Ask questions to Sony Pictures Entertainment insider "paidgeek"

[koukikat]

Originally Posted by Blu n Gold

I knew it didn't do the MA at all. I thought for sure that 1.3 didn't mean DD MA. I thought 1.3a was.

Either way, it has 1.1

[TheLion]

Originally Posted by Sir Terrence

Mr Paidgeek sir,
I am doing the review for Life of Brian for this website and I had a few questions.

You stated the original elements had alot of grain and you used Lowrey's process to clean it up. Was it sent there just to temper the grain down, exactly what did Lowrey do to the original to make it look so much better than the DVD? Did the process caused the occassional instability that I noticed?(the picture occasionally jumped). Can you give me a little background on what was done to this release?

I think Sony did an excellent job on this release, and I wanted folks to understand the lengths that Sony went through to make sure we had a nice looking image on this classic comedy.

I agree that SPHE probably did the best that could be done with the given source. And overall this release shows a very decent and respectable PQ. I am certainly satisfied with the results.

BUT the "excessive" (and obviously necessary) digital filtering is plainly obvious - too much so for my personal tastes.

E.g. static noise/grain patterns (look at the sky shots right in the beginning for an example - some of the worst DNR I have in any release...) really destroy the "illusion of watching a representation of film" - some scenes get a very digital video look due to the filtering. But this is just part of the DTS treatment - isn't it, paidgeek?

Still a very decent release - I warmly recommend it.

[paidgeek]

Originally Posted by Aygie

Paid, i have a question about scene selection on a BD menu...

Would it be hard for Sony to implement the same menu option on the PS3 as on the PSP?

On the PSP you can select scenes in the chapter selector to be 1 minute, 2 minutes, 5 minutes etc in length. Saving the time to find the right part of the movie you want. This would be great if you could do it on the PS3. Thanks

I'll ask about this. I know what feature you are talking about on the PSP and it is handy.

BTW, I heard through the grapevine that the newest PS3 firmware update is going to have full resume mode support.... Very cool.

[paidgeek]

Originally Posted by Sir Terrence

Mr Paidgeek sir,
I am doing the review for Life of Brian for this website and I had a few questions.

You stated the original elements had alot of grain and you used Lowrey's process to clean it up. Was it sent there just to temper the grain down, exactly what did Lowrey do to the original to make it look so much better than the DVD? Did the process caused the occassional instability that I noticed?(the picture occasionally jumped). Can you give me a little background on what was done to this release?

I think Sony did an excellent job on this release, and I wanted folks to understand the lengths that Sony went through to make sure we had a nice looking image on this classic comedy.

Of course it's hard to compare the DVD release to the BD, but our thought was that the grain the in the original version was somewhat distracting. We got the blessing of one of the films makers to use a grain reduction tool and for this title, I think it was the right thing to do. The Lawry process is not fixed at one level, but on average it does tend to be stronger medicine that we typically would use.

[paidgeek]

Originally Posted by blindcat87

PG,

I posted thanks for you and the whole Sony crew for giving Gattaca the attention it deserved. I would like to double that thanks now that I have the BD in my greedy little hands. Had to watch it on my youngest brothers setup since mine is currently disassembled, but it was worth the effort of forcing non sci-fi fans to watch it with me to experience this great release. I hope all of the Superbit titles come out this well when they find their way to Blu. Great work!

Chris

I'm glad you liked it. This was a new transfer and it was well done.

[paidgeek]

Originally Posted by Paul Arnette

paidgeek,

I just took a look at the cover art from The Devil's Own and First Knight, and they look absolutely horrendous. Sony appeared to come to their senses by replacing the awful initial Gattaca cover with the fine art we have today, so I had thought the Photoshop cover nightmare was coming to an end, but apparently it isn't.

Does marketing actually think these look good? After all, art is a matter of taste, but I can't imagine too many people think these covers are by any means exemplary. Or does marketing actually think using an older DVD release's cover art, especially if it used the original theatrical poster art, is going to confuse buyers into believing the BD is inferior? These are the only reasons I can come up with as to why we wind up with some of the ugly cover art we receive.

Sony isn't by any means alone in this, but since most of the other studios aren't thoughtful enough to give us someone to ***** at, I came to vent here. Lucky you. I do appreciate your contributions here, and I would certainly appreciate it if you could pass my displeasure with the cover art along to marketing. Thanks.

I'll pass your comments on, but I know you'll understand if I don't call the artwork "absolutely horrendous".

[paidgeek]

Originally Posted by koukikat

Here's one for SONY:
How about some sort of incentive for people like myself who pre-ordered the s300 back in early '07 for 500$ and thought they were getting an HDMI 1.3 compliant player that decoded all new DTS formats?? Maybe offer some sort of trade in discount for those who pre-ordered the prior s300 to upgrade to the new s350 or s550, that is of course if they actually release the players with the hardware promised.
That's the only way I'll be purchasing the s550 over the Panny BD50

Can you help me understand why you think Sony promoted the S300 as having HDMI 1.3 and moreover that it would pass advance audio bitstreams?

[paidgeek]

Originally Posted by The Shrike

Paidgeek, I'm looking forward to cool BD-Live features! Please don't think we all hate extra features.

You will only have a short wait before you can start playing...

[paidgeek]

Originally Posted by neo_reloaded

As a follow-up to this question...

I exchanged my copy with Amazon just to double-check that it wasn't a random error. The replacement disc has the same issue, sure enough - but it also brought up a different, kind of odd issue. The replacement I got from Amazon was in a Fox-style BD case, with Fox distribution logos and Fox's style of artwork for the front and back of the case. The specs say DTS-MA, where the Sony release has PCM. The disc has real artwork too, whereas the Sony one was from the timespan where they were just using the generic blue swoosh with just the movie title.

The disc contents, however, are exactly identical to the Sony release. PCM, the subtitle bug, etc.

Can you shed any light on this? Did rights for this MGM movie transfer over to Fox? It seems they just put their artwork and case around Sony's disc contents. Heck, the UPC number is even the same.

This disc has an authoring bug. It is not a player problem. As a workaround, you can change the audio and subtitle streams by using the remote button function for this. Sorry for the inconvenience.

This is an MGM title and those are now handled by Fox.

[Robert Siegel]

Originally Posted by paidgeek

BTW, I heard through the grapevine that the newest PS3 firmware update is going to have full resume mode support.... Very cool.

That is very cool news. Though there could be no better news for me than the PS3 doing DTS MA. I am starting to think about getting a stand-alone player and using the PS3 for games, I have many Fox discs now, plus New Line and even Sony's Close Encounters and I am really itching to hear the lossless on them. This upgrade would mean more to me than even 2.0, though I am excited about that as well.

[paidgeek]

Originally Posted by TheLion

I agree that SPHE probably did the best that could be done with the given source. And overall this release shows a very decent and respectable PQ. I am certainly satisfied with the results.

BUT the "excessive" (and obviously necessary) digital filtering is plainly obvious - too much so for my personal tastes.

E.g. static noise/grain patterns (look at the sky shots right in the beginning for an example - some of the worst DNR I have in any release...) really destroy the "illusion of watching a representation of film" - some scenes get a very digital video look due to the filtering. But this is just part of the DTS treatment - isn't it, paidgeek?

Still a very decent release - I warmly recommend it.

The Lawry process can be adjusted, but they (DTS) do like to use it to full effect.

[Robert Siegel]

Originally Posted by paidgeek

You will only have a short wait before you can start playing...

Paidgeek, any word on DTS Master? I am reading on some of the Playstation threads that DTS has been working with Sony to make this happen, but those are just posts from unknowns. I know this is often mentioned, but is there anything happening that you can tell us?

[FourToedStatue]

Originally Posted by paidgeek

I'll pass your comments on, but I know you'll understand if I don't call the artwork "absolutely horrendous".

LOL! The comedy stylings of paidgeek. Will you be here all week?

[PeterTHX]

even Sony's Close Encounters and I am really itching to hear the lossless

Waiting to hear the lossless?
That disc has a Dolby TrueHD track as well. So you can.

I'd also advise everyone to stop asking when DTS-HD MA will be available. It's coming, there's nothing we can do to speed it up. It's like those kids in the back seat "Are we there yet? Are we there yet?". When we get there we get there.

So let's quit pestering one of the best assets this site has.

[ps3andlovinit]

Originally Posted by paidgeek

I'll ask about this. I know what feature you are talking about on the PSP and it is handy.

BTW, I heard through the grapevine that the newest PS3 firmware update is going to have full resume mode support.... Very cool.

Very cool indeed. I was about to ask why this can't be implemented on all titles by the PS3 since the Spiderman 3 bookmarks *seemed* like a player feature.

Do you know if it's full bookmarking across all titles and the resume is simply a special/automatic bookmark implementation? If it was thru the grapevine I guess you don't know the details .. but thought I would ask anyway.

Thanks for the update.

[WickyWoo]

Paid, as far as the cover art thing goes

Can you suggest to them as a compromise that the original poster art, or at least something more "fan friendly" be given as an option? Since you're already printing 2-sided covers, putting the original art behind the disc instead of that generic blu logo, and make it so it can be reversed to give what we would consider "good" satisfies marketing's desire to throw actor noggins all over the place, and the enthusiast desire to have something that's attractive.

[frank_t]

Originally Posted by paidgeek

Can you help me understand why you think Sony promoted the S300 as having HDMI 1.3 and moreover that it would pass advance audio bitstreams?

If I had to guess, it's probably because in this internet world we live in, (mis)information is spread faster than accurate information.

Sometimes companies don't come clean with their specs (or they are ambiguous, like the PS3 and its ability to pass TrueHD/DTS-MA as bitstream; sony won't say so we're left to speculate, write about it, and get our mis-information into the google index), MANY times its bloggers and news sites just posting assumption and speculation as fact, sometimes it's just plain honest mistakes, etc...

For my part, my first BD player was an S300, for all of 2 days. I recall I bought it based on a reviewer's assumption that sony would fix its shortcomings (audio included) via firmware updates. In the end, it was the incredibly slow load times for BD-J titles that sealed the return deal for me. Bought a PS3 and could not be happier

[TheLion]

Originally Posted by WickyWoo

Paid, as far as the cover art thing goes

Can you suggest to them as a compromise that the original poster art, or at least something more "fan friendly" be given as an option? Since you're already printing 2-sided covers, putting the original art behind the disc instead of that generic blu logo, and make it so it can be reversed to give what we would consider "good" satisfies marketing's desire to throw actor noggins all over the place, and the enthusiast desire to have something that's attractive.

That's actually a pretty great idea - I agree with this notion. It will hardly increase production costs while giving the customer (especially the enthusiast) added value/choice.

Alternatively an online poll with a few different cover art designs like done with the Münchhausen release is also highly appreciated.

[milou6]

Hello Paid,

Will the PS3 be able to take advantage of HDMI-CEC (via Sony's "Theatre Sync")? This would really help people like me who use a universal remote to control their system but still have to use the PS3 remote because of bluetooth (and I just got a beautiful xbr4 and would love to have it "talk" to my PS3...)

Thanks for all of your time spent here answering our questions -- much appreciated and a great help in clearing things up (especially after all the residual fud from the war)!

[Robert Siegel]

Originally Posted by PeterTHX

Waiting to hear the lossless?
That disc has a Dolby TrueHD track as well. So you can.

I'd also advise everyone to stop asking when DTS-HD MA will be available. It's coming, there's nothing we can do to speed it up. It's like those kids in the back seat "Are we there yet? Are we there yet?". When we get there we get there.

So let's quit pestering one of the best assets this site has.

I know the Close Encounters has a several lossless Peter....perhaps I want to hear the DTS track too. I really don't appreciate being compared to a kid, and told I am "pestering" someone Peter, and I am sure other readers feel the same since you referred to "everyone." . There's no need to be so darn rude about it. The readers are also valuable assets of this site and don't need to be insulted. Judging by how nice Paidgeek has been, I don't think he got bent out of shape simply because I asked if there were any updates on the DTS MA PS3 issue.