Archived: Insiders Thread

[ra1024]

Paid, do you know anyone in the gaming division to whom you could pass along a suggestion?

I was under the impression that the heavily anticipated Killzone 2 beta would be offered to a limited group. My suggestion would be to offer this to or give preference to those participating in Folding@Home. I believe there are only around 30,000 participants out of millions of PS3s. I think they would see a huge jump in volunteers if the beta was tied somehow to participation levels in the Folding@Home project. It would also be a nice way to thank those who have seriously contributed to this non profit effort.

[paidgeek]

Originally Posted by PeterTHX

Paidgeek: just asking the status on...
Air Force One
In The Line of Fire
Starship Troopers
Desperado

My first DVDs back in '97/'98

Starship may be out this year, the others in 2008. This is always subject to change...

[paidgeek]

Originally Posted by jamen6

paidgeek, is their any chance you can find out info as to what might be going on with fox/mgm....thanks!

I can tell you they are still working hard to support Blu-ray... I can't say much about their release schedule... I'm not even supposed to be discussing the SPE release schedule...

[paidgeek]

Originally Posted by ra1024

Paid, do you know anyone in the gaming division to whom you could pass along a suggestion?

I was under the impression that the heavily anticipated Killzone 2 beta would be offered to a limited group. My suggestion would be to offer this to or give preference to those participating in Folding@Home. I believe there are only around 30,000 participants out of millions of PS3s. I think they would see a huge jump in volunteers if the beta was tied somehow to participation levels in the Folding@Home project. It would also be a nice way to thank those who have seriously contributed to this non profit effort.

I don't know where I would start on this. Honestly I am not covering all the Blu-ray movie work I have, so venturing into games just can't happen...

[Shin-Ra]

Originally Posted by ra1024

Paid, do you know anyone in the gaming division to whom you could pass along a suggestion?

I was under the impression that the heavily anticipated Killzone 2 beta would be offered to a limited group. My suggestion would be to offer this to or give preference to those participating in Folding@Home. I believe there are only around 30,000 participants out of millions of PS3s. I think they would see a huge jump in volunteers if the beta was tied somehow to participation levels in the Folding@Home project. It would also be a nice way to thank those who have seriously contributed to this non profit effort.

http://blog.us.playstation.com/contact.php

That's one way of getting in contact.

[Paul H]

paidgeek:

Could you please ask your sources to confirm if Samsung's two new Blu-ray players, the BD-P1400 and BD-P2400 will play DTS-HD Master Audio, as stated on this Blu-ray.com page. All other sources I can find, refer only to "DTS-HD".

Thanks,

Paul

[tvted]

Paidgeek,

There is a small but growing interest in Constant Height projection for HT. Since the vast majority of BD releases are 2.39 can you pass along that incorporating vertical stretch into your players and the PS3 under aspect control options would certainly make some of us thankful. Further, if there were a way to convince marketing and your encoding group that special edition anamorphic coding of some films is desirable, many of us would be ecstatic.

ted

[dobyblue]

I love the 2.3x:1 widescreen encodes.

[LeoneFan]

Originally Posted by paidgeek

I can tell you they are still working hard to support Blu-ray... I can't say much about their release schedule... I'm not even supposed to be discussing the SPE release schedule...

Actually, this whole FOX (MGM) situation has got me to rethink my continued support of this format. I know this won't mean much to a huge corporation like FOX, but unless they start to at least announce some titles soon I'm not going to support this format any longer. I can't keep sinking money into a format that doesn't want to grow and has no interest in putting the competition in the grave for good. It's becoming evident that FOX, MGM and to a certain extent Disney are giving us early adopter the shaft by not releasing much or nothing at all.

Another thing, the BDA as a whole has a disturbingly complacent attitude towards this format war. Everytime I turn on the TV I see that f$%^$ing Toshiba HDDVD commercial with that wannabe clown from the Sopranos. Where are the Blu-ray ads? There is not one Blu-ray ad showcasing the technology as a whole. The little blurp "Also on Blu-ray" at the end of new release ads is just not enough to get people's attention. It doesn't look like the BDA wants to capitalize on their lead over HDDVD and go for the win. I'm sorry for the rant but this has been eating away at me for a while.

[paidgeek]

Originally Posted by tvted

Paidgeek,

There is a small but growing interest in Constant Height projection for HT. Since the vast majority of BD releases are 2.39 can you pass along that incorporating vertical stretch into your players and the PS3 under aspect control options would certainly make some of us thankful. Further, if there were a way to convince marketing and your encoding group that special edition anamorphic coding of some films is desirable, many of us would be ecstatic.

ted

It is not likely that you will see a squeezed version of 2.35 soon. There just is not many customers for this feature yet, it will take some explaining and if someone buys it by mistake...

What we have done is try a title with subtitles in picture instead of one line in and one line out. "Immortal Beloved" is the first, and hopefully there will be a good response.

A friend of mine uses a custom scaling device and an anamorphic lens to optimize the performance of his 2K projector. The results he gets are superb.

[BTBuck1]

Leone,

I can certainly sympathize with your concerns, and I totally understand your frustrations.

I too am a BD supporter who is eager for highdef content, but you have to understand this is still major early adopter country. DVD took over 3 years to get to mass adoption. Hell, when I got into DVD in 1999 they had just begun the 5 free movie promo (some of you may remember that ) and it was when players dropped from $6-700 to $4-500. We are already seeing this type of stuff happening and we are only a year in. You have to put yourself into the shoes of the studios. Imagine if your property, something you bought and paid for, put blood sweat & tears to achieve and someone came along and just grabbed it, and started selling it, making money off of all of your ideas, investment, etc. wouldn't you be pissed? And, wouldn't you do anything in your power to keep it from happening again?

I think you would, and I am sure Fox wants to sell you ever single title they can. But this is the last chance at a packages collectible format (potentially ever) at least for 10 years or so. So they in an effort to retain profitability to be able to continue to pay these actors/actresses their ludicrous salaries to make these films, and bring us kick ass movies with ripping special effects have to make sure their investments aren't being stolen, etc.

I think your a smart guy, and can respect that.

Also, I think you are being a little disrespectful to Disney, a company who is basically sharing the responsibility with Sony of this terrific format.

Sure nothing is perfect, we probably should have had the spec 100% before release (you know profile 1.1 and up) but it is what it is, and I thank HDDVD for existing, to light fires under the asses of these companies to get up to speed! But I don't expect them to compromise their companies futures just to get me Dodge-ball or Cast-away in 1080p. Hell I want em, I want em all almost But in looking at the bigger picture, a small sacrifice is necessary now, for the big prize at the end of the rainbow.

Thanks,
Brian

[ra1024]

Originally Posted by paidgeek

I don't know where I would start on this. Honestly I am not covering all the Blu-ray movie work I have, so venturing into games just can't happen...

No problem. I wasn't asking you to put any effort in, just wondered if you knew anyone. I know we keep you busy answering questions that actually pertain to your work.

Originally Posted by Shin-Ra

http://blog.us.playstation.com/contact.php

That's one way of getting in contact.

Thanks Shin-Ra, I'll take a look.

[paidgeek]

Originally Posted by LeoneFan

Actually, this whole FOX (MGM) situation has got me to rethink my continued support of this format. I know this won't mean much to a huge corporation like FOX, but unless they start to at least announce some titles soon I'm not going to support this format any longer. I can't keep sinking money into a format that doesn't want to grow and has no interest in putting the competition in the grave for good. It's becoming evident that FOX, MGM and to a certain extent Disney are giving us early adopter the shaft by not releasing much or nothing at all.

Another thing, the BDA as a whole has a disturbingly complacent attitude towards this format war. Everytime I turn on the TV I see that f$%^$ing Toshiba HDDVD commercial with that wannabe clown from the Sopranos. Where are the Blu-ray ads? There is not one Blu-ray ad showcasing the technology as a whole. The little blurp "Also on Blu-ray" at the end of new release ads is just not enough to get people's attention. It doesn't look like the BDA wants to capitalize on their lead over HDDVD and go for the win. I'm sorry for the rant but this has been eating away at me for a while.

I can appreciate that from a consumer point of view, it might seem like more should be happening to promote Blu-ray, but there is more going on than you relealize. Addressing two of your concerns, Fox's position is not unreasonable. If you have followed them for any length of time, you may know that they take content protection very seriously. At the moment, it is not possible to release any HD title without the knowledge that it can be compromised. Help for this is in the works in the form of new AACS keys and BD+, but geting these prepared is taking more time than anyone expected.

As for advertising, you are mistaken. Disney (one of the companies you're critical of) is one of the few that has run televsion advertising that focuses on Blu-ray exclusively.

If you are irritated about Fox and MGM not releasing more titles, then do what you must, but let's make sure we have all the facts...

[blitz6speed]

Geek

I share a similar amount of unhappiness due to the fox disappearance. Honestly, they just need to put out a press release or something, because with fox missing, mgm is also missing, and those are pretty important studios when you try to make a case for blu-ray. Not to mention all the movies disney delayed as well.

As far as i see it, its Sony + sprinkles from disney vs Uni + sprinkles from warner when comparing the 2 formats at this point, and thats not as healthy as the BDA could be. I understand sales are doing well, but the already installed consumer base is really wanting those movies promised at CES. I am a hardcore blu-ray fan, but even i am getting tired of the fox BS. If they are not going to release anymore due to fear of piracy, let them step out of the blu-ray ring and just watch from afar. You being at sony should be on their case like butter on popcorn, which i hope you guys are.

[Jack Torrance]

Originally Posted by paidgeek

I can appreciate that from a consumer point of view, it might seem like more should be happening to promote Blu-ray, but there is more going on than you relealize. Addressing two of your concerns, Fox's position is not unreasonable. If you have followed them for any length of time, you may know that they take content protection very seriously. At the moment, it is not possible to release any HD title without the knowledge that it can be compromised. Help for this is in the works in the form of new AACS keys and BD+, but geting these prepared is taking more time than anyone expected.

As for advertising, you are mistaken. Disney (one of the companies you're critical of) is one of the few that has run televsion advertising that focuses on Blu-ray exclusively.

If you are irritated about Fox and MGM not releasing more titles, then do what you must, but let's make sure we have all the facts...

Hey paidgeek... thanks for this, it paints a little clearer picture of what is going on.

I think some of us are just frustrated with Fox's announcements recently in Europe and Japan, and that here they are still silent.

Thanks for all your posts though and willingness and paticience to answer our questions.

[Cruyff14]

Paidgeek,

Will the upcoming Sony releases of The Lives Of Others and Black Book be region free?
(I'm in Europe with a Region B player and I'd like to know if I can safely pre-order these).

Thanks.

[Manco]

Originally Posted by LeoneFan

Actually, this whole FOX (MGM) situation has got me to rethink my continued support of this format. I know this won't mean much to a huge corporation like FOX, but unless they start to at least announce some titles soon I'm not going to support this format any longer. I can't keep sinking money into a format that doesn't want to grow and has no interest in putting the competition in the grave for good. It's becoming evident that FOX, MGM and to a certain extent Disney are giving us early adopter the shaft by not releasing much or nothing at all.

LeoneFan,

Just hang in there man. We both want the Leone westerns. I just can't wait to get my damn hands on 'em! But I don't mind the delays. Look at what's going on in the other camp. Shoveling crap out the door as fast as they can get the transfers done. WE DON'T WANT THAT. Blu stands for something much better. I commend Disney for delaying Cars and getting Lasseter directly involved. The final product will be outstanding...a true showcase piece of what Blu can do. The Leone films will be the same. Just give it time. Patience amigo!

[tvted]

Originally Posted by paidgeek

A friend of mine uses a custom scaling device and an anamorphic lens to optimize the performance of his 2K projector. The results he gets are superb.

I do the same - simply hoping that future players (and the PS3) might incorporate vertical stretch as one of the aspect selections. It would save the cost of the scaler.

As to anamorphic encodes, we can hope. I would pay extra for "special editions".

ted

[DaViD Boulet]

haven't checked out this thread too recently. Any news about the first title to use BD+? Wasn't that supposed to be hitting the streets sometime soon?

[DaViD Boulet]

BTW, wanted to let everyone know what a gorgeous disc the new BD release of The Patriot is. That and 7-years in Tibet are both REFERENCE BDs. The Patriot exhibits natural film grain just like the source, but looks very unprocessd and oh-so-detailed and naturally "film like". Stunning.

see my review at dvdfile.com