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

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by sharkshark

ps. Sorry, Penton, thanks for the link above.

THAT'S A BIG FRICKIN' SHARK!

Like so?...
http://entertainment.msn.com/video/?...snhp&Gt1=42007

[Oliver K]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

I'm not holding my breath for that day.

It is good to know that you and Grover feel that way, as I want at least one studio where I can look forward to just about EVERY classic and catalog release and at least for me Sony is now the last studio standing

Speaking of classics did anything happen to the idea of having an online vote about which classics to release next?

[juanell]

Originally Posted by Oliver K

It is good to know that you and Grover feel that way, as I want at least one studio where I can look forward to just about EVERY classic and catalog release and at least for me Sony is now the last studio standing

Speaking of classics did anything happen to the idea of having an online vote about which classics to release next?

I like this idea! I'd like to see Jimmy Stewart get some Sony love like Ray Harryhausen got.

[sharkshark]

Penton, this isn't short, but it's a remarkable conglomeration of philosophy, football and wit.

http://vimeo.com/12509689

Side note, given the Danes play today, that the "triolectique" (farce? fact?) derives from Arhus, which, naturally, is home to Lego.

I recommend finding the time and going through it all, it's worth it.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Oliver K

It is good to know that you and Grover feel that way, as I want at least one studio where I can look forward to just about EVERY classic and catalog release and at least for me Sony is now the last studio standing

Speaking of classics did anything happen to the idea of having an online vote about which classics to release next?

Someone started a thread/poll about it when the topic came up several weeks back, but I don’t think it gained much traction due to lack of interest.

If you can resuscitate the thread and drum up some significant input, I’ll be happy to pass the results onto a Director or V.P. in Marketing.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by sharkshark

...Side note, given the Danes play today, that the "triolectique" (farce? fact?) derives from Arhus, which, naturally, is home to Lego.

Real Danish leg gods …

...............................

^ Oops.
I’ve got to delete this link because in retrospect, I see there are some current (daily) World Cup scores listed at the bottom of the page in the link.

[Oliver K]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

Someone started a thread/poll about it when the topic came up several weeks back, but I don’t think it gained much traction due to lack of interest.

If you can resuscitate the thread and drum up some significant input, I’ll be happy to pass the results onto a Director or V.P. in Marketing.

Now I remember, it was a bit tiring with everybody naming his favorite movie that was (hopefully) distributed by Columbia and it lost traction very fast.

I see several problems with this approach:
- results will be scattered because of the many titles owned by Sony
- titles will be named that are prepared for release anyway, like Kwai and LOA
- there will be titles named that are not even with Sony
- titles are named that are very expensive to prepare and therefore very improbable to be released soon, an example might for example be Lord Jim

Therefore I think it would be better to have a list of maybe 8 or 10 movies where a release could be prepared with reasonable costs and effort and have them ranked in popularity by a voting system that allows everybody to pick two or three favourites out of the list.

So how about you putting your heads together with Grover and somebody from marketing to come up with such a list and then have people vote on it, I think this would cause a much higher participation rate here and also on other forums if one was to start a thread like that.

Am I making any sense?

And last but not least: I suggest for the titles to be from 1969 or older - we need more classics/older catalog

[Penton-Man]

lol, yes you’re making sense.
In essence, you want me to do much of the ground work and be the proactive one…like I did with the DTS vs. Dolby poll and the subtitle positioning poll. I’m afraid those days are probably over for the folks here because of the total lack of interest in contributing either in a ‘pro’ or ‘con’ fashion to the last poll which was commissioned by a Senior V.P. for members’ input.

Namely, the poll where you could hear the crickets chirping (less than 100 people voting)…
https://forum.blu-ray.com/blu-ray-mo...q-feature.html

Unfortunately, some in marketing and publicity took personally the lack of any real forum interest in the MovieIQ poll because they felt that no other major studio has regularly come forward to use an internet forum to gather folks’ opinion as a data sample and in so doing, has indirectly endorsed said forum as a meaningful and viable vehicle of discussion and to *make a difference* regarding consumers’ preferences related to Blu-ray software and its presentation.

However, all that said, for you and juanell, I’ll see what I can do but, honestly I think what you ask will be a very *hard sell* and I make no promises.

[sharkshark]

Wow... just wow, it's going from bad to worse (no, not a match spoiler):

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp...RuTe9Z5mWDo6gA

Sacre merde...

[sharkshark]

And yet people were riled up about the Doby/DTS stuff, cuz, well, there was a dialectic! It's easier to get riled up when there's a genuine "team" mentality, an us-vs-them, making decisions regardless of the underlying technical principals that do little to distinguish the choices.

"I've said it before and I'll say it again: democracy simply doesn't work." - Kent Brockman

For me, I had no idea about the poll, December being a pretty busy time... I've actually used the feature, even sat there with my laptop open while the movie played out. It's an amusing feature, hardly as intriguing as some other features, but not a bad implementation of BD-Live.

But, yeah. I will point out that you've been mentioning in increasing frequency the futility of forum discourse to elicit real change (ie., comments that the *scientists* have done nothing to stem the onslaught of (allegedly) over-DNR'd releases, or the general condemnation of "whining"), and now suggesting that what little interest there was in eliciting opinion from this forum by a major has been squashed by poor attendance. Curious what has resulted recently in this conclusion? There are some of us, for example, that never thought the studios would actually shape their decisions based on what us peons say online, and that the decisions are, presumably, made in a bubble, free from such distrations from a fickle audience, relying solely upon less finicky factors such as sales figures, marketing round tables, etc.

So, seems you've joined the the small group of pragmatists here (pessimists, to some) and become jaded... what changed?

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

Namely, the poll where you could hear the crickets chirping (less than 100 people voting)…
https://forum.blu-ray.com/blu-ray-mo...q-feature.html

[Jeff Kleist]

Shark hit it on the head. With Dolby/DTS you have an army of DTS fanboys ready to hit that poll to win for their team. People in general seem fairly apathetic about BDLive features

Uni had a lot of success dumping out a coupon on their facebook page in exchange for that information. Especially because it was good at regular retail

[sharkshark]

...well, for those that are ambivalent, this is, on paper at least, a SUPER match to watch...

Best of luck to all fans of CIV and Brazil

[sharkshark]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

Shark hit it on the head. With Dolby/DTS you have an army of DTS fanboys ready to hit that poll to win for their team.

...yes, many of whom (NOT all, naturally) who have completely skewed reasons for/against these codecs... You know, like those that try to compare the video codecs or audio formats used for a Pixar film to, say, Seventh Seal.

I -have- used almost all the different types of BD-Live trinkets that the studios have implemented, and can say quite sincerely that this "pop-up comentary" type feature is an intriguing one. The implementation thusfar hasn't been exactly earthshattering, but it's got lots of potential with real support behind it (it can't be super expensive to implement once the infrastructure is in place), and a far, far better thing than some BD-Live portal that's little more than a marketing hub for other releases, with trailers far more easily (and effectively) viewed on a traditional computer hooked into your set, PS3 Home/Xbox Live, etc.

[sharkshark]

video from France's practice:

http://www.canalplus.fr/c-sport/c-fo...nce.html?nav=1

[PeterTHX]

Originally Posted by sharkshark

...yes, many of whom (NOT all, naturally) who have completely skewed reasons for/against these codecs... You know, like those that try to compare the video codecs or audio formats used for a Pixar film to, say, Seventh Seal.

Or the other poll, where a reviewer from another site (and has a magazine column and a large presence on a certain A/V forum) came here strictly for that poll and recruited a large amount of people to vote in that poll. Said reviewer and majority of like-minded voters have never participated on this site again, skewing the results in his favor...which had been running against his wishes when it was left to the actual population of Blu-ray.com.

[Oliver K]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

lol, yes you’re making sense.
In essence, you want me to do much of the ground work and be the proactive one…like I did with the DTS vs. Dolby poll and the subtitle positioning poll.

I do not want you to do the work that I could do but I think it would NEED someone like you to do this right. I would be happy to do some of the ground work but I doubt that I could come up with a suitable collection of movies without any information about the inner workings and processes that lead to releases at SPHE. I have indeed a little list already that I will be more than happy to send you and it should come out to about 15 to 20 movies but I have no idea how far away from a Blu-Ray release all of those titles are (well, most of them at least).

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

I’m afraid those days are probably over for the folks here because of the total lack of interest in contributing either in a ‘pro’ or ‘con’ fashion to the last poll which was commissioned by a Senior V.P. for members’ input.

Namely, the poll where you could hear the crickets chirping (less than 100 people voting)…
https://forum.blu-ray.com/blu-ray-mo...q-feature.html

I have to admit that I did not vote but if you had mentioned that everybody should vote even when he does not use or knows the feature in question I would have voted. I have to admit that I use Blu-Ray much the same as I did DVD, that is I watch the movie and at times a few extras, I never ever even used BDlive or MovieIQ.

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

Unfortunately, some in marketing and publicity took personally the lack of any real forum interest in the MovieIQ poll because they felt that no other major studio has regularly come forward to use an internet forum to gather folks’ opinion as a data sample and in so doing, has indirectly endorsed said forum as a meaningful and viable vehicle of discussion and to *make a difference* regarding consumers’ preferences related to Blu-ray software and its presentation.

That is indeed a bit embarassing but maybe it shows those folks that contrary to the DTS and subs poll (that I both voted in) there is not much interest in certain things that do not have a direct influence on watching the movie.

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

However, all that said, for you and juanell, I’ll see what I can do but, honestly I think what you ask will be a very *hard sell* and I make no promises.

Thanks! And if I can be of any help let me know, I am really serious about this.

[Mr. Cinema]

https://forum.blu-ray.com/wish-lists...poll-list.html

That was the poll for the Sony classics. 2 problems with it. One, I don't think it was ever stickied, so I can see how it got lost on the forum. Secondly, the OP decided classics meant 1979 or earlier. That wipes out an entire decade of the 80s, of which Sony has released 16 titles, according to blu-raystats.com. That means Das Boot doesn't qualify.

If the poll is stickied, I think you'll get many more responses. To make room, just get rid of the MovieIQ poll. If I want to see cast info, I can find that on my laptop. No need to use BD Live.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by sharkshark

Wow... just wow, it's going from bad to worse (no, not a match spoiler):

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp...RuTe9Z5mWDo6gA

Sacre merde...

Man, I thought England had problems playing like a team that’s hungry.
It’s like a soap opera over there in the French camp.

Shark, I think since most folks here don't work on Saturdays or Sundays, it's probably o.k. to commence discussing the results of World Cup matches on those days after...let's say 6:00 P.M. Pacific Standard Time.

Any objections from anyone?
If not, the motion passes.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Mr. Cinema

https://forum.blu-ray.com/wish-lists...poll-list.html

That was the poll for the Sony classics. 2 problems with it. One, I don't think it was ever stickied, so I can see how it got lost on the forum. Secondly, the OP decided classics meant 1979 or earlier. That wipes out an entire decade of the 80s, of which Sony has released 16 titles, according to blu-raystats.com. That means Das Boot doesn't qualify.

If the poll is stickied, I think you'll get many more responses. To make room, just get rid of the MovieIQ poll. If I want to see cast info, I can find that on my laptop. No need to use BD Live.

The previous polls I mentioned above were solicited by senior management at the studio and the administration here at Blu-ray.com deemed them worthy of sticky status.

In this case, it is up to you guys to either approach the administration here to request the sticky-fied status or, in lieu of that, keep it visibly exposed yourselves by way of continual responses.

It shouldn’t be that difficult… if you’ve got nothing to add after listing your selections, then occasionally make a ‘BUMP’ post.

If all else fails, might I suggest you re-title the thread/poll to something like this…
“If Sony DNR’s these classic titles, my eyes will bleed, I’ll feel the need to punch puppies and I may slit my wrists”. Then it may even stay ahead of the ‘Predator’ thread….for about 15 min. or so.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by sharkshark

...well, for those that are ambivalent, this is, on paper at least, a SUPER match to watch...

Best of luck to all fans of CIV and Brazil

Yeah, "on paper". If I hadn’t watched it in 3D, I think I might have fallen asleep esp. during the 1st half since Ivory Coast just sat back. Here’s hoping that someone actually challenges Brasil in future matches.

Speaking of 3D, someone previously asked me about the 3D capture at the World Cup with the Sony cameras. In that regard, the action is being captured at 1080i50 (side by side 3D) as a sub-master. Which begs the question, "how will yous guys make those Blu-rays for us folks in the good ole US of A given that off-speed acquisition signal"?

Answer - Well, you transcode the material with a frame rate converter such as a Teranex, or if you work in a Digital Intermediate suite, then you may use a more sophisticated file-based system such as the Arri Relativity (see Oliver K, I love all Germans )…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIrtm35jesc