"Club Penton" - Ask questions to Hollywood insider "Penton-Man"

[Penton-Man]

People (including Stephen Nickerson) have asked many times who I am.

Let it be now known……..I am The Stig.
And it was me that gave driving lessons to Daniel Craig for the opening car chase scene in Quantum of Solace.

Non-believers can just e-mail Gary Powell for confirmation or call Everything Or Nothing at +44 207 493 7953 (in old England).........while you're at it, you can bug them about who has the inside shot at being the Director for the next Bond film.

[pro-bassoonist]

Originally Posted by Robert Harris

Modern 16mm elements, properly handled, can be wonderful mastering elements for video. The enemy is now, as it always has been...

dirt.

I'm looking forward to seeing P & P from A & E, and have it on order. They're a class act.

RAH

Hello Robert,

Yes, A&E are indeed a class act and, as Penton has mentioned, their efforts should be popularized and rewarded.

Sincerely,
Dr.A

[Grubert]

Originally Posted by 4K2K

Plus hasn't the Blu-ray encode been slowed down by 4.096% compared to the original filming rate and the original broadcast and PAL DVD? I don't have the DVD or Blu-ray it's just the principal of slowing down TV stuff when it goes onto Blu-ray that doesn't seem right, and won't this affect the pitch and tempo of the audio too?, and I don't see how that can be said to be transparent to the source - if the source is the original 16mm film, filmed at 25fps or the original intended broadcast speed.

I have both the PAL DVD and just received the UK Blu-ray of Pride and Prejudice.

It's very late here so I haven't been able to compare framing, but there is a definite runtime difference. Episode 1 on the PAL DVD is 53'19". Episode 1 on the Blu-ray is 55'42". Thus runtime has increased by 4 percent.

I started both discs at the same time on different machines and they quickly ran out of sync - the Blu-ray going cumulatively slower. (I don't know whether this was shot at 24 or 25 fps.)

Maybe after getting rid of PAL speedup, we are going to start worrying about NTSC slowdown...

[wallendo]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

I haven’t had the time to read and digest all the particulars but from what I gather, the CEC is floating the theory that their more stringent proposals will ‘encourage’ the development of more energy efficient televisions, whereas CEA claims effective realistic progress in this area is already being accomplished through the Energy Star government standards (guidelines set by the EPA and DOE).

This morning, from a staffer at the CEA……….
http://blog.ce.org/index.php/2009/03...ban-large-tvs/

One can download the actual CEC proposal itself if you click on http://www.energy.ca.gov/2008publica...008-028-SD.PDF

You can get a feeling for the meat of the matter and the mindset of the CEC, if you flip to page 12 of the report and read the ‘Stakeholder Comments’ – starting with the EPA’s warning to the California Energy Commission that as of Nov. 1, 2008, 73 percent of the TVs on the market would be banned in California by the proposed CEC rules.

And the PDC’s warning to the California Energy Commission that their proposal would be an "effective ban" on plasmas and believe that institution of the proposal would just produce a black market in other states for those big screen TV’s banned in California, in other words, people would still buy – just online, and have them shipped into the state. The downside to that would be you couldn’t really do any side-by-side comparison shopping for picture evaluation at your favorite local retailer as you can now.

I am not a constitutional lawyer (I'm not a lawyer period), but I wonder if such a regulation would be legal.

Since the airways belong to "the people" and the federal government regulates the airways (on the people's behalf), can a state restrict the rights of the people to watch over-the-air broadcasts?

[Jeff Kleist]

They can restrict the kinds of televisions that are for sale in their state, absolutely

[mark antony]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

Sorry Mark, I purposely avoid answering those types (i.e. 'when is') of questions.
Good try though.

Sorry Penton I didn't realise!

But let me re-phrase in broader terms...

...would the sales of "La Femme Nikita" to date make equally well-known / popular foreign titles more or less likely to appear over the next couple of years.

Ie are foreign titles a dead duck, as far as sales are concerned, like so many classic titles, or not?

Regards

M

[Dennis M]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

People (including Stephen Nickerson) have asked many times who I am.

Let it be now known……..I am The Stig.
And it was me that gave driving lessons to Daniel Craig for the opening car chase scene in Quantum of Solace.

Non-believers can just e-mail Gary Powell for confirmation or call Everything Or Nothing at +44 207 493 7953 (in old England).........while you're at it, you can bug them about who has the inside shot at being the Director for the next Bond film.

Well then Penton, your going to need one of these.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Top-Gear-Off...ef=pd_sim_ap_2

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Dennis M

Well then Penton, your going to need one of these.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Top-Gear-Off...ef=pd_sim_ap_2

lol, finally somebody knows and appreciates who the Stig is.
I see you're a new member, are you from the U.K., or just a race car fan?

[Penton-Man]

Hey, and please nobody call EON and bug them like I mentioned above in my April Fool's whimsical mood because that really is their phone number and they won't tell you diddley anyway about the next Bond flick.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by mark antony

Sorry Penton I didn't realise!

But let me re-phrase in broader terms...
...would the sales of "La Femme Nikita" to date make equally well-known / popular foreign titles more or less likely to appear over the next couple of years.

I would say neither.
La Femme Nikita has pretty much met sales expectations to date.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

I think that it was back in Jan. that the AP and Reuters both ran articles describing the proposed regulations of the California Energy Commission and their potential effect upon big screen TV purchasing in California, in the future.
I was reminded of this again this past week by an article in the Orange County Register, which by the way, at least has not shut down like so many other newspapers…..although it seems to be getting thinner and thinner on a weekly basis.

Anyway, this is the article, which seems to have drawn quite a bit of online comments……
http://taxdollars.freedomblogging.co...een-tvs/12993/

One item that the article ^ doesn’t mention is that next week the Consumer Electronics Association (some of you guys have attended their show over the years) is publishing its own study apparently proving that the California Energy Commission’s assumptions are completely inaccurate as to how the proposed new regulations would affect the sales of big screen televisions in Cali.

So, keep an eye out next week for the CEA’s report.

^
Well, it's now "next week" so, Thar she blows……………
http://www.ce.org/Press/CurrentNews/...l.asp?id=11710

[4K2K]

Although that's bad news, especially for Plasma, but also LCD in CA, and I read a similar thing a long time ago about Plasma TVs in Europe - if something like went ahead, even with less low-energy requirements, could this mean that we could see technologies like OLED or laser HDTVs sooner than we otherwise would?

[Dennis M]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

lol, finally somebody knows and appreciates who the Stig is.
I see you're a new member, are you from the U.K., or just a race car fan?

Actually I'm from Toronto, Canada. Been lurking here for some time.
Big racing fan, and Top Gear nerd.
Since you've come out and acknowledged that you are the Stig, all my theories have gone out the window. I always thought Louis was the Stig.
My two fav eps are the ones of the Bugatti top speed test and the BMW M3 CSL on the Isle of Man.
Tell me you did not enjoy seeing Jensen and Team Brawn placing 1 & 2, in Australia, this past weekend.

As much as I'm a racing nerd, it pales in comparison to my HT addiction.

But right now I'd like to say thank you to you for all your input here. It's really nice to see this level of involvement.

Now back to the regularly scheduled program.

I apologize guys for take this thread so far off track.

Cheers

[Doctorossi]

Originally Posted by Dennis M

I apologize guys for take this thread so far off track.

As well you should! How are we supposed to talk about MotoGP with all this 4-wheel crap in the way?!

[Penton-Man]

Dennis, blame your fellow Torontorian because he put it in my mind with this line……

Originally Posted by sharkshark

So, changing gears...

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

I would say neither.
La Femme Nikita has pretty much met sales expectations to date.

Hey, that reminds me, I have a pristine copy of La Femme Nikita in my office, in other words, viewed only once for Q/C purposes, so it’s essentially new.

Speak up people, if there is more than one member here that would like to vie for getting this freebie sent to them from moi. If there are a few of you that show online interest, then I’ll think of a question to pose for the worthy winner to answer and do the contest thing sometime probably next week. It may or may not have anything whatsoever to do this particular film……..and knowing me, probably the later.

So anyway, is anybody interested in La Femme Nikita?
Offer only applicable to those residing in Les États-Unis but, you will not be required to know any French to answer the question………just have cajones.

[Penton-Man]

Mr. Nickerson, take this…………….
https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=2559

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Dennis M

Actually I'm from Toronto, Canada. Been lurking here for some time.
Big racing fan, and Top Gear nerd.
I apologize guys for take this thread so far off track.

Cheers

Back on track……………
http://www.motortrend.com/features/c...tor/index.html

[Dennis M]

Doctorossi, don't get me wrong I like anything on wheels that has an engine.
But when I'm going through the apex I like having four wheels.

[PeterTHX]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

So anyway, is anybody interested in La Femme Nikita?
Offer only applicable to those residing in Les États-Unis but, you will not be required to know any French to answer the question………just have cajones.

I'm wouldn't mind having it, not at all.