Archived: Insiders Thread

[Balian]

Originally Posted by krinkle

Yeah, I really hope Sony and the BDA have learned from the Paramount debacle.

Is the BDA just going to let Toshiba buy out the entire format war??

This is unbelieveable. After all that investment, is the BDA just going to let Toshiba and Microsoft strong arm everyone? Come on guys I hope you don't let this happen.

If Wal-Mart and WB go HD DVD exlusive that would be it for me.

I hope the BDA stops this nonsense for good ...secure Warner Brothers Blu-ray exclusivity, otherwise Toshiba will keep on trying. This is their second offer to Warner Brothers right? As long as Warner Brothers is neutral, they will keep on trying. Its only going to get more expensive. Blu-ray exclusivity is the ONLY ANSWER to this threat.

[damandan05]

Originally Posted by Balian

I hope the BDA stops this nonsense for good ...secure Warner Brothers Blu-ray exclusivity, otherwise Toshiba will keep on trying. This is their second offer to Warner Brothers right? As long as Warner Brothers is neutral, they will keep on trying. Its only going to get more expensive. Blu-ray exclusivity is the ONLY ANSWER to this threat.

The BDA are smarter to not let this happen. Sicen WB is on the BDA board, they will have obviously talk about it with others. Plus with Sony selling some stock next month they will have a few extra billion lying around. HMM why did they do that for an attack in blu-ray, ps3 or both. I doubt this news since they are on the board of directors though. It wouldnt make much sense.

[DaViD Boulet]

Can anyone with any real insider info share any insights on this matter? Even if just to hint as to the situation? Or can someone quietly leak some info to a 3rd party who can then share a little more openly without disclosing the source?

[whippersnapper]

Originally Posted by paidgeek

I wonder if the set was using motion interpolation, black frame insertion, or equivalent. Without getting into the display settings, it is hard to know what feature was appealing to you.

Paidgeek, I went back to that Best Buy to do more than the cursory look I gave the set up previously. It was a 40" Samsung LN-T4071 with "Auto Motion Plus" 120MHz. And the attached Blu-ray player was a Samsung BD-P1200 and not a Sony. Anyhow, POTC looked fantastic on the display. Just when I'm beginning to think that things are as good as they're going to get, technology takes another incremental step forward. A saleswoman there said it was the Blu-ray source material with the "Auto Motion Plus" bringing out all the quality that was integral to the POTC disc.

[treyw00]

sorry if this has been posted, but can any insider tell me if disney going to have an exchange of POTC - Black Pearl when / if they fix the framing issue??? IF its possible, find out about Superman returns. We've asked that one before and the consensus is "highly doubtful"

[Azumi]

I also have some questions on the Warner story, from a different angle:

The big three in Hollywood in these years are Warner, Buena Vista and Sony (in no specific order), with Fox close behind. Paramount is mostly a follower, and from what we gather from the trade press, their marriage with Dreamworks is rather rough. Universal seems solid, but they definitely don't have the box-office assets to compete with the big three, especially if we consider Steven Spielberg's specific arrangements with his property.

Warner is most certainly aware that Sony has a lot of stakes in Blu-ray with their CE and gaming divisions. Since Hollywood is a very small place, isn't there the danger that a decision in favor of HD DVD would create a irreconciliable rift between Warner and Sony?

And if we look at the matter a little more globally, wouldn't such a decision put Warner under the direct fire of three extremely powerful film and TV studios and countless of creative people? Is it worth the risk?

If Warner chose HD DVD, the format war would become a big question mark with no end in sight. On the other hand, if Warner chose Blu-ray, it's safe to say that HD DVD would fold in a few weeks and the format war would be over. Is Warner aware of that? Do they really want to put an end to the war?

[shamus]

Im pretty sure the Insiders know about this and are hard at work... Lets respect that they cant post here at this time or Im sure they would of by now.
Paramount opened the flood gates when they got paid and now every studio is going to want something.
Take comfort in the fact that this was leaked IMO to give Sony a chance to counter.

[Sir Terrence]

Originally Posted by treyw00

sorry if this has been posted, but can any insider tell me if disney going to have an exchange of POTC - Black Pearl when / if they fix the framing issue??? IF its possible, find out about Superman returns. We've asked that one before and the consensus is "highly doubtful"

I have a strange feeling based on my conversation with my fellow employee's that Disney's answer will be the same "highly doubtful" answer as Superman's.

[Talkstr8t]

Originally Posted by Jamh

Talkstr8t, since the word going around is that Sony is testing profile 1.1/2.0 compatibility later this month do you have any inside info on any titles announced for later on this year being updated to include support for these features?

I have nothing I can share at this time.

[Talkstr8t]

Originally Posted by mycroft

Insiders: I had been hearing some rumblings concerning Intel a while ago, but they died down. Have you guys heard anything?

What sort of rumblings?

[Talkstr8t]

Originally Posted by shamus

Im pretty sure the Insiders know about this and are hard at work... Lets respect that they cant post here at this time or Im sure they would of by now.

Paramount opened the flood gates when they got paid and now every studio is going to want something.

Take comfort in the fact that this was leaked IMO to give Sony a chance to counter.

I think I can get away with sharing some information here.

The Paramount situation resulted in a lot of




Hey! Who's there? I can hear you outside my door.

WHO ARE YOU? WHAT DO YOU WANT?!?


I wasn't sharing confidential information! I was just writing an email - ahh - to my uncle.

PUT AWAY THAT TASER!!

OOOOOWWWWWWWWWWwwwwwwwwwwwww

* thunk *

[Razzy]

Originally Posted by Talkstr8t

I wasn't sharing confidential information! I was just writing an email - ahh - to my uncle.

PUT AWAY THAT TASER!!

OOOOOWWWWWWWWWWwwwwwwwwwwwww

* thunk *

The format war has taken a dramatic turn for the worst. Talk has become the first fatality.

edit: Instead of "taser" you should have said "phaser"

[Ben]

well, since Talkstr8t is in such a good mood, I find it highly doubtful that we just lost Warner.

[gandley]

Originally Posted by Talkstr8t

I think I can get away with sharing some information here.

The Paramount situation resulted in a lot of




Hey! Who's there? I can hear you outside my door.

WHO ARE YOU? WHAT DO YOU WANT?!?


I wasn't sharing confidential information! I was just writing an email - ahh - to my uncle.

PUT AWAY THAT TASER!!

OOOOOWWWWWWWWWWwwwwwwwwwwwww

* thunk *

HAHAHA, that cracked me up, i could just imagine that.

[gandley]

Originally Posted by drsiebling

well, since Talkstr8t is in such a good mood, I find it highly doubtful that we just lost Warner.

or its true and its made him go raving mad, i will let you call it,

you got anything on the warner FUD talk?

[Jish]

Originally Posted by paidgeek

I have not seen much criticism on Talladega Nights picture quality. It does have a 'look' with high contrast and highly saturated color. We encoded it with a relatively high bitrate as I recall, so there should be no issues whatsoever with encoding artifacts.

"The Fifth Element" was a special case because the original release was transferred using a Rank Cintel Telecine instead of newer machines. TN was not transferred in the typical sense because it was a digital intermediate title, as are most titles now with considerable budgets.

Tell me, when you bring up the hidden monoscope pattern on the disc, can you read the fine print at the bottom?

1653 East Main Street is the address for Applied Image Inc on the pattern

I am pretty sure it isn't my setup, I think the criticism of this disc (from me and others) is more a matter of source material based on what you have said. I think that many of the indoor scenes look soft because of how they were filmed.

In some scenes, however, like when Ricky goes to visit and speak with Jean Girard and they talk outside - there is a lot of really crisp detail that I am used to in Blu-ray discs.

Thanks for the reply - I am totally confident that you guys did a good job representing the source material (as always!)

[Rob71]

Originally Posted by Jish

1653 East Main Street is the address for Applied Image Inc on the pattern

I am pretty sure it isn't my setup, I think the criticism of this disc (from me and others) is more a matter of source material based on what you have said. I think that many of the indoor scenes look soft because of how they were filmed.

In some scenes, however, like when Ricky goes to visit and speak with Jean Girard and they talk outside - there is a lot of really crisp detail that I am used to in Blu-ray discs.

Thanks for the reply - I am totally confident that you guys did a good job representing the source material (as always!)

Is there a difference between the one that came with the PS3 and the retail version?

[monkyman]

I have a question. Who are the BDA? Who runs it? I know the supporting companies are Sony, Apple, Disney, Fox, Samsung, etc, etc...

But who is actually in charge? The BDA website is useless and outdated. I know there must be a BoD, but who calls the shots?

[Rob Tomlin]

Originally Posted by Talkstr8t

I think I can get away with sharing some information here.

The Paramount situation resulted in a lot of




Hey! Who's there? I can hear you outside my door.

WHO ARE YOU? WHAT DO YOU WANT?!?


I wasn't sharing confidential information! I was just writing an email - ahh - to my uncle.

PUT AWAY THAT TASER!!

OOOOOWWWWWWWWWWwwwwwwwwwwwww

* thunk *

Classic!

[Merlins]

Wouldn't directors, writers, other companies involved in a project be a little pissed of if one studio got money to stop distribute "their" movies on a certain format, especially if they don't get paid?

I don't know how the contracts for them are and I guess it varies but some contracts might have a percent of the profit. I also guess it's only profit of that special movie they are involved in and not the total profit for the distributing company or any extra payments.