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

[SquidPuppet]

Originally Posted by wallendo

I was concerned about the "Bruno on 3D" part until I read the rest of the article. Some movies should just be left as they are. The possibilities of a Sacha Baron Cohen 3-D movie are frightening. I'm afraid of what might be coming our of the screen toward the audience.

Indeed.

[Penton-Man]

Squid, nothing like using my thread as a bully pulpit to advance your cause (I notice you’ve recently (today?) changed your sig).

And I'm not saying that anything needs to be fixed or not, as I have not seen the Blu-ray in question but, if you desire to be completely accurate, it really should read something like….Uni, please help Para fix thee ancient General.

[coolmilo]

Hey Penton, how does my sig look?

Seriously, if the decision makers decide to re-master Gladiator, will it be extra tricky because there are two studios involved?

[FourToedStatue]

Hey PM,


You may have missed it before but um what would have to happen for Sony to fall back in love with releasing more tv shows on Blu ray? While disappointing I understand not releasing catalog tv shows(since they're more expensive and less likely to yield returns) but not getting new releases like Damages season 2 in HD is a real bummer.

[Oliver K]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

Squid, nothing like using my thread as a bully pulpit to advance your cause (I notice you’ve recently (today?) changed your sig).

And I'm not saying that anything needs to be fixed or not, as I have not seen the Blu-ray in question but, if you desire to be completely accurate, it really should read something like….Uni, please help Para fix thee ancient General.

Very true, this was a joint affort.

I finally got around to to peek into Bravheart and Gladiator yesterday and indeed Gladiator is sometimes sharpened to embarassing proportions - some of the scenes in the arena look downright ridiculous.

Braveheart on the other hand looks so magnificently natural that I had to stop myself or I would have sat through the whole movie when I really had to go to sleep - what a stunning Blu-Ray !

I hear that Paramount has been working on The Ten Commandments for some time and after seeing first Primal Fear and now Braveheart I am happy to see that they CAN do very good catalog releases and I hope we will see more of this kind of quality in the future.

[DenonCI]

Originally Posted by Oliver K

Very true, this was a joint affort.

I finally got around to to peek into Bravheart and Gladiator yesterday and indeed Gladiator is sometimes sharpened to embarassing proportions - some of the scenes in the arena look downright ridiculous.

Braveheart on the other hand looks so magnificently natural that I had to stop myself or I would have sat through the whole movie when I really had to go to sleep - what a stunning Blu-Ray !

I hear that Paramount has been working on The Ten Commandments for some time and after seeing first Primal Fear and now Braveheart I am happy to see that they CAN do very good catalog releases and I hope we will see more of this kind of quality in the future.

I agree completely. I A/B'd Gladiator versus the first DVD release and at times, the differences weren't all that big, although the Blu-ray obviously looked much better for fine detail and color saturation. Sadly, the digital processing of added edge enhancement ruined any of the longer shots. I personally didn't notice heavy-handed DNR (as bad as some Warner titles), but compared to Braveheart, Universal should be embarrassed. (as should Paramount, since its name is on the title for the US.)

[cjamescook]

Originally Posted by Alan Gordon

Sadly, I missed MCV for $10.99 ...
... "Star Trek: The Original Series: Season One" for $64.99, some recent WBShop deals where I ended up getting a lot of Blu-ray titles for $4 each, "Rome: The Complete Series" for $60+, and all of WB's recent/upcoming TV releases for prices cheaper than most retailers are selling the DVD for are definitely among the best deals I've gotten this year, and it's only September!

~Alan

If you can tell us how to get ST: TOS Season 2 for the same $65 as Season 1 - then you're talking.

[syncguy]

Originally Posted by DenonCI

I agree completely. I A/B'd Gladiator versus the first DVD release and at times, the differences weren't all that big, although the Blu-ray obviously looked much better for fine detail and color saturation. Sadly, the digital processing of added edge enhancement ruined any of the longer shots. I personally didn't notice heavy-handed DNR (as bad as some Warner titles), but compared to Braveheart, Universal should be embarrassed. (as should Paramount, since its name is on the title for the US.)

Isn't it a good time to push for an industry wide de facto guidelines for blu-ray production including a solid QC framework? A significant level of work will be involved in this including development of requirements, specs and obtaining agreements. Why not take this as an opportunity to achieve something big...

It will be a big win for the industry and consumers.

[Alan Gordon]

Originally Posted by cjamescook

If you can tell us how to get ST: TOS Season 2 for the same $65 as Season 1 - then you're talking.

Best Buy had it for $64.99 last time, and Amazon price matched it. Let's wait and see what Best Buy has it for this time around...

~Alan

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by coolmilo

Hey Penton, how does my sig look?

Seriously, if the decision makers decide to re-master Gladiator, will it be extra tricky because there are two studios involved?

There once was this martial arts Blu-ray of flying daggers and such.
The “major” studio was hamstrung regarding the Blu-ray quality because it was totally reliant upon the HD master provided by the Asian studio.

It was either accept that master, or people would get no Blu-ray edition of the title at all.
The “major” studio ultimately ended up being racked over the coals by all but fans of the film for the picture quality.

I’m not saying that the same thing is applicable here, but yes, whenever two parties are involved it complicates matters.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by FourToedStatue

Hey PM,

You may have missed it before but um what would have to happen for Sony to fall back in love with releasing....

Love alone doesn’t pay the bills.

[sharkshark]

Hrm, an interesting point:
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blog...greenwood.html

I'm all for -more- quality, higher specs, but his point about, well, losing the forest for the trees, as it were, stands. In a world where music (and, seemingly, movies) become mere commodity, where worries about specifications and format delivery trumps the content itself, it can lead down dangerous paths.

I'm as compulsive a collector as the next person, and care deeply about sound quality, but I'm equally well aware that the need for every film to receive BD treatment is not necessary (DVD would serve well enough), that bitrate or screenshot analysis often mistakes whether or not the film is of value regardless, and that as a hobby we often fall for stats over substance.

But, yeah. Go, Johnny, go.

[DenonCI]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

There once was this martial arts Blu-ray of flying daggers and such.
The “major” studio was hamstrung regarding the Blu-ray quality because it was totally reliant upon the HD master provided by the Asian studio.

It was either accept that master, or people would get no Blu-ray edition of the title at all.
The “major” studio ultimately ended up being racked over the coals by all but fans of the film for the picture quality.

I’m not saying that the same thing is applicable here, but yes, whenever two parties are involved it complicates matters.

True...Paramount shouldn't shoulder the blame just like Sony shouldn't for House of Flying Artifacts...oops, I mean Daggers

Where Paramount went wrong was to put the title under its Sapphire Series...that's a marketing blunder IMO.

[FourToedStatue]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

Love alone doesn’t pay the bills.

I proposed this to Jeff a few weeks back. I said that people were willing to pay premium prices for The X-files when it debuted on DVD. Eventually prices came down as sales and the customer base grew. Would Sony opposed to limiting the quantities of certain tv shows and premium pricing them as alternative to getting now release?

I'm just throwing it out there

[Jeff Kleist]

I proposed this to Jeff a few weeks back. I said that people were willing to pay premium prices for The X-files when it debuted on DVD. Eventually prices came down as sales and the customer base grew. Would Sony opposed to limiting the quantities of certain tv shows and premium pricing them as alternative to getting now release?

We live in a very different world now. A world where TV season releases is the norm instead of a blessed miracle event As Fox and Disney found out, $99+ is not a price point where people will buy, even on sale.

[Alan Gordon]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

We live in a very different world now. A world where TV season releases is the norm instead of a blessed miracle event As Fox and Disney found out, $99+ is not a price point where people will buy, even on sale.

Jeff,

With TV titles like "24", "True Blood", "Weeds", "Pushing Daisies", "Mad Men", "Battlestar Galactica", "Dollhouse", and "Smallville" along with catalog releases of "Lost" getting better sales, and some of them making the top ten titles of the week sold, and more on the way, aren't we getting to the point where TV releases on Blu-ray are starting to take off? For example:

1st number is the number in which it made the top ten. Percentage number is how much it sold compared to the DVD.

9: "24: The Complete Season Seven" - 15% Blu-ray
6: "True Blood: The Complete First Season" - 14% Blu-ray
3: "Weeds: Season Four" - 17% Blu-ray
7: "Lost: The Complete First Season"
3: "Mad Men: The Complete Second Season" - 22% Blu-ray
x: "Pushing Daisies: The Complete Second Season" - 14% Blu-ray
9: "Battlestar Galactica: The Complete Series"
x: "Battlestar Galactica: Season 4.5" - 8% Blu-ray
x: "Torchwood: Children Of Earth" -- 23% Blu-ray
x: "Dollhouse: Season One" - 20% Blu-ray
x: "Dexter: The Complete Third Season" - 7% Blu-ray
8: "Sons Of Anarchy: Season One" - 13% Blu-ray
3: "Smallville: The Complete Eighth Season" -- 11% Blu-ray

Note: "True Blood" was released on May 19, 2009 and made the Top Ten at #6 with 14% of sales being Blu-ray, but it again made an appearance in the Top Ten the week of August 17-23 at #9.

Granted, the sets/series with 10- numbers aren't that impressive, BUT some of the series in the teens beat out (percentage wise) some of the higher numbered releases that week.

~Alan<~~~~~~~~~~Disappointed in not knowing the numbers for "Burn Notice" and "Lie To Me"...

[Jeff Kleist]

Starting to yet, but not even close for the midline stuff like most of the Sony titles like Rescue Me or Damages. Check out the numbers on those . If you check out the patterns in those ones you just listed, all of them are major geek(Dexter), Sci-FI/Fantasy(Lost) or Action (24) shows. The Lionsgate stuff is far cheaper (and more importantly for the economics have 13 ep or less seasons). With a realistic $20 price difference between the two platforms, and the 3x easy (probably more) additional cost of production (obviously Sony's economics are different since they're in-house), they're not making it back. Sony doesn't have those type of titles to sell that are new and shiny.

I don't think we have the volume for 98% of dramas for another year or so yet.

They should still do Breaking Bad, even if it's at a loss tho

[Kris Deering]

Any word on whether the second season of Damages will makes it way to Blu soon? My wife and I loved the first season and she has been on me about when the second season is coming out!!

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

They should still do Breaking Bad, even if it's at a loss tho

Geez Jeff, I got the message back in April………
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread...ng#post1811326

and there has been no interval change since this response to you…..
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread...ng#post1837554

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by DenonCI

True...Paramount shouldn't shoulder the blame just like Sony shouldn't for House of Flying Artifacts...oops, I mean Daggers

Where Paramount went wrong was to put the title under its Sapphire Series...that's a marketing blunder IMO.

Well, I’ll tell you right now that if this movie
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104346/

ever makes it to Blu-ray in the near future, you can be damn sure it will not be part of any Ruby or Emerald Edition or any other gem stone designated series.

In fact, we may just throw a brown paper bag over the Blu-ray edition of LoA and write with black Sharpie ink on the recyclable bag…….”An old desert movie with Brits in it”.