Ask questions to Sony Pictures Entertainment insider "paidgeek"

[scragham]

hey pg,

re: BD-Live, i agree with what the others have said in that i'm pretty underwhelmed by what the HD DVD folks have managed to implement... and that i agree with wicky when he says that the only really meaningful* application of downloadable content i've heard of thus far is the ability to download additional subtitles.

can you give us some ideas on what kinds of features are being tossed around for BD-Live?

* meaningful meaning something i couldn't do with greater ease on a computer.

[Anthony P]

We can use it in all sorts of ways including polls not unlike those that we hold in this forum. What about also giving some reward to those of you who buy most of our titles? You have to let you imagination run with the possibilities.

is that supposed to be enticing? Too much access to my private info is one of the reasons I am not looking forward to it.

[WriteSimply]

paidgeek, with all this talk about subtitle repositioning, I'll chime in with my own suggestion about subtitling. Apart from using the same font that the original theatrical titles used, for example the fonts in Silence Of The Lambs (not an SPHE film), players should also make subtitles scalable. That is to say you can go from the default size 12 to 6. 12 would be good for 32" HDTVs while the smaller ones will be for constant height projection screen that is over 70". That way the subs won't look out of place proportion to the screen.


fuad

[paidgeek]

Originally Posted by coolmilo

Hello Paidgeek,

Could Sony use the BD-Live feature to distribute firmware updates to standalone players (players that support BD-Live of course)?

The network connection can and will be available for firmware updates, but this is not a part of BD-Live.

[paidgeek]

Originally Posted by DaViD Boulet

This should be solved on the hardware side, not the software side.

If Sony tries a software-solution and puts subs in the picture for all BD 2.35:1 titles, many 16x9 LCD owners will complain since they would have been easier to read in the black bar where they don't compete with the image.

Constant-height watchers, naturally, want them in the picture area.

There's no one right answer to software encoding. And there's no way to get ALL OF THE STUDIOS to do the same thing.

So by letting the user do what *they* want on their BD player, the problem is solved for every movie from every studio.

The issue here is that the raster based subs are not designed to be repositioned. They indicate and absolute location on the screen and if the player overrides this, it could be the subs over something important. Text based subs rendered by the player do not have the same issue and the user can have greater control over these without the player bending the specifications.

[paidgeek]

Originally Posted by Alan Gordon

Forgive this post, but I wanted to reply to Paid's comment regarding BD-Live.

Your comment regarding polls is certainly a good idea, and rewards are certainly a good way to get consumers interested, but as people have said earlier, a good portion of the lack of interest is due to the lackluster experience people have had with DVD/HD DVD/Blu-ray online features.

Sure there have been good features; the Tobey Maguire chat WickyWoo mentioned, the ability to get a early sneak-peek at a sequel's trailer (was this on "The Matrix" DVD... or am I thinking of a different DVD?), and while I would prefer the studios to fit the features on the disc, "Transformers" on HD DVD's downloading of additional content can be nice when there isn't enough room on the disc or when the rights/content didn't become available until after authoring was started.

While the majority of times, the only extras I care about are the film's trailers/teasers and music video's when a song if connected so strongly to a film ("Hero" by Chad Kroeger and Josey Scott for "Spider-Man" for example), but one feature I really liked in the early days of DVD was "Cast & Crew Biographies/Filmographies"... unfortunately it didn't last long (most like due to length of time it took for one to be out of date), but the studios could use BD-Live to bring back this feature and really add some bells & whistles. While they could do a joint partnership with IMDB.com (which might convince IMDB.com to start doing some major Blu-ray promotions), the BDA, or the studios within the BDA could join together and create a webpage solely for Blu-ray which kept up-to-date information on actors/directors/etc. and spotlighted which titles were available on Blu-ray with links to the film's/show's studio website to purchase the film, as well as some of the more popular retailers' sites to order said titles. The site could also spotlight upcoming films with said actor/director/etc. with release date information, trailers/movie posters/set photos... etc.

BD-Live could be very cool and provide a more interactive experience with films, but as of this moment, it's not very exciting to me...yet!

~Alan

Thanks to everyone for their comments on BD-Live. It goes without saying that we are going to try to provide content that makes it worth your trouble to connect your players to the net.

[paidgeek]

Originally Posted by scragham

hey pg,

re: BD-Live, i agree with what the others have said in that i'm pretty underwhelmed by what the HD DVD folks have managed to implement... and that i agree with wicky when he says that the only really meaningful* application of downloadable content i've heard of thus far is the ability to download additional subtitles.

can you give us some ideas on what kinds of features are being tossed around for BD-Live?

* meaningful meaning something i couldn't do with greater ease on a computer.

If you are comfortable with your computer, then a BD player is never going to do something with greater ease than that. What we are working toward is using a network connection to do something you like without having to go to your computer to get it.

[paidgeek]

Originally Posted by Anthony P

is that supposed to be enticing? Too much access to my private info is one of the reasons I am not looking forward to it.

Anything that SPE does is going to require an opt in. We are very sensitive to privacy concerns...

[paidgeek]

Originally Posted by WriteSimply

paidgeek, with all this talk about subtitle repositioning, I'll chime in with my own suggestion about subtitling. Apart from using the same font that the original theatrical titles used, for example the fonts in Silence Of The Lambs (not an SPHE film), players should also make subtitles scalable. That is to say you can go from the default size 12 to 6. 12 would be good for 32" HDTVs while the smaller ones will be for constant height projection screen that is over 70". That way the subs won't look out of place proportion to the screen.


fuad

That is not going to look too good unless we use a font based sub that the player actually renders.

[syncguy]

Originally Posted by paidgeek

The issue here is that the raster based subs are not designed to be repositioned. They indicate and absolute location on the screen and if the player overrides this, it could be the subs over something important. Text based subs rendered by the player do not have the same issue and the user can have greater control over these without the player bending the specifications.

Hi paidgeek,

I wonder how TheaterTek sw player move subtitles on DVDs. It has "nudge-up", "nudge-down" menu options. That works well without any problems. Perhaps TheaterTek is bending DVD specs. Anyhow, it is a good workable solution for DVDs.

Hopefully Sony will give us a friendly solution for this major problem in the near future. Thanks.

[Uxi]

I definitely hope DTS-HDMA is on the PS3 radar first. If I was interested in the online gimmicks, I would have been far more in favor of the late and not-so-great-HDDVD. Blu-ray's superior specs and support would have still commanded my interest, but it would not have been nearly as lopsided.

That said, I definitely like the idea to go to current/past trailers from a studio, as long as it's OPTIONAL (as in a menu item I can select, not one that's forced on me in teh beginning of the intro - otherwise i'll be blocking the PS3's connection in my firewall until I want to play a game).

I also miss the filmographies and think the IMDB idea is a great one.

Is the SCE insider ever going to arrive?

[Bluhorizon]

Originally Posted by 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.

Entirely agree, but Sony are one of the few studios that actually bother with Chinese subtitles on BD. I have 94 BDs and fewer than 25% have Chinese subtitles, so my wife (Taiwanese), who has difficulty in keeping up with fast dialogue in English, cannot enjoy most BD movies.

To this end, does the BD-Live specification call for retrospective downloadable subtitles (and indeed HD lossless audio)? If so, when will it begin to be implemented?

[Bluhorizon]

Originally Posted by dialog_gvf

Especially since that network is a wired concept, and the wired portion of home networks aren't generally near the HT display, and wireless Ethernet bridges are rediculously expensive.

Gary

I second that.

[lgans316]

Hi PaidGeek,

Do think SPHE will create a new U.S exclusive HD master / encode for Starship Troopers and Air Force One that are distributed on Blu-ray by BVHE overseas ?

[Cplhicks]

Paidgeek, in terms of Bd-Live, for me (as I've mentioned before) the best and most useful thing would be the ability to download different subtitle files for movies, and not just roman letter languages, but asian languages as well. If I could buy a Japanese disc and download English subs, or a English disc and download Japanese ones, heck, I'd be willing to pay a couple extra bucks for that download even. I am sure there are many other people, with different language requirements, who would do the same. That to me would be the greatest benefit. Anything else is hard to say. I'm not a big fan of "one time only" commentaries and things like that. If you miss it, that feature is useless, and of course can never be enjoyed again. I also don't want it to become an excuse for studios to purposely leave things off the disc, for example "Download the original trailer!" It should be on the disc, not something I have to download.

[Chris Beveridge]

Originally Posted by paidgeek

I did get some information that the theatrical translation was not used. The persons involved have been asked to avoid this whenever possible.

Thanks! I'll hold out hope for a much more accurate translation for the second season of this TV series.

[paidgeek]

Originally Posted by Bluhorizon

Entirely agree, but Sony are one of the few studios that actually bother with Chinese subtitles on BD. I have 94 BDs and fewer than 25% have Chinese subtitles, so my wife (Taiwanese), who has difficulty in keeping up with fast dialogue in English, cannot enjoy most BD movies.

To this end, does the BD-Live specification call for retrospective downloadable subtitles (and indeed HD lossless audio)? If so, when will it begin to be implemented?

Downloading subs like other BD-Live features is optional, so the popularity of this feature when SPE or another studios uses it, will determine if it becomes a standard offering. Lossless audio will be included on the disc, not as a download because it requires to much storage.

[paidgeek]

Originally Posted by lgans316

Hi PaidGeek,

Do think SPHE will create a new U.S exclusive HD master / encode for Starship Troopers and Air Force One that are distributed on Blu-ray by BVHE overseas ?

I'm not sure I understand your question. Do you mean will we make a new master available to Buena Vista?

[Mr_Bester]

Originally Posted by paidgeek

I'm not sure I understand your question. Do you mean will we make a new master available to Buena Vista?

I think he's asking if the same master will be used as the BVHE that was(will be) released overseas.

[paidgeek]

Originally Posted by Mr_Bester

I think he's asking if the same master will be used as the BVHE that was(will be) released overseas.

No, we have our own new transfers... and they look quite good.