Ask questions to Sony Pictures Entertainment insider "paidgeek"

[WriteSimply]

Originally Posted by RickD

I am going to assume that your second comment was not directed at me since I never once asked paidgeek about Sony Consumer Electronics or Sony Computer Entertainment products.

No, it wasn't directed at you. It was just to correct Slec in his post here.

Originally Posted by Slec

You realize Paidgeek works for Sony Pictures... you know as stated in the tread title..... not SCEA (who makes the PS3 and BD Players).

SCEA is Sony Computer Electronics America, which distributes Playstations. EDIT: SCEA is Sony Computer Entertainment America.

Originally Posted by paidgeek

Of course it is possible to do a special 7.1 mix for Blu-ray (maybe this is what the studios you mentioned are doing?), but if we do so, I think we also have an obligation to include the original theatrical 5.1 don't you? So then we have used 2x the audio bandwidth to include a specially prepared 7.1 right?

Does neither Dolby nor DTS has a solution for backwards compatibility with their TrueHD and HDMA for 7.1 soundtracks? I know both DD EX and DTS ES Discrete are backwards compatible with 5.1. Just wanna know. Thanks paidgeek and congratulations for your team and the BDA for the wins this week!


fuad

[Jason One]

Originally Posted by paidgeek

Do you have a link to that earlier poll?

I can't speak about "The Life Of Brian" or "20 Million Miles to Earth", but CE3K and Dracula both are original 6 track mixes.

paid, count me as someone who is very disappointed when a BD of an older film doesn't include the original soundtrack.

Case in point: The Terminator. The special edition DVD included the original mono track, but it was dropped from the BD. Many people feel that the remixed 5.1 track has inferior sound effects to the original mono track, so the loss of the mono track is a real shame.

With BD's high capacity, it should be trivial to always include the original version of the audio. Even a DD track would do (640 kbps, please).

Thanks for listening, and like everyone else is saying, congratulations on all the retail victories this week!

[Cplhicks]

Paidgeek, I just finally got around to watching Close Encounters, and I wanted to say you guys did a bang up job. I personally thought it looked great, and I really liked that little pop up feature that showed differences in the edit. (I watched the Director's cut) It's too bad it didn't also mention differences with the Special Edition, but that's just being nitpicky. I also dug the special features, esp. the new interview with Spielberg. Great job, and I hope the sales will one day prove it was worth it to do it. Looking forward to more like that in the future too. (With Japanese subtitles, please!)

[DaViD Boulet]

With BD's high capacity, it should be trivial to always include the original version of the audio. Even a DD track would do (640 kbps, please).

Oh not it wouldn't! That original soundtrack MUST be presented in lossless. 1.0 PCM or 1.0 TrueHD would be fine for a mono track, but it must be lossless. No musically-flattened lossy DD for me.

[Teazle]

Paid,

With profile 2.0 coming up, would it be possible to leverage internet connectivity for delivery of the “special features”, trailers and so on, so they could be streamed instead of taking up precious disc space? Where applicable, the space saved could be used e.g. to upgrade the 16/48 primary audio track to 24/48 or 24/96.

Even where disc space isn’t an issue, some consumers positively do not want the clutter of special features; this way they wouldn’t be forced on anyone and would be purely optional.

I know there’s some expense involved in digital distribution of the extra content via BD-Live. But there’d be cost savings wherever the special features would have occupied a second disc. And the expense might be recouped using targeted advertising. For example the viewer of the BD-Live extras on a 2.0 edition of Hairspray might be obliged to watch a 30-second spot for some brand of hairspray. Such would be a worthy sacrifice at the altar of PQ and SQ.

Would SPHE consider this for a single release on a trial basis to see what consumer reaction would be?

Thanks for your invaluable and much-appreciated contributions to this forum!

[DaViD Boulet]

With profile 2.0 coming up, would it be possible to leverage internet connectivity for delivery of the “special features”, trailers and so on, so they could be streamed instead of taking up precious disc space? Where applicable, the space saved could be used e.g. to upgrade the 16/48 primary audio track to 24/48.

Even Disney's Chicago had a 24-bit PCM 5.1 primary soundtrack *and* a stereo 2.0 24-bit PCM Spanish track. And it had a ton of (SD) special features and the video bit-rate was pegged in the high 30's the whole movie.

With TrueHD or DTS-HD MA more efficient packing of lossless data would be attained. I think for most features there's no problem with space on the BD50... it's not like DVD which really had a push-pull between high-quality AV and bonus material.

[TheRealBob]

I know this thread is not for discussion, and I apologize for introducing it here, but I have to comment on this:

Originally Posted by Teazle

Even where disc space isn’t an issue, some consumers positively do not want the clutter of special features; this way they wouldn’t be forced on anyone and would be purely optional.

Count me out of this notion. I want everything on the disc or discs. I don't want some horrible physical-media / download hybrid format. If something is on the disc, I want to click on it and see it NOW. I don't want to see "connecting" or "downloading...17%" or anything like that.

I have never understood the big push for Internet connectivity. It's great for firmware upgrades and stuff like that, but what can it add to movies?

If there is some content that came into existence after the BD was created, then I guess it's nice to be able to access it. And if they can add additional subtitles or make corrections or things like that, then that's fine. But I don't see the point in putting content online if it was available at the time the discs were made.

All of this is of course contingent on there being sufficient space to encode the movie properly. That comes first. But after that, give me the extras on disc, please.

[Deciazulado]

Originally Posted by paidgeek

Do you have a link to that earlier poll?

I can't speak about "The Life Of Brian" or "20 Million Miles to Earth", but CE3K and Dracula both are original 6 track mixes.

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=21632

[JasonR]

Hey Paid,

I just saw Lawrence of Arabia on HDNet, it was great. Awesome job!!! Can't wait to see it on Blu!!!

[paidgeek]

Originally Posted by Dofflan

Paidgeek,

Sony Pictures in Sweden recently began issuing their blu-ray discs with a sticker on them (Blu-Ray Disc - High Definition Movie PLays on BD Players and PS3...). Unfortunaly the sticker is placed inside the wrapping plastic which makes it very hard to remove, to make things worse the sticker is in many cases placed on top of the movie title on the case.
Anyways, I've been trying to find an email-adress to send a kind suggestion to place them somewhere else or remove them entirly (perhaps place them outside the wrapping plastic so they give the information but arn't in the way once you unwrapp it)...any chance you know how to make an email find its way to them?

Btw watched both Across the Universe and 30 Days of Night yesterday, extremely nice looking titles!

Thank you for your input here.

I will forward your comments to someone who can address this...

[Member-9711]

Originally Posted by paidgeek

I will forward your comments to someone who can address this...

Thank you very much!

[bluseminole]

paidgeek,

I would like to echo the sentiment that a 7.1 lossless mix would be a very desirable feature. I typically limit myself to two blus a week, and if a 7.1 title is released, it is automatically on the purchase list. 3:10 to Yuma and War are, sonically speaking, my favorite movies, despite all of the other great mixes out there. 7.1 is just more enveloping.

I for one would gladly sacrifice special features for the inclusion of lossless 7.1, either PCM or THD.

[GJN]

Twenty Million Miles to Earth was a terrific disc. Please pass the word that some of us would really love to have the other remastered Harryhausen films on BD. Thanks agai!

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by GJN

Twenty Million Miles to Earth was a terrific disc. Please pass the word that some of us would really love to have the other remastered Harryhausen films on BD. Thanks agai!

I don’t follow this thread.
And actually the only reason why I dropped in is because I think the geek may be traveling all next week.

May I ask how you know that other Harryhausen films have been “remastered”?
Do you have a link from some other site on the internet or has the geek mentioned it previously somewhere in the past 22 pages ?

[sonn]

Dear Paidgeek:

Whatever happened to The Beyonce Live Experience? First, the release was delayed, now the release' been postponed to 'don't know when. I'm disappointed because my sister in Chicago pre-ordered one for me at amazon.com and I'm looking forward to receiving it next month. Can you tell something about this?

[MOONPHASE]

Dear Paidgeek,

Any updates on Final Fantasy VII Advent Children on Blu-Ray?

[hanser]

a small reminder for the poll about what features we would like to have implemented on Sony BDs (https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=35807) The poll will close on 2 21 2008.

[MarekM]

Originally Posted by MOONPHASE

Dear Paidgeek,

Any updates on Final Fantasy VII Advent Children on Blu-Ray?

+1

Marek

[Paradiso]

Originally Posted by sonn

Dear Paidgeek:

Whatever happened to The Beyonce Live Experience? First, the release was delayed, now the release' been postponed to 'don't know when. I'm disappointed because my sister in Chicago pre-ordered one for me at amazon.com and I'm looking forward to receiving it next month. Can you tell something about this?

If you get it, let us know if you can see the hair extensions or the rippling at her temples from the wigs...sorry couldn't resist.

[p1rates]

Originally Posted by sonn

Dear Paidgeek:

Whatever happened to The Beyonce Live Experience? First, the release was delayed, now the release' been postponed to 'don't know when. I'm disappointed because my sister in Chicago pre-ordered one for me at amazon.com and I'm looking forward to receiving it next month. Can you tell something about this?

+1 I'd like to know as well. I preordered it too. It's still on my order tracking page but I can't find it on amazon anymore. Are they adding special features to it? That would be pretty sweet. It says they're sending it to me March 3rd but I'm sure that's not true at all.

Originally Posted by Paradiso

If you get it, let us know if you can see the hair extensions or the rippling at her temples from the wigs...sorry couldn't resist.

-1
That was very childish. You should stop critiquing others and be content with yourself. I'm sure if you were happy with your appearance, you wouldn't have felt the need to degrade others. Please keep these forums classy and mature. Thank you.