Interview with Buena Vista's executive VP Gordon Ho about Blu-ray

[Tekman]

SCOTT PODMORE tracks down Disney's Gordon Ho in Los Angeles for the lowdown on Blu-ray technology



Why should people spend their hard-earned money and upgrade to Blu-ray when they're likely to be comfortable with the DVD player they already have?

"We had the same response with VHS. When we were going to DVD, a lot of people said: `Why? I love my VHS.' Lo and behold, DVD grew as a success and people realised it was great and they loved the disc.

"So then, why Blu-ray? First and foremost because of high-definition television. Obviously, in Australia people are really starting to pick up with the purchase of the big TVs with high-definition. Certainly in the US it's up to over 30 per cent of people now who have a high-def TV. People everywhere now want a high def TV. But of course, DVD is not in high-def, and if you just bought this glorious new TV, then surely you want to watch things that are in high definition.

"Blu-ray provides the best delivery vehicle for the best high-definition pictures, so that's just one thing. The vision is first and foremost. You know, in the US there's now a Sunrise channel – you watch a sunrise. And it's popular. You know why? Because it's in high-definition, people love it.

Are people with new high-definition televisions using them to their full capabilities? If not, is Blu-ray the solution?

"You think about us as people and in relation to television, it takes two of our most acute senses (sight and hearing) and to have high-def TV come alive. People just say: `Wow.' People have found watching high definition just quite the experience.

"When it comes to Blu-ray, what they notice is that it's even better. But the problem with high def-through other sources like cable, satellite etc is that it could be good high-definition, but it may well be compressed. Because they're trying to fit so many channels through that cable or satellite, that high-def signal may not be optimal. We don't want to disparage that because we have lots of partners in CNN, ABC, and they deliver a good picture. But nevertheless, the cable companies and the satellite carriers are trying to squeeze all these channels onto one pipe.

"When it comes to Blu-ray, we know the delivery mechanism. We have this player and we don't have to worry about getting squeezed with other people. We have a dedicated disc, so as a result we know exactly the picture you're going to see; we get to control it.

"The only way to guarantee seeing the picture we want you to see it on Blu-ray. Essentially, we control the mechanism from end to end. From disc to player. And hopefully you have a good cable and high-definition TV, and then you're set.

"One of the important things in which we're trying to educate people is, yes, there's good high-def ... and then there's great high-def. And don't you want to take advantage of the new TV you've just bought to its full capacity? You may be missing 30 per cent of the high definition picture you should be getting."

So, you think people are unaware of what they can achieve with their high definition TVs?



"I think if you were to ask how many people love high-def TV, I think everyone would raise their hands, right? If you asked them if they would be surprised to learn they weren't enjoying the full capabilities of a high-def TV, they would say: `What are you talking about?' Then you explain this whole process to them and they realise they need Blu-ray, because they want the best picture. They may have thought they were watching the best picture, so that's part of our store.

"I guess people look at this war between Blu-ray and HD-DVD as similar to the one that took place between Beta and VHS."

But is Blu-ray winning the battle?

"We believe so and have put our support with Blu-ray at this time and that's because largely it has the better specifications. It can deliver a better picture because of the bit rate, beyond the fact that the disc has more capacity. So there's two different discs - Blu-ray and HD-DVD. Blu-ray, the dual layer, holds 50 gigabytes of data. The dual layer HD-DVD holds 30. So when you want the best picture, would you rather have 50 gigabytes of information or 30?

"So we found this meant Blu-ray had the room for the best picture and sound. The other thing it has is what we call a peak bit rate. What this is is how much data can you send over a pipe in a given second. Blu-ray can send 40Gb of information per second. HD-DVD can only do 29. So when you have an action scene and you have all this information on the screen - you've got fire, you've got people running about - you need to use so much bit rate. You have all this stuff happening and you suddenly need all this information to be sent through. Blu-ray has less limitations, so that's another benefit. It has space and it has space in the pipes.

"So that's why we threw our weight around Blu-ray. To your point about what will happen and will there eventually be a single best format? We believe so and we believe it will be Blu-ray. The sales suggest it. If you look at the sales in Australia, Blu-ray is clearly outselling HD-DVD by far and the number of manufacturers is a lot larger for Blu-ray. So we think over time Blu-ray will emerge as the single format. And we think that's best for consumers. Consumers have said that, too.

"Blu-ray offers the better technology for us to deliver the best high-definition experience. We chose this because of these merits.

"Of course, beyond the picture and sound, we believe there are a lot of interactive features that people will like with regards to Blu-ray DVDs."

"We have so many ideas ... basically Blu-ray has an input and output interface like a computer and normal DVDs can't do things like the Liar's Dice game in the special features of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, for example. We still love DVD of course, but clearly Blu-ray is the future."

The biggest issues with people in general would have to be the price. Will it come down soon and be a little more accessible for the average consumer?

"I think so. You saw it with DVD and then the DVD recorders ... I can't speak for the other companies, but with technology you will see prices always come down. High-definition TVs have come down and the price of hardware will come down and certainly Blu-ray software will come down: it's inevitable.

"But we're still in the early stages. It's only just over a year now since we started Blu-ray and we've had a fair bit of success thus far, so we're optimistic."

Will Blu-ray become an all-in one future entertainment unit in that it will play movies, record movies, play games, download TV shows from the internet etc?

"It's a very good question. Yes and no. Blu-ray for Sony Playstation 3 was certainly the platform. So it will be a delivery mechanism for Sony Playstation 3. So for those people enjoying playing Sony Playstation 3 games, Blu-ray will be their solution.

"Obviously we believe Blu-ray will emerge as the best format to watch movies on high-definition. In terms of downloading, I think that's an interesting question because Blu-ray has the ability with things like BD Live, a feature which allows it to stream live content into your machine. So in the next year you might see an opportunity where you can pop in a disc and we tell you: `Hey, tune in Friday at 2pm and watch the movie with the world as Johnny Depp watches Pirates with you.' And then we may even have a little contest - for example: `People in the northern hemisphere watching this movie, we're going to have a little trivia contest about Pirates. You're Team A and the southern hemisphere is Team B.' You could have this global competition and we could have results. It could be like: `Wow, the people in Australia know more about Pirates than the Yankees in the US.'

"So we could have fun little live competitions, right? We're communal, and I think that's why people like going to the movie theatres because they like sharing the movie experience. There's no reason why Blu-ray, with a live connection, you can't be watching the movie and interacting and participating at the same time.

"There are certainly digital capabilities and opportunities. However, in saying that, I don't think Blu-ray will ever be a computer. I think if you have internet needs and general computer needs, you're going to use your computer. We think Blu-ay will most certainly viewed by people as a great, high-definition movie device."
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sto...006023,00.html