What can we do about Warner Bros? (1 Viewer)

[Brandon Conway]

By the way, a rather timely (or untimely, depending on one's view) interview with George Feltenstein of Warner Home Video is now up at highdefdigest.com.

Blu About The Slow Release of Classic Titles On Blu-ray? Take Heart! | High-Def Digest

 

[John H Ross]

There's that "restart" thing again. AAAARRRGGGHHH. Does anybody at Warners actually WATCH these things, apart from technicians who want to show off what they can do with bloody pop-ups? Did common sense just go out of the window between the DVD and Blu-ray eras?

I guess there are some who would consider THIS a "minor inconvenience" too.

Thank god none of my favourite TV shows are/were made by WB, that's all I can say!

Phew that (according to reports) the forthcoming Star Trek Season 1 from Paramount can be fully configured (effects version, audio track) BEFORE you actually start watching each episode. How novel is that? LOL

 

[Michael Reuben]

OK, nice and simple:

1. For technical reasons detailed several times, it IS possible for Warner to have its Blu-rays default to TrueHD, while maintaining compatability with hardware that doesn't support TrueHD.
2. No one here knows why Warner chooses not to do so.
3. A dispassionate reading of this thread reveals that a majority would support having Warner author their discs so that TrueHD is the default. (I said I would in the second post.) However, it's not a high priority for most people.

Got it?

Now, if Mr. Ross had started a friendly little thread about how great it would be to persuade Warner to follow the example set by such studios as Sony and Paramount when it comes to default audio tracks, I suspect we'd have a consensus by now, and a Warner exec reading this thread might think, "Hey, maybe we should consider it." Instead, we have this thread, which I doubt will persuade anyone of anything they don't already think.

 

[Jesse Blacklow]

Oh, please. You could have done a modicum of research, which would have narrowed your concerns down to one, and then made the point that it was an annoyance, but it wouldn't be a bad thing if they looked into it.

Instead, you've chosen to make what is a 15-second issue that almost no one else has a problem with into something unforgivable and destructive to watching a movie (despite the fact that others pointed out to you that there's a lot of differences that you conveniently ignore), all the while dismissing the facts on the other 3 for no other reason than more or less "because I want to be upset and I think anyone who doesn't agree with me is ignorant."

And you wonder why people aren't being too sympathetic?

 

[RickER]

Not gonna win people over by calling them "Warner apologists", and that "almost zero effort" is being put into the discs.

Like i say, i dont have the HD audio ability. I am sure some day i will. If Warner changes the way they do things, i will adapt. But, i dont mind changing audio when a movie starts. Shoot, i still have a few old DVDs that need to have it done. As long as its a QUALITY disc, its all good.

 

[John H Ross]

I didn't say that "almost zero effort" was put into the discs. "Almost zero effort" was a reference to how much effort it takes to change audio settings DURING a movie for (apparently) most people (referring to a previous comment by Mr Blacklow).

If anything, Warner is putting too MUCH effort into their discs, actually OVER engineering them and making them messier in the process! (e.g. audio options that don't need to be there there).

I'm not going to repeat my original comments all over again, but I do still stand by them!

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Count me in as being quite annoyed w/ Warner's approach of defaulting to the lossy track (combined w/ making menu access to a track change more fussy than necessary).

No, it's not a dealbreaker in general of course, but it's certainly one extra niggling thing (among others) that makes the whole BD experience less satisfying -- and apparently for no particularly good reason at that.

RE: the point about using the PS3's BT remote (w/ audio button), ack(!), I'm not going back to frequently hitting the stop button by mistake -- and needing to reboot the whole BD since Warner also uses BD-J on their discs.

_Man_

 

[RickER]

OK, sorry about the misquote John.

 

[Michael Reuben]

So here's one more point from your initial post that turns out to be less than credible. Maybe it's time to reconsider that blanket endorsement of your original comments.

 

[David Deeb]

John,

I'm glad you are enjoying Blu Ray discs now. Because just a little over a year ago when the format war was going, when I said one I was having fun with BD, you replied saying I fail to see why pressing eject, inserting a disc, pressing play and watching a movie on Blu-Ray is any more "fun" (in the strictest sense of the word) to doing exactly the same thing with a DVD disc (but probably faster and with fewer glitches!). And that you found more fun in tracking down SD discs like a Scandinavian version of The Boys From Brazil.

You even said: I just bought and watched the latest R2 Doctor Who release "Planet Of Evil" on crappy old DVD and I loved it. Fantastic stuff! I have no wish to be denied that pleasure just because I've been spoiled with Blu-Ray and its (mainly) crappy selection of blockbuster tosh!

I think after all us get more heavily invested in BD and in home theater our expectations rise. So give them a little time. It's only been a little over a year since you were not a BD supporter and now you are adamant that a leader of great BD product, alter their current structure because of a 5-second button change.

I think Warner releases great product, but they aren't perfect.

I work in the industry & the time lines and small budgets required to get DVDs authored is very challenging. I don't work with Warner, but I'm sure they face the same challenges.

I enjoy home theater so much, and I enjoy reading comments from all perspectives. I'm not challenging you and I think you have some good points but give them a little time. BD is still very new.

 

[Douglas Monce]

I suspect that the option to default back to DD when the player is unable to play True HD is an advanced authoring feature, though I don't know this for sure.

I suspect that the Warner discs are authored as they are because the seem to have a preference for not using advanced mode authoring. Off the top of my head I can't think of a single Warner title that uses advanced mode, though again I could be wrong here.

I also find it interesting that Warners just won the "best studio" award here on HTF.

Doug

 

[ATimson]

At least they included the segments, unlike 20th Century Fox...

 

[Bryan^H]

Mr. Ross is a consumer, and it's his opinion. He doesn't have to sugarcoat anything to please execs at Warner in a thread he creates. I agree that points 2,3, and 4 are unimportant. His issue with audio is a valid concern. Lossless audio tracks are the optimum preferred choice by home theater enthusiasts. If
any studio decides not to include that feature, then it is the consumers that are suffering.

 

[Michael Reuben]

I said that in the second (2nd) post in this thread, as well as in the post to which you're replying. You're so busy trying to seize the moral high ground that you lost sight of the issue that needs fixing and the people who agree with you. Much like Mr. Ross.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

UPDATE

Allow me to cut in here with some information that you will pleased
to hear.

I have talked with "The Wizard of Oz" over at Warner Brothers this
evening.

Before this issue of TRUE HD was even brought up on this forum, the
studio had already recently put a mandate forward that all titles newly
in the pipeline would not only contain TRUE HD but would automatically
default to the audio format upon insertion into the player.

It seems like the studio was already had the best interests of their
consumers in mind even before you brought it to their attention.

Give a little time for these new titles to appear.

We will also be chatting with the studio very shortly. They have some
exciting announcements for us.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

That's great news, Ron. Thanks for the update!

 

[TravisR]

Thanks for the great news, Ron!

 

[RickER]

And THAT gentlemen, is why we love Warner. Thats why they are number one!
They listen to the consumer, and they have a fantastic product!

 

[DavidJ]

I've been following this thread, but haven't been active in it. Still, I wanted to add my kudos to Warner. Over the years, they have been the studio to provide high-quality home video product on the most consistent basis. I am not surprised by this good news. They tend to "do right" by the consumer and they are behind the highest percentage of my favorite DVDs and HD media.

 

[Yumbo]

So let me flip it:

If Warner can have BD-LIVE (Java) on Body of Lies (recommended), and allow resume play, why can't other studios do the same?

Or is it the new Panasonic firmware which overcame that issue?

(Need to check whether optical vs HDMI is any different using a large Yamaha receiver on DSP mode still.)