Ask questions to Sony Pictures Entertainment insider "paidgeek"

[victorvondoom88]

With the 'rear' projection LCD and SXRD HDTV's fading off into the sunset, and their flat panels going up to only 52", when will we see a 60" flat panel? [Jim]

They already have a 70" take a look. http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/...uctId=11040914
I know its out of my price range but it would be cool. I think they will probably do a 60" at some point. Just my 2 cents maybe paidgeek can give you a clearer answer.

[Ian_S]

Originally Posted by paidgeek

Hi Darin,

It's no problem to put 4+ hours on a BD50. LOA will fit nicely.

FYI, I have been told that HD-NET will be showing the newest version in a couple of weeks. Let me know what you think of it... I think everyone will be pleased.

Well I saw LOA a while back now here in the UK on SkyHD who use AVC for transmission and I thought it looked remarkably good for a film that age. Same went for Bridge over the River Kwai, and Guns of Navarone, although I'd say the latter was the weakest of the three. Are they all SPE?

[dobyblue]

Paid, welcome back.

What would be the difference from a compressionists point of view in terms of time taken to encode a 150 minute movie on a BD50 versus encoding a 240 minute movie if lossless audio tracks were used in both instances?

[Kairav]

Hi Paidgeek....

Can we have Gandhi on Blu please???

It was an awesome film and had some pretty good visuals.

[paidgeek]

Originally Posted by parisien1

PAIDGEEK~

Do you know who I could contact at the Culver City office to find out more about this title?

Parisien1

I can try to find out something on it. Where did you get information that this is our release?

[paidgeek]

Originally Posted by JadedRaverLA

Great to have you back, Paidgeek!

I have a question regarding an upcoming non-Sony release (sorry), but I've not seen the issue addressed before. Basically, the title is a music title from a European production company and it was shot in 1080i50 (or 1080i25 depending on your preferred nomenclature). The Blu-ray release is supposed to be encoded this way as well. Putting aside region-coding, will 1080i25/50 titles play on U.S. players (including the PS3) and on standard U.S. HDTVs?

Thanks in advance Paidgeek

Most US displays can't handle 50i/p so the optimum way to handle a non-music driven title would be to slow it down by 4% and encode it at 24p. Given that you say this is a music release, it needs to be standards converted with frame blending (creates artifacts), so that the pitch can remain constant.

[paidgeek]

Originally Posted by izzy2001

hi paidgeek
i have a question
i know that sony will release a indian film called saawariya on blu ray but there were rumors that it has been postponed from the original march.11 date, do you know if this is true, if so do you know when it will come out? and i heard that it will just have dd 5.1 only, do you know why they have not put a 2nd option such as doby truehd, dta hdma, or lossy sound
thanks for your help

I'll do some research on this title, but can you tell me where you are getting your information?

[paidgeek]

Originally Posted by hanser

Hello paidgeek,

I have the Sharp hp20 player and it is not able to play the calibration pictures that are hidden on Sony discs. Maybe this is true also for other non-Sony-players. My request: Could you put those pictures more accessible in the menu instead of using the trick with the number? Then all players could access them.

Also, I would like to mention that all BD titles so far have played without hiccups on the Sharp, except Sony titles. On Fifth element (new US version), Spiderman, Spiderman 3 (both UK version) the player locks during the movie (film stops and player is not responding to anything) and the only way to get it going again is to remove the power cable and starting again. Yesterday during Close Encountets (German version), the movie shortly stopped but then continued.

Is there something on Sony discs that may be causing this? I never had the problem with Warner or Disney or Fox titles. One common thing about the titles concerned is that they all have a Dolby TrueHD track. Any help would be appreciated. O yes, and I have the newest firmware on the player.

Finally I want to congratulate you to the quality of Sony titles. I watched Fifth element, Hellboy, Close Encounters among others and it is relevation. Yesterday I compared the Close Encountes Laserdisc, the DVD and the BD, and I must say that the difference beween LD and DVD picture quality is insignificant compared to the leap between DVD and BD quality. Thank you!

Thanks for your comments.

Have you updated your player firmware (common question, but an important one).

We are considering putting the test patterns on the disc as a standard button with some explanation about how to interpret them. Maybe by this Summer.

I will look into the compatibility problems you mention. Sharp gets copies of our product these days, but the titles you mention, probably pre-date our sending them samples.

[Seretur]

Paid -- with today's release of the contents of the Passage to India disc, I just wanted to say THANK YOU.

[Kris Deering]

Welcome back Paid,

Do you have any insight as to why Sony is not releasing Revolver or Southland Tales on BD? I was hoping that Sony would keep to the policy of releasing all new day and date titles on BD and considering the directors involved this may prove to be titles that while overlooked in their VERY limited theatrical release, may be more popular on video with film enthuasists. I know Revolver is getting a release on BD overseas but I haven't seen much on Southland Tales.

[Phila-Blu-Ray]

The end of the Blu-Ray "5 Free Disc" Summer Promotion on Sept 30th saw a 5 day conversion to the Winter Promotion within 5 days (ie: October 5th) and new titles. Now that this has ended on January 31, 2008, what's the next promotion?

I just bought my Sony 46XBR4 and couldn't be happier -- but won't buy the blu-ray at the current prices without getting some freebies. What's the next promotion?

Also, am I the only one that would like to see an HDMI cable shipped with all Sony BDP products, plus the free disc offers? This would be a great combination.

What's the inside scoop?

[hanser]

Originally Posted by paidgeek

Thanks for your comments.

Have you updated your player firmware (common question, but an important one).

We are considering putting the test patterns on the disc as a standard button with some explanation about how to interpret them. Maybe by this Summer.

I will look into the compatibility problems you mention. Sharp gets copies of our product these days, but the titles you mention, probably pre-date our sending them samples.

Yes, I have the newest Firmware.


Thanks for the news on the test patterns, and for your help concerning the player problems.

[Kris Deering]

Originally Posted by paidgeek

We agree with you that it is best to avoid noise reduction and enhancement unless absolutley necessary. LOB was a special case and I think it is the first time we have released a Blu-ray that has used the Lowry process. I think we can all agree that this film never pretended to be a cinematic masterpiece, so the objective was to make it look good and not have any technical issue distract you from enjoying the intent of a MP title.

I have no idea about any enhancement in 30 Days of Night, but I can look into it. That title did not need any sharpening in my opinion.

My philosophy is that if you want a sharper, grain reduced, processed looking title, then experiment with your HD displays controls as you like. There are more than enough adjustments available in the current display products.

Interesting. I've heard there are several available levels of quality from Lowry (DTS) and depending on the level used you can get considerable differences in quality. Is this something you guys have investigated with any titles? I know that Universal has had varying levels of quality using this process, most of the titles that are poorly received have been through it.

[almy]

I know that many of us are anxious for the promised LAWRENCE OF ARABIA and the just anounced PASSAGE TO INDIA. Can you say if any work is being done on either DOCTOR ZHIVAGO and/or RYAN'S DAUGHTER. Those two would be outstanding in BLU - although the standard-def disc of RYANS' DAUGHTER was so very good, I wonder how much better it could possibly be.............

[spicynacho]

I asked penton about the remaining Kubrick flicks (paths of glory, barry lyndon, Dr. strangelove, etc.). He said that Dr. Strangelove was a sony property and they already have a killer 4K transfer that was done recently. Will Sony be releasing this jewel from the vault soon?

[WickyWoo]

This is the final warning

NO ASKING "Have you heard anything about, When is Title X coming", ESPECIALLY TITLES THAT DO NOT BELONG TO SONY

Asking "What challenges might you see in title x because of A, B and C" type questions are fine.

[kjacobs03]

I have a quick question about Starship Troopers that is not about the release date . When it was delayed to probably coincide with part 3, did Sony intend to add "Added value content" as well? Or was it just pushed back?
Thank

[JadedRaverLA]

Originally Posted by paidgeek

Most US displays can't handle 50i/p so the optimum way to handle a non-music driven title would be to slow it down by 4% and encode it at 24p. Given that you say this is a music release, it needs to be standards converted with frame blending (creates artifacts), so that the pitch can remain constant.

Paidgeek,

Thank you for responding. If I could clarify... if a title is released in 50i, are U.S. Blu-ray players designed to do the framerate conversion (frame blending, etc) that is required to allow the disc to playback on U.S. televisions (even if it is with artifacts)? The title in question is the upcoming Tiesto (a DJ) title which is due next month IIRC. A member of the production company was posting on here, and when he provided specifics about the title he mentioned that the video would be presented in 1080i50. I've yet to see any Blu-ray discs released that way, but its a title a number of people on here were excited to see.

BTW, kudos on Across the Universe coming out tomorrow. My girlfriend hasn't been this excited about a new title... ever. It's great to see Sony push out some non-PS3-demographic titles. As a question, without asking about any specific titles or studios, do you see the various studios continuing to move further from demo-targeted releases now that Blu-ray was won the format war?

Thanks, as always.

P.S. --- I saw the HDNet promo for LOA. Wow! It looked fantastic. The team really seems to have outdone themselves.

[DaViD Boulet]

i have a question
i know that sony will release a indian film called saawariya on blu ray but there were rumors that it has been postponed from the original march.11 date, do you know if this is true, if so do you know when it will come out? and i heard that it will just have dd 5.1 only, do you know why they have not put a 2nd option such as doby truehd, dta hdma, or lossy sound

I want to add my vote that we REALLY want lossless audio on this title!!!

[juanleche]

Would Sony ever consider putting out its own Calibration BD? Or perhaps a Calibration and BD HD sampler with high quality high bit rate screens to show off the fruits of your calibration labor? One that is optimized for players and could contain a deeper set of patterns than what can be put on a disc, though I very mush like the idea of every disc having a user friendly calibration test patter option.
I know other companies are releaseing BD calibration discs soon, but an official Sony approved one might be a nice addition to peoples' collections.