Ask questions to Sony Pictures Entertainment insider "paidgeek"

[Kris Deering]

Originally Posted by dialog_gvf

How is this any different from DVD?

Gary

Not sure what you mean? SPHE has made comments in the past stating that they would be trying their best to release all new day and date titles on BD along with its DVD counterpart. I understand some small titles are going to get passed over, but the films I mentioned over just the last few months aren't from straight to video directors.

Fox has been REALLY bad in this regard. You could compile quite the list of titles they've skipped over, especially from the Fox Searchlight label. Maybe they have a minimum box office haul to qualify for HD treatment, but I don't see a method to their madness at all.

[mhafner]

Originally Posted by Ian_S

Odd focus in places where some parts of a scene looked very sharp and others sometimes near the edges weren't.

There are lot of lens related blurry tops and bottoms. Part of the photography.

[depooter]

Paid:
I like the thumbnail image with title when playing a BD via the PS3. Can we get that title to display once the BD is loaded and playing? If I hit display while watching the BD, it doesn't show the title, but it looks like it could..

hope this makes sense.

[ErikR]

Originally Posted by depooter

Paid:
I like the thumbnail image with title when playing a BD via the PS3. Can we get that title to display once the BD is loaded and playing? If I hit display while watching the BD, it doesn't show the title, but it looks like it could..

hope this makes sense.

I know what you're talking about, and that would be great.

Paid: We all know that eventually there'll be double dips on Blu-ray titles (Looks like Fox is already planning on one with AvP). Question is, would Sony look into some sort of "Upgrade" program so that previous owners don't have to pay full price if they upgrade to a newer version? It might not be possible, but it would be nice if this could be looked into. Thanks.

[blu2]

Dear Paidgeek;

I thought you may be interested in the results of this poll:

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=41510

It appears that more than anything else Blu Ray related on the horizon, participants of this forum are most interested in getting DTS-HD MA support on the PS3.

I'm sure your peers over at SCE already knows this, but we'd all be appreciative of any efforts to re-enforce the great interest in this amoung the Blu Ray community.

Thanks

[neo_reloaded]

Hi paidgeek,

What discipline did you receive your undergrad / graduate school degrees in (if you received one or both)?

From your postings here, it seems you aren't directly involved with designing / coding the high-def codecs used on Sony Blu-ray discs - but I figure you are very involved in the whole industry and, as such, might be knowledgeable about those who do.

I'm about to receive my undergraduate degree in Computer Engineering and plan on continuing to graduate school. My biggest passion is writing and testing algorithms, so I now have it in my head that designing / refining high-def codecs could be one potential career to look into. I'm not really sure how to get from where I am to a job like that, so any input on what path to look into would be greatly appreciated.

[syncguy]

Originally Posted by DaViD Boulet

Exactly. That "axis" should be a programatic value that a BD player could manipulate dynamically on the fly. The defauls is "0" (subs start at their original raster position) and then you should be able to dial in any value or select from preset values to raise them up to any position on the screen.

We shouldn't even have to talk to Paikgeek/Sony about positioning their subs. We should be able to make the adjustment we want with our playback hardware.

Subtitle repositioning is very important to me. It appears that this is a trivial function to implement in player firmware and it is not mandatory to provide different subtitle files on the disk to achieve this. TheaterTek s/w DVD player has this capability and I also know that some other h/w DVD players are capable of this. Do you know of any progress in implementing this function in PS3 at least for blu-ray disks.

[space2001]

hey Paidgeek,

Hopefully you can answer this or get it to the right people. I love the PS3 and the functionality of it. I was hoping that some sort of backing up DVD's to the ps3 for viewing. Kind of like what most people do with there HTPC.

It would be nice to hook up a external and be able to put the movie on it for viewing with the menus and chapters. Possibly have nice little poster for the movie.

I believe this will be a nice addition to the ps3

Thanks

[syncguy]

Originally Posted by space2001

hey Paidgeek,

Hopefully you can answer this or get it to the right people. I love the PS3 and the functionality of it. I was hoping that some sort of backing up DVD's to the ps3 for viewing. Kind of like what most people do with there HTPC.

It would be nice to hook up a external and be able to put the movie on it for viewing with the menus and chapters. Possibly have nice little poster for the movie.

I believe this will be a nice addition to the ps3

Thanks

Blu-ray is encrypted and copy protected. Hence it cannot be copied to a hard disk. If your request is implemented whole copy protection effort will be useless.

One way I can think of overcoming the copy protection issue is to establish an online license verification method for online purchases. If this is the case, you might be able to purchase a online license for a rented BD and copy it to PS3 HD for playback. The license could grant playback right only to the original PS3 box that was used for copying the content. Also, there should be a way to transfer the license from one machine to another.

This could be complex. I don't think Sony would go in this direction.

Regards.

[paidgeek]

Originally Posted by saprano

Hey paid, news just broke about sony is in talks with microsoft for a BD add on for the xbox. is this true? http://www.ft.com/cms/s/ca6017de-eba...hp%3Ft%3D41126, it doesint look like the guy from sony says anything about a 360. only that there in talks thats it, the guy who wrote the artical says xbox. it could mean its for there laptops?

I am a bit skeptical of MS Blu-ray products given the experience of the last several years.... Let's see what happens.

[paidgeek]

Originally Posted by LFletcher

Hi Paidgeek,
Can you comment on the recent Sony release of Welcome To The Jungle in the UK (aka The Rundown in the US) which was the cut version of the film (I believe this was the rated 12 version shown in UK cinemas) rather than uncut rated 15 version that Sony released on DVD in the UK?

Do you know if the other global releases of this film (Germany, France, Australia, etc) will be uncut?

Thanks

The other territories are the uncut version.

[paidgeek]

Originally Posted by milou6

Finding the balance between options and general understanding is not easy. The fact that you are using sql in your post means you are certainly not the average consumer
My good friend didn't understand how to get DTS to play back on his high-end system years ago -- he just kept pressing "dts" on his receiver's remote. Now we have a wholesale change to HD in both audio and video, PLUS networking.

PAIDGEEK: I like the brochure A Simple Guide to the World of High Definition Home Theater and Blu-Ray Disc that came with my free 3-pack of BDs (recent promotion at Best Buy when you buy an HDTV). I think it does a very good job of explaining HD to average users. Is this an example of what's to come in terms of consumer education? Was this a joint effort by the studios and Sony?

I don't know who gets the credit for the brochure. We will be doing more to educate consumers (and retailers) in the months to come...

[paidgeek]

Originally Posted by 4K2K

Would it be possible for all movie studios to NOT put trailers before movie discs that people buy (instead of rent)?

Would it be possible you to be able to select which trailer you want to view instead, and for standard definition titles on anamorphic discs, would it be possible for all the trailers on there to also be anamorphic (instead of some which are cropped 4:3 widescreen and that appear postage stamp size in the middle of the screen).

Yes, these suggestions are possible, but I would not expect these changes to happen in the near future. Our studio policy is to allow you to chapter skip over the trailers and warnings, so it only takes a few seconds to get where you need to go.

[paidgeek]

Originally Posted by JackBauer24

HI paidgeek,

There are rumors that the studios may double dip previous release to include BD-Live extras. If Sony were to do this would it be introduced like Fifth Element where the previous was discontinued or would it be a double dip proper and have both versions on sale?

I don't know the answer to this. We have not had any such discussions.

[paidgeek]

Originally Posted by onyxx

Paidgeek,

In the old insiders thread we had a little discussion regarding the Seinfeld collection on BD. You said that it was being under consideration and that you would give us more info in due time. Myself and others have held back on purchasing the DVD collection in hope that a BD collection might be on the horizon, could you give us any updates on the matter? Should we wait a little longer or should we give it up and get the DVD?

Thanks for looking out...

Can't help you on this one...

[paidgeek]

Originally Posted by cjamescook

Paidgeek-

Is there anything that (talented?) individuals can do to get restored old catalog title released on blu-ray? I don't mean just requesting, advocating, or buying. I mean actively assisting with restoration, compute cycles, etc.

My understanding is that to restore a film means it must be re-scanned. Big budget restorations would probably make a new print from the negative if the first digital interpositive is not adquate (or do you just scan the negative?). But isn't the next step some serious compute time to apply various correction algorithms, frame-by-frame, or manpower-intensive frame-by-frame interactive (human required) dust, dirt, and scratch removal?

Restoration of some films will never make economic sense. But for some fans, the labor of love will far outweigh the time they spend.

Thanks,
-Jim

I appreciate the thought, but we have contracted facilities that do the majority of this work. The tools are getting better, but there are many different problems to address depending on the title.

[paidgeek]

Originally Posted by depooter

Paid:
I like the thumbnail image with title when playing a BD via the PS3. Can we get that title to display once the BD is loaded and playing? If I hit display while watching the BD, it doesn't show the title, but it looks like it could..

hope this makes sense.

Your point makes sense, but it seems like a lot of trouble to fit the text along with all the other information. Once you are watching the movie, you know what movie you are watching right??

[paidgeek]

Originally Posted by blu2

Dear Paidgeek;

I thought you may be interested in the results of this poll:

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=41510

It appears that more than anything else Blu Ray related on the horizon, participants of this forum are most interested in getting DTS-HD MA support on the PS3.

I'm sure your peers over at SCE already knows this, but we'd all be appreciative of any efforts to re-enforce the great interest in this amoung the Blu Ray community.

Thanks

Very interesting. Almost no interest in BD-Live?? Does this mean that everyone here just wants to watch the movie and won't connect your player to a network?

[un4gvn94538]

Originally Posted by paidgeek

Very interesting. Almost no interest in BD-Live?? Does this mean that everyone here just wants to watch the movie and won't connect your player to a network?

yes sir. most people want dts ma decoding on the ps3

[kjacobs03]

Originally Posted by paidgeek

Very interesting. Almost no interest in BD-Live?? Does this mean that everyone here just wants to watch the movie and won't connect your player to a network?

Pretty much, Yes! I just want to watch my BD's with the best picture quality and listen to the uncompressed DTSHD MA on my PS3.
I do love deleted/extended scenes though.