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

[Penton-Man]

File this under…Y’all knew it was coming, just a matter of when and how. So, viola -

http://www.fdtimes.com/news/sony/new...4k-and-beyond/

[Penton-Man]

^ And lest I not forget our 3D aficionados , Survey says…
http://www.twice.com/article/465112-...used_By_3D.php

[phansson]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

^ And lest I not forget our 3D aficionados , Survey says…
http://www.twice.com/article/465112-...used_By_3D.php

Hey Penton, I am glad to see the interest in 3D from the public. Thanks for posting, it sounds promising.

Now if we can get rid of those "HORRIBLE" 3D Blu Ray exclusive deals which do nothing but hurt early adopters (sound familiar huh???).

[threefiftyrocket]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

“O jest unseen, inscrutable, invisible.”

For new or junior members, sharkshark chides me as he is well aware I post fact rather than speculation. If one wants the later, there are a plethora of other places on the web which do so.

If one desires debate though, I present you and others with this…..Whether tis nobler to restore a classic motion picture the way it was shot (i.e. The Bridge on the River Kwai), ‘mumps’ and all,

or, not to (i.e. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea) and thusly re-create. In other words, as you folks will eventually discover whenever ‘Leagues’ makes it onto Blu-ray, that the mump-itis evident with the original theatrical presentation of ‘Leagues’ has been *corrected* during the recent restoration by applying a 0.5% digital squish to the entire image in order to *fix* it.

So, whether tis nobler to squish or not to squish, That is zee question .
(both shot full-aperture 2.66:1)

Or, should I not pose such a question to those recovering on Day 1 after St. Patrick’s Day?

Sorry if I sound ignorant to the terminology, but is there somewhere I can read or see what you mean by 'mumps.'

[Deciazulado]

Originally Posted by threefiftyrocket

Sorry if I sound ignorant to the terminology, but is there somewhere I can read or see what you mean by 'mumps.'

Go to the bottom of this page.

[threefiftyrocket]

Originally Posted by Deciazulado

Go to the bottom of this page.

I get it now, thank you very much. I've seen that effect before but had never heard of it referred to as 'mumps' I guess.

Is correcting that such a bad thing? I mean I know preserving films is absolutely crucial but also the article mentions that a lot of times the directors and cinematographers would take precautions to avoid the effect when possible. So since the intent was NOT to have that effect show, is it bad to correct it if we can?

[saprano]

Penton, i assume you have contacts with higher ups at sony? I think it was you that got that PS3 BD regional thing fixed? I don't remember what it was.

Well the new issue everyone is having is with VUDU and Netflix. They both advertise 5.1 Dolby Digital+ but the PS3 won't output them. It defaults to Dolby Digital at 640kbps. Other players that are just now getting DD+ stream it just fine. So i think its a issue sony needs to fix. Or VUDU also.

Sorry in advance if im completely in the wrong asking you this. Calling Netflix and VUDU (Which many have done already) is no hope.

[KubrickFan]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

“O jest unseen, inscrutable, invisible.”

For new or junior members, sharkshark chides me as he is well aware I post fact rather than speculation. If one wants the later, there are a plethora of other places on the web which do so.

If one desires debate though, I present you and others with this…..Whether tis nobler to restore a classic motion picture the way it was shot (i.e. The Bridge on the River Kwai), ‘mumps’ and all,

or, not to (i.e. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea) and thusly re-create. In other words, as you folks will eventually discover whenever ‘Leagues’ makes it onto Blu-ray, that the mump-itis evident with the original theatrical presentation of ‘Leagues’ has been *corrected* during the recent restoration by applying a 0.5% digital squish to the entire image in order to *fix* it.

So, whether tis nobler to squish or not to squish, That is zee question .
(both shot full-aperture 2.66:1)

Or, should I not pose such a question to those recovering on Day 1 after St. Patrick’s Day?

And another way Disney found to revise their classics. Look, removing wires when they were never visible during its theatrical run is all right by me, but the mumps were always there. Yes, cinematographers worked around it, but every person that worked on a movie production had to work around something. Leave well enough alone, Disney.

[4K2K]

Originally Posted by saprano

Penton, i assume you have contacts with higher ups at sony? I think it was you that got that PS3 BD regional thing fixed? I don't remember what it was.

The change was to skip over 50Hz video on your Blu-ray titles. Though other US players such as Samsung players allow you to watch it and don't skip it - and some titles are all 50Hz.

This is what pro-bassoonist said about the PS3 upgrade:

Originally Posted by pro-bassoonist

5. Lastly, the firmware upgrade the PS3 received basically brought back its old ability to skip PAL or 1080/50i content that isn't forced, not all PAL or 1080/50i content. So forced PAL or 1080/50i content that precedes the main menu is still very much problematic for the PS3.

https://forum.blu-ray.com/newbie-dis...ml#post4162934

[DenonCI]

Originally Posted by saprano

Penton, i assume you have contacts with higher ups at sony? I think it was you that got that PS3 BD regional thing fixed? I don't remember what it was.

Well the new issue everyone is having is with VUDU and Netflix. They both advertise 5.1 Dolby Digital+ but the PS3 won't output them. It defaults to Dolby Digital at 640kbps. Other players that are just now getting DD+ stream it just fine. So i think its a issue sony needs to fix. Or VUDU also.

Sorry in advance if im completely in the wrong asking you this. Calling Netflix and VUDU (Which many have done already) is no hope.

If it's 640kbps, then you're getting DD+, it's just labeled incorrectly.

[androvsky]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

File this under…Y’all knew it was coming, just a matter of when and how. So, viola -

http://www.fdtimes.com/news/sony/new...4k-and-beyond/

Wow, that sounds like a really good 4k camera. Finally. Love the fact that it has a wider colorspace. Is there any chance of Sony putting out some sample footage in a not-too-lossy format for demos, or are we going to have to wait until the smaller filmmakers get their hands on one?

[sharkshark]

aren't we punchy today...

Yeah, the mumpy-thing is yet another interesting tool that can be used to "fix" (read: modify/change/modernize) such presentations. The issue isn't whether or not it should be done (debatable), it's whether or not there should be every effort made to ensure that IF it's done it's accomplished with the best of aesthetic intentions and the maxium warranted sensitivity and resources (not debatable).

More nerdy article on mumps:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CinemaScope
The CinemaScope lenses were optically flawed, however, by the fixed anamorphic element, which caused the anamorphic effect to gradually drop off as objects approached closer to the lens. The effect was that close-ups would slightly overstretch an actor's face, a problem that soon became referred to as "the mumps". This problem was avoided at first by composing wider shots, but as anamorphic technology lost its novelty, directors and cinematographers sought compositional freedom from these limitations. Issues with the lenses also made it difficult to photograph animation using the CinemaScope process. Nevertheless, many animated short films and a few features were filmed in CinemaScope during the 1950s, including Walt Disney's Lady and the Tramp (1955).

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

“O jest unseen, inscrutable, invisible.”

For new or junior members, sharkshark chides me as he is well aware I post fact rather than speculation. If one wants the later, there are a plethora of other places on the web which do so.

If one desires debate though, I present you and others with this…..Whether tis nobler to restore a classic motion picture the way it was shot (i.e. The Bridge on the River Kwai), ‘mumps’ and all,

or, not to (i.e. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea) and thusly re-create. In other words, as you folks will eventually discover whenever ‘Leagues’ makes it onto Blu-ray, that the mump-itis evident with the original theatrical presentation of ‘Leagues’ has been *corrected* during the recent restoration by applying a 0.5% digital squish to the entire image in order to *fix* it.

So, whether tis nobler to squish or not to squish, That is zee question .
(both shot full-aperture 2.66:1)

Or, should I not pose such a question to those recovering on Day 1 after St. Patrick’s Day?

[saprano]

Originally Posted by DenonCI

If it's 640kbps, then you're getting DD+, it's just labeled incorrectly.

DD+ is 1.5mbps. Read around the net. Everyone is having this problem on PS3.

The 640kbps was guesswork. It could be 384 for all we know.

[PeterTHX]

Originally Posted by saprano

DD+ is 1.5mbps. Read around the net. Everyone is having this problem on PS3.

The 640kbps was guesswork. It could be 384 for all we know.

DD+ can be any bitrate from 0 to 6.1 Mbps

[DenonCI]

Originally Posted by saprano

DD+ is 1.5mbps. Read around the net. Everyone is having this problem on PS3.

The 640kbps was guesswork. It could be 384 for all we know.

As far as I kno, Vudu's DD+ stream is 640kbps. The bandwidth is too tight for 1.5Mbps.

[PaulGo]

Some more information on the new Spider-man movie.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/0..._n_837917.html

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by androvsky

Wow, that sounds like a really good 4k camera. Finally. Love the fact that it has a wider colorspace. Is there any chance of Sony putting out some sample footage in a not-too-lossy format for demos, or are we going to have to wait until the smaller filmmakers get their hands on one?

Barring unforeseen circumstances related to the earthquake….( http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/News/Pr...14E/index.html), images captured by the camera should be available for demo (on a 4K display) at NAB in early April. If you mean demos vis-à-vis venues after NAB, that is indeterminate at this time.

I can’t emphasize enough the fact that, as great as the 4K camera (8K sensor [20.4 Megapixels] etc.) is, the camera is only one piece (albeit, the last piece and an important one) in the 4K puzzle, as no great camera was ever developed before an established storage system, workflow and a standardized post production toolset (to support the camera) was already in place…or at least shortly after filmmaker availability, in regards to practical editing systems (the majority of NLE manufacturers have already expressed their intention to natively support the camera files as soon as commercially on the market).

Sony should have this 4K infrastructure or food chain, if you will, pretty much completely in place by the time the wonder camera is available to filmmakers.

I’m reminded of another high resolution camera which made a debut (in ’07) without the proper infrastructure in place. In regards to that, the complaints which I most often heard from filmmakers (unable or unwilling to be beta testers for a product already on the market), was that the there was no standard methodology to the post workflow and there were literally about 8 or more different ways of doing things. Certainly, one-off solutions may be fine for people with unlimited time and resources but, they hamper broad-based professional (namely, feature films, major television series) acceptance and usage when things just haven’t been worked out after the initial step of image capture….be it in 4K, 35mm film or HD.

b.t.w., if some folks are wondering why the debut of another Beyond HD camera is such a milestone and its significance to Blu-ray, well, just re-read the last couple pages about 4K restorations.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by saprano

Penton, i assume you have contacts with higher ups at sony?

I guess that’s one way of putting it.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by phansson

Hey Penton, I am glad to see the interest in 3D from the public. Thanks for posting, it sounds promising.

Now if we can get rid of those "HORRIBLE" 3D Blu Ray exclusive deals which do nothing but hurt early adopters (sound familiar huh???).

Hi ‘ol buddy . My 3D advocacy on other threads sometimes reminds me of the internet forum trench warfare of which I was involved in during the HD DVD vs. Blu-ray format war back in the day. lol, seems I’m always backing the underdog in the early stage of every game, whether it be on AVS or Blu-ray.com. In other words, last time around Blu-ray, this time 3D.

The only gratifying thing this time around is I notice that Knights from the old format war (whether red or blue), are embracing or at least open-minded with regards to 3D.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by PaulGo

Some more information on the new Spider-man movie.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/0..._n_837917.html

If the reporting is accurate, there’s nothing like an actor breaking the NDA.
Can’t anyone keep secrets these days?