as I didn't see the film in theaters, I just assumed the film looked like that... and I was amazed at the "window" effect (and yes I'm aware that films should like films... but I just thought it was intentional).

Getting back on topic though, I have a question for Bill:

Bill, I'm not usually a big fan of special features (other than trailers, music videos, gag reels and documentaries that are actual documentaries instead of fluff), and I'm less of a fan of "interactive" features, but I thought Universal actually put a lot of thought into the "interactive" features of Season One of "Heroes" and really came up with some fairly cool little things (that I failed to really get into before I sold my HD DVD set), and was wondering if you thought that Universal has gotten "up to snuff" enough yet to author the "interactive" features in BD-Java or will they simply leave out these features?

I thought (other than the fact that I prefer TV-on-BD set packaging ala "Smallville" or better yet "Lost" which gives consumers a choice in their packaging) that Universal did a nice little TV-on-HD DVD set for "Heroes" and I'd hate to see BD owners get shorted...

~Alan