Archived: Insiders Thread

[jsb_hburg]

All,

I am just as interested in hearing from the new insider, Fox Exec. As an attorney, I am sure that most, if not all, of the questions posted here will be reviewed and each such response, if any, will be vetted as appropriate. Consequently, this process will take time, especially at the beginning.

Fox Exec, welcome and this is a friendly place.

[sj001]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

That was apparent.
Don’t spar with others on this thread, esp. when you think you are entitled to an answer, simply by posing a question.
Do you understand that corporate speak?

Nice!

Thanks for the inside info as always Penton-Man, it's appreciated!

[ra1024]

Originally Posted by Fozziwig

My question to the mods is:

Are you unable or unwilling to police the Insider thread and keep it on topic (even remotely on topic would be nice)?

This thread is so off course that I don't see how the insiders could possibly find and answer questions with their limited time. I have pm'd the mods on several occasions hoping they would get this thread back under control but it hasn't happenned. We've just had a small open source programming debate go on which should be some indication of how much this thread has become a general discussion area.

[The Don]

Originally Posted by ra1024

This thread is so off course that I don't see how the insiders could possibly find and answer questions with their limited time. I have pm'd the mods on several occasions hoping they would get this thread back under control but it hasn't happenned. We've just had a small open source programming debate go on which should be some indication of how much this thread has become a general discussion area.

coming here to answer all this stuff and the PM's has to be like a secondary job if you want to actually inform people about things...

what they do obviously goes appreciated, but lately this thread has turned into a turd with the FUDDERS invading here demanding to know things...

the fact is...it doesn't matter...Blu will have this wrapped up soon...

the bulk of red's strong titles comes from Warner...aside from Shrek 3, TF, Bourne movies and something else I am forgetting..

but PE, 300, HP series, Batman Begins/TDK, Matrix Trilogy and a bunch of other movies will be gone....

which studio could even go red when it can't be MGM or Sony...then you have Fox who clearly is Blu...then you have Disney who seems more invested into BD than anyone...

whoelse could it be?...seriously...

it's not like Paramount was in bed with BD anywhere near how the above emntioned companies are...

Fox = protection...they've sat out the majority of the war because they wanted the proper protection for their discs...
Disney = Everything about them is Blu, they will have wasted millions...and millions in advertising for Blu if they actually went neutral...just to give HD-DVD a chance
Sony = come on ahaha...and they own MGM, do they not?...

so who could it be?..

[Rob Tomlin]

Originally Posted by Fozziwig

Didn't this used to be the insiders thread?

My question to the mods is:

Are you unable or unwilling to police the Insider thread and keep it on topic (even remotely on topic would be nice)?

A while ago there was a seperate discussion thread for comment on the posts in the insider thread. Why was that thread discarded?

My suggestion is to lock this thread and create 'Insiders Thread 2'. If you do this then please patrol the new one much more strictly because, as we move into some very interesting times, there is likely to be a massive amount of superfluous waffle (well intentioned no doubt) that belongs elsewhere on the forum.

I thank you.

Originally Posted by ra1024

This thread is so off course that I don't see how the insiders could possibly find and answer questions with their limited time. I have pm'd the mods on several occasions hoping they would get this thread back under control but it hasn't happenned. We've just had a small open source programming debate go on which should be some indication of how much this thread has become a general discussion area.

I have to strongly agree with both of the above posts.

Mods: are you listening? Are you out there? This thread has become a real mess.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Rob Tomlin

I have to strongly agree with both of the above posts.

Mods: are you listening? Are you out there?

No, they’re all reading this…………………..
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=27179

Do you blame em ?

[Rob Tomlin]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

No, they’re all reading this…………………..
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=27179

Do you blame em ?

I don't blame em for reading it, no.

But I do (and did in that thread) blame them for moving that to the "Blu-ray Movies and Releases" section of the forum, which makes no sense at all in my ever so humble opinion.

[UltimateFighter]

Hey KJack,

Did you do this?

Samsung’s New Home Theater-in-a-Box (HTiB) Powered by Sigma Designs

New Samsung HT-BD2 First Home Theater to Combine Blu-ray and Sound System

MILPITAS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sigma Designs (Nasdaq:SIGM), a leading provider of highly integrated system-on-a-chip (SoC) solutions, today announced that its highly integrated SMP8634 media processor was selected by Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. to power its new HT-BD2 home theater-in-a-box (HTiB), the first home theater product to combine a Blu-ray player and sound system into one product offering.

“Our innovative home theater-in-a-box is the first to combine a Blu-ray player and sound system in one and consumers can now enjoy the full HD 1080p cinematic video quality of a Samsung Blu-ray disc player with an immersive audio experience that takes watching movies to a whole new level,” said Mr. M. S. Bang, Vice President, Digital AV Division, Samsung Electronics. “We selected to use Sigma’s SMP8634 chip as it enables everything our home theater enthusiast customers demand, specifically the highest quality in picture and sound.”

Samsung’s HT-BD2 HTiB delivers full HD 1080p cinematic video quality with an immersive audio experience. It includes a HT-BD2 7.1 channel HD receiver speaker system that supports Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master bitstream audio format for richer, deep and powerful sound. Its Blu-ray player, powered by a Sigma SoC, offers full compatibility with 24 movie frames per second playback reproducing movies in their native format. As a majority of movies are filmed at 24 frames per second, the HT-BD2 is able to playback movies in their native format, reducing unwanted artifacts. The HT-BD2 is also compatible with many of today’s HDTVs.

“Sigma is excited to participate in this innovative HTiB product category with Samsung,” said Ken Lowe, vice president of strategic marketing at Sigma Designs. “The SMP8634 is the basis for a large number of leading edge consumer products and its features and performance were a natural fit for the HTiB.”

Link: http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/...20News/914932/
Price: http://reviews.cnet.com/video-player...-32553619.html ($1,499)

[eat_me_cool]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

Well, there’s some history here and it’s not all about money.
For years, screenwriters haven’t gotten the respect they think they deserve in Hollywood…..due in part to some arrogant, ungrateful studio development executives who have dismissed their long hours of creative work with the attitude that “anyone can write”.
Not to mention, actors and directors improvising improvements in the script on the set.
And one thing that really just burns the heck out of some screenwriters I know is that when at the end of a movie they see the credit-

Film by Joe Schmo ………(Joe Schmo being the Director not the screenwriter).

So, you have a base of animosity and resentment by the writers that has developed over the years which leads to inflexible positions and inflated rhetoric and thus no quick resolutions to the matter.

And then on the other side you have the producers who are no angels.
So it goes………………………

I remember how the writer is treated in Action (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_(TV_series) ), so I thnk I know what you are talking about. I loved that series.

[Objectivity]

Originally Posted by ra1024

This thread is so off course that I don't see how the insiders could possibly find and answer questions with their limited time. I have pm'd the mods on several occasions hoping they would get this thread back under control but it hasn't happenned. We've just had a small open source programming debate go on which should be some indication of how much this thread has become a general discussion area.

I agree with what you're saying, but with the insiders encouraging off-topic you personally don't agree with (and even start them here), it seems like the people this thread exists for (the insiders themselves) have already made their opinion known.

Plus, most of the messages cluttering the last few pages have been people complaining about clutter, rather than clutter itself. Ironic isn't it.

[spicynacho]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

Since this morning, it looks like there is indeed interest by some people concerning the strike.
What I was implying with my post above is that movie writers and novel writers seem to live quite different economic lifestyles which serves to limit my sympathy for screenwriters. Sure I believe that they should indeed get their fair share of the pie and I’ll let the bean counters on each side negotiate that out.

But consider this….screenwriters’ payments (at least the ones I know that belong to the WGA) are distributed at mandated stages of the process, i.e. treatment, first drafts, second drafts, third drafts, etc.
Even if what they contribute is worthless sh*t – and that doesn’t even consider what they get in fringe benefits.
Book writers, on the hand, in submitting the first third or first quarter of their novel, can have it rejected outright, with no second chance for a redo and even in some cases be legally obligated to return the monetary advance that they earlier received. And of course, in the meantime, book writers are completely financially responsible for their own heath and savings plans.

Quite a difference in what some writers get and don’t get, eh?

Different people write for different reasons. Most love to write, but they might not be excited by the writing they are expected to do for their job. I think this could especially be true of the situation for hollywood writers. Who could be excited by the task of writing the predictable and cheesy dialougue for another action/war movie? Novelists have much more control over what they write, how it comes out, and whether or not they want to change their vision to meet someone else's vision.
I am sure they would expect much better compensation for their creative talents if they feel like a ***** when they write. I know from my personal experience that when I was doing defense contracting, and they were offering me a job, the first offer was at the high end of the market rate for my profession. I don't like the idea of supporting the military war machine so I said no, they came back with more money, I still said no, again and again. I finally said yes when they offered me about 40% more then what I could get anywhere else. Eventually I still left because I didn't personally agree with the moral direction of the project.
While you say that screen writers and novel writers live different lifestyles, this is probably true 99% of the time, but don't forget about the J.K. Rowling, Stephen King, and John Grishams of the novelist world. Most novelists are like painters they care about expressing their vision to the world, whether or not that vision resonates with contemporary popular culture matters not to them. If is popular they are richer beyond any screen writers dream, but sometimes they become popular after they are already poor and dead.
As far as the anyone can write comment... why aren't the shows running? Couldn't you, the actors, the make-up people, the stagehands, and whatnot work a few hours of overtime to live up to the motto, "the show must go on!"

[OokieSpookie]

Originally Posted by GLOW

It is getting pretty tiresome. I only visit this thread a couple times a week but I have to scan through pages and pages of rubbish searching for posts by Penton-Man, paidgeek, etc. It's a shame since IMO this is the most important HD disc thread on the entire internet.

I know some forums I frequent generally have a thread called "Dev Watch" where all posts that are made by developers ( or in this case insiders ) would be available at one click no matter where the original post was made.
What I will suggest to people for now is to click on Penton and other insiders' names and bookmark the "find posts by" page.

[androvsky]

Originally Posted by spicynacho

As far as the anyone can write comment... why aren't the shows running? Couldn't you, the actors, the make-up people, the stagehands, and whatnot work a few hours of overtime to live up to the motto, "the show must go on!"

Union rules, I'm sure. A fight between unions, even Hollywood ones, could get REALLY ugly. It's why in a good union shop, only the union electrician changes the lightbulb, or there will be hell to pay, even if no one else can work with the light out.

[Fozziwig]

A question (yay!) to Sony insider(s):

When will Sony update their dedicated Blu-ray website?

http://www.sonypictures.com/homevideo/bluray/

The most recent news is from 27th March and reports Casino Royale has shipped 100,000 copies (huzah!).

If you need someone to update it for you I'll be happy to do it for the bargain basement price of £25,000 pa (+ expenses).

[Banjo]

To Paidgeek,

I know this will not be in your field but I'm hoping you can pass it onto someone who can do something about this.

Right now, digital captioning is incredibly difficult to deal with for many deaf consumers. Therefore, many Blu-ray supporters decided to go with SDH (Subtitles for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing) which I really do like. However, I think it would be quite a great thing if people would take advantage of BD-Java by giving people more options on manipulating the look/style of the subtitles to make it more readable. The deaf consumers have different preferences and tastes in how subtitles should look. I noticed that such a feature is available on PS3 but it hasn't been enabled for any of the movies that I know of, so the feature is rendered useless if nobody is taking advantage of it.

You also have to remember that there are many deaf people who are slightly or legally blind but still can watch movies, but they do have a hard time reading the subtitles because some of them lack a solid background, or isn't thick enough, and the colouring of the font also can make a difference. For instance, many legally blind people prefer bright yellow markings on the stairs and yellow fonts on websites. That's why I'm suggesting that people should be able to manipulate the subtitles so they can read it better. Myself, I read them just fine. But I do know some people who find it difficult sometimes especially on smaller TVs.

Hopefully somebody will be able to do something about this. Warner Bros. is the worst when it come to their SDH style. It's the most difficult to read of all since the black stroke is rather thin and the fonts are white. So whenever they're in front of a bright scene, it's hard to read them. Sony and Fox are the best. Sony use a solid black background, while Fox use a strong black stroke (which I prefer to the solid black background).

Thanks for your time.

[Deciazulado]

Originally Posted by Fozziwig

Didn't this used to be the insiders thread?

My question to the mods is:

Are you unable or unwilling to police the Insider thread and keep it on topic (even remotely on topic would be nice)?

Originally Posted by ra1024

This thread is so off course that I don't see how the insiders could possibly find and answer questions with their limited time. I have pm'd the mods on several occasions hoping they would get this thread back under control but it hasn't happenned. We've just had a small open source programming debate go on which should be some indication of how much this thread has become a general discussion area.

Originally Posted by Rob Tomlin

I have to strongly agree with both of the above posts.

Mods: are you listening? Are you out there? This thread has become a real mess.

This happens everytime I'm not around

[Esox50]

Originally Posted by Maxpower1987

2. WB, will keep making denials, but well...

Throwing a little gas on the already big fire, are we?

[Logan00]

Originally Posted by Maxpower1987

No, I am just trying to get across that no company will give away their future intentions should they be different from what they are currently doing. Sony did it twice with the price cut on the PS3 and the introduction of a new SKU. Microsoft did it with HDMI on the X360. It makes sure that people don't stop buying the discontinued or reduced SKU's.

That makes perfect business sense

[Rob Tomlin]

What has the Insider's Thread come to when we are talking about Rdjam?

[Deciazulado]

More spreading the jam posts moved into the sourjam. Listen to the insiders above and stop trying to make sense into some form of gelatinous dark red substance that can't hold its shape if not within the confines of a mostly solid container