Archived: Insiders Thread

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Alan Gordon

First of all, thanks for the tidbit PM, but it made me think of another question, or perhaps a suggestion.

Have the BDA CE companies given any thought to do doing this after Christmas? If I remember correctly, the majority of sales for TVs occur right before the Superbowl, and it sure would be a great way to increase Blu-ray sales if you got a Blu-ray player with your big-screen HDTV during this time frame.

I’m not 100% sure but, I think the program may cover the Superbowl rush.

[Rob71]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

I’m not 100% sure but, I think the program may cover the Superbowl rush.

Damn, I may have to buy another TV.

[maximus2323]

Originally Posted by Rob71

Damn, I may have to buy another TV.

Me too...

[Jack Torrance]

Is there anything a film production should anticipate/prepare for during production for an eventual HD mastering/Blu-ray release?

Bit of an open question, but any info would be appreciated.

[kamiller42]

Paidgeek,

Please add my voice to the accolades Peter Dille and the rest of the Sony marketing team are receiving for these new outstanding PS3 commercials. Kudos to the ad agency too.

Please pass on my simple request. PLEASE, please publish the 60 second version to Playstation Network. I have see and hear it on my high def system.

[The Big Blue]

Agree with the psn idea. Because apparently that's the only way I'm going to be able to actually see them on my ps3.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Jack Torrance

Is there anything a film production should anticipate/prepare for during production for an eventual HD mastering/Blu-ray release?

Bit of an open question..............

Yes.
If the writers and the producers don’t reach some sort of common ground on Sunday (and I doubt that they will, as both appear entrenched in their respective positions)………paidgeek and I may well be forced to cross picket lines come Monday morning.

Something I never enjoy doing.

[Chris Beveridge]

What kind of tolerances are built into Blu-ray players in regards to handling peaks? An ongoing discussion at my site has some folks who release DVDs talking about how (since anime fans buy cheap, which means cheap players) they tend to limit their bitrates to around 8 mbps for video and then basic audio afterwards. the reason being that the cheap players like Apex and the like that flooded the market several years back can't handle the actual spec limits or even a few notches below that. So they're going for lowest common denominator.

I just finished watching Patlabor: WXIII from Bandai Visual Japan and, knowing that the PS3 bitrate meter isn't exactly precise, it has numerous peaks in the video to 42. The rest of the features are basically TrueHD 5.1 and 1.5 PCM stereo on a BD50. The Japanese have always tended to run with the bitrates high on DVD while using PCM audio so it isn't a surprise. But what are the chances that we'll see this happening again as time goes on where new cheaper players come out and studios start authoring to ensure compatability with garbage decks?

[Jack Torrance]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

Yes.
If the writers and the producers don’t reach some sort of common ground on Sunday (and I doubt that they will, as both appear entrenched in their respective positions)………paidgeek and I may well be forced to cross picket lines come Monday morning.

Something I never enjoy doing.

Sorry. It was an innocent question.

I hope my Guild does come to an arrangement, and hope they don't strike as threatened.

[gand41f]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

S.E. will be basically bundling a Blu-ray player with the purchase of some Bravia models for Xmas.

Now you tell me. I just purchased a 46XBR4 LCD based on Paidgeek's comments! Oh well. I have my PS3, not like I need another Blu-ray player anyway.

By the way, I tried the "Theater" mode that Paidgeek alluded to. It looks nice and indeed theater-y but it is a little too soft and warm for my taste. Maybe I need some time to "warm" up to the color temp.

thanks
gandalf

[ryoohki]

Originally Posted by Chris Beveridge

What kind of tolerances are built into Blu-ray players in regards to handling peaks? An ongoing discussion at my site has some folks who release DVDs talking about how (since anime fans buy cheap, which means cheap players) they tend to limit their bitrates to around 8 mbps for video and then basic audio afterwards. the reason being that the cheap players like Apex and the like that flooded the market several years back can't handle the actual spec limits or even a few notches below that. So they're going for lowest common denominator.

I just finished watching Patlabor: WXIII from Bandai Visual Japan and, knowing that the PS3 bitrate meter isn't exactly precise, it has numerous peaks in the video to 42. The rest of the features are basically TrueHD 5.1 and 1.5 PCM stereo on a BD50. The Japanese have always tended to run with the bitrates high on DVD while using PCM audio so it isn't a surprise. But what are the chances that we'll see this happening again as time goes on where new cheaper players come out and studios start authoring to ensure compatability with garbage decks?

Well i think the PS3 Bitrate meter is just averaging each 3 sec.. and predict a curve. Max video bitrate for BluRay (In spec) is 41mbits for video and 9 for audio. So 42 is impossible. it was probably 41 or near that and the PS3 hallucinated the Bitrate, i saw peak of 48 one time LOL!. the only actual real one that i saw were 28 weeks later and 28 days later since they are pretty much CBR (almost) and stay about 37mbits the whole time

[Blu Titan]

Originally Posted by LeoneFan

Of course the BDA isn't worried, they don't even seem to know there is a format war raging. Someone should let them in on the secret.

Everybody is entitled to their opinion, but you are really boring everybody with yours. 99% of your posts mirror you constant negativity. The insiders thread is for questions to people that have important knowledge to share with the rest of us. If you need to rant create a new thread somewhere else. I apologize to everyone else for this interuption on the ongoing discussions.

[gand41f]

Originally Posted by paidgeek

I would like to have your comments on "The Company". I think it is a great example of well-done digital cinematography.

Hi Paidgeek,

I just got my 46" XBR4 and one of the first discs I watched was The Company. Boy, was I in for a treat! It's indeed one of the best looking discs out there, without being too over-saturated or anything. The details I could see everywhere were amazing.

Also, I liked Sony's decision to split this into two discs. Using Warner-style low bitrate encodes you probably could have fit it into one 50GB disc, but by not doing that you showed you are not going to compromise quality for cost.

thanks
gandalf

[MerrickG]

Penton, Paidgeek or any insider,

Here is an interview with the Director of the BDA:

http://bigtech.blogs.fortune.cnn.com...-the-holidays/


I learned something that SHOCKED me:

Bluray players cost only a little more than HD-DVD players.

Is this true?

Overall, I felt it was very honest interview. He did acknowledge the concern associated with $99 HD-DVD players

[sahoward]

Paidgeek,

Just finished watching Arlington Road and boy did it look great in Blu. Made me wish for Mark Pellington's other Sony-owned thriller The Mothman Prophecies. I'm not sure how much demand there is for it but I'd appreciate it if you'd forward my interest in having it on Blu-ray disc to the appropriate parties. Thanks!

[PeterTHX]

Originally Posted by ryoohki

Well i think the PS3 Bitrate meter is just averaging each 3 sec.. and predict a curve. Max video bitrate for BluRay (In spec) is 41mbits for video and 9 for audio. So 42 is impossible. it was probably 41 or near that and the PS3 hallucinated the Bitrate, i saw peak of 48 one time LOL!. the only actual real one that i saw were 28 weeks later and 28 days later since they are pretty much CBR (almost) and stay about 37mbits the whole time

I believe the total available bitrate for Blu-ray Disc is 54Mbps.

I have a title with 5.1 24 bit 96kHz PCM of 13.8Mbps alone for audio.

[Mukha]

Originally Posted by paidgeek

"Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" is being planned for release next year.

I really don't like answering questions about planned titles or release schedules because it is not my area of responsibility and when titles or dates are announced and then move, it leads to disappointment. There really is no upside to giving early information here wouldn't you agree?

I am happy to discuss titles that have been announced or that I know soon will be, but I would be grateful if the members would please holdback on asking me about other titles. I think our marketing department is beginning to get annoyed with me.

I'll try to avoid asking questions about release schedules, is there somebody in marketing who is willing to tease us with whether titles are being worked on for release? Specific dates or timeframes aren't neccessary.

Taxi Driver is being planned for a release later this year, but be aware that it is grainy and that is exactly how the director wants it.

This is mostly good news, but it appears this title has been delayed to next year?

No, it is not scheduled for release this year.

How is the master quality? I was impressed with how clean the DVD release looked.

Other titles I'm interested in hearing about are Goodbye Lenin, Run Lola Run, The City of Lost Children, The Emperor and the Assassin.

I also have a few other requests. I noticed some amazing disc art now being used for US releases (also better cover art), however my Australian release copies of Fifth Element, Black Hawk Down and Casino Royale all use the same generic Blu-ray swoosh. Could we get some better art for our releases?

Could we get a more unified release schedule for titles that have the same distributor worldwide? For example, Australia appears to have the same distributor for Pan's Labyrinth as countries where it is currently available yet it doesn't appear to have been released here.

With the poor quality of some of the transfers, lacking features that should have been included such as lossless surround (for which we can expect to have to double dip in the future) and titles that are now being rereleased because of bad encodes/master quality, I'm worried in the future when smaller arthouse productions begin to release their titles. These smaller budget titles don't have the market size for special edition releases or to have remastered releases such as with The Fifth Element. What sort of help is the BDA or Sony providing to other studios? SPE have gone through such a leap in quality since BD25 MPEG2 releases that it must have some valuable lessons to provide based on the experience. Is there a style guide available apart from just the BD profile specifications? Recommended bitrate budgets, extras and sound inclusion? Do studios have to provide their own proprietary authoring tools? I'm just hoping to avoid a repeat of multiple DVD releases, or one off releases that are poorly done.

I imagine once BD hits mass market level penetration and production houses have greater deadline pressure for transfers, the capacity and bandwith advantage over HDDVD30 will really shine, as the extra size requires less tweaking. But guidelines I think are neccessary to take advantage of this extra space (a rushed BD25 release lacking lossless will not cut it).

How is the integration of BD-J features into authoring tools progressing? Are studios developing their own library of BD-J features for their own tools? Can you wow us with any features we can expect in upcoming titles? Perhaps use this as an opportunity to boast about features not possible in HDi?

[WriteSimply]

Originally Posted by kamiller42

Paidgeek,

Please add my voice to the accolades Peter Dille and the rest of the Sony marketing team are receiving for these new outstanding PS3 commercials. Kudos to the ad agency too.

Please pass on my simple request. PLEASE, please publish the 60 second version to Playstation Network. I have see and hear it on my high def system.

If you don't like the flash quality, click here for the 640x360 video in MOV format.

Originally Posted by Jack Torrance

Is there anything a film production should anticipate/prepare for during production for an eventual HD mastering/Blu-ray release?

Well from what little I know, the DP should be the be-all for the film so he should know everything about filming it.

A little story: a few local films here (Malaysia) have been edited in 1K res, with raw footage either from film or from HD cameras. HOWEVER, the 1K/DI-to-film 1.85 transfer was NOT done properly and instead when projected, it looked like a 1.78 film up there. The DP and the director should know this tech detail and I'm sure you guys over there won't screw this thing up.

Learn from the mistakes that Bryan Singer learnt during Superman Returns, in terms of using HD cameras. According to the story, the footage viewed from the HD monitor looked great but the camera was recording a completely different data. So the blacks wasn't all that black...

Apart from 1K/2K workflow, if you're planning to shoot behind-the-scenes footage and you want it to be in HD, make sure that department has HD cameras (preferably the same model) shooting at the same resolution 720p/1080i/p. Not only that, allocate time and budget for HD editing and HD encoding for BD.


fuad

[Bullseye]

Over the last couple of nights i have seen quite alot of Blu Ray and Playstation 3/Blu Ray adds. While this is most welcome unless you knew what BD was you might be confussed. Can the add guys simply make an add that the ordinary joe will understand. I am glad that they are at last putting the message out on the box but a little clarity is required IMO.

[jorg]

Originally Posted by PeterTHX

I believe the total available bitrate for Blu-ray Disc is 54Mbps.

I have a title with 5.1 24 bit 96kHz PCM of 13.8Mbps alone for audio.

actrualy it is only 48 for audio and video data 40 for video and 8 for audio