Archived: Insiders Thread

[Proteus]

My comments are for Paidgeek:


Having just watched the Spidey 3 BD, I must say I am _very_ impressed with your groups work on this title. The PQ is stunning as is the sound. My only reservation on the trilogy is the complete lack of features on 1 & 2. This was very unfortunate as I was hoping to resale my old dvd's of those two films to justify purchasing the trilogy... I'm kind of at a loss on how to handle that now. Can't say I understand why they were not included.

That said, I wouldn't be me if I didn't suggest even more you can do to help the product.

First off, it was very nice to see the BD icon replaced by a custom Spidey icon on the video menu in the XMB; however, this was still not complete. It should have expanded to a full screen wonderment with sound when I highlighted it like many games do. This helps to increase your brand presence quite a bit actually and adds that extra bit of tension building before the viewing that is oh so nice... yet admittedly subtle.

Next, I know I have pressured in the past for PSP/iPod versions of the film on the BD also; however, I wanted to add one small thing. You guys should perhaps get in touch with the internet generation/gaming community a tad more and add things like a couple/few Spidey wallpapers formatted for not only the PS3 but PC as well so loyalists can display them on their machines in uber high quality from an original source. Given that it's inevitable that 'themes' will come to the PS3 as they have the PSP, perhaps including entire XMB makeovers on the disc would be compelling in the future?

Thank you for an excellent production on Spiderman 3, Paid.

[WickyWoo]

1. Since it was shot originally in Panavision, should we expect that Seinfeld will appear in widescreen, when it is ultimately released in Blu?

Panavision in that context is merely the company they rented their cameras from. I help with an even that shows films in 35mm every year, and Panavision supplies our projectors.

[Seretur]

Penton, thanks for the additional clarification!

I suppose the gist of my concern is contained in the last paragraph of your comment to Paidgeek's answer -- as I really wouldn't like digital colorists to run rampant with their ideas on how a film should look, as opposed to the palette and style created by the director and the DP. It's not a perfect world, of course, and it's not always possible to get the relevant input during the creation of the intermediate. And, of course, you seem to be fully aware of that.

Doyle also told me last year that Lady in the Water was the only time he had full control over the DI and the timing, and he seemed both very proud of his achievement there, and very grateful for the opportunity. This tells me that Hollywood is doing at least something right as opposed to the Southeast Asian cinema, where he usually works. So what I wonder is this: is there really a concentrated effort to get the relevant people to supervise the DI process on the part of the major studios, or is this still very much done on a case by case basis, depending on the relative power of the filmmakers in question?

[hollywoodguy]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

Dude,
Are you an elitist ?
You mean you won’t stand in the long lines with the common folk buying a year's worth of toilet paper ?

I meant the pharmacy counter at your friendly neighborhood CVS pharmacy, right where they sell the $19.95 Coby players. I'm certainly not going to shlep all the way to a Wal*Mart for a Toshiba player...

[Dave J]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

I know that like the Paramount deal, a three day fire sale won’t win the war for HD DVD (esp. when Wal*Mart buyers start comparing how much they will be spending on future HD DVD discs compared to the price of the player). If this latest HD DVD volley proves significant, it may extend the war (by possibly influencing WB)……….that’s all.

I just view this latest Toshiba gesture as another sign of desperation as it is not sustainable over time.

If there was still any doubt left that this was just Toshiba "dumping" unsold stock then this thread at HDD should put it to rest. What exactly were the manufacturing dates stamped on those A2 boxes you might ask?

[WriteSimply]

paidgeek, two things.

Over here, there's a distributor (who also distributes HD-DVD) that legally imports BDs from SPHE and Fox. However, the price is RM150 which in "real money" is US$44.90 (US$1=RM3.34). I wouldn't mind paying the retail price for instant gratification but that price is a bit too much since the US MSRP rarely gets that high on all of the discs. Can SPHE, Fox and Disney work with the local distributors in getting AT LEAST the US MSRP as the local MSRP? At least this way, the local BD supporters are supporting the local retailer (which then supports the local industry) instead of international e-tailers like Amazon.

FYI, Spidey 3 sells for RM179 which is US$53.90. That's insane!

The other thing is Frys.com has not yet received its BD shipment from SPHE. My BDs from them is being withheld because they haven't received their stocks yet. I bought the SPHE BDs from them because of the cheap price (US$10). Anything you can do to help them out would be great. Thanks!


fuad

[Josh]

I've been pretty busy catching up with the news and writing my report, but I'd like to thank the Insiders that I met (and any Insiders that I might have met with) for talking with me and Ben. They are just as knowledgeable and courteous in real life as they are on these forums. Thanks again.

By the way, I did manage to snap a photo of Penton-Man. Very mysterious individual

[sj001]

Originally Posted by Josh

I've been pretty busy catching up with the news and writing my report, but I'd like to thank the Insiders that I met (and any Insiders that I might have met with) for talking with me and Ben. They are just as knowledgeable and courteous in real life as they are on these forums. Thanks again.

By the way, I did manage to snap a photo of Penton-Man. Very mysterious individual

Penton-Man, maybe they will have a new superhero movie about him, or comic book series.

[Icemage]

To bring up something that was discussed a while back:

Originally Posted by paidgeek

Do you mean can a CE3K trailer be released on an earlier title?

Originally Posted by Icemage

A PSN download would do, similar to what has already been done with The Lives of Others. Would that be possible?

Originally Posted by paidgeek

Good question, let me check...

I see that CE3K did in fact make it into a PSN Blu-ray trailer yesterday. Thanks, paidgeek!

[Titan]

In this forum it is as if Penton-Man is reguarded as that man on the XX beer commercials, "The Most Interesting Man Alive" so I am going to throw it out there that Penton-Man is in fact the man in those commercials

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Josh

I've been pretty busy catching up with the news and writing my report, but I'd like to thank the Insiders that I met (and any Insiders that I might have met with) for talking with me and Ben. They are just as knowledgeable and courteous in real life as they are on these forums. Thanks again.

By the way, I did manage to snap a photo of Penton-Man. Very mysterious individual

I'm told that all the women who read this forum regularly are sincerely saddened by the fact that the Mr. Woodcock article is no longer at the top of your news page.

[GregBlu5]

Originally Posted by Dave J

If there was still any doubt left that this was just Toshiba "dumping" unsold stock then this thread at HDD should put it to rest. What exactly were the manufacturing dates stamped on those A2 boxes you might ask?

I read most of those posts. Nearly a year ago in some cases? Wow. Did they also have expiration dates? I imagine most of them might go bad right out of the box.

-Greg

[CptGreedle]

This is all getting so confusing. SO many topics going on I can't keep up in here.
What I really want to know is Do any insiders know about what the BDA will do to assure WB will go BD exclusive this year? With the price of the A2 and other HD-DVD players, the closest competitor is the 40 GB PS3, but how will the BDA assure that this is a deal most people can't pass up. After all, a $400 PS3 is still 2-4 times more expensive than an A2.
I am sure BD will still win, but I do not want to see this war prolonged much longer.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Seretur

Penton, thanks for the additional clarification!

I suppose the gist of my concern is contained in the last paragraph of your comment to Paidgeek's answer -- as I really wouldn't like digital colorists to run rampant with their ideas on how a film should look, as opposed to the palette and style created by the director and the DP. It's not a perfect world, of course, and it's not always possible to get the relevant input during the creation of the intermediate. And, of course, you seem to be fully aware of that.

Doyle also told me last year that Lady in the Water was the only time he had full control over the DI and the timing, and he seemed both very proud of his achievement there, and very grateful for the opportunity. This tells me that Hollywood is doing at least something right as opposed to the Southeast Asian cinema, where he usually works. So what I wonder is this: is there really a concentrated effort to get the relevant people to supervise the DI process on the part of the major studios, or is this still very much done on a case by case basis, depending on the relative power of the filmmakers in question?

The latter.
Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of gifted digital colorists in the business that are sincerely interested in creating imagery consistent with what the DP shot (Stephen Nakamura of Technicolor comes to mind )…… and if the DP works with directors like Steven Spielberg , he treats them fairly (i.e. compensation) so that the DP ends up working closely with the digital colorist throughout the entire process.

But in general, I would say there is a definite momentum in the industry to erode the significance of the DP in postproduction these days.

It indeed is a case by case scenario. I feel there needs to be a formalization of the role and compensation for the cinematographer in the digital intermediate process because not every project involves people like Stephen Nakamura or Steven Spielberg as controllers.

[Seretur]

I'm extremely happy you feel that way, Penton! Kudos!

Also, it's good to know that you're actually Thomas Pynchon.

[Lambchop]

I have never heard of 1.2 specs before today, reading it the article linked below:

http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/sh...n_the_Way/1140

Thank you in advance to any insider who could elaborate
Have a great weekend!

[blu2]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

LOL,
Paul, apparently I was typing the below while you were posting the above.
Great minds think alike ?

I know that like the Paramount deal, a three day fire sale won’t win the war for HD DVD (esp. when Wal*Mart buyers start comparing how much they will be spending on future HD DVD discs compared to the price of the player). If this latest HD DVD volley proves significant, it may extend the war (by possibly influencing WB)……….that’s all.

You note the possibility of this influencing WB, if significant.

Hopefully this is a worst case scenario of influencing to stay neutral, and pushing a decision on exclusivity out?

[Frode]

FYI, Spidey 3 sells for RM179 which is US$53.90. That's insane!

Funny, it costs the equivalent of $55.39 here, and some other discs are $66.69. What you have to remember is that the USD is at the lowest it has been in 40 years. The price discrepancy you're seeing is a result of that, and you can't really compare prices directly using exchange rates. Instead you have to compare to other similar products in your local market. BD and HD DVDs are more expensive than DVDs, but that also goes for the US.

I suggest you take advantage of the situation and start importing - who knows how long this economic situation is going to last.

[WickyWoo]

Funny, it costs the equivalent of $55.39 here, and some other discs are $66.69. What you have to remember is that the USD is at the lowest it has been in 40 years. The price discrepancy you're seeing is a result of that, and you can't really compare prices directly using exchange rates. Instead you have to compare to other similar products in your local market. BD and HD DVDs are more expensive than DVDs, but that also goes for the US.

Exactly. Retail prices are based on the cost of living, and how much people tend ot make in the geographic area, coupled with the number of units they're likely to sell

Since Malaysia currently is producing more bootleg DVD/CDs than any other country in Asia, I'd say your legit market is very small, hence the higher prices

[Dave J]

Originally Posted by Lambchop

I have never heard of 1.2 specs before today, reading it the article linked below:

http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/sh...n_the_Way/1140

Thank you in advance to any insider who could elaborate
Have a great weekend!

From Talkstr8t over on AVS...Click!