Archived: Insiders Thread

[blublublu]

Insiders:

- When will Sony provide a timeline for availability of the BD1.1 profile on the PS3?

- Are there any releases currently in development that utilize the BD1.1 profile?

[BOSS10L]

Insiders - I did a search, couldn't find the answers, I apologize if these have already been asked/answered. I just have 2 questions:

1) Is the PS3 capable of passing on advanced audio codecs (TruHD/Master Audio) via HDMI?

2) If the answer to 1 is yes, when might we see a firmware update that will address this?

I'm just debating if I should spend the money now on a new Onkyo AVR with HDMI 1.3, or wait and spend the money on a standalone BD player that does advanced audio.

[Chris Beveridge]

Paidgeek,

Having finished testing the update for the PS3 that came out, I can safely say that this is the best player I've had in my life. I bought into DVD back with the S-3000 in late 1997 (built tough! I loved it!) and have bought well over twenty players in the last ten years across multiple viewing platforms.

The PS3 quite simply represents 90% of my vision of a true media center in terms of convergence. If it actually doubled as my HD DVR that I have from Comcast I'd have it complete. Barring that however, I am beyond pleased. So much so that a second one will be picked up in the coming weeks to place two players in my office theater.

[ps3andlovinit]

Originally Posted by Chris Beveridge

Paidgeek,

Having finished testing the update for the PS3 that came out, I can safely say that this is the best player I've had in my life. I bought into DVD back with the S-3000 in late 1997 (built tough! I loved it!) and have bought well over twenty players in the last ten years across multiple viewing platforms.

The PS3 quite simply represents 90% of my vision of a true media center in terms of convergence. If it actually doubled as my HD DVR that I have from Comcast I'd have it complete. Barring that however, I am beyond pleased. So much so that a second one will be picked up in the coming weeks to place two players in my office theater.

I think we are going to see many people picking up multiple PS3's - one just isn't enough to go around

[Nick Graham]

Penton - what would be the best way to go about making Sony aware of/getting them to fix the HDMI audio handshake issue with the Onkyo 604 receiver? I was pretty much just gonna ditch my PS3 when the new Panny player came, but the new firmware update makes me think they are looking specifically to add things/fix things that enthusiasts want, and with that being the case I'd rather keep the PS3 (especially if DTS-MA decoding is added). Paidgeek seemed to have somewhat of an inside track on contacting the group responsible, but he has been MIA from AVS lately.

[Jazar]

What happened to Talkstr8t? He dissapeared from the internet.

[JTK]

Originally Posted by Jazar

What happened to Talkstr8t? He dissapeared from the internet.

I feel the entire crew has been missing for a little while: Penton and especially paidgeek and Talkstr8t. I hope all is well.

[Nick Graham]

Penton pops up in other threads, but paidgeek vanished, as did Talkstr8. The MS guys other than Amir answer quite a few technical questions (and are quite professional about it), and Amir is of course still there, but that be about it in regards to the original crew of insiders. I honestly think the whole Insiders aspect only helped build the mess that AVS has become, especially in the beginning. Stuff like the little tiffs between Amir and Talkstr8 only encouraged the fanboys on both sides to keep firing.

[4K display]

Originally Posted by Nick Graham

Penton pops up in other threads, but paidgeek vanished, as did Talkstr8. The MS guys other than Amir answer quite a few technical questions (and are quite professional about it), and Amir is of course still there, but that be about it in regards to the original crew of insiders. I honestly think the whole Insiders aspect only helped build the mess that AVS has become, especially in the beginning. Stuff like the little tiffs between Amir and Talkstr8 only encouraged the fanboys on both sides to keep firing.

The A-man has had little tiffs with almost every insider there, including Richard Doherty before he was assimilated...

[4K display]

paidgeek,

Has there been any communication between SPE and Spielberg on the eventual release of Close Encounters of the Third Kind? Is he interested in some form of participation with the BD, or will it be strictly a SPE release?

Also, have you had a chance to view the MIB(both) masters and when can we expect( best guesstimate) to see them on BD?

[paidgeek]

Originally Posted by WriteSimply

To the insiders particularly the studio insiders:

What could be the cost benefit of lowering the price of BDs to DVD levels right now? Would that take too much out of the budget? Would it put too much strain on the replicators?

*puts three bucks in*


fuad

Apologies for not being posting too much lately. I have not had much time to spend online...

I don't really think that pricing is much of a barrier for a potential BD customer. An awareness of the picture available from these discs seems to be the bigger issue.

Frankly I was surprised that both formats brought the pricing in as low as it is. There is virtually no chance of selling these films again on the basis of improving picture or sound and I think having such a close copy of the master elements should command a better price.

[paidgeek]

Originally Posted by Frode

paid, I see Paprika's being released by Columbia Tristar in June in France with English subtitles - do you know if that's going to be region coded?

http://www.dvdfr.com/dvd/f150214_paprika_blu-ray.html

Not sure you'd have any contacts over in Europe, but I figured I might as well ask.

Sorry for making you wait for this:

1.85, 16 x 9 Anamorphic Widescreen
Region Code - A,B,C
BD50
Runtime - 90:26
MPEG2 Codec
Original Language - Japanese
Includes Uncompressed Japanese Audio

[paidgeek]

Originally Posted by Neftoon

I have a question for paidgeek, in australia Buena Vista is releasing Starship Troopers on Blu-ray Sony was the distributer in the states, Would sony have done the encode for this release or would buena vista have acquired their own encode from another source?

We have not finished preparing the master for this title, so if it is coming out soon in Australia, it must be from an exisiting master and encoded at another facility.

[paidgeek]

Originally Posted by LeoneFan

This is for all you insiders; I don't know if you can share with us but do you have any inside information on where Paramount stands? I mean, they have displayed distaste over this format war before, is there any chance they might go Blu-ray exclusive any time this year?

I am not expecting any big announcements from Paramount regarding changing policy on HD packaged media..., but we do talk...

[paidgeek]

Originally Posted by Razter

I have seen some discussions about Blu-ray having a buffer that can take the video bitrate up a little over 40mbps, if this is true, how far up can it go?

The format limits the maximum bitrate to 40mbps for any coded video. If the bitrates bounce higher, it is caused by the algorithm used to measure them.

[paidgeek]

Originally Posted by blublublu

Insiders:

- When will Sony provide a timeline for availability of the BD1.1 profile on the PS3?

- Are there any releases currently in development that utilize the BD1.1 profile?

We are creating test materials in order check the players. I can't comment on when Sony Computer will release an update with profile 1.1 support, but as you can see from the latest firmware release, they are making things happen over there...

[paidgeek]

Originally Posted by BOSS10L

Insiders - I did a search, couldn't find the answers, I apologize if these have already been asked/answered. I just have 2 questions:

1) Is the PS3 capable of passing on advanced audio codecs (TruHD/Master Audio) via HDMI?

2) If the answer to 1 is yes, when might we see a firmware update that will address this?

I'm just debating if I should spend the money now on a new Onkyo AVR with HDMI 1.3, or wait and spend the money on a standalone BD player that does advanced audio.

I don't know if it is possible to update a PS3 to passed compressed lossless audio, but this is not the direction that Sony Computer has chosen to follow. It is more effective to decode in the player and transmit LPCM to handle mixed audio functions.

[paidgeek]

Originally Posted by Chris Beveridge

Paidgeek,

Having finished testing the update for the PS3 that came out, I can safely say that this is the best player I've had in my life. I bought into DVD back with the S-3000 in late 1997 (built tough! I loved it!) and have bought well over twenty players in the last ten years across multiple viewing platforms.

The PS3 quite simply represents 90% of my vision of a true media center in terms of convergence. If it actually doubled as my HD DVR that I have from Comcast I'd have it complete. Barring that however, I am beyond pleased. So much so that a second one will be picked up in the coming weeks to place two players in my office theater.

I'm glad you are a happy customer. Few persons would want to open the cases on one of these units, but I can tell you they are a work of art inside and out...

[paidgeek]

Originally Posted by Nick Graham

Penton pops up in other threads, but paidgeek vanished, as did Talkstr8. The MS guys other than Amir answer quite a few technical questions (and are quite professional about it), and Amir is of course still there, but that be about it in regards to the original crew of insiders. I honestly think the whole Insiders aspect only helped build the mess that AVS has become, especially in the beginning. Stuff like the little tiffs between Amir and Talkstr8 only encouraged the fanboys on both sides to keep firing.

We are all still around, it's just the busy season for meetings and vacations...

[paidgeek]

Originally Posted by 4K display

paidgeek,

Has there been any communication between SPE and Spielberg on the eventual release of Close Encounters of the Third Kind? Is he interested in some form of participation with the BD, or will it be strictly a SPE release?

Also, have you had a chance to view the MIB(both) masters and when can we expect( best guesstimate) to see them on BD?

About all I can say to your first question is yes....

I have seen the masters for MIB and they are solid, but these titles are not on the calendar yet.