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

[Seretur]

Did someone mention Panasonic players?

The $600 I invested in my BD-50 are the best $600 I invested in anything over the past four years.

That telecom stock, on the other hand... eh. Panasonic ROXORS.

Nice to see you here, Max.

[DenonCI]

The Oracle of Omaha predicted this melt down about 5 years ago and told his companies to stay away from the "risky ventures." I believe he called them a ticking time-bomb...guess what...BOOM!

[Rob Tomlin]

Originally Posted by Maxpower1987

What? The Buffster. Yeah, he's pretty smart. Also says Bush should have given poor people a tax cut instead of the rich, but oh well...

Just to clarify, I agree with the above stace...

You might agree with it, but it doesn't mean you are right!

Anyway, we should really keep politics out of Penton's thread...especially since this site has a no politics policy.

[Esox50]

Originally Posted by Maxpower1987

Unfortunately, while all those (except maybe terrorists!) are responsible to some extent, the actual problem lies with us, the people and our insatiable desire to consume.

September 11 and its impact in the few years after forced us into a very low rate environment, which clearly helped to fuel the housing bubble. From there, we can blame the Fed for keeping rates so low for so long. Sorry if my point/blame wasn't clear.

100% agreed on the "consumerism" comment. It simply amazes me how people feel they're entitled to things...

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Rob Tomlin

You might agree with it, but it doesn't mean you are right!

Anyway, we should really keep politics out of Penton's thread...especially since this site has a no politics policy.

Dude, we can even talk some kinds of politics on Penton’s thread …………
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/relea...0081002-5.html

the pertinent bill ^ to us here being H.R. 5893
A nice summary of which is here…………….
http://leahy.senate.gov/press/200809/091708d.html

P.S.
The pertinent bill to you being H.R. 5551, if you ever plan on moving to and living in Wash., D.C….. a city where I left my mark on M Street (in Georgetown) in the wee hours of the morn, on more than one occasion.

[PaulGo]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

Dude, we can even talk some kinds of politics on Penton’s thread …………
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/relea...0081002-5.html

the pertinent bill ^ to us here being H.R. 5893
A nice summary of which is here…………….
http://leahy.senate.gov/press/200809/091708d.html

P.S.
The pertinent bill to you being H.R. 5551, if you ever plan on moving to and living in Wash., D.C….. a city where I left my mark on M Street (in Georgetown) in the wee hours of the morn, on more than one occasion.

So Congress is actually doing something meaningful?

PM you're a real pisser!

[HeavyHitter]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

Not really, as I don’t know anything about that Uni title.

Have any reviewers found a significant difference upon viewing the Blu-ray version vs. the HD DVD version in motion or is this just another case of screenshot *scientists* that have way too much time on their hands comparing static screenshots purposely searching for minute changes…..resulting in the invariable *we was cheated on PQ* syndrome?

Sometimes any minimal differences in encodes can be attributed to variances between individual compressionists, or technicians working under a deadline, rather than any concerted effort to advance some fictitious widespread Hollywood agenda that screenshot *scientists* come up with……….if the title was prepared from the same HD master by the same post house on the same encoder with the same software version.

I recently watched Universal's U-571 on BD. I thought it looked excellent in motion (what a way to judge a transfer!) and had virtually as much detail as the HD DVD version I watched earlier in the year. Even Robert Harris recommended the BD. Yes, the BD did have less grain, but also less dirt, specs, etc. In addition, the BD contains a DTS-MA track. I'm viewing at 1080p on a 60" display.

Of course, at AVS, the U-571 BD is said to be a complete tragedy, POS, grain-raped, soft piece of garbage catering to blu-ray.com members and supposedly made some people now switch back to HD DVD for Universal titles.

[micks_address]

wow.. switch back to universal for HD DVD titles

Originally Posted by HeavyHitter

I recently watched Universal's U-571 on BD. I thought it looked excellent in motion (what a way to judge a transfer!) and had virtually as much detail as the HD DVD version I watched earlier in the year. Even Robert Harris recommended the BD. Yes, the BD did have less grain, but also less dirt, specs, etc. In addition, the BD contains a DTS-MA track. I'm viewing at 1080p on a 60" display.

Of course, at AVS, the U-571 BD is said to be a complete tragedy, POS, grain-raped, soft piece of garbage catering to blu-ray.com members and supposedly made some people now switch back to HD DVD for Universal titles.

[Bullseye]

Penton it appears from your writings on here that you are a fan of David Fincher as I am. I just picked up my copy of Zodiac: Directors Cut and would you believe it WB has excluded a HD audio yet again.

I do not know if you have any influence over at WB but surely someone needs to get the message to these guys that HD audio is a must. Paying €30 for this disc I deserve HD Audio.

[Bobby Henderson]

I think Zodiac is supposed to be released on Blu-ray in the United States on January 20, 2009. Paramount is handling that release. It seems like a safe bet for it to have Dolby TrueHD audio. But I'm also kind of hoping for a higher bit rate video encoding rather than a mere port from the previous HD-DVD.

[Bullseye]

Originally Posted by Bobby Henderson

I think Zodiac is supposed to be released on Blu-ray in the United States on January 20, 2009. Paramount is handling that release. It seems like a safe bet for it to have Dolby TrueHD audio. But I'm also kind of hoping for a higher bit rate video encoding rather than a mere port from the previous HD-DVD.

So it looks like WB has taken the cheap option yet not passed on the savings to the customer

Looks like I will have to buy this again and import it from the states.

[horseflesh]

Originally Posted by Bullseye

Penton it appears from your writings on here that you are a fan of David Fincher as I am. I just picked up my copy of Zodiac: Directors Cut and would you believe it WB has excluded a HD audio yet again.

I do not know if you have any influence over at WB but surely someone needs to get the message to these guys that HD audio is a must. Paying €30 for this disc I deserve HD Audio.

Paying €30 for any Blu-ray, you deserve a kick in the arse!!!

[dialog_gvf]

Originally Posted by PaulGo

So Congress is actually doing something meaningful?

Even a blind squirrel sometimes finds a nut?

[HDJK]

Originally Posted by dialog_gvf

Even a blind squirrel sometimes finds a nut?

Is that how that saying goes over there?

We say:

'Auch ein blindes Huhn findet mal ein Korn'

meaning:

'Even a blind chicken sometimes finds a grain'

[BluDomain]

I've heard it all on that "other" forum. Screen captures of "Iron Man"
comparing BD and DVD seems as though there were too many
positive posts of the great BD examples, sooo.....now a new approach
has surfaced. BD isn't really that good. It's just that distributers
have decreased the quality of SD releases so that the BD appears
better.

"I agree with the statement that DVD transfers are being dumbed down....
I noticed this first on Harry Potter and The Order Of The Phoenix.....Terrible
DVD transfer and seemingly no reason for it to be so bad other than the HD
edition was also out at the same time."

"A couple of years ago DVD transfers were much better than today's DVD of
Iron Man. "

" The DVD screenshots look very bad. The sharpness looks maxed out,
especially around the MK1 suit. I agree that DVD looks bad but never this
bad. I believe this was done to make the Blu-ray look even better. How
about some realistic DVD screens with propper picture settings?"

"Having said all that i do firmly believe some of the distributors are dumbing
down their DVD releases and not doing as good a job on them as they could "

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...1070952&page=1

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by HeavyHitter

I recently watched Universal's U-571 on BD. I thought it looked excellent in motion (what a way to judge a transfer!) and had virtually as much detail as the HD DVD version I watched earlier in the year. Even Robert Harris recommended the BD. Yes, the BD did have less grain, but also less dirt, specs, etc. In addition, the BD contains a DTS-MA track. I'm viewing at 1080p on a 60" display.

Of course, at AVS, the U-571 BD is said to be a complete tragedy, POS, grain-raped, soft piece of garbage catering to blu-ray.com members and supposedly made some people now switch back to HD DVD for Universal titles.

Not specifically addressing the title you mentioned but on more of a general note –

They really should either pay more attention to one of the owners/administrators (Alan Gouger) of that forum who has been watching movies on a huge screen for years longer than the majority of the static screenshot analysts………………………

“I have not seen this one. For myself I need to see motion to detect NR. Hard to tell looking at static images. Those images look fine to me………………..”
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showp...&postcount=122

“People think because a title is soft it is automatically NR, not always true. Motion is a sure way to see NR in action.”
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showp...&postcount=174

or else, he (Alan) should take a more active leadership role before the constant malcontents completely run that board into the ground.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by HeavyHitter

....... and supposedly made some people now switch back to HD DVD for Universal titles.

I'll bet that made the drunken Tivo dealer's ears perk up!

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Bullseye

Penton it appears from your writings on here that you are a fan of David Fincher as I am. I just picked up my copy of Zodiac: Directors Cut and would you believe it WB has excluded a HD audio yet again.

I do not know if you have any influence over at WB but surely someone needs to get the message to these guys that HD audio is a must. Paying €30 for this disc I deserve HD Audio.

Well, speaking as a home theater enthusiast, I’m a big fan of much of his work.

I think if you were to ask some people that have been on some of his previous shoots, they may have differing opinions given how many takes he typically does, i.e. his shot ratio. I know of a past movie where he would shoot anywhere between 10 - 30 takes, sometimes 40.

See Bobby Henderson's post on the last page just after yours.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by BluDomain

I've heard it all on that "other" forum. Screen captures of "Iron Man"
comparing BD and DVD seems as though there were too many
positive posts of the great BD examples, sooo.....now a new approach
has surfaced. BD isn't really that good. It's just that distributers
have decreased the quality of SD releases so that the BD appears
better.

lol,
You’ve really got to give ‘em a tip of a hat for coming up with fresh new conspiracy theories.

I, myself would have never predicted that one.
I’m having a hard enough time trying to convince David Bishop to get a certain movie out on Blu-ray before it streets on DVD (to push the Blu-ray format forward)…………and the screenshot scientists already have an intentional dumbing down DVD theory going on.

[HeavyHitter]

Originally Posted by Maxpower1987

Heh, to be fair the current administration has done a few good things, but you have to dig pretty deep to find them!

It will be interesting to see what Obama/Biden do in 2009-2013, I really like Obama, he seems like a smart guy, maybe I'll get to meet him one day! (wishes!)

Max,

One thing you have to understand that in the U.S. the Presidential branch only has 1/3 control; the House has a 1/3 and the Senate has a 1/3. No single president or individual can pass ANY legislation without the other branches agreeing to it. So any failure or success Bush or any other president has is also tied to the other 2/3s of government. For example, Bush cannot pass a tax cut unless the House and Senate also agree with it.