Ask questions to The Digital Bits team (Bill Hunt, Jeff Kleist et.al.)

[spartanstew]

Originally Posted by SBrooks1

He was talking about the Blu's not a parody vid from The Onion pertaining to the new movie...

Yeah, but I had to find some excuse to get that clip in.

[HeavyHitter]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

Well, yes and no

Bill and I have spent many years developing relationships with the studios and in my experience they are open to listening

However

They WON'T listen when they're being shelled and have hand grenades falling in their trenches. They will dig deeper and put a lid on it

This is an art, not a science, and you can't just go barging in there otherwise everything shuts down. Patience=progress, no matter how annoying the wait involved in patience may be.

Except Han shoots first, I don't think that one is winnable

I totally understand. However, does their "listening" actually translate into "practice"? I mean for years at HTF - which is a pretty well run forum which had good studio relations it seemed - we made suggestions about excessive edge enhancement on DVDs, but it never seem to make a difference. DVDs still kept getting pumped out with too much EE. Grant you, HTF is not you and Bill, but it just seems many releases are going to turn out a certain way (good or bad) regardless of our input. I remember right after the format war we were told to wait at least a year for all of the old product to get out of the pipeline; once the new product came through, we would see better results. However, in all reality, it's been over a year and there's been too many catalog titles released recently which have too much DNR including the new T2, The Good, Bad, and the Ugly, and Trek films to name a few.

However, I do want to say, the issue seems to be with catalog titles. New releases that I have been watching seem to have very little if any DNR and generally look less processed.

[horseflesh]

Jeff, do you think you'll get a chance to do a direct comparison with the new T2 Skynet release and your Geneon disc??

[Jeff Kleist]

I totally understand. However, does their "listening" actually translate into "practice"? I mean for years at HTF - which is a pretty well run forum which had good studio relations it seemed - we made suggestions about excessive edge enhancement on DVDs, but it never seem to make a difference. DVDs still kept getting pumped out with too much EE.

DNR and EE are simply a fact of life on DVD. The look and sound of good enough has always been a part of the DVD format. 9mbps (5-6mbps in practice) simply isn't enough bandwidth to put a bunch of dub tracks on there (or even just 1 DD track more often than not) and have something watchable that's high action without it. That's part of the reason many of the early Blus were so bad, because their masters were HD, but pointed to DVD. You soften, then you sharpen to try to bring detail back.

In reality, DVD needed to be a 12GB/disc and average around 10mbps to really deliver on what it could have done. That's a big reason why we pushed so hard for Blu, because it has the capability to deliver what the studios and the enthusiast want at the same time. The bandwidth is high enough and so is the disc space.

Obviously I'm sure some people will figure out a way to break it anyway (Van, looking at you )

[Jeff Kleist]

Jeff, do you think you'll get a chance to do a direct comparison with the new T2 Skynet release and your Geneon disc??

I don't actually have the Geneon disc. I just watched it at the authoring facility on Panasonic's best 60" plasma, hitting key sequences.

I haven't seen Skynet yet, but from the shots, it seems to be the typical LionsGate catalog title, DNR to just this side of unnacceptible. Obviously I can't tell from just those, but I'd say it's a fair guess given their usual output

[horseflesh]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

I don't actually have the Geneon disc. I just watched it at the authoring facility on Panasonic's best 60" plasma, hitting key sequences.

I haven't seen Skynet yet, but from the shots, it seems to be the typical LionsGate catalog title, DNR to just this side of unnacceptible. Obviously I can't tell from just those, but I'd say it's a fair guess given their usual output

Ah ok, I just presumeed you owned the Geneon release, sorry.
How about a comparison from memnory

[Jeff Kleist]

It's on my list to get now

All of Geneon's discs of US films, including Cliffhanger, Aeon Flux and Sky Captain looked very nice. I actually talked to the compressionist, and he said that the film is more limited by the source than anything else (as in the negative)

The authoring house has been very proactive in educating the Japanese studios on mastering standards for Blu

I was dissapointed in the Waterboys disc I got there, that one has somewhat heavy DNR, but the lack of region coding and the properly timed English subs (I used to have the R3 disc) made it worth picking up, along with the snazzy packaging.

[horseflesh]

Damnit Jeff!!!
From what you've seen of both transfers, would you consider there to be an appreciable difference between them?

[Jeff Kleist]

Based on memory there is less DNR, based on the shots I've seen

That was 6 months ago tho.

I'll be grabbing the Geneon disc when i get a chance, and putting them both in the same case. Skynet for the extras and Geneon for watching, how's that? Same thing I did with Face/Off

[horseflesh]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

Based on memory there is less DNR, based on the shots I've seen

That was 6 months ago tho.

Thanks.

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

I'll be grabbing the Geneon disc when i get a chance, and putting them both in the same case. Skynet for the extras and Geneon for watching, how's that? Same thing I did with Face/Off

In effect, that's probably what I'll end up doing too.
As for Face/Off; I just got rid of (well sold, it wasn't quite so bad that it deserved the bin ) my US copy and replaced it with the Disney UK release.

[tvine2000]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

Well, yes and no

Bill and I have spent many years developing relationships with the studios and in my experience they are open to listening

However

They WON'T listen when they're being shelled and have hand grenades falling in their trenches. They will dig deeper and put a lid on it

This is an art, not a science, and you can't just go barging in there otherwise everything shuts down. Patience=progress, no matter how annoying the wait involved in patience may be.

Except Han shoots first, I don't think that one is winnable

In the meantime you can occupy yourself with all of the basic continuity and technical violations in the Abrahms movie that could have been solved with a few days of ADR and having a Trek nerd vet your VFX shots (warp nacells are not engines, hatch on the "neck" is a shuttle docking bay not an escape pod(didn't they watch the 5 minutes it took to dock there in TMP?) cardassians not met until well after TOS, romulans not seen until late in TOS by humans, and no one knew they were releated to Vulcans(so Uhura couldn't speak "all 3 dialects"),no Orions in starfleet since they're a criminal syndicate, a Federation is a government, not a military branch, somehow re-entry isn't an issue when spacediving, it goes on and on And making Enterprise canon when you're throwing out the rest...why?)

Oh and don't taunt happy fun ball

well i agree but and i hate to put a but in...but the studios need to know we are paying big bucks for something like this box set and we want it to look like hd. so they are going to get bombed and get alot of flack from paying customers.

[Xorp]

Originally Posted by horseflesh

In effect, that's probably what I'll end up doing too.
As for Face/Off; I just got rid of (well sold, it wasn't quite so bad that it deserved the bin ) my US copy and replaced it with the Disney UK release.

Unfortunately the UK version is slightly edited. They took out some the scenes with the butterfly knife. All other Dinseys releases are completely uncut with the better picture quality and audio (German, Japan, Australia).

[Jeff Kleist]

personally I don't care about the butterfly knife, not enough to make it a dealbreaker when compared with no DNR and rockin PCM audio.

I'm just glad that the BBFC has let up on some of those silly rules about headbutts etc. I never understood what the big deal was with them. The first time some kid headbutts another will definately be the last

[GGX]

From everything I've read, the UK release of Face/Off is indeed DNR free but replaces it with a thick layer of EE. So its a "pick your poison" type of situation.

[Esox50]

Ok Bill and Jeff...

Now that the cat is starting to come out of the bag...what else can you put in your Rumor Mill about the Spielberg stuff? I'm sure you guys know a few more details, right?

[MerrickG]

Originally Posted by Esox50

Ok Bill and Jeff...

Now that the cat is starting to come out of the bag...what else can you put in your Rumor Mill about the Spielberg stuff? I'm sure you guys know a few more details, right?

Minority Report is one of my favorite SPielberg films and I look forward to seeing it.

A.I. on the other hand........Im not a fan.

[NoQuestion]

Originally Posted by Esox50

Ok Bill and Jeff...

Now that the cat is starting to come out of the bag...what else can you put in your Rumor Mill about the Spielberg stuff? I'm sure you guys know a few more details, right?

I am sure they can not talk about any of the titles even if they did know something. Wouldn't want to piss Spielberg off like Universal did back during the format war

[Constitution 101]

If I'm repeating questions that have already been dealt with, forgive me. I'd simply like to know the blu-ray status of these particular movies:Saving Private Ryan, Braveheart, Gladiator, & Star Wars(episodes 4,5, & 6).

[Esox50]

Originally Posted by NoQuestion

I am sure they can not talk about any of the titles even if they did know something. Wouldn't want to piss Spielberg off like Universal did back during the format war

I wouldn't say that. Jeff and Bill have said in the past that once information starts coming out, sometimes from other sources, that they can then at least start to comment on what they know. In other words, its a fine line they are walking with the Rumor Mill. They may know more, but can or cannot post it. So sometimes they trickle out little details here and there.

[Esox50]

Originally Posted by Constitution 101

If I'm repeating questions that have already been dealt with, forgive me. I'd simply like to know the blu-ray status of these particular movies:Saving Private Ryan, Braveheart, Gladiator, & Star Wars(episodes 4,5, & 6).

Saving Private Ryan - unknown, was rumored back in the format war
Braveheart - tentatively Aug 11, 2009. NOT officially announced
Gladiator - Earmarked for September. Tenatatively.
Star Wars 4-6 - They're out. Ok, they aren't. Nobody knows but Lucasfilm, Ltd.