Ask questions to Sony Pictures Entertainment insider "paidgeek"

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by EricJ

Don't know whether it's been asked earlier, since it's more of a BDA question in general. but:
Will dedicated-Blu studios like Sony and Disney continue to use AVC MPEG4 coding without Toshiba, or is there any hint that the BDA members might want to retire Toshiba off peacefully by negotiating a treaty for the patent?
(Oh, we do not "prefer the more abundant VC-1 coding", Warner, and quit making up lame bluffs to save money! )

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Originally Posted by paidgeek

Sorry, but I am not picking up on the connection here.

To clarify (and may have been answered, if vaguely, already)--
I'm going on the layman's "outsider" impressions that:

A) Toshiba wants to lick their format-war wounds by retaining some patents to their own technology that they can still make future income off of,
B) Toshiba still owns rights to the AVC MPEG-4 codec,
C) Blu customers prefer AVC coding, but
D) Some studios may try to detour around Toshiba's prices in the future, by (like Warner) pretending that VC-1 coding, or any new developments thereof, is the greatest thing to happen to Blu-ray since sliced bread.

Apart from already-stated PR about "offering customers the best", just what is the future of AVC as far as Sony and/or BDA is concerned?
It's worth the expense, but will studios still bother to use it?

[Lord_Phan]

Originally Posted by EricJ

---


To clarify (and may have been answered, if vaguely, already)--
I'm going on the layman's "outsider" impressions that:

A) Toshiba wants to lick their format-war wounds by retaining some patents to their own technology that they can still make future income off of,
B) Toshiba still owns rights to the AVC MPEG-4 codec,
C) Blu customers prefer AVC coding, but
D) Some studios may try to detour around Toshiba's prices in the future, by (like Warner) pretending that VC-1 coding, or any new developments thereof, is the greatest thing to happen to Blu-ray since sliced bread.

Apart from already-stated PR about "offering customers the best", just what is the future of AVC as far as Sony and/or BDA is concerned?
It's worth the expense, but will studios still bother to use it?

Toshiba dosn't own AVC Mpeg-4 but they are on the patents list.

Taken from MPEG website:


MPEG LA's AVC Patent Portfolio License currently includes patents owned by DAEWOO Electronics Corporation; Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute; France Télécom, société anonyme*; Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Foerderung der angewandten Forschung e.V.; Fujitsu Limited; Hitachi, Ltd.; Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V.; LG Electronics Inc.; Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.; Microsoft Corporation; Mitsubishi Electric Corporation; NTT DoCoMo, Inc.; Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation; Robert Bosch GmbH**; Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.; Scientific-Atlanta Vancouver Company; Sedna Patent Services, LLC; Sharp Corporation; Siemens AG; Sony Corporation; The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York; Toshiba Corporation; and Victor Company of Japan, Ltd. MPEG LA's goal is to provide worldwide access to as much AVC essential intellectual property as possible; new Licensors and essential patents may be added at no additional royalty during the current term.

*Up to and through date of last patent expiration (May 31, 2007)
**Up to and through date of last patent expiration (December 11, 2007)

[Cruyff14]

Originally Posted by paidgeek

Don't plan on putting away your wallet forever. Most of the catalog titles released on DVD will eventually be released on Blu-ray. Our balance of catalog to new releases is currently something like 50%.

If I could I would let my wallet speak but I'm specifically interested in pre-1980 titles and Sony has released only 3 of those on BD which I all own.

What I'm particularly frustated with is that Sony recently released nice SD special editions of titles like Taxi Driver, Midnight Express and Guess Who's Coming To Dinner (all re-mastered in HD) but they were not released day-and-date on BD. I don't expect obscure classic titles to get a release on BD but these are A list titles and I think you're actually losing a lot of possible HD converts with this policy. If we don't even get these on BD then I don't see why anybody who is interested in classic cinema should buy into HD at this point.
To be fair, Sony is not the only studio that does this. With the exception of Warner all other studios mostly ignore classic movie lovers.

[Papi4baby]

Hey Paidgeek, a sugestion to the side of Sony who handles the animation, if they are going to look into the subs, i sugest them to study fansubs those guys(for free) do a terrific job with subtitles and the timings is ussually great depending on the group.

[WickyWoo]

Hey Paidgeek, a sugestion to the side of Sony who handles the animation, if they are going to look into the subs, i sugest them to study fansubs those guys(for free) do a terrific job with subtitles and the timings is ussually great depending on the group.

I seriously doubt Sony is going to involve themselves with video pirates

AnimEigo has long been acknowleged as having probably the most comprehensive subtitling system out there, and more importantly more practical for commercial implementation on disc.

http://www.animeigo.com

Paid, check your PMs, I sent you the contact information for a guy with about 20 years experience who can probably really help you make the case, and improve Sony's product for everyone.

[cjamescook]

Originally Posted by paidgeek

Don't plan on putting away your wallet forever. Most of the catalog titles released on DVD will eventually be released on Blu-ray. Our balance of catalog to new releases is currently something like 50%.

Hey, that's kinda neat (as in promising) at what still feels early like early in the game. Now, if all the back-catalog titles (even the old B&W titles) receive the same loving restoration efforts as the current releases, this will be wonderful!

[Frode]

Originally Posted by WickyWoo

AnimEigo has long been acknowleged as having probably the most comprehensive subtitling system out there, and more importantly more practical for commercial implementation on disc.

I would hardly call AnimEigo's subtitles a shining example of how to do things, and I'm sure Sony has just as advanced authoring and subtitling packages (if not more). At any rate, that's not the issue here - it's a simple work flow one and has to do with how the subtitle script is written/used.

[Uxi]

Animeigo did a great Job with the SDF: Macross series. That's the example for Anime subs on the original Japanese language. It's certainly on par with the best of the fansubbers.

The biggest problem is getting native Japanese who will understand the nuances, yet are fluent in English. Too often, even professional stuff is just a higher budget execution of what the bootleggers do (Some Chinese guy who doesn't fluently speak English or Japanese, is doing a babelfish/google style transliteration that is losing the subtelties of the material, if not outright butchering it to interpretation).

[Azumi]

Originally Posted by paidgeek

As a rule, French, Italian, German, and Spanish should be available in THD. If there is a disc space problem, we may add another version to cover this. We might make an exception if the title won't benefit from THD, for instance older TV product or something like that.

Thank you very much. If I may ask a couple of precisions:

- what happens to PCM? Will it be phased out, or will you try to keep one PCM track (if the disc space permits it)?

- will you keep doing specific SKUs for the German and British markets (when censorhip issues demand it), meaning that the main feature for the rest of Europe will be uncut?

Thanks,

[Frode]

There's several things that can be said (and has been said) about the subs on Macross and anime in general. I also don't think this thread is the right place for such a discussion, including the other things you mention. Take it to a separate thread and send me a PM about it, and we can go into it in more depth.

[WickyWoo]

I would hardly call AnimEigo's subtitles a shining example of how to do things, and I'm sure Sony has just as advanced authoring and subtitling packages (if not more). At any rate, that's not the issue here - it's a simple work flow one and has to do with how the subtitle script is written/used.

Actually they don't, at least for DVD AnimEigo has a custom package for generating subs because of the 4 subtitle color limitation that uses blending and dithering to acheive more colors. I've never seen that feature on any commerical package or in an authoring house.

[fitprod]

Originally Posted by WickyWoo

Actually they don't, at least for DVD AnimEigo has a custom package for generating subs because of the 4 subtitle color limitation that uses blending and dithering to acheive more colors. I've never seen that feature on any commerical package or in an authoring house.

AnimEigo and everyone else should have a much easier time with subtitles on Blu-ray. They have a wider range of colors, I believe 256.

That's how the PIP on War was done.

fitprod

[bugmenot]

Hey geek, any word on Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon? I believe it was announced for release a while back, but the date has been since postponed. It's a Sony title I believe.

[saprano]

Paidgeek i just heard the news that the ps3 is getting BD-live this summer.is that it?, what about DTS-HD MA? seeing how the panasonic BD-50 has that to, and they want to wait for a standalone to have it first,i thought they would give the ps3 those updates at the same time.

[Kilian]

Paidgeek, on the subject of subtitles on foreign films, may I reiterate my concerns raised before in the previous insider's thread (not sure if you saw that).

Chinese language films on BD don't have Chinese subtitles but they are needed simply because Mandarin speaking people don't usually understand Cantonese (as in Kung Fu Hustle) and conversely Cantonese speakers don't usually understand Mandarin (as in House of Flying Daggers).

It is unsatisfactory for them to watch the English subtitles. Can I ask Sony Pictures to put in Chinese subtitles in future releases, preferably both Traditional and Simplified Chinese (incorrectly referred to as Cantonese and Mandarin subtitles in some BDs). These shouldn't take up much space and would of course help the hard of hearing too. Thanks.

[ckenisell]

Originally Posted by saprano

Paidgeek i just heard the news that the ps3 is getting BD-live this summer.is that it?, what about DTS-HD MA? seeing how the panasonic BD-50 has that to, and they want to wait for a standalone to have it first,i thought they would give the ps3 those updates at the same time.

Saprano,

With Sony announcing the BDP-S350 and the BDP-S550 for Summer and Fall, with price points at $400 and $500 respectively, why in the world would they allow the PS3 to decode DTS-HD MA at its price point? The PS3 needs to be crippled in some way in order to sell these newer players at higher price points. Who would buy a standalone if their PS3 did everything they need it to do?

Also, with Sony and anybody employed by Sony being so tight-lipped about this topic, I don't think that it's very likely that we'll be seeing DTS-HD MA decoding on the PS3. Of course, that's just my take, but something tells me you won't be getting any definitive answers about this anywhere on the internet.

[DaViD Boulet]

With Sony announcing the BDP-S350 and the BDP-S550 for Summer and Fall, with price points at $400 and $500 respectively, why in the world would they allow the PS3 to decode DTS-HD MA at its price point? The PS3 needs to be crippled in some way in order to sell these newer players at higher price points. Who would buy a standalone if their PS3 did everything they need it to do?

This is one reason why the PS3 gets updates that delay these features until after other manufacturers have had a chance to garner sales. In the case of 2.0 and DTS-HD MA, the PS3 will probably get its update a month or two after Panny gets their BD50 to store shelves.

Also, there's nothing new with these price-ranges or relative featureset: the PS3 has *always* offered the same level (some cases better) of performance for a fraction of hte cost of stand alones no matter what the profile in question. Some folks just like stand-alones even if they cost more.

[jason_grumpy]

Originally Posted by paidgeek

I asked about this when it first came up and there was some sort of rationale for the change. I honestly can't remember what it was.

Would you mind running a poll to see if there is a strong preference overall for the old system? That may have greater impact on making a change back, than me bringing it up alone.

Paid,

Here's the results for this poll - It was 96/7 in favor of the old system at the time of this posting.
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=38970

Here's exactly the setup we're talking about in picture form:
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.p...70&postcount=6

One of the suggestions were to add a new audio preference in the menu to something like:

[Automatically] "Decode TrueHD to PCM"

And keep the system the way it is.

Thank you for your consideration in this matter.

[DaViD Boulet]

Late to the party... are we talking about having the PS3 automatically decode TrueHD over HDMI and only send the core out over SPDIF when the player is in "bitstream" mode?

I couldn't agree more. It's the thorn in my PS3's side... it's STUPID to have to go into setup to toggle back/forth from bitstream to PCM every time I want to properly hear a TrueHD disc. HDMI should always make use of the TrueHD decoded stream... the core 640 kbps DD track is only meant for those without HDMI...why would any HDMI user want to hear that... regardless of his bitstream/PCM settings???

[kknight]

Paid,

It's been a while since Sony Pictures has released any big sci-fi movies. The last I could remember is Stealth. I really missed those movies like Starship Troopers, Total Recall, The Fifth Element... Are there any plans for Sony to get back into the sci-fi genre?

I'm probably the few who likes this sci-fi movie called Screamers but it's actually one of my favorites. I would love to see Sony pumping out more sci-fi movies...