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

[Doctorossi]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

Did you catch the Everton match?

Sort of... I followed it online. I can't wait for tomorrow- we're a fun watch these days, though nerve-wracking as hell.

[sharkshark]

I understand there's a giant handegg game this weekend...

[svenge]

Originally Posted by sharkshark

I understand there's a giant handegg game this weekend...

Why yes, yes there is! It even features players who fall to the ground AFTER being touched by an opposing player!

[Penton-Man]

Ouch ^ !
Well sharkshark, you left yourself exposed to that one.

I’ll have two displays running in our household on Sunday, one for the football (American) fans and commercial connoisseurs and the other for the young-ins in attendance who don’t give a hoot about the Super Bowl and desire to watch this…
http://www.pawnation.com/2011/02/04/...-cam-and-more/

Before I forget, for next (the following) Saturday, this Open House is always worthwhile if you’re a local –

The American Society of Cinematographers
Invites you to attend its
Annual ASC Open House
Saturday, February 12, 2011
11:00 a.m. – 3 :00 p.m.

Pre-Open House Breakfast Exclusively for
"Friends of the ASC"
9:30 a.m. – 11 :00 a.m.
1782 North Orange Dr.
Hollywood, CA 90028

There will be no onsite or validated parking.
Please use the lots at Hollywood and Highland.

In attendance will be
ASC Award Honorees, Nominees and Esteemed Members
Roger Deakins ~ Michael O'Shea ~ John Seale ~ Jeff Cronenweth ~ Matthew Libatique ~ Wally Pfister
Kramer Morgenthau ~ Eagle Egilsson ~ Christopher Manley ~ Jonathan Freeman ~ Stephen Burum
Amy Vincent ~ Owen Roizman ~ Ellen Kuras ~ George Spiro Dibie ~ Caleb Deschanel ~
Vilmos Zsigmond ~ Nancy Schreiber ~ Haskell Wexler...and many more!
(Note: Participation based on availability)

[Penton-Man]

Sharkshark, in case you’re only interested in viewing the commercials, some already have been leaked (purposely… http://www.dailyfinance.com/story/co...them/19809139/) online to provide some buzz before the big game -

http://gawker.com/5751985/the-best-s...yline=true&s=i

Of particular note is the Volkswagon commercial which has gone viral and is receiving quite a bit attention on our local news channels due to the behind-the-scenes human interest story of the young actor (he was born with Tetraology of Fallot, which requires at least one corrective surgery [open heart] for survival)…

http://www.nbclosangeles.com/enterta...115336144.html

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by svenge

Why yes, yes there is! It even features players who fall to the ground AFTER being touched by an opposing player!

Yeah, but keep in mind, it aint what it used to be like in thee ol’ days….http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tfr1STSrBQo

Now we’ve got indoor stadiums, heated fields, and *wussification* –http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=5960674

^ First of all, it was “Advanced Calculus problems”… - I love Ed.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Doctorossi

Sort of... I followed it online. I can't wait for tomorrow- we're a fun watch these days, though nerve-wracking as hell.

They’re absolutely killin me this year.

At least the Newcastle match is/will be a good showcase for people who think that soccer is always boring. If Arsenal loses the Premiership by two points, there will be a lot of supporters (including me) who will remember the Newcastle *missed opportunity* for many years.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

Owen Roizman...

Cinematographer to Photographer…http://www.oscars.org/events-exhibit...1/roizman.html

Nice videoclip of the event on the lower left of the page ^.

[Doctorossi]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

If Arsenal loses the Premiership by two points, there will be a lot of supporters (including me) who will remember the Newcastle *missed opportunity* for many years.

I prefer to think of it that if we'd won and put more pressure on United, they might've tried harder and beaten Wolves.

[Penton-Man]

I like your perspective. It’s certainly easier on the blood pressure to think of it in that way.

[Penton-Man]

In view of the Blu news out of PHE and for those who missed the local showing of The Fighter at the Egyptian last Sat. evening with the Q&A discussion which followed that included Mark Wahlberg, David O. Russell and Jack McGee, this may be of interest –

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRNtf70guWw

[Josh]

I think its been a while since I asked this question, so I'll ask it again

When will we see Sony Music release some Blu-ray Audio (Profile 3.0) stuff? The Tom Petty discs are amazing and Trent Reznor is ready to stand-up for the cause. A dedicated legion of audiophiles are awaiting some more releases.

[JimSD]

Penton,

If the Sony-MGM deal goes through as is mentioned on the front page of this site, do you think that Sony would use the existing James Bond masters (may not be the correct term) done by Lowry Digital to get the rest of the Bond films out or would Sony create their own which I assume would delay their release?

I'm very happy with the ones that are currently available on BD so I'd be fine with what has already been done by Lowry (except for maybe the framing on Goldeneye and a color issue on OHMSS that were on the DVDs).

[Penton-Man]

Sorry Jim, no comment.
Josh – Hi, duly noted but, I have no info at this time.

[Dennis M]

Originally Posted by Josh

I think its been a while since I asked this question, so I'll ask it again

When will we see Sony Music release some Blu-ray Audio (Profile 3.0) stuff? The Tom Petty discs are amazing and Trent Reznor is ready to stand-up for the cause. A dedicated legion of audiophiles are awaiting some more releases.

Hi Penton,

Joining Josh here in expressing interest in the Profile 3.0 blu-ray audio spec. Already have The Social Network disc, think it's great, and would like to see more product like it. SACD and DVD Audio failed for several reasons. Where as Blu-ray Profile 3.0, I believe, does not face the same hurdles.

It would be nice to have hi-rez digital format that will give me the same pleasure that my Japanese press and 200 gram Vinyls do. The downloadable formats just do not measure up.

Cheers

PS: Looking at getting the Niel Young boxset now.

[fitprod]

Originally Posted by Dennis M

SACD and DVD Audio failed for several reasons. Where as Blu-ray Profile 3.0, I believe, does not face the same hurdles.

Actually, Blu-ray Profile 3.0 will face the same hurdles:

(1) General consumer apathy to high-rez, multi-channel audio. (When a product is essentially back ground fodder, they don't care how good it sounds. They're happy as long as it will play in all of their portable devices.)
(2) Convenience of downloads.

The minor stumbling block for SACD & DVD-Audio's success was competing formats. It hurt, but again most consumers didn't care. That is why you always had to go to speciality shops to buy the stuff. The average CE Store (Wal*Mart, Best Buy, Circuit City and Ultimate Electronic) can only sell stuff that their "generally" un-educated staff can understand. - You'll notice two of those four companies are gone, so getting any new format into the public's view is just going to get harder and harder. Do you really think Wal*mart or Best Buy will care since they've been cutting back their music oriented product for years now?

fitprod

[Dennis M]

Originally Posted by fitprod

Actually, Blu-ray Profile 3.0 will face the same hurdles:

(1) General consumer apathy to high-rez, multi-channel audio. (When a product is essentially back ground fodder, they don't care how good it sounds. They're happy as long as it will play in all of their portable devices.)
(2) Convenience of downloads.

The minor stumbling block for SACD & DVD-Audio's success was competing formats. It hurt, but again most consumers didn't care. That is why you always had to go to speciality shops to buy the stuff. The average CE Store (Wal*Mart, Best Buy, Circuit City and Ultimate Electronic) can only sell stuff that their "generally" un-educated staff can understand. - You'll notice two of those four companies are gone, so getting any new format into the public's view is just going to get harder and harder. Do you really think Wal*mart or Best Buy will care since they've been cutting back their music oriented product for years now?

fitprod

Hi fitprod,

Those are some good points.

As for the apathy towards hi-rez audio, it is there. But is it because people are by nature apathetic, or is it a by product of decisions made by the music industry, and the CEs, in the past (Ie. DRM, Cumbersome restrictions on platforms, High priced players, etc..)? From personal experience I found that when someone is actually exposed to a music source of higher fidelity, then say MP3, the reception is very positive. I've actually had 18 year olds going out buying turntables and Vinyl after-wards. And Vinyl is about as inconvenient as you can get, ok outside of reel to reel.
Maybe there's a bit of a nostalgia element to it, but hey they did it.

To me one of the biggest factors in the failure of SACD and DVD Audio, next to the fact they were competing formats, was the price of the players and the cumbersome architecture. Remember that to buy into these formats back then you were spending anywhere from 2 to 5 thousand for an audio only platform. Not something that would attract the general consumer. This largely prevented player penetration into the market. Not an issue with Blu-ray. Players already have an install base.

Next was the cumbersome architecture. The initial requirement, enforced by the music industry on the CEs, of NO hi-rez digital output. Which of course meant analog connections, and when your talking multi-channel that's a lot of cables. Plus how may people back then had Receivers/Preamps that supported multi-channel analog in? Let's not even get into setting crossover points and Bass management in the players for analog out. Were the Analog in's passthru, or did they go through the digital management? Did the Receiver/Preamp have the +10 LFE boost? Etc..... What a nightmare. I ran back to Vinyl screaming. And I understand this stuff. Image how the general consumer reacted.
Even when digital output was made available it was proprietary, varying from one manufacture to the next.
A lot of these issues disappeared with Blu-ray and it's HDMI interface. Plus Receivers/Preamps support of higher rez formats is better now then they were back in the SACD and DVD Audio days.

I know I'm somewhat simplifying the issues here, but I just wanted to show that the environment is very different today then it was in the past. High rez audio has a chance, if it's handled properly.

[AstroBlu]

Penton; are you going to watch the debut of 3net Sunday?

[Penton-Man]

Jim, I didn’t mean to be abrupt last evening but, I was trying to get out of the office and I’m sure you can understand that I can’t speak much to your query. I can say hypothetically, if such a situation to which you alluded to on the last page were to exist…and proceed to fruition as described in the local piece, the decision ultimately resides with the entity having ownership rights to the content.

However, be that as it may, keep in mind in terms of real-world practicality; it is not uncommon for the owner(s) to ask for advice/guidance from others who have shown repeated expertise in the field (restoration/remastering) esp. if the later are handling the product in some shape or form. This is a small town and many people in the business know each other.... actually, they have even worked with each other in the same organizations in the past, so they have developed relationships.

Even situations in which the content provider owns and distributes a movie, doesn’t necessarily mean they do all the ‘work’ on the motion picture. Example(s) – Fox commissioned Sony to restore The Comancheros (1961) not too long ago.

As an aside, the Blu-ray authoring of The Thin Red Line was actually done by a local post house in L.A., etc.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Dennis M

Hi Penton,

Joining Josh here in expressing interest in the Profile 3.0 blu-ray audio spec...

Good to hear.
All I can say is that David (Bishop) personally is a big audiophile....so that doesn't hurt.