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

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Robert Harris

Penton,

The "stop mastering..." comment was a part of the Elizabeth "few words," as opposed to Spartacus. I've taken down both Eliz, as well as Africa, as IMHO, they were creating what amounted to pink noise, and affecting the Spartacus message.

As to not mentioning Sony and quality, you're quite correct.

Gotcha.

[Penton-Man]

Merrick, you may want to sit down and brace yourself as I'm about to post a hyperlink to a technical topic directly related to Blu-ray.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Robert Harris

As to not mentioning Sony and quality, you're quite correct. However, you're taking the omission out of context. My words were relevant to being improved, after the likes of Patton and Gangs. Sony cannot be improved at this point, as with the exception of a few problematic early releases based upon old elements, there have been no problems such as those from the other studios.

RAH

Thank you RAH.

Just to clarify and put your above words into context for our new members, that (the phrase I bolded) was

#1. REAL early in the history of the format (even before “Patton”).
And

#2. Sometimes studios are stuck with the foreign HD deliverables that they receive, and there is little that they can do to improve the situation…other than not release the movie on Blu-ray in the first place.

Not to mention the fact, (because it aint bragging if it’s fact) SPHE led the way into improved mastering and authoring outcome (or at least the cognizance of a better way) among all the studios and content providers for Blu-ray movies with the publication of this report (see the last paragraph at the bottom of the page which continues onto page 2 and makes reference to the 2007 ASC Technology Committee Report for SMPTE June Journal of ’07 -
https://forum.blu-ray.com/insider-di...ml#post2306586

I would call that ^ a game changer for a better experience for all home theater enthusiasts.

[Monkey]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

And Anthony didn't even bring up the slooooooow evolution for some studio/content providers in regards to AUDIO!

Dobyblu had posted stats back during the format war in regards to PQ/AQ scores.. Universal was a bottom feeder. I'm not sure if he or somebody else still keeps track (SquidPupper or CinemaSquid?).

Maybe somebody should tell them they have quite a bit more bandwidth and space to work with now

[Penton-Man]

Sorry, the outside link no longer works (must be old).
Here is at least a copy and paste from page1 of the old article so, people understand what I was referring to above...

"With the issues of digital cinema identified and standards largely in place, the Technology Committee is focusing on non-theatrical displays with the newly formed - and aptly titled Non-Theatrical Display Subcommittee. 'This plays into understanding the different characteristics of non-CRT [cathode ray tube] display devices that are proliferating in the HD world," Clark says, "and particularly what that means in reference to Blu-ray and HD-DVD, new platforms that could become the primary distribution medium for many films."

The venerable CRT is rapidly giving way to flat-screen hi-def technologies such as plasma, LCD (liquid crystal display), LED (light emitting diode), LCoS (liquid crystal on silicon) and Texas Instruments' DUP (digital light processing). And standard-definition DVD will be bowing out as Sony's Bluray and Toshiba's HD-DVD formats gain traction in the marketplace. Clark notes, "With the increased emphasis on enhanced resolution and drastically improved image quality over standarddef comes certain baggage that needs to be addressed in terms of the variances between different display devices and how that impacts the creative results the filmmaker had in mind.

We discovered through Don Eklund at Sony that there were some serious artifacts showing up in the process of how the down-converts were being done to HD that were not seen on CRT monitors, and certainly not seen in standard-def. They are artifacts that got into the system at some point."
The longstanding benchmark for mastering, the industry-standard Sony BVM-D24E1WU 24" monitor, and CRTs in general had been disguising most of the down-convert artifacts because of the way in which the CRT creates an image.

The new display technologies are showing the true down-conversions, digital warts and all. As noted by Eklund in the 2007 ASC Technology Committee Report for SMFTE Journal in June: "Under typical home viewing conditions, a growing number of consumers now have a day-to-day display that provides a more critical view of HD sources than what is in popular use in the facilities that master these sources."

Unfortunately, I can't capture the rest of the article for you folks.

P.S.
This may work now..
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/m...g=content;col1

[MerrickG]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

I'm thinking UbiSoft is hoping that it'll pick up when the movie comes out next week. Last night at Gamestop not a single person out of about 60 was grabbing PoP

I haven't touched Red Dead yet, but Alan Wake is incredible. They need to send a copy to Roger Ebert stat. The atmosphere and tension in the game is superb, the acting is decent, not great, and the environments are spectatcular

It also serves as a great example of how the screenshot science of the digital foundry guys is such BS. Sure the game may only be running in 540p, but thanks to all the filtering and lighting FX you don't really notice or care, because the total package is far greater than the sum of its parts. The same kinds of tricks are used all the time in hollywood FX work

I did love back in the day when our own home grown scientists were trying to use those same pixel counting techniques to determine actual resolution of a Blu-ray. *snort*.

540p. If they had released it on PC I could get full 1080p resolution. :-)

I actually plan to play Alan Wake before I touch RDR since I expect it will be a relatively short game.

I have no desire to play PoP, but we'll see what happens. As for your comments about the movie helping with sales. Well if the movie stinks couldnt that have a negative effect as well.

[pro-bassoonist]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

I love some of these outside forums for journalistic transparency.

Unfortunately, there were a number of forums that "misinterpreted" Mr. Harris' words. At DVDTALK, his statement was initially "translated" to Robert Harris tells Universal to stop releasing titles on Blu-ray...with the catalog bit left out. A correction was made later on.

Pro-B

[Penton-Man]

Jefff, I missed your PM from a couple days ago.
Have now responded.

[MerrickG]

Jeff (and Penton since you're hanging out in this thread!)

Could Shia's recent comments about Transformers and Indiana Jones conceivably have an effect on the future of either franchise or him getting future gigs? How do the studios feel when actors make those comments? Do they matter since the films all made $100s of millions of profit?

While on that subject, I am curious if the critical trashing that Transformers 2 got that the producers and Bay will actually try harder to make Transformers 3 a better actual film or will they likely decide to go with what made them over $400M at the box office last year.

When I first saw Transformers 2 I was in awe at the action, but the more I watch it the more I realize how bad of a film it actually is.

In short, is there any hope that Transformers 3 will actually be any good?

Transformers 2 was the film that surpassed Star Wars Episode I as having the most annoying comic relief EVER.

[Diesel]

Sorry if this has been asked before (I don't keep up with the thread on a daily basis ), but:

I was reading on the front page of the site and saw the post by Juan about Psycho. It says the film has been "meticulously restored" for the upcoming 50th anniversary release.

Did the studio go in and remaster it themselves or did they outsource it to another firm like with the restoration of Terminator by Lowry Digital?

Anyone know?

[Jeff Kleist]

540p. If they had released it on PC I could get full 1080p resolution. :-)

Assuming the assets were created at that level. Seriously, it holds up at 56". I'm very happy

Could Shia's recent comments about Transformers and Indiana Jones conceivably have an effect on the future of either franchise or him getting future gigs? How do the studios feel when actors make those comments? Do they matter since the films all made $100s of millions of profit?

Yes, it might actually get him more jobs since he's finally realized he's a two-note (brat and puppy dog eyes) hack that only has jobs because Spielberg latched onto him from Holes, same as Dakota Fanning (though she seems to be burning out hard)

In short, is there any hope that Transformers 3 will actually be any good?

No Michael Bay film, save perhaps The Rock is actually good. They may be awesome, but good? No.

And if the first two didn't give you a clue, no. Nothing save a full restoration of the franchise can save it at this point. And yes, it'll still scrape $400 million domestic.

Transformers 2 was the film that surpassed Star Wars Episode I as having the most annoying comic relief EVER.

Bay has confirmed that Heckle and Jeckle will not be returning

Did the studio go in and remaster it themselves or did they outsource it to another firm like with the restoration of Terminator by Lowry Digital?

It would have been sent out somewhere. WB and maybe Sony are the only ones with the on-site facilities for that kind of work. You'll find that nearly everything in Hollywood is contracted out.

[jd213]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

Bay has confirmed that Heckle and Jeckle will not be returning

Their vehicles have already been seen on-set, unfortunately. So Bay's comment is probably more of his misinformation campaign he started in the last film in order to throw off news sites.

[Jeff Kleist]

I'll ask about that. Can you point me to where you saw them so I can check with my source?

[jd213]

http://www.leftlanenews.com/chevrole...formers-3.html
and
http://transformerslive.blogspot.com...ith-twins.html

[Diesel]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

It would have been sent out somewhere. WB and maybe Sony are the only ones with the on-site facilities for that kind of work. You'll find that nearly everything in Hollywood is contracted out.

Gotcha, thanks for the answer

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

It would have been sent out somewhere...

Jeff, if you feel so inclined for the particulars call or e-mail Aaron Rogers in Publicity over at NBC Universal. He should know. I’ve got contact info in case you need/desire it.

[Jeff Kleist]

Yeah, I've already got it Penton. I'm dealing with several international crisis at the moment unrelated to Blu-ray As soon as I get my plate a little clearer I'll check into that. The Transformers thing was a quick text message rather than something more elaborate

[hanser]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

No Michael Bay film, save perhaps The Rock is actually good. They may be awesome, but good? No

What about The Island? It is the only Bay film I found reasonably good.

[MerrickG]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

Bay has confirmed that Heckle and Jeckle will not be returning

If they get rid of Mom Witwicky and Leo. That would be a start.

[Doctorossi]

Originally Posted by hanser

What about The Island? It is the only Bay film I found reasonably good.

No, Jeff is correct on this one.