The Bits CES report - will it ever come? (1 Viewer)

[Paul.S]

Thx, Bill. Although the news of standard def SEs that are long, long overdue (like Mission: Impossible . . . when Par has announced hi def for II and III day-and-date with III when it streets in the fall) is of less interest to me personally, I do enjoy the feature pieces that you can't necessarily find in the trades, such as the recent Andy Parsons interview.

 

[Juan C]

Hey, Bill, I type pretty fast. Send me an audio file with the interview and you'll get the transcript in no time at all, and at no charge.

 

[John Mansor]

I, too, have been waiting patiently....I think it would be fitting if it was posted on 2/17 instead 1/17.

Glad to hear that it might be coming soon.

 

[David Podjasek]

Apparently "the next few days" means some point more than 9 days later, because it still hasn't been updated...

What goes out-of-date about a transcript of an interview? Other than the interview getting less and less relevant as time goes on...

Why not just update the coverage and post it the same day and state it is accurate as of that date?

I'm so confused...

I guess I'm the sucker for continuing to go back every day looking for it.

 

[Kyle_D]

You know, I had forgotten about the whole report until the thread bump. At this point, I'm ready to write it off.

 

[Glenn Overholt]

I can understand the frustration, through. Can you imagine writing a report or a term paper up on a current subject, getting halfway through it, and then discovering that new info has come out that screws your whole paper up?

If I may make a suggestion Bill - Break up the report into sections, and head each section up with the last date that it was updated on.

Glenn

 

[george kaplan]

If we're handing out advice , mine would be - don't make such a BIG deal about something that's coming out if there's a reasonable chance that it ain't coming after all. The only reason this is on my radar at all was day after day after day of "it's coming this afternoon", "it'll be here tomorrow", etc.

That's the kind of marketing thing that builds up anticipation, which is great, unless the product never shows up, then anticipation turns to frustration, or in my case ennui with a bit of curiosity about it in a "watching a car wreck" sort of way.

 

[David Podjasek]

"watching a car wreck" - LOL

That's pretty much where I'm at now... very curious to see just how late it will be posted (if at all).

I can't fathom what the thinking is over there... they give priority to updating the DVD FAQ, puttting up contests, starting a message board, watching the olympics, and chasing raccoons.

Funny thing is, I can actually buy the last two as excuses much better than the first three.

For all my bitching I am still a fan... I like the site. This is really only the first time that I've had such a disappoiontment with them. And all the buildup is the reason for that.

 

[John Mansor]

I am glad I am not the only waiting impatiently...

 

[DaViD Boulet]

Knowing from first-hand experience how hard it is to balance personal life, a full-time job, and the occasional DVD-review for HTF, I only have one sentiment about Bill and the long-awaited report:

SYMPATHY

The man does more with his site for our community than we have a right to ask for...and if he happens to mess up deadlines with posting once in a long while it's more than worth the price of admission.

Go Bill!

 

[george kaplan]

But David, you don't tell us that your next review is coming tomorrow morning, and then repeat that each morning day after day, week after week, without getting us the review.

The thing is, as we speak (on Feb. 27), when you go to his site and read his two cents, you see a big banner that says "It begins...THE BITS goes to CES 2006" and you click on it it still says "page created: 1/17/06" and "The Bits @ CES 2006 - Show Report (coming later today)".

It can't really be that hard or that time consuming to take down the banner or update one line about when it's coming.

I have great appreciation for what Bill does, and sympathy in general for how hard it is, but on this particular issue, it's hard for me to feel anything but amusement and a yawn coming on. Hell, I'm having a lot more fun poking gentle fun at the status of the report than I'd ever likely have reading it.

 

[DaViD Boulet]

Actually, I *have* done that very thing a number of times...and a few times failed to get the review posted at all despite constant promises to get it up (Toy Story 2 SE) and once or twice got it up *really* late (Brothers Grim). It makes me feel like a shmuck when I'm jazzed to get a DVD reviewed for the ready-to-go HTF crowd and then dont' get time because I have to work late 4 nights in row, get sick, or don't get a solid block of time to "sit down and do it" for days at a time. I totally know what Bill is feeling!



Having said all that...I don't see why Bill just doesn't remove that "coming soon" tag to stop rubbing salt in the wound and hope that the readers will slowly forget what they were first promised. I know that's what *I* would do...

 

[David Podjasek]

More importantly for me, I think, is the importance of this report seems much higher than that of a random DVD review.

This is a report about brand new formats! This is something that would be very anticipated. If reviewer x (or even DaViD Boulet, whose reviews I absolutely love, shameless ass-kissing asside) doesn't get the review posted for a particular disc it doesn't seem like a big deal to me.

But Bill seems to have claimed a few times that he has a lot of info on the new formats, implying (in my mind, at least) that it is info others don't have. That makes me anticipate this particular report very much.

And yes, I do love Bill's work too and have great respect for it. I have enjoyed their site tremendously over the years and in fact use it as my main source of DVD info.

 

[Paul.S]

Just discovered that the (IMO outstanding) former DVD File contributor Shane Buettner now contributes to (the new online only?) Ultimate AV.

Here are his Blu-ray and HD DVD-specific CES comments: http://www.ultimateavmag.com/features/106ces1/

 

[Juan C]

-deleted-

 

[Nils Luehrmann]

So did this long delayed CES report ever get posted?

 

[Kyle_D]

nope.

 

[Shawn Perron]

We're still waiting. Just think, they'll probably post thier E3 report aroiund christmas.

 

[Bill Hunt]

For the record, every time we try to lock down our report, all of the details end up changing. So basically, at this point, all that's still relevant our our personal impressions from the show, which I'm planning to include in an editorial in the next few days. We're also working on an HD-DVD/Blu-ray Disc FAQ that we hope to launch next week - something similar to our anamorphic guide, which answers the key questions in plain language average consumers can understand. That's a very tough task, believe me. It's been a real bear to get any details factually confirmed from both camps - there's just WAY too much spin control going on at the moment. We've also got a couple of interviews in the works, etc.

Frankly, we're scrambling just to keep up with the daily news and announcements on the HD front - particularly as each bit of "news" that gets announced requires investigation to determine what are actual confirmed facts, and what's just marketing hype. For example, we posted on The Bits a couple weeks ago that Lionsgate would end up delaying their Blu-ray Disc titles from May to June - even when Lionsgate was still insisting that they'd meet those original dates publically. Lo and behold, a week later, they officially announced they they're delaying. We also have mentioned that there are lots of problems authoring the software, which reps from Microsoft have gone on the record to deny. And of course, titles continue to be delayed, and we continue to be told that there are ongoing problems with authoring and QC. It's a mess.

So while I know a lot of you would love to see a full CES report, what we're working hard to give you is actual, confirmed, no-spin information, along with our own editorial opinion.

These format launches are a real bitch to cover, right now, let me tell you. So we ask that you just be patient. We're as frustrated as a lot of you probably are. HD-DVD for example, is going to "officially launch" on Tuesday with 4 titles in stores... and Toshiba STILL can't confirm if they'll actually have players in stores by then. Toshiba just won't go on the record with anything right now.

We, like many other reviewers, are also still waiting on review hardware. So we could end up in a situation in the next couple days where we have actual review software in hand... but nothing to review it on. This is just a real mess right now.

 

[DaViD Boulet]

At this point, I'll be a whole lot more interested in your coverage of emerging HD media than the details from the show...

as far as I'm concerned...just give us a real kick-the-tires review of the first HD DVD players and software (and then do the same for Blu-ray) and I'll be a happy camper!

dave