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

[sharkshark]

ahem...we're past noon PST.

(and Jeff, we've discussed this before, but your habbit of finding out just who is saying what, which might lead to why, is always worthy, regardless off topic. This is not to say that we should completely discount anybody with an explicit tie, just that it should be taken into consideration when evaluating expertice).

[Alan Gordon]

Originally Posted by sharkshark

ahem...we're past noon PST.

Crap!

Sorry Penton, I miscalculated PST compared to EST. My bad for trying to do two things at once...

~Alan

[blindcat87]

Penton,

My copy of Leon is still wending its way to me through the postal system, but if it is true that Sony is now putting 96k audio tracks on some films, I want to send out a heartfelt thanks to every single person involved in making this happen. I hope this becomes more common with releases where such a soundtrack is a possibility. I find this particularly encouraging when some studios, though they do marvelous work otherwise, won't even use 24 bit masters let alone consider a higher sample rate on a non-music release.

Gotta run and check if the mail has come yet. Probably won't get the disc until Fri or Sat with BB shipping, but I can hope.

Thanks,

Chris

[Monkey]

Originally Posted by HeavyHitter

The ice caps have been melting on Mars too. This was reported some time back (not without debate, of course).

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/n...s-warming.html

The end is near!

[mark antony]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

Do you like it?
I find it odd that this is the first question which I have received about Léon, now that it has streeted, rather than queries about the picture quality esp. in regards to any increased brightness compared to previous home media incarnations.

P.S.
On another note, examine how your sub(s) sound at the very beginning of the motion picture. If the wooden floor doesn’t vibrate, then might I suggest you either upgrade or calibrate as this phenomenon was quite evident in my home theater with two quality powered subs running thru a Behringer Feedback Destroyer Pro……haven’t tried the disc out yet in the room with the four subs.

Hi Penton on the basis that Sony always release a quality product I went out of my way to buy the US disc, rather than the local UK edition (although I don't expect to receive it for another week or so).

I know you gave me a bit of a tech head's up, but can you say what you guys did to the transfer/master on top of what was done in europe as apparantly it was LB approved?

The audio quality on the same scenes in the longer cut wasn't supposed to be as good as the theatrical version audio, is this true or have they been equalled out?

M

[HeavyHitter]

Okay, last thing I will post on climate. Just came across it. Thought it was interesting.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/...662092,00.html

[Alan Gordon]

Originally Posted by mark antony

on the basis that Sony always release a quality product

Penton, I haven't received my copy of "Leon" yet either (I could get it this week, but it probably won't be delivered until next week)... but I'm going to second the above.

~Alan

[Jeff Kleist]

Heavy, it's obvious that nothing I say will convince you. I've demonstrated that every source you have are liars and shills, and you're still going. I do not agree to disagree, simply to recognize the futility of trying to change your mind

[GaS]

Originally Posted by HeavyHitter

Okay, last thing I will post on climate. Just came across it. Thought it was interesting.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/...662092,00.html

I agree with Heavy. If you honestly believe that our entire global climate is governed by an atmospheric trace gas, then you're nuts.

The warmies alway bring up two things, increasing C02 in the atmosphere and models that exaggerate the effects of C02. Don't tell me what the temps are going to be 50-100 years in the future when the models you are depending upon to make those guesses didn't even predict the temps seen in this decade.

[4K2K]

Doesn't using 96k audio tracks mean less bitrate is available for the picture and PQ? So does PQ get worse?

[Tok]

Originally Posted by 4K2K

Doesn't using 96k audio tracks mean less bitrate is available for the picture and PQ? So does PQ get worse?

It could... complex audio passages could approach 18Mbps. I would guess lossless codecs would hover around 7-10Mbps.

If the source was native in 24/96 then if the content producer wants to replicate that on the disc then I don't have a problem. But if the source is being upconverted/upsampled just for a marketing bullet then I don't like the practice.

It has already been revealed that some of the 24/48k titles were just flagged that way. So essentially they were placing 16/48k audio tracks in 24/48k containers.

Personally I am all for the extra bits of resolution, but the higher sampling frequencies don't mean much especiallly if you understand the limits of human hearing and the Nyquist sampling law. And even those extra bits just buy more dynamic range. 24-bits comes in handy if you want to simulate a REAL jet taking off in your living room.

Human hearing range is 20Hz-20kHz. Nyquist's law says that to successfully capture any signal the sampling rate has to be double of the highest frequency. 96k sampling is nice for your dog. 48kHz is more than adequate especially considering that most people can't hear much above 15kHz or even a few kHz lower.

[MerrickG]

Well, its nice to see that the bluray of UP ended up as #6 in sales of overall packaged media. It appears dvd bundling had a nice effect. It seems to have sold 1.25 million copies on bluray.

Id say thats a nice Chuck Norris roundhouse kick to the face of the naysayers.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by mark antony

Hi Penton on the basis that Sony always release a quality product I went out of my way to buy the US disc, rather than the local UK edition (although I don't expect to receive it for another week or so).

I know you gave me a bit of a tech head's up, but can you say what you guys did to the transfer/master on top of what was done in europe as apparantly it was LB approved?.......

Everything about this transfer, is to Luc Besson's specifications/guidance. SPHE received it (the HD deliverable) directly from Luc’s team and then performed some additional selective cleanup to remove extra minor dirt here and there, and then did our own Blu-ray encode.

Folks, that’s all I’ve got time for today. Have a good weekend.

[aramis109]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

Do you like it?
I find it odd that this is the first question which I have received about Léon, now that it has streeted, rather than queries about the picture quality esp. in regards to any increased brightness compared to previous home media incarnations.

P.S.
On another note, examine how your sub(s) sound at the very beginning of the motion picture. If the wooden floor doesn’t vibrate, then might I suggest you either upgrade or calibrate as this phenomenon was quite evident in my home theater with two quality powered subs running thru a Behringer Feedback Destroyer Pro……haven’t tried the disc out yet in the room with the four subs.

LOL, my sub rattled the floor on Leon too! I kept wondering what the hell was going on as usually nothing does this. I didn't realize it was thanks to the 96khz mix. I'll be honest- I thought it sounded amazing but I missed out on the fact that it WAS 96khz until I came here.

I am going to say that brighter or not, Leon looks and sounds fantastic to me. It's not got as much detail as say, Fight Club (which I also got this week and ALSO looks and sounds amazing) but it is far and away more detail than I've ever been able to see.

If Sony is going to start doing more 96khz audio, I say awesome. I think its a really positive move for the format in order to further differentiate it from the rest of the pack.

[42041]

Originally Posted by aramis109

LOL, my sub rattled the floor on Leon too! I kept wondering what the hell was going on as usually nothing does this. I didn't realize it was thanks to the 96khz mix. I'll be honest- I thought it sounded amazing but I missed out on the fact that it WAS 96khz until I came here.

your LFE channel extends to something like 120hz. There is nothing there that 96khz can describe that 48khz can't.

I do appreciate any efforts to deliver a better disc, but personally, I'd rather Sony put that extra 3-4mbps (im guessing) into slight compression quality gains at resolutions my eyes can resolve rather than doggie frequencies

[aramis109]

Originally Posted by 42041

your LFE channel extends to something like 120hz. There is nothing there that 96khz can describe that 48khz can't.

I do appreciate any efforts to deliver a better disc, but personally, I'd rather Sony put that extra 3-4mbps (im guessing) into slight compression quality gains at resolutions my eyes can resolve rather than doggie frequencies

I recognize what you're saying, but I don't agree with your assesment that 96khz can't do anything over 48khz. Akira's Japanese 192khz track is supposedly well beyond anything that we can detect aurally yet it is far and away the most jaw-dropping sound mix that I have heard. The English TrueHD track (assumably from the same mix) is not nearly as dynamic and amazing- it just falls into the "good" category.

I'm not going to say I'm an audio expert, as I'm not, but I was more titillated that Penton mentioned the "floor rattling effect" that I had brought up in another thread than the 96khz mix. I'm more inclined to believe this effect is from the overall care and time spent on the audio rather than just throwing a higher bitrate at it. And yes, LFE channel extends to 120hz.

However, my point was that I would much rather see them creating 96khz mixes than not. It's not like EITHER option is filling up the disc currently, and it's not like the video bitrate is at the level it's at due to disc constraints.

*edit* Man, it just goes to show that no matter what you do to improve a product, someone is going to ***** about it. I personally can't fathom that.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by 42041

your LFE channel extends to something like 120hz. There is nothing there that 96khz can describe that 48khz can't.

I do appreciate any efforts to deliver a better disc, but personally, I'd rather Sony put that extra 3-4mbps (im guessing) into slight compression quality gains at resolutions my eyes can resolve rather than doggie frequencies

42041 – You are making an assumption that the audio offered on this disc came at compromise to the PQ viewed with human eyes.
Just to let you know how these things are done/determined, preliminary test encodes are performed with the HD master feed into a large reference display with split screen capability or two side-by-side displays butter-flied.

All ‘premium’ audio considerations are considered when PQ space allows…..and that even includes 24-bit/48KHz for the original soundtrack

[Penton-Man]

Before leaving the office for the upcoming holiday next week, I’ve had the time to get this query typed up.
Deci, or one of the other mods, please post the following in the same section with the subtitle and DTS/Dolby polls in a similar sticky-fied fashion to start a dedicated thread on the topic.
Thanks.

Attention: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment is interested in YOUR feedback

Specifically, concerning the movieIQ feature which was first announced back in June.
Have you tried it?
Do you like it?
Do you dislike it?
Are you ambivalent about the feature?
How do you think it compares for instance, in terms of user friendliness to Universal’s U-Control feature, etc.

I thank you ahead of time for all intelligent and mature comments (pro or con) regarding this feature and I assure you that those responses will be read by someone at the V.P. level (or their administrative assistant) involved with this project < of which I am not, for those with inquiring minds.

A paucity of responses will be assumed to reflect the fact that you guys are so ecstatically happy with this feature, that you are truly speechless.

For some background information, this was the original press announcement –

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Partners with Gracenote To Deliver First Live, In-Movie Film Information with movieIQ

BD-Live™ Enabled Technology to be Featured on Upcoming Blu-ray Disc™ Titles Including Angels & Demons and Easy Rider

San Francisco, CA (June 18, 2009) - Sony Pictures Home Entertainment today announced the launch of MovieIQ, a new Blu-ray Disc feature powered by Gracenote® that offers viewers access to a real-time movie database. With a movieIQ-enabled Blu-ray Disc and an internet-connected Blu-ray™ player, movie fans can immediately access continuously-updated information on cast and crew and explore relevant trivia such as production facts, music and soundtrack information all tied to scenes within the movie. SPHE will feature movieIQ on upcoming Blu-ray Disc titles starting in September and will offer it on all major catalog titles and new releases including Angels & Demons, Easy Rider, Punch Drunk Love, The Quick and the Dead, Silverado and sex, lies, and videotape.

"It has always been our goal at Sony Pictures to offer fans the ability to truly connect with their favorite movies using BD-Live," said Lexine Wong, Senior Executive Vice President of Worldwide Marketing at Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. "We know many people interrupt their movie-watching experience to look up the filmography of an actor or to find out more about a song playing in the background. Now through movieIQ, movie lovers can dive into constantly-updated information about the movie they are watching without leaving their sofa, further enhancing the experience of watching movies in this always-connected age."

movieIQ takes advantage of Gracenote's Video Explore solution, which brings powerful search and navigation capabilities to connected consumer electronic devices. Video Explore allows users to search the online Gracenote video database, linking together related cast, crew, movies, TV episodes, franchises, seasons, DVDs, and Blu-rays. Gracenote's global Video database contains rich video information for North America, Europe, and Japan, including factual metadata, synopses, credits, and detailed descriptive elements.

"We are thrilled to be partnering with Sony Pictures to deliver movieIQ, a feature that takes full advantage of the Blu-ray format's internet connectivity and truly demonstrates that Blu-ray is the future of home entertainment," said Ross Blanchard, VP of Business Development at Gracenote. "Now, movie lovers will have access to an incredible new service where they can explore and discover all the rich details on their favorite actors, directors and movies."

The movieIQ feature is the latest addition to SPHE's BD-Live portfolio, which also includes social networking through cinechat, multiplayer games, and a customizable music video editor, as well as soundtrack playlists, e-movie cash, downloadable featurettes, and more, available on over 100 Sony Pictures Blu-ray titles worldwide since the technology launched in spring of 2008.

[Doctorossi]

As soon as Sony puts MovieIQ on a disc I care about, I'll be happy to provide some feedback.

[sharkshark]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

42041 – You are making an assumption that the audio offered on this disc came at compromise to the PQ viewed with human eyes.

...well, to be fair, assumptions about correlations between bitrates, or audio frequencies, and eventual reproduced quality of presentation, were/are hardly discouraged during talk of this HD format.

I'm still of the camp that believes bitrate meters never should have been added to the PS3's menu, given the crud that came out of assumptions derived from ths 'tool', but I'm funny that way...

Pleased to hear the disc looks and sounds great, regardless of the specifications.