Archived: Insiders Thread

[pro-bassoonist]

Originally Posted by Sir Terrence

I will forward this request to my friends in home video. Right now Disney is focusing on day and date releases with the DVD, and big hit titles that are sure to generate revenue. Kids titles will come to bluray, but I think it won't happen until the format matures a bit.

Hello,

Given that I am one of the older (), age-wise, supporters here I would like to take this opportunity and ask, if possible, that you relate to your sources a request for considering Kieslowski's Three Colors Trilogy. I have been able to verify that HD masters are indeed available for these titles (I am unsure whether they might have come via French distribs MK2) but please, if you could suggest to your colleagues that they consider it for BR release I would forever be in debt to you.

Once again, thank you for considering my tiny post,

Sincerely Yours,
Dr.A

[degas]

Paidgeek:
To follow up Pro Bassons post (on older but great movies), are there any chances of seeing this on Blu:
City of Lost Children (La Cité des enfants perdus)

[Grubert]

Penton,

I see that the Euro branch of BDA has refuted the latest attach rate PR by the HD DVD group.

Has the BDA considered being more proactive and releasing sales stats (both European and North American, software and hardware) from time to time, instead of having to react to the other side's initiative?

[paidgeek]

I thought I would take a few minutes to catch up on questions, but I can see that I am hopelessly behind. Please be patient and I will try to get to everyone late today or over the weekend.

Thanks

[kowhite]

Originally Posted by Bombthroat

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think Sin City 2 is being released by Weinstein. Which until actions show otherwise is not a Blu-ray backer.

You'll have to pardon my non-insider answering question self...

But Sin City 2 is a Weinstein title...domestically. Internationally, it is still a Disney title. Co-production.

[Nick Graham]

Paidgeek,

With Sierra making official this week the long rumored Ghostbusters game (which will be based on the original movie) for the PS3 and all the other major consoles, might I suggest a tie-in release?

http://www.ghostbustersgame.com/us/

[JAGUAR1977]

So insiders, the HD-DVD player sales appear to have had a slight impact on software sales.

Isn't it time Blu-ray had an aggressively priced standalone player, and quick?

So many things are right, the advertising, software line-up, PS3, BOGO's...........cheaper players are the missing link that should make everything click, they can't come soon enough.

[ra1024]

Can any insiders confirm whether Newline will be doing HD DVD ports or if they will optimize for blu-ray? I'm considering a blind buy of Hairspray next week but after the lackluster PQ of Troy, I've stopped buying HD DVDs packaged in blue.

[OokieSpookie]

Originally Posted by ra1024

Can any insiders confirm whether Newline will be doing HD DVD ports or if they will optimize for blu-ray? I'm considering a blind buy of Hairspray next week but after the lackluster PQ of Troy, I've stopped buying HD DVDs packaged in blue.

http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/994/hairspray2007.html

That should tell you all that you need to know.
New Line is releasing blu months in advance of the hd versions, it would be a bit ass backwards to not have them optimized for blu.

The types of PQ situations that you are describing have not happened in many months as far as I am aware.

[dobyblue]

This is Q&A for insiders. If everyone else that's not one of the insiders keeps answering posts, the thread is made redundant.

Originally Posted by Josh

Insiders:

drmpeg - Compression Engineer
kjack - Sigma Designs - Intro
Maxpower1987 - Finance
paidgeek - Sony Pictures Entertainment - Intro
Penton-Man - Hollywood
RBFilms - R&B Films, Ltd
Robert Harris - Motion Picture Archivist
Sir Terrence - Sound/Audio
TalkStr8t - Unspecified - Intro

[phloyd]

Originally Posted by ra1024

Can any insiders confirm whether Newline will be doing HD DVD ports or if they will optimize for blu-ray? I'm considering a blind buy of Hairspray next week but after the lackluster PQ of Troy, I've stopped buying HD DVDs packaged in blue.

From what I have heard the bitrate on Hairspray is not 'super high' by any means.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Brain Sturgeon

I figured there would be plenty of pro photogs there anyway

Extra had a crew there last night.
Maybe you’ll see some red carpet footage this evening on their show, or whenever? they broadcast their next show on NBC.

Later guys.
I'm still recovering from a late night.

[ay221]

Hey insiders, any word if "Moulin Rouge" is coming to blu-ray? Maybe before Feb 14th?

[WickyWoo]

Hey Penton or Paid

Someone on another forum is claiming that Sony used a 1080i broadcast master and didn’t properly convert it to 24p for the redone Fifth Element Blu.

He says he thinks that incorrect inverse telecine of 1080i source material causes combing. He says to look at the back of the police uniforms at 29min 55sec.

Quote:
it looks like they've taken a 1080i tape (designed for HDTV broadcast?) and not managed to convert it to 24p properly.

Was that the case? Or is he as I suspect just blowing smoke?

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by WickyWoo

Hey Penton or Paid

Someone on another forum is claiming that Sony used a 1080i broadcast master and didn’t properly convert it to 24p for the redone Fifth Element Blu.

He says he thinks that incorrect inverse telecine of 1080i source material causes combing. He says to look at the back of the police uniforms at 29min 55sec.



Was that the case? Or is he as I suspect just blowing smoke?

He's just plain wrong.
I generally don’t like to repudiate the analysis of hobbyists unless it is something that gets way out of hand (like the Dracula thing) but, I’ll make an exception in this case because a studio took the time, effort and expense to redo a title to make it the very best it could be on Blu-ray and I think it will be an awfully long time before you see this kind of project done by any studio again.

If his player is not set to support 24p output, then what he is seeing is the delay in his display locking to the film cadence of the 60i signal. For example, some of the Samsung displays are particularly slow at this.

The master was transferred at 24p, compressed at 24p and with the correct equipment you can play it at 24p. If he needs to convince himself, have him put the player in pause on one of the frames he questions. If the vertical resolution does not change, he is getting a full frame still, if there are no combed edge, then he has to be decoding a progressive frame.

B.T.W., feel free to copy and paste the above to whatever thread that originated from, if anyone feels so inclined.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by WickyWoo

He says to look at the back of the police uniforms at 29min 55sec.

I’m not looking at anything today as I was seated near runway level on Thursday night and I still have images of sparkly *do me* heels in my mind.

[navychop]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

... and I still have images of sparkly *do me* heels in my mind.

Do you think the BDA is allowing for future upgrades to Blu-ray movies, such as a 100 or 200 GB version, that might support enhancements such as deep color? Sort of "Blu-ray plus?" Granted, this would only work with new players, media and TVs, but might well find a market.

[Kris Deering]

Originally Posted by phloyd

From what I have heard the bitrate on Hairspray is not 'super high' by any means.

While I am not absolutely positive on this I've been told early on that New Line is taking the same approach as Warner in regards to their transfers. I will follow up and see if that has changed or not, but last I heard they were doing one encode for both.

I know they did some seperate encodes optimized for each format with some test cases (including some very high profile titles) but didn't find enough of a difference to justify the seperate encodes.

I just hope that New Line continues to support high resolution audio soundtracks with their Blu-ray releases across the board, it is a shame that Warner hasn't been doing this with theirs.

[Chris Beveridge]

Originally Posted by Kris Deering

I just hope that New Line continues to support high resolution audio soundtracks with their Blu-ray releases across the board, it is a shame that Warner hasn't been doing this with theirs.

This is the sticking point. I can fully understand WB doing only one video encode, and I can agree that the visual quality of both will be very good *most of the time*. I'm sure there are areas where some extra bandwidth could be used to smooth things out. But I can live with it for what they're doing right now. The audio issue however just annoys me because it is an area where a sizeable difference can be heard, particularly by those early adopters who favor higher end gear. Gear that is continually getting priced down into the realm of affordability for the mainstream. If WB continues to use the same video encode but gave the BD releases uncompressed or TrueHD audio, I'd have zero issue with them.

[cjamescook]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

I’m not looking at anything today as I was seated near runway level on Thursday night and I still have images of sparkly *do me* heels in my mind.

Will this be coming out on Blu-ray anytime soon?