Ask questions to Sony Pictures Entertainment insider "paidgeek"

[paidgeek]

Originally Posted by Slec

Welcome back! Hope all has been well and healing up nicely.

I'm fairly new to this, so please excuse my ignorance in what may be a silly quesiton. It seems as though studios are preparing movies for release on a 1:1 ratio (i.e. the movie is picked, then prepared and released). With the direction things have taken this year, is there a time in the near future (say by end of 08) where studios are preparing their films en masse, to get the prep work completed for future releases, even if dates have not been set?

Again, not knowing much about how this is done, but this type of commitment would certainly show a difference.

Thanks

Once we commit to releasing a title, a lot of work is set in motion so we don't do it casually. The short answer to your question is no, we won't be banking titles to make them ready to go even before they have a release date. Another reason for this is that we want every opportunity to work with a film maker on a new release and we may only schedule a title when that opportunity presents itself.

[paidgeek]

Originally Posted by bangy38

Welcome back Paid! I have a couple questions about some Sony Pictures Classics titles that have been released. First, I was wondering if you could offer some insight on the decision to windowbox Paprika. I was also wondering if there's any chance of ever seeing a remastered release of House of Flying Daggers (perhaps in the form of a special edition). I believe in the past you've mentioned that Sony did not have access to the original film elements and acquired the master as a finished product (please correct me if I'm wrong)... I'm just wondering if there's any chance at all of ever seeing a remastered version one way or another.

Thanks for the time you give to the forum!

I'll have to check on "Paprika". Are you aware of a 16 x 9 version? I would not hold your breath for a new version of HOFD, but we can ask...

[jd213]

It's a safe bet to say that the windowboxing on Paprika was on the Japanese side. It seems to be a trend in anime for some reason (probably because 16:9 CRT TV's are more susceptible to overscan, and they caught on a lot earlier in Japan so there's probably a lot more of them still in use), nearly all of Bandai Visual's Blu-Ray releases and some of their recent DVD releases like the remaster of Macross: Do You Remember Love have windowboxing.

[darinp2]

paidgeek,

First of all (since you haven't been around since then), congratulations on the Time Warner studios joining Blu-ray exclusively and how well Blu-ray as a format has been doing.

I think the kinds of things we should expect from the studios before we should complain are good topics for this site (otherwise we may be crying wolf) and I would like to get your opinion on something related to some discussions around here.

I'm not asking when it will be released, but when Lawrence of Arabia is released, do you think the movie portion will be put on one disc, or on two? I see the theatrical version is listed at 3 hours and 36 minutes, with the restored version as 3 hours and 47 minutes, and I know there was an intermission for that film when shown theatrically, but I'm not sure if that is included in those times or how much of the time is just black for video.

Anyway, do you think that you would have to compromise the video or audio quality in order to put that film on one BD50? If you do and it would need to be split across more than one disc to optimize the video and audio quality, how much do you think you can do on single BD50s without compromising the video or audio quality for movies like that one, and other types of movies generally? I know there are different aspect ratios, amounts of action, amounts of grain, etc., but I'm looking for general ideas more than needing exact numbers.

Thanks,
Darin

[coolmilo]

Hello Paidgeek,

Welcome back!!!

Are you aware that many people who have purchased Resident Evil Extension are having issues with audio playback? In particular, when True-HD is selected as the audio option the receiver always displays Dolby Digital on the receivers.

This problem happens with the Panasonic BD-30 player connected to HDMI capable receivers or Pre's. Most people (according to AVS and Blu-ray.com) believe that the root cause of the problem is with the Panny BD-30. I am wondering if you have heard of the problem and if you might know if Panasonic is working on a solution?

Thank you.

[Jackietreehorn]

Oh wow, welcome back good sir.

I'm sure you can't comment too much at this point, but care to clue us in on any plans for those PIP and BD-Live features?

[paidgeek]

Originally Posted by darinp2

paidgeek,

First of all (since you haven't been around since then), congratulations on the Time Warner studios joining Blu-ray exclusively and how well Blu-ray as a format has been doing.

I think the kinds of things we should expect from the studios before we should complain are good topics for this site (otherwise we may be crying wolf) and I would like to get your opinion on something related to some discussions around here.

I'm not asking when it will be released, but when Lawrence of Arabia is released, do you think the movie portion will be put on one disc, or on two? I see the theatrical version is listed at 3 hours and 36 minutes, with the restored version as 3 hours and 47 minutes, and I know there was an intermission for that film when shown theatrically, but I'm not sure if that is included in those times or how much of the time is just black for video.

Anyway, do you think that you would have to compromise the video or audio quality in order to put that film on one BD50? If you do and it would need to be split across more than one disc to optimize the video and audio quality, how much do you think you can do on single BD50s without compromising the video or audio quality for movies like that one, and other types of movies generally? I know there are different aspect ratios, amounts of action, amounts of grain, etc., but I'm looking for general ideas more than needing exact numbers.

Thanks,
Darin

Hi Darin,

It's no problem to put 4+ hours on a BD50. LOA will fit nicely.

FYI, I have been told that HD-NET will be showing the newest version in a couple of weeks. Let me know what you think of it... I think everyone will be pleased.

[paidgeek]

Originally Posted by Jackietreehorn

Oh wow, welcome back good sir.

I'm sure you can't comment too much at this point, but care to clue us in on any plans for those PIP and BD-Live features?

Have you tried "Resident Evil, Extinction" yet. That was our first PiP. I don't want to give away anything on our BD-Live titles, but keep your eyes open..

[paidgeek]

Originally Posted by coolmilo

Hello Paidgeek,

Welcome back!!!

Are you aware that many people who have purchased Resident Evil Extension are having issues with audio playback? In particular, when True-HD is selected as the audio option the receiver always displays Dolby Digital on the receivers.

This problem happens with the Panasonic BD-30 player connected to HDMI capable receivers or Pre's. Most people (according to AVS and Blu-ray.com) believe that the root cause of the problem is with the Panny BD-30. I am wondering if you have heard of the problem and if you might know if Panasonic is working on a solution?

Thank you.

Someone mentioned this to me last a couple of days ago and we need to find out more about it. I'll let you know...

[darinp2]

Originally Posted by paidgeek

Hi Darin,

It's no problem to put 4+ hours on a BD50. LOA will fit nicely.

FYI, I have been told that HD-NET will be showing the newest version in a couple of weeks. Let me know what you think of it... I think everyone will be pleased.

Thank you. I will check it out. DIRECTV compresses quite a bit, so I'll definitely want to see a Blu-ray version, but should still be great to check this one in HD.

Just so others don't have to go searching for the schedule, this will be on HDNet Movies at the following times:

Sun, Feb 10th - 6:15 PM ET / 3:15 PM PT
Mon, Feb 11th - 12:30 AM ET / Sun, Feb 10th - 9:30 PM PT
Sat, Feb 16th - 2:15 PM ET / 11:15 AM PT
Wed, Feb 20th - 4:30 PM ET / 1:30 PM PT
Sun, Feb 24th - 5:00 AM ET / 2:00 AM PT
Thu, Feb 28th - 12:00 PM ET / 9:00 AM PT

--Darin

[bangy38]

Originally Posted by paidgeek

I'll have to check on "Paprika". Are you aware of a 16 x 9 version? I would not hold your breath for a new version of HOFD, but we can ask...

Sorry, I'm only familiar with the US release of Paprika, I don't know about the other versions. jd213's explanation sounds fairly plausible though.

[blindcat87]

Welcome back.

I think we all feel fine about you attending to the day job, since that brings us great BD movies. We appreciate all the time you are able to give us.

I don't really have any questions yet, but I do want to send my thanks for Gattaca getting the SE treatment. The film really deserves the deluxe treatment and it will be a release day purchase for me. I look forward to replacing all of my Superbit DVDs with BD editions, but this one was very high on my list.

Chris

[danielpwnz]

Hey Paid. Welcome back.

Anything you can do to get Marie Antoinette back on the schedule? The BD release was "postponed" a year ago now and I'm dying to upgrade my DVD copy.

[HDJK]

Welcome back

I'm sorry if I somehow missed this in the archived thread, but was there ever some kind of feedback to the PJ friendly subtitles on Immortal Beloved? Can we expect more movies with this feature?

Any info is greatly appreciated.

[dakota81]

Welcome back.

We just passed up another Groundhog Day without a Blu-ray release, and I'm not just mentioning it because it was filmed where I live (in the midwest we take what we can get to be proud of our towns ), any chance of pushing for a release next year?


I picked up the Resident Evil Trilogy last month, hadn't seen them before, and was very impressed with them all, video games usually translate to movies very poorly. Surprisingly these were very entertaining. Are there any plans to create a 4th movie? I like where Extinction ends.


Also, on Sony's Blu-ray movies more than other studios, the pre-movie titles, such as the fbi warnings, alternate several times between 1080i and 1080p, and some times the previews and menus are different too. Could future Blu-ray releases have them all at 1080p? My new hdtv goes blank for 5 or 6 seconds every resolution change, which is an inconvenience.

[aygie]

Welcome back Paid, glad Penton let you out of the basement to post, even if only for a little while

[MOONPHASE]

is cowboy bebop the movie in the works? it is from columbia tristar

[TwisTz]

Welcome back Paid. I think Sony has been doing a fantastic job as of late so congrats on that front.

Just one question if I can... any idea if Southland Tales is going to be released on Blu?

The Sony DVD release date is sometime in March as far as I know.

[monkyman]

Just wanted to say welcome back!

[Stephie_is_a_dork]

Welcome back paidgeek!

Thanks to the nice people at Sony who replaced my grainy copy of The Fifth Element with the remastered version! I know someone else already asked this, but I too think House of Flying Daggers needs the remastered treatment! We've all come to expect more from Blu-ray, and more from Sony. I mean that in a good way, you guys have a high reputation of quality to live up to!

Can you tell us anything about upcoming firmware updates for the PS3? More specifically, whether the internet browser will ever support Adobe Flash player? I use my PS3 for 'net surfing more than a computer, but there are SO many sites that don't work without flash!

Have you heard anything about Cowboy Bebop or any other 007 movies being released on Blu-ray? Thanks for your time!

-unpaidDork