Archived: Ask the Insiders: Judgment Day Edition

[BillCable]

Maybe we need to start a sticky "Insiders Chat" thread - an unmoderated thread where Insiders can come and play, members can converse and joke with them, and where all the non-question posts that clutter this thread can get moved. I enjoy both the banter and the insider info, and I'd hate to see either diminish. I think that might be a good way to allow both to thrive.

[mykevermin]

Originally Posted by BillCable

I enjoy both the banter and the insider info, and I'd hate to see either diminish. I think that might be a good way to allow both to thrive.

Indeed. It's quite nice to have insiders here (and I got a chuckle out of reading a few HDD threads yesterday slandering Penton as a know-nothing and not-an-insider at all, yet what was published today about Christopher Cookson? ) - but at the same time, it's a nuisance to have to trudge through Amir-sucks this and flirtatiousness that to find out relevant, *insider* information.

The price we pay, perhaps?

[Thegide]

Originally Posted by frank_t

agreed. if you can't spot a difference then something is wrong.

upconvert is a load of crap.

Even with upconverting, DVDs still look like they've been under a smoothing filter. Lines just aren't sharp, period.

[kjack]

Originally Posted by Frode

If you do a search through this thread, David Boulet recently posted a question about the PS3's handling of 1.1 content - do the players you've tested on do the same thing? Any idea if this problem is title specific?

The BD players we tested were Profile 1.0 players, so the PIP stream was not accessible as PIP.

I believe the authoring guidelines are being tweaked to reduce the possibility of the issue David Boulet brought up. From what I recall, it's only an issue when PCM audio data is used.

[kjack]

Originally Posted by Alan Gordon

Though I tried to cancel my order before it shipped, I was too late, and I received some Blu-ray movies today (including "War"). I am assuming this is the title you are referring to (considering it was released one day earlier that RE3)?

Oh, I didn't now about this one...need to get it also...

Just out of curiosity, did everyone break up into groups to watch the film on different players, or did you watch the film multiple times in a group, or did you just try watching small parts of the film on each individual player?

I just handed some of the discs to our QA department, told them to test it on all the BD players in the lab, and let me know the results. An error due to PIP would be pretty obvious...

[darkedgex]

Originally Posted by DaViD Boulet

I checked out the PIP (profile 1.1) on the new Resident Evil Extinction BD using the PS3's latest firmware profile 1.1 update. I noticed that every time the PIP window appeared, the audio dropped out temporarily while the new audio stream was accessed.

Not an insider, but I'm positive I know what your problem is: you have audio out on your PS3 over HDMI or SPDIF set to Bitstream instead of Linear PCM. Go to your settings and change it to Linear PCM and it should work fine (it does for me, there's no audio drop outs).

[spicynacho]

Originally Posted by kjack

Well, we just tried the first commercially released Profile 1.1 movie in all the BD players that use our chip....

They all played the main movie just fine without the crashing, lock-ups, turning to bricks, etc. that a few folks predicted would happen....

Did you keep the fire extinguisher at the ready, just in case? JK

Seriously though, we all know that the PS3 bit rate meter is not the best measure of errr... bit rate. Do you have better equiptment that you could test the Shoot 'em Up BD to see if it peeks above HD DVD's bandwidth? Max power was going to look into it but I doubt we will be hearing from him.

[Uxi]

Originally Posted by kjack

Well, we just tried the first commercially released Profile 1.1 movie in all the BD players that use our chip....

They all played the main movie just fine without the crashing, lock-ups, turning to bricks, etc. that a few folks predicted would happen....

Excellent. But then they've ignored your long time posts on the reference platform that was developed.

Any hints when we can see 2.0? Is the chipset at all different or it's just the additional storage and web connectivity?

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by JasonS

Penton, or any other insider, I seen this link: http://www.thedigitalbits.com/articl...ial010108.html posted on The Digital Bits earlier.

Is this what you were referring to about shifts from retailers? This seems to paint a very Blu picture in the very near future...

Yes.
The author is a very astute fellow.
I’m not familiar with him but, Bill Hunt is lucky to have him as a contributor.

Read it………everyone.

[Merlins]

Originally Posted by Talkstr8t

Hi, Folks,
I haven't been around here for awhile due to other demands on my time. It's amazing how much productivity moving to a new house can suck up, not to mention the (ultimately joyful) task of selecting and assembling a "proper" home theater and (probably the most difficult task) ensuring Wifey can operate it sufficiently well to not get frustrated and ban me from enhancing it further! At any rate I'll try to stop in more regularly here; if there are any really egregious posts at HDD point them out and I'll go do what I can...

- Talk

I think its only Amir, HDNow/RDJam and Dave V. (together with some other red blinded followers) that tries to turn HDD into AVS #2 now. Dave tries to use leaked information of Nielsen to get credit and become trustworthy, Amir uses the "former MS Insider"-tag and HD-Now post whatever comes into his mind not minding being smacked down hard repeatedly...

The blinded followers thinks all three of them are real insiders even if none of them are. However, Daves words are only believed then he does not talk about the latest ratios but only then he tries to say that Warner titles sell 50/50 between HD-DVD and Blu-ray or even better on HD-DVD. Titles like 300 are not allowed into the discussion...

[MarekM]

little bit of topic, question for paidgeek (or any other who can compare those two releases):

are audio and subtitle specs for Monty Python's Life Of Brian US and UK edition same ? (dolbytrueHD,and if US edition have czech subtitles)
what is more in US 2 disc edition compare to 1 disc UK edition ?

thank you,
and happy new year to all

Marek

[elwaylite]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

Yes.
The author is a very astute fellow.
I’m not familiar with him but, Bill Hunt is lucky to have him as a contributor.

Read it………everyone.

Sounds like a positive hint to me.

[GregBlu5]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

Yes.
The author is a very astute fellow.
I’m not familiar with him but, Bill Hunt is lucky to have him as a contributor.

Read it………everyone.

Thanks for the recommendation. I read it with complete enjoyment. It is, as you pointed out, a remarkably astute article. It brought to mind what happened to retail Laserdisc (and even VHS) in the late 90's when DVD started to quickly take over from both of those formats, even though one was always a niche and the other had been widely adopted.

As for Blu, when Blockbuster made its choice known a few months ago, and all of us here then saw the increase in Blu space vs Red space in retail outlets such as BB, CC, and Target in more recent months, the format war was already being decided, and won, by Blu--where it counted. We're just playing out the string at this stage--though I'm certain that our many Blu purchases added a necessary emphasis to which format would more quickly succeed in the end.

-Greg

[camper]

Originally Posted by LynxFX

At this point, probably none. If the war concludes and HDM continues to slowly gain traction in the mainstream then there will come a point when it will be profitable for small groups to put out titles. DVD wasn't always profitable either but it just became so darn cheap to produce. Plus you'll have a whole new generation of consumers that might not have a DVD collection already that is 'good enough' for them. It is just going to take time.

I have all three Lord of the Rings Extended Editions, the Aliens Quadrilogy, Indiana Jones Trilogy, and all the Star Wars movies.

What would the studios have to do in order to get me to rebuy what I already have?

Release on Blu Ray.

I highly doubt studios will need to ever re-release catalog titles like "Elmo's Adventures in Grouchland" or "Gigli" on HD medium, but there will always be a profit from those who care and are willing to buy the cleaned up version.

Remember, there are a LOT of people buying HDTV's now, and a lot more HD programming being introduced. Dish Network provides me both the SD and HD version of Discovery Channel, and I don't watch anything but the HD version. The difference is palpable, and if I didn't have an HDTV I wouldn't care. Once the general consumer population gets on the Blu Ray Bandwagon and sees the difference for themselves, they'll demand titles on Blu just like they demanded titles on DVD.

Especially if a studio takes the time with an older film to give the best picture quality possible, like they did with 2001 Space Odessey or Blade Runner. They port a title over in standard definition-like quality like the first Full Metal Jacket, then they will kill the market for HDM faster than this war.

There will always be people who will be happy with a specific movie on standard DVD, and will never upgrade it. But there are those who would replace a good chunk of their SD collection in High Def. I've got over 1000 SD DVD's, and there are 400+ titles that I would rebuy on Blu without ever batting an eye - all of them catalog films.

~Camper

[dobyblue]

Originally Posted by merrick97

This is a good point, because unlike VHS dvd doesnt degrade and this gives people one less reason to make the jump.
HDM has no chance of being as successful as DVD. It was the perfect format at the perfect time. HDM is more evolutionary to DVD, while DVD was revolutionary to VHS.

John Lasseter, director of Cars and Pixar's brainchild, would disagree with that statement.

http://www.soundandvisionmag.com/fea...s-anatomy.html

[dobyblue]

Originally Posted by kjack

Well, we just tried the first commercially released Profile 1.1 movie in all the BD players that use our chip....

They all played the main movie just fine without the crashing, lock-ups, turning to bricks, etc. that a few folks predicted would happen....

Classic, classic stuff.

This quote needs to be posted on High Def Digest and AVS. Keith you are right, I have seen so many posts stating how any of the 1.0 players could brick at any time with 1.1 discs!



Thank you kind sir for being here.

[dobyblue]

Originally Posted by WriteSimply

paidgeek, why wasn't this a day and date release like Shakira's BD?
Was it because the source video is not in HD or SonyBMG did not have the time to encode in HD? *puts US$5 in the coffer*
fuad

I was wondering the same thing about the recent release of "Live at Piedmont Park - Dave Matthews Band" on DVD and CD only, especially after the excellent Dave and Tim release.

[Grubert]

Originally Posted by Maxpower1987

Got a very angry e-mail this morning (still can't actually go into work, the Tube isn't the most forgiving place for people on crutches) from the boss-man. The stuff I said about Amir was out of line, and I realise that now, so I apologise to him and anyone else who may have been effected by it.

The consequences of my little stint on AVS have been made perfectly clear, I will no longer be allowed to post there until further notice and I will be serving a two day posting ban over here imposed by work.

I suppose all actions have their consequences...

Sorry to hear that, max. Patience!

I find it disturbing that HD insiders have so much clout over BD insiders, when the opposite is obviously not the case.

[Mr_Bester]

Insiders,
Is there any chance the BDA would consider going directly to Toshiba? If they would stop making players, the format war would end faster than if Warner or another studio switches.

[Blu Titan]

Originally Posted by Mr_Bester

Insiders,
Is there any chance the BDA would consider going directly to Toshiba? If they would stop making players, the format war would end faster than if Warner or another studio switches.