Archived: Insiders Thread

[JadedRaverLA]

Originally Posted by Papi4baby

Hey juanleche John Milk in spanish aasdlkfjdf oiuroweir uoiuoiu freaking later. I thought this was fix a couple of firmwares ago. Is been and issue since the begining. From what i understand check your setting on the most current FW, i think they made it so 720P games get upcoverted to 1080i just like DVD's.

PS3 games never get scaled from 720p in the system to 1080i or 1080p. What Sony did quite awhile ago, was add support for 1080 resolutions such as 1440x1080 and 960x1080, which can be used to create 1080i/p output without straining the system much more than 720p does. It's still up to the game developers to put the proper support into each game.

Edit: To Paidgeek --

Is there any way you can pass on a request to the PS3 team? Games such as Rainbow 6: Vegas that use these kinds of "tricks" (or maybe they used a different trick on that title, I'm not sure) to create a 1080 output may work well for 1080i set owners, but for those with true 1080p sets the quality is terrible, and the only way to get decent quality output is to go into the system settings everytime you play the game and deselect 1080p and 1080i as supported resolutions, thus forcing the game into its native 720p mode. Can they not set the system to default to a games ideal resolution (ie. only using 1080p on games where it's full resolution, and using 720p otherwise) or allowing for resolution settings to be saved for specific titles? Thanks in advance.

[ACD]

Paidgeek,

Thanks for all the information you have supplied concerning Blu-ray and the PS3. I've noticed sometimes you pass on suggestions for the PS3. I had one small request and I thought I would ask about it even through it's not really Blu-ray related.

I often transport my PS3 to different locations that have different wireless networks. The PS3 makes me enter in the network information each time. I think it would be handy to be able to save that data, like the PSP does.

If this is inappropriate to ask through this forum I understand.

Thanks!
-ACD

[mdm1699]

I am not into gaming. I like to browse the forums. The questions that arise about the PS3 and Blu-Ray makes me realize just how much of a technological leap they are. Everyone wants something more added. It is a constant. Man did Sony raise the bar!

[Mr_Bester]

Paidgeek,
Another PS3 request...allow 1280x1080 mpeg2 playback. I have a lot of archived HD Lite from my Tivo that I'd like to play on my "good" TV(KDSa2000) but the PS3 says it's an invalid format....
thanks for all of your participation...

[Papi4baby]

Originally Posted by mdm1699

I am not into gaming. I like to browse the forums. The questions that arise about the PS3 and Blu-Ray makes me realize just how much of a technological leap they are. Everyone wants something more added. It is a constant. Man did Sony raise the bar!

If you dont have one you dont know what your missing, it really is quite the piece of hardware. I know there's alot of hate for it from alot of people online because of the lack of games, but the whole package is something else. I got it mainly because of blu ray movie playback, but you can even install linux on it, and i know someone got windows xp to run on it too, i haven't follow that much more thought.

Originally Posted by Mr_Bester

Paidgeek,
Another PS3 request...allow 1280x1080 mpeg2 playback. I have a lot of archived HD Lite from my Tivo that I'd like to play on my "good" TV(KDSa2000) but the PS3 says it's an invalid format....
thanks for all of your participation...

There's a program called PS3 9 or something like it, the company is....here's the link

http://www.redkawa.com/videoconverters/ps3video9/
Is pretty good at doing convertions for PS3 files, that's what i use to covert my fansubs. Sometimes i dont get the subs, but you dont have to worry about that, since it should be on the laguague you speak for TV programs.

To the mods, please if the link is not allow feel free to remove, and to Bester PM if you dont get to see the link, or google PS3 video 9, is the first link.

[juanleche]

PS3 to me is the best BluRay player available considering the extra features available in the machine. I want to see it develope and grow into the definitive peice of home thearter equipment it has to potential to be

[sahoward]

Hi Insiders, please tell me that the latest Nikki Finke Format War dispatch which closes with an open question as to whether Warner will stay neutral is just a thrown off line and not something that may actually come to pass.

[ArkGuy]

I'm not sure if this is the proper venue to pose a question about a particular movie's release, but ...

I keep waiting on news of the release of any of Sony's Holy Trinity of Unreleased War Movies: Bridge on the River Kwai, Guns of Navarone, and Lawrence of Arabia.

Is there a delibeate policy about witholding catalog titles of certain classics until there are a LOT more players in homes, i.o.w., more of a mainstream adoption? The titles released by all studios seemed geared more toward the "green screen" crowd, i.e. gamers, sci-fi fans, and fans of movies heavy on special effects. It may make perfect sense now, but is there a projection on when the studios might start looking to a broader audience?

[MerrickG]

Originally Posted by sahoward

Hi Insiders, please tell me that the latest Nikki Finke Format War dispatch which closes with an open question as to whether Warner will stay neutral is just a thrown off line and not something that may actually come to pass.

It has been speculated (and mentioned by several insiders) that since the departure of Steve Nickerson that WB is actually leaning more blu now. In fact, I was also told that Nickerson left over his anger that WB rejected Toshiba's offer to go HD-DVD exclusive.

If any insider wants to debunk that statement, please do.
Im just telling you what I heard and am not claiming it to be true. Im just saying that I believe it.

[theknub]

Originally Posted by ArkGuy

I'm not sure if this is the proper venue to pose a question about a particular movie's release, but ...

I keep waiting on news of the release of any of Sony's Holy Trinity of Unreleased War Movies: Bridge on the River Kwai, Guns of Navarone, and Lawrence of Arabia.

Is there a delibeate policy about witholding catalog titles of certain classics until there are a LOT more players in homes, i.o.w., more of a mainstream adoption? The titles released by all studios seemed geared more toward the "green screen" crowd, i.e. gamers, sci-fi fans, and fans of movies heavy on special effects. It may make perfect sense now, but is there a projection on when the studios might start looking to a broader audience?

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.p...postcount=4808

[WickyWoo]

Our insiders have stated they cannot comment on release dates.

We all want them, please stop asking

[MarekM]

Paidgeek, can you please check if Surf's up UK edition have 24bit/48kHz DolbyTrueHD ?

And what are audio specs for Meet the Robinsons UK edition ? PCM ? DoblyTrueHD ? 24bit ?

thank you very much,
Marek

http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=66207
http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=65294

[ArkGuy]

Originally Posted by WickyWoo

Our insiders have stated they cannot comment on release dates.

We all want them, please stop asking

I wasn't asking for a specific release date (though I'm obviously curious), rather a comment on general straegy/philospophy about when certain types of titles are thought to be best rolled out. Sorry for not making that more clear.

[patrick99]

Originally Posted by sahoward

Hi Insiders, please tell me that the latest Nikki Finke Format War dispatch which closes with an open question as to whether Warner will stay neutral is just a thrown off line and not something that may actually come to pass.

Or any comments on the actual subject of her article, which vigorously takes Paramount to task for its apparently erroneous claims about first day and first week sales for the Transformers HD DVD?


http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/

[androvsky]

I'll try this again, with more clarity Bandai has just announced several anime movies to be released on Blu-ray in Japan, the most interesting of which (to me) is the Cowboy Bebop movie. http://product.bandaivisual.co.jp/we...m_no=BCXA-0019

One of the interesting aspects of the movie was it had a rather spectacular English dub, so much so that I know a lot of subtitle fans prefer the English dub. Since Sony produced the dub for the U.S., I was wondering if they could help/encourage Bandai to include the dub on the Japanese release (since a lot of Japanese Blu-rays have been including English), assuming Sony has no plans to release it on Blu-ray in the U.S. any time soon.

For those not familiar with the movie, it is a very detailed anime, one that I'm sure will benefit more than most from the extra resolution. Also, it has a very distinctive soundtrack, the audio alone will be worth it to many.

[ArneBjarne]

Originally Posted by paidgeek

May I ask why you don't want to buy your local version? Some titles are not being released into your market before, or at the same time as the US market.

As others have mentioned, in case of differences in spec the US version is usually better.

Even though Sony has generally not cut down on primary things like the sound track on localized BD releases here in Denmark, it seems it might be the case for the Spiderman box set.

From this back cover scan it seems neither of the two first movies have any form of lossless for the original soundtrack. English is only listed as 5.1 (just like the dubs) on those two, while the third movie lists 5.1 PCM for English as well (still no mention of TrueHD though).

Now, it might just be a case of confusing back cover info, as the TrueHD logo is actually on the cover, so it is possible that it is actually used on some or all of the movies, although it is not listed for any of them.

Fortunately the AUS version seems to be on par with the US, so it is nice to have that as a backup now that the US version turned out to be region locked. (This by the way is very confusing, since the AUS version is region free, so the cat is already out of the bag )


Another very good reason for choosing the US instead of the Danish version is price. I can usually save between 33-50% by buying the US version instead of the Danish. Note that this is still by buying from EU stores that import the US versions, so this includes import duties, taxes etc. If you buy directly from Amazon, and the package is not caught in customs, it is even cheaper. Of course there is no guarantee that it won't be caught, and it takes so damn long before they arrive

Personally, I have only bought two Danish releases, LayerCake and Casino Royale. I bought those at the same time that I bought the PS3, just to have something to get started with. I haven't bought any Danish releases since then, so the rest of my BDs are mainly US with a few AUS thrown in whenever I have had to dodge region locks.

I paid 299 DKK (€39,99, $57,59) for each of the two Danish releases, and below is a list of the titles I bought through the EU online store (www.axelmusic.com). First price is without shipping, second is with shipping (warning Danish use of comma as decimal separator in numbers ahead ):

16.10.2007  16,98 EUR   18,47 EUR  1 Blu-Ray / Day Of The Dead   
          (126,93 DKK)(138,75 DKK)
25.09.2007  16,98 EUR   18,47 EUR  1 Blu-Ray / Dawn Of The Dead    
          (126,93 DKK)(138,75 DKK) 
20.09.2007  16,98 EUR   18,47 EUR  1 Blu-Ray / Halloween (1978)
          (126,93 DKK)(138,75 DKK)
20.09.2007  16,98 EUR   18,47 EUR  1 Blu-Ray / Evil Dead 2 - Dead by Daw... 
          (126,93 DKK)(138,75 DKK) 
20.09.2007  17,99 EUR   20,97 EUR  1 Blu-Ray / Bram Stokers Dracula (Spe... 
          (134,49 DKK)(156,76 DKK) 
11.09.2007  17,99 EUR   19,48 EUR  1 Blu-Ray / A Few Good Men  
          (134,49 DKK)(145,63 DKK)
08.09.2007  17,99 EUR   19,48 EUR  1 Blu-Ray / Replacement Killers (Exte...
          (134,49 DKK)(145,63 DKK)
 
28.07.2007 133,99 DKK  143,98 DKK  1 Blu-Ray / Final Fantasy - The Spiri...  
25.07.2007 170,95 DKK  180,94 DKK  1 Blu-Ray / 300 (Special Edition)  
12.07.2007 154,95 DKK  164,94 DKK  1 Blu-Ray / Hitchhikers Guide To The ... (AUS)   
26.06.2007 133,99 DKK  143,98 DKK  1 Blu-Ray / Patriot (Extended Cut)  
26.06.2007 133,99 DKK  143,98 DKK  1 Blu-Ray / Wild Things (Unrated)  
19.06.2007 133,99 DKK  143,98 DKK  1 Blu-Ray / Fifth Element (Remastered...  
07.06.2007 133,99 DKK  143,98 DKK  1 Blu-Ray / Cruel Intentions  
29.05.2007 129,95 DKK  139,94 DKK  1 Blu-Ray / Hellboy  
16.05.2007 130,95 DKK  140,94 DKK  1 Blu-Ray / Closer  
16.05.2007 158,95 DKK  178,93 DKK  1 Blu-Ray / Pirates Of The Caribbean - Dead Man... 
16.05.2007 158,95 DKK  178,93 DKK  1 Blu-Ray / Pirates Of The Caribbean - The Curs......  
07.05.2007 131,95 DKK  141,94 DKK  1 Blu-Ray / Donnie Brasco (Unrated) E...  
17.04.2007 159,95 DKK  169,94 DKK  1 Blu-Ray / Departed

As you can see there really is a big difference between those and my 2 Danish releases. An even better comparison may be to look at the current prices for Danish releases at the .dk site of the exact same company. Take for instance Closer, which even includes Danish subtitles on the US version (thanks for that by the way ):

.dk site prices

DK BD  DKK 279,95
UK BD  DKK 249,95
DK DVD DKK 119,95

.com site price

US BD  EUR  18,79
      (DKK 140,47)

So there you have it, my two reasons for buying US/AUS releases instead of the local Danish ones, and of the two, the price difference is by far the most important one. Differences in AQ/VQ specs are not really that common for BD in my experience and certainly not compared to what it was on DVD. It has mostly been lack of lossless audio on some Warner releases (e.g. The Departed), but then they have been slow to adopt lossless in general and it seems newer Danish WB releases match the US versions.

Now if I may sneak in a question regarding a region locked Sony title that I haven't been able to find a work around for yet, I would love to know if Sony holds the rights to Das Leben der Anderen (The Lives of Others) in any region B area and if there are any plans for a release? If not, maybe you could give Disney a little nudge; it seems they hold the rights in much of Europe

[BigB88]

Can somebody tell me why the big Blu studios (Disney, Fox, Sony, etc.) re-release their content on regular DVD (every few years, it seems), but don't release on Blu Ray? Or they re-release on both DVD and BD? I thought the BDA was trying to defeat both HD-DVD as well as DVD and become the new standard format, how can this be done when the BD studios continue to re-release content on either DVD or both DVD and BD? Two examples; CEOTHK coming soon will be released on BD (as we all know), but from what I understand, will also be re-released on DVD??? Why?? and on Feb 5, 2008 Sony Pictures is re-releasing Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (40th Anniversary Edition) on DVD, but apparently will not be releasing on BD at all? This is confusing. I know all the studios, including SP are trying to make as much $$$ as possible on their content, but one would think that re-releasing a title on the same format (already saturated market), while forgoing the format your trying to grow seems to me to say; We have more confidence in the old DVD format then we do in the new BD format we are trying to grow - very confusing.

[ckenisell]

Originally Posted by juanleche

The below was posted on a different gaming news site. Will we see Sony responding to this issue in the future? If not what is the reason? Why has there been no comment by Sony on this subject at all? Should not all HDTV owners see all PS3 HD Blu-Ray games in HD? Currently they don't. Why is this been allowed to go on for 1 year with no official comment?


" That is correct. One of the most noticeable ones was just a few weeks ago, I had put a blog entry up on the US PlayStation blog, and I got a bunch of responses asking me about the resolutions we support. Up until that day, we were only supporting 720p and it never really crossed our minds to support anything else. In the US, we have this issue where a lot of early adopters with HDTVs have TVs that only support 1080i. So if you have a TV that supports 1080i and the game only supports 720p, the PS3 will default to 480p, which isn't even high-def and is not the way Uncharted should be experienced. So they bought that to my attention--I mean, it was kind of embarrassing that we didn't know that before--and literally within the hour we had 1080i support up to take care of all those people. "

http://www.gamespot.com/ps3/action/u...1783&mode=news

Also: http://boardsus.playstation.com/play...43693#M1543693

I asked PaidGeek to address this in a private message about 6 months ago and never received a response. At this point, I don't expect Sony to address this. I've had a PS3 since November and I just bought my first PS3 game yesterday. Ratchet and Clank. Why did I buy it? The graphics look amazing and it plays in 1080i. There are SEVERAL games that I want that only play in 720p (which equates to 480p on my 1080i-only HDTV). So, I don't buy them.

Put simply, if you design your PS3 game for the lowest common denomonator (720p) expect to lose a sale from me and many other 1080i HDTV owners. I'll post the same thing on the playstation message board.

[androvsky]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

Some people in the Blu crew offices are laughing like this today………………..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=290w4Ec08O8

Congrats to all the buying public, we gave you the ball but, YOU guys ran with it.

That's hilarious, and I'd forgotten about Woody Woodpecker, it's been so long since I've seen it.

And just so you know, I'm not the tin-foil hat type that will read anything into the fact that Woody Woodpecker is a Universal property. I just think it's the perfect reaction to what's been going on lately.

[paidgeek]

Originally Posted by WriteSimply

You guys at SPHE should tell the folks at Warner and Microsoft how that is done - seamless branching with 3 lossless tracks.

paidgeek, for SPHE titles outside of the US - ie South East Asia or even Europe - who does the encode? More importantly, are the masters scrutinized as intensely as they are as the US titles?


fuad

The encoded files are usually the same ones used on the NA version. If for some reason we have to re-encode, it will be done with the same engineer and master.