Archived: Insiders Thread

[WriteSimply]

From authoring studio point of view: So Blu-print costs US$50,000, not including the associated plug-ins. If an authoring studio wants to add BD authoring capability, what is the rough costs for it? From software to hardware.

How flexible are the authoring softwares included in BD-R/RE drives from a professional point of view?


fuad

[Chris Beveridge]

Originally Posted by WriteSimply

From authoring studio point of view: So Blu-print costs US$50,000, not including the associated plug-ins. If an authoring studio wants to add BD authoring capability, what is the rough costs for it? From software to hardware.

How flexible are the authoring softwares included in BD-R/RE drives from a professional point of view?

I've been hearing that startup costs for those that want to do it in-house are over 100K, or "more than most anime licenses cost these days."

[dialog_gvf]

Paidgeek,

Any comment on this post from Amir

In response to why HD DVD houses have slowed down and the BD studios are announcing tons of titles:

A couple of reasons for that. First, Fox and Disney didn't publish as much as HD DVD studios did last year (i.e. their post houses were less busy as a result). Second, Sony does a lot of BD encoding using real-time MPEG-2 encodes with a maximum production cycle of 2 days. This lets them get titles out faster, but I would argue that they are schedule driven, rather than quality driven as a result.

Also, who decided the limitted bandwidth on HD DVD? It seems to have been designed to require VC-1, since it doesn't support sufficient bandwidth for MPEG-2, and the AVC encoders weren't mature enough.

Gary

[dobyblue]

paidgeek,
With regards to region coding, it would be a great boost I believe to the format if the BDA would move Europe into Region A.
Is this a possibility? It would put Blu-ray into the same boat as HD DVD when it comes to the attractiveness of region free discs. If Europe were Region A then essentially all the discs that would matter would all be the same region.
I think it would be a great idea for the BDA to try and persue this one issue.

Also for the Sony Style store - could the main decription page of each Blu-ray movie title perhaps add whether or not it is region A or region free? I think this would help European buyers know which Sony titles they can get without worrying about the region coding. Unless of course Europe is moved to Region A which would eliminate this problem.

[GoldenRedux]

Originally Posted by dialog_gvf

Would they need to introduce audio-only players? Simple fixed video (cover art, title info) along with the standard BD audio would be an audio format. Don't turn on your HDTV and you're using an audio deck.

About the only thing I could imagine being needed would be car audio decks.

Gary

Exactly, just like DVD-A players today. They aren't audio only either. With my Denon DVD-2200, I leave my televison off, turn off the video circuitry (which the player allows you to do) and, lie you said, I have an audio deck.

[GoldenRedux]

Originally Posted by dobyblue

paidgeek,
With regards to region coding, it would be a great boost I believe to the format if the BDA would move Europe into Region A.

I strongly agree with this. I would love to see European releases moved into Region A. Of course, I love to see the region coding done away with entirely, but if we must have it, Europe should be in Region A, IMO.

[JTK]

I just think there shouldn't be any region limits whatsoever. Take away the guessing games altogether and have this wide open, unified field.

[Sidewinder]

Originally Posted by JTK

I just think there shouldn't be any region limits whatsoever. Take away the guessing games altogether and have this wide open, unified field.

I guess we (every customer in the world) all agree on this part...so when will it be done? ;-)

[WriteSimply]

To paidgeek: Okay you don't want to talk about specific releases unless it is already announced with a confirmed date.

1) How many concert BDs have you guys done the encoding for?
2) How many are slated for 2007 release?
3) What are the video source for that? Film or HD video?
4) Most music videos are shot on film yet edited on SD and its EFX rendered in SD. Do you foresee this changing when Sony/BMG/Universal Music releases compilation of music videos from artistes in their roster?
5) As far as you know, has the music labels advised their artistes that want to shoot concert videos to at least shoot them on HD for future BD release?

Thanks for reading and maybe answering my questions!


fuad

[paidgeek]

Originally Posted by paidgeek

This does not sound right to me, but I'll check.

Sorry, but I confirmed today that none of these titles are scheduled for release yet.

[paidgeek]

Originally Posted by Banjo

Just wondering if there's any plans to bring Jim Henson's 'Labyrinth' to the Blu-Ray format? It's one of my childhood favourites.

If it is being planned, are there any plans to clean up a particular scene where the matting is poorly done. For instance, the scene where all these creatures with detachable heads. It was one of the worst matting I've ever seen and that's saying something. While it was pretty noticeable on the DVD format, I'll hate to see how much of a sore thumb it is on the Blu-Ray format.

A movie like 'Labyrinth' deserves a great Blu-Ray release.

I have not seen this on the schedule yet. When the Henson titles do appear, be aware that the technology used to make these films is dated as you already noted. Some shots can be distracting, but so it goes when you are seeing everything in the master.

[dialog_gvf]

Originally Posted by paidgeek

Sorry, but I confirmed today that none of these titles are scheduled for release yet.

I'm not surprised. LOA and Kwai deserve the utmost respect, so it should be released when they are just right. I'm absolutely sure they will be worth the wait.

Gary

[paidgeek]

Originally Posted by DaDane

I am wondering what is going to be the 'normal' recordable discsize?

For DVD it's single layer, single side. A 4,7 GB disc is significant less than a 9,4 GB disc even though the difference is getting smaller.

I would love to get big discs more than anything. And 200 GB just sounds like heaven to me!!!
But I am quite afraid that the prices would be something like 25 GB o.k. price, 50 GB expensive, 100 GB+ very very expensive (like in not something you would consider for home use).

Can you elaborate a bit on this, - am I right or wrong, what decisions have been taken etc.

Also, - what will the price difference be on BD-R and BD-RE? And are the RE as durable as R?

I can't offer you too much information here, but we use both types of media at both 25GB and 50GB capacities. There is already market competition and this as caused prices to drop to reasonable levels in a short period of time. The price is only likely to go down from here. I really can't speak about durability because we just don't have experience with this. We re-use our RE media regularly and so far, so good.

[paidgeek]

Originally Posted by mbslrm

The guy who cracked HD DVD has apparently done the same to BD. What's your take on this?

It's not surprising, the hacking approach used was expected to work on both formats. Steps are being taken to deal with it. My optimistic view is that by dealing with player or implementation weaknesses now, we will end up with a more robust system when the market is large and real money stands to be lost.

[paidgeek]

Originally Posted by WriteSimply

From authoring studio point of view: So Blu-print costs US$50,000, not including the associated plug-ins. If an authoring studio wants to add BD authoring capability, what is the rough costs for it? From software to hardware.

How flexible are the authoring softwares included in BD-R/RE drives from a professional point of view?


fuad

The main costs will be the HD equipment required for tape playback and compression. You can run Blu-print on just about any fast Windows machine and there are not additional plug-ins required. A support contract is recommended in order to get all updates, phone and online support. That is an additional $10K/year. Considering the cost of development for Blu-print, the selling price is a steal..

[paidgeek]

Originally Posted by dialog_gvf

Paidgeek,

Any comment on this post from Amir

In response to why HD DVD houses have slowed down and the BD studios are announcing tons of titles:



Also, who decided the limitted bandwidth on HD DVD? It seems to have been designed to require VC-1, since it doesn't support sufficient bandwidth for MPEG-2, and the AVC encoders weren't mature enough.

Gary

Just to be clear, we will spend a minimum of two days on a title encoded in MPEG2. For the most challenging titles a several days to a week may be spent.

[mbslrm]

Originally Posted by paidgeek

It's not surprising, the hacking approach used was expected to work on both formats. Steps are being taken to deal with it. My optimistic view is that by dealing with player or implementation weaknesses now, we will end up with a more robust system when the market is large and real money stands to be lost.

Sorry for my ignorance, but how does BT+ work?

[dialog_gvf]

Originally Posted by paidgeek

Just to be clear, we will spend a minimum of two days on a title encoded in MPEG2. For the most challenging titles a several days to a week may be spent.

The results speak for themselves. And the few people insisting it remains June 2006 are convincing fewer and fewer nowdays.

Let me just congratulate you on showing such professionalism under fire.

Gary

[hyperdine]

Originally Posted by dialog_gvf

The results speak for themselves. And the few people insisting it remains June 2006 are convincing fewer and fewer nowdays.

Let me just congratulate you on showing such professionalism under fire.

Gary

I'm so glad there's folks like paidgeek over there that are trying to get the facts out. As I mentioned in the "Rant Thread", if anyone wants to see an example of really poor PQ on a VC-1 encoded title, just look at "Lady in the Water"; Chapter 14 at the 54:00 minute mark. Check out M. Night's jawline in the profile shot. It just looks really bad. MPEG-2 at a high bit rate looks awesome and the reviewers, directors, etc. that have seen these titles agree. Kingdom of Heaven is a great example of how MPEG-2 can really kick some...

[paidgeek]

Originally Posted by dobyblue

paidgeek,
With regards to region coding, it would be a great boost I believe to the format if the BDA would move Europe into Region A.
Is this a possibility? It would put Blu-ray into the same boat as HD DVD when it comes to the attractiveness of region free discs. If Europe were Region A then essentially all the discs that would matter would all be the same region.
I think it would be a great idea for the BDA to try and persue this one issue.

Also for the Sony Style store - could the main decription page of each Blu-ray movie title perhaps add whether or not it is region A or region free? I think this would help European buyers know which Sony titles they can get without worrying about the region coding. Unless of course Europe is moved to Region A which would eliminate this problem.

Given the lengthy negotiations involved with anything region code related, I think it is extremely unlikely that the regions will change.