Archived: Insiders Thread

[paidgeek]

Originally Posted by Seretur

Thank you very much for the CE3K update, Ben!

Let's not forget that this was the first Spielberg film to win an Oscar for Best Cinematography (by the great Vilmos Zsigmond, and yes, it was the only Oscar the film received). Close Encounters very much defined the modern style of big-budget lensing that would grow into the styles of today; in comparison, Star Wars, released that same year, looks positively bland. (This was fortunately rectified by the time Empire came along.)

Which is all just a long-winded way of saying thank you to Sony and Mr. Spielberg for finally allowing us to see this film properly, and on Blu-ray, no less.

I wonder if Mr. Zsigmond was involved in the process in any way, shape, or form. Can anyone shed any light on this? Paidgeek?

As far as I know, Vilmos was not involved in the latest transfer or approval.

[paidgeek]

Originally Posted by WriteSimply

Read about 10 pages on this thread in what's supposed to be an INSIDER thread for queries and clarifications only, only to be bombarded with firesale Toshiba players and WB fud.

---------

paidgeek, after reading that you liked the idea of presenting the Sony Bravia ads on BD, why not make it simpler? Create a BD (single layer?) where all of your Bravia ads and even the PS3 ads are in one BD and end each of them with "presented to you on Blu-ray." That way the stores can have something to play.

But not only that, have that BD something that anybody around the world can order to playback on their own setups. I personally would pay US$10 to get such a compilation of HD ads because they look good and they are very inventive.

Also, how about proposing to other members of the CEs for their own HDTV ads to put in one disc? Then that disc can come from the BDA, instead of just Sony.

For those interested, Sony Europe now has four colorful Bravia ads: The ball, Paint, Play-Doh and the new one is Egypt.


fuad

There are promotional support discs provided to the retailers with clips from several studios. These are updated from time to time to keep up with the release of new titles.

I'm not sure we are going to get support for the idea of selling the Bravia spots, though I am sure the creators would be very flattered.

[paidgeek]

Originally Posted by merrick97

Paidgeek or any insider,

Does anyone know if the 1.0 players will get reduced in price to thwart the $200 (and rumored $100 on black friday) HD-DVD players? Especially now that Panasonic has announced its 1.1 player and plans to release it relatively soon.

Thanks.

I don't know. I guess if you want to release a new format these days you have to give away the razors? Maybe we should follow the mobile phone business model and give out free BD players in exchange for a 2 year service agreement? The CE companies will probably run and hide when the next new "format" discussions start-up, and who could blame them....

[paidgeek]

Originally Posted by elwaylite

Anyone have any comments about Slysoft's claims of cracking BD+?

We expect that BD+ will be cracked on a given title if smart hackers decide to focus on it. The benefit of BD+ is that we can change the scrambling method on a title by title basis, so they have to work on each title to break it. If this is not generating profit for the hackers, what is the motivation to keep doing it?

[WickyWoo]

The idea so far as I hear is to get rid of all these A2s BEFORE black friday, so the new owners can buy BF discs, and they're out of warehouses and off the showroom floors

[WickyWoo]

Look l'm not trying to pull a "chicken little" here or anything, but isn't it a bad thing if these sell out?

Yes and no. Every HD sale is "bad", but it demonstrates desperation to the industry, and in the end there aren't enough of them going out there to really make a difference

People swayed by that kind of firesale pricing are not going tobe buying discs by the gross like AVSers do. I expect a pile of them might pick up TF and a few others and be happy with the 5 freebies

It's not Toshiba. Even at the $198 price, WM is losing 28% off what they paid for the players. With the drop to $98, it gets worse. They are losing quite a bit on these sales (including the $14.96 HD-DVDs).

That is the total antithesis of how WM works, and they would have told Toshiba to go to hell if they were expected to eat $30-40 a deck.

They are being credited for every one of those players, guaranteed

[blindcat87]

Exactly right. The exclusions are the telling part. I live in NM, and if they are unable to give that price here, it means that the sale is a Wal-Mart thing and not a Tosh thing. Manufacturers can do anything they damn well want to with prices for clearances and such. This indicates that it is Wally World trying to scoot the dross off of their shelves and not a brilliant tactical move on the part of Toshiba. This, at least to me, shows how well Red is really doing at WM, and it is not such a pretty picture.

It still just amazes me how absolutely faint of heart and confidence BD fans have become of late. No matter how much good news we get, it is never enough and doom is around the corner. Seriously folks, get a grip, take a deep breath, watch 2 BDs and don't call me in the morning.

To the insiders, I am thankful for the good news you have brought us this week. Just got the Spidey box this evening and can't wait to watch them. Also looking forward to being broke through this holiday season from all of the must haves coming our way. Thanks for all of your work and for giving us the inside scoops and putting up with our analyzing every word to the nth degree.

Thanks,

Chris

[jdc115]

Originally Posted by WickyWoo

That is the total antithesis of how WM works, and they would have told Toshiba to go to hell if they were expected to eat $30-40 a deck.

They are being credited for every one of those players, guaranteed

\\

Sorry to post on this thread, but yes, this is how I see a lot of the product work through distributors. If they build up too much inventory then they are asked to run a promotion and then get a backend credit for every unit sold out. Otherwise i wouldn't see WM selling at a loss, they would push the product back to the manufacture in exchange for something else that they could sell.

[MerrickG]

Originally Posted by blindcat87

Exactly right. The exclusions are the telling part. I live in NM, and if they are unable to give that price here, it means that the sale is a Wal-Mart thing and not a Tosh thing. Manufacturers can do anything they damn well want to with prices for clearances and such. This indicates that it is Wally World trying to scoot the dross off of their shelves and not a brilliant tactical move on the part of Toshiba. This, at least to me, shows how well Red is really doing at WM, and it is not such a pretty picture.

It still just amazes me how absolutely faint of heart and confidence BD fans have become of late. No matter how much good news we get, it is never enough and doom is around the corner. Seriously folks, get a grip, take a deep breath, watch 2 BDs and don't call me in the morning.

To the insiders, I am thankful for the good news you have brought us this week. Just got the Spidey box this evening and can't wait to watch them. Also looking forward to being broke through this holiday season from all of the must haves coming our way. Thanks for all of your work and for giving us the inside scoops and putting up with our analyzing every word to the nth degree.

Thanks,

Chris

Well, the BDA has to find some way to compete with a $100 ($200 after the firesale) player. There is too much of a price difference between $100 and $500 (Yes, there are cheaper bluray players, but they are few and VERY far between) to make consumers pick bluray over HD-DVD.

Bluray did just fine competing their $500 players with a $300 HD-DVD player.

The easy answer is that they should firesale all their 1.0 players at $300 or cheaper, but as Paidgeek has pointed out the BDA was formed to start a new format to make profit and its hard to imagine them making a lot of profit on these prices. Even if they win, they lose.

Either way, the BDA cant ignore a $100 HD-DVD player if they want to keep Warner and current bluray exclusive studios happy. As someone who has spent over $1500 in players and movies to enjoy bluray and HD, I expect the BDA to give it their best effort to convince me that I made the right choice in purchasing bluray.

I still consider a $400 PS3 to be a nice trump card, but a $100 HD-DVD player effectively neutralizes that.

On a positive note, Im going to continue buying movies on bluray like I always do.

[pro-bassoonist]

I would be very interested to see how the 40G PS3 sells in comparison to this sub 100$ HD player.

Pro-B

[MerrickG]

Originally Posted by pro-bassoonist

I would be very interested to see how the 40G PS3 sells in comparison to this sub 100$ HD player.

Pro-B

Well the $400 PS3 vs. the $100 HD-DVD player does raise some interesting questions

1. How many PS3 buyers will use bluray?
2. How many $100 HD-DVD player buyers will pay $30 per movie or just use it for upconversion or renting?

[phloyd]

For a $100 dollar HD DVD player you are lucky to get 4-5 movies for the equivalent price of the player.

In my opinion the only way HD DVD can seriously compete is with cheaper media.

The price of admission is one thing but seriously if they can't sell media it doesn't matter how many players are out there.

People willing to spend more for the price of entry will spend more on the media. That is the goal - to sell media.

An HD DVD player that gathers dust is not much better than no HD DVD player...

[Papi4baby]

Originally Posted by mel2

actually, it's until noon that day. I'm an electronics associate at wal-mart. all those great prices end at noon. most wal-marts in my area have 10-12 in the backroom waiting. it's the first time i have ever seen the A2 and boy is it the crappiest thing I've ever seen. It says "made from scrap" all over it. it doesn't even have a display panel on it. I'm sorry but I've seen alot of durabrand, venture, proscan dvd players in my time at wal-mart that rival the quality of the A2. wonder why toshiba is the only company at THIS time making hd dvd players.

Oh that's great, i haven't even seen an A2 in real life, i guess im not missing anything. I love the Made From Scrap part, lol.

On a side note, there's a sharp BD player at 300 bucks guys.

P.S. To the insiders whats this i hear about soon all HD media will required HDMI cables and that HDMI to DVI will not be good enought?

[MerrickG]

Originally Posted by Papi4baby

P.S. To the insiders whats this i hear about soon all HD media will required HDMI cables and that HDMI to DVI will not be good enought?

I can answer this question.

Yes and No. To get 720p/1080i you can use DVI to HDMI or plain old component.

But to get full 1080p you will need an HDMI cable.

This only applies to video playback.

Xbox 360 can get 1080p over component.

[Seretur]

Thanks for the Zsigmond question, Paidgeek.

If I can generalise a bit -- how important is it for Sony and other encoders to have a given film's cinematographer actually consult on the transfer and encode? We're seeing a lot of director approved transfers recently, and while it's a step in the right direction to be sure, the DP is usually the ultimate authority on the way a film was meant to be seen.

As an example, I spoke to Chris Doyle last year, and he assured me he had nothing to do with any of the DVD transfers of his Wong Kar Wai titles. Therefore, there isn't a single home video version of, say, In the Mood for Love -- one of the most gorgeous films ever -- that actually looks the way it was meant to look. Disheartening a bit, isn't it?

[sphdle1]

Originally Posted by Papi4baby

On a side note, there's a sharp BD player at 300 bucks guys.

Ya have to be careful on some of those other sites with any Blu-ray deals.
I mentioned the Samsung bdp1000 for $299, and got fudded all over by HD DUDs saying it was just refurbished crap, lol, etc.

I'll have to be more careful next time.

[ps3andlovinit]

Originally Posted by blindcat87

Exactly right. The exclusions are the telling part. I live in NM, and if they are unable to give that price here, it means that the sale is a Wal-Mart thing and not a Tosh thing. Manufacturers can do anything they damn well want to with prices for clearances and such. This indicates that it is Wally World trying to scoot the dross off of their shelves and not a brilliant tactical move on the part of Toshiba. This, at least to me, shows how well Red is really doing at WM, and it is not such a pretty picture.

It still just amazes me how absolutely faint of heart and confidence BD fans have become of late. No matter how much good news we get, it is never enough and doom is around the corner. Seriously folks, get a grip, take a deep breath, watch 2 BDs and don't call me in the morning.

To the insiders, I am thankful for the good news you have brought us this week. ... Thanks for all of your work and for giving us the inside scoops and putting up with our analyzing every word to the nth degree.

Thanks,

Chris

Second all of that.

[aygie]

Originally Posted by ps3andlovinit

Second all of that.

i kinda agree but why would they waste money doing adverts?

http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/sh..._Wal-Mart/1131

[dobyblue]

Wow, that's not one of the cheapest commercials I've ever seen.

Christmas is only going to be a really, really good day if I wake up with my *&%^ in your mouth and the kids are at Grandma's.

[welwynnick]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Papi4baby

I can answer this question.
Yes and No. To get 720p/1080i you can use DVI to HDMI or plain old component.
But to get full 1080p you will need an HDMI cable.
This only applies to video playback.
Xbox 360 can get 1080p over component.

Not exactly. Single link DVI has the same physical architecture and the same 165MHz max pixel rate as HDMI V1.0, V1.1 and V1.2 connections with Connector A. Both can carry 1080p60 or 1920x1200p60 video. HDMI V1.3 can go faster than this, but then so can DVI dual link, without having to use a different cable or connector. Both are fine to 1080p60.

Industry would like us to standardise to HDMI. It's in their interests. What's worth avoiding are DVI to HDMI conversion adaptors. These can degrade the signal, and a DVI to HDMI cable is preferred where ncecessary.

http://www.ddwg.org/lib/dvi_10.pdf

regards, Nick