***Official Blu-ray insiders thread

Re: ***Official Blu-ray insiders thread

ALEXANDER would be damn near impossible to present in multiple versions via "branching" because it's not just a matter of some footage being added or removed here and there, the entire structure of the film is different. It's a complete top-to-bottom rethinking of the structure and editing of the movie.

And you're wrong re: Warner Brothers. Disc three of the BLADE RUNNER set uses branching to present the 1982 Theatrical, 1982 International, and 1992 Director's Cuts of the film on one disc in the DVD, HD-DVD, and Blu-ray versions of the film.

Vincent

Re: ***Official Blu-ray insiders thread

Yeah, Hostel is another one where the director's cut left out material from the theatrical cut. Both versions should always be included!

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I would like to purchase a stand alone bluray player. I would like one that can send truehd audio bitstream to the receiver, also uncompressed sound (if possible). Which bluray players will do that?

Re: ***Official Blu-ray insiders thread

Panasonic BD30.

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Only problem with the Panny 30 is that while it will indeed bitstream advanced audio (and native PCM) over HDMI 1.3, it won't decode advanced audio internally. So just be aware of that (may not be necessary for you if you have a 1.3 HDMI receiver with TrueHD and DTS-HD MA decoding).

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One other consideration about the Panasonic (which is a great player BTW). Even if you have a 1.3 receiver, since it doesn't support internal decding like Dave mentioned, if you use the PIP function on a title it won't output high res audio during the PIP segments. Keep in mind CES starts next tomorrow, and I would guess that there will be some new players announced.

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There's one Sony title I'm dying to see and that's The Freshman. A high definition transfer has already been made and has aired on HDNet, so what's the likelihood of seeing this on Blu-ray in the foreseeable future? I'm hoping to see a special edition done at some point, whether that is on standard DVD, Blu-ray, or both.

Paidgeek, I also want to welcome you to this forum. Enjoy your stay here.

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since it's 2008, what classic titles should fans look forward to both this year and the next in 2009 outside of David Lean epix like Lawrence of Arabia & Bridge River Kwai, etc.?

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Aloha Paid Geek,
Do you have any insight as to Blu-ray availability for the outstanding PBS production: "Eagles:Hell Freezes Over" concert? I believe this was a 1994 video production which was presented in 1:33 format. Is it even possible to create a 16x9 HD presentation? I'm aware of a later "Farewell Concert" from Melbourne which was released in HD-DVD ..............I'd love to see that come to Blu-ray as well.
Mahalo,
Dennis

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Paidgeek,
Any news on Pink Floyd's The Wall?

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Dennis:

I think you might be confused about Hell Freezes Over. That was an MTV production not PBS. Image Entertainment distributed the DVD and Geffen Records owned the concert. Geffen has since been subsumed into Universal Music Group (which is NOT a sister company to Universal Studios under GE's NBC Universal umbrella).

Having said that, UMG did announce BD support over two years ago. I think the only BD they've released in the intervening time is Elton 60: Live at Madison Square Garden.

Ergo, although Sony titles are more within your sphere of knowledge, Pg can you shed any light on UMG's BD support in general and whether UMG still owns the rights to HFO in particular? I know that the band's Eagles Recording Company is more prominent now than 14 years ago, playing a I think larger role in ownership and distribution of, say, Long Road Out Of Eden than any previous Eagles release. The band may own this show now.

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Thanks Paul. You're correct regarding your MTV comment. I first saw the show when it was broadcast by PBS. I'll remain optimistic that the format war is truly over and we won't need two players to enjoy the recordings of our choice!

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Here's a somewhat technical question:

Is Sony planning to issue an API so that open source players can start supporting Bluray discs properly?

Now, I know the knee-jerk reaction is going to be "No", since this could potentially open up the format to piracy. However, I must point out that it's already busted wide open. Why punish users to fight a war that's already lost?

I do mean to imply that legitimate customers are being punished at present. "3:10 to Yuma", for example, does not play on PowerDVD, which is the only legitimate player for PC users at present. Cyberlink is aware that there is a bug, but has no new version planned for months. An open-source project would have had this problem fixed within days of it first occurring. (I would actually be curious to know why this problem wasn't caught before Yuma was released.)

Secondly, PowerDVD is a vastly inferior piece of software compared to small hobbyist-oriented projects, like Zoom Player, that rely on the availability of open API's. When PowerDVD failed, I actually had to turn to Zoom Player and a few hacks to get "3:10 to Yuma" to play, but obviously there was no menu support and all I could do was just watch the movie. (I was thankful enough for just that!) In general though, being forced to use PowerDVD to play HD titles makes them a huge step down, in terms of convenience, from DVD's.

I respect Sony's desire to lock down their product so that it cannot be pirated, but that particular struggle is already over. Why not ease up and start making consumer friendly choices? I have a dual-format player, and my current preference for titles available in both formats is Bluray. However, all it would take to change that would be for Microsoft to release an API for HD-DVD.


P.S. I hope none of the above qualifies as comments rather than questions. I was merely trying to make a strong case for my question, since I feel it's an important one that could have a significant effect on the format war, even at this very late stage.

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I would love to see The Freshman on BluRay as well.

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removed

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Please move thread to software section of the forum as it seems most of the questions (and answers) have nothing to do with hardware. I am new so if movies are hardware in this forum=, I stand corrected and apologize. If not, ?????

Re: ***Official Blu-ray insiders thread

This is a foul and blatent violation of rules.

The Format War Is Over - On This Forum It Is. PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU POST HERE!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Home Theater Forum is a place for people looking to recreate the "movie experience" in the home. At the moment, though, that goal is complicated by the fact that there are competing formats for the "next generation" of home theater technology: Blu-ray and HD-DVD.

From what we can tell, the HTF membership is evenly split between the two formats, and some members have even embraced both. But whatever their preference, it's clear that the vast majority of our members don't enjoy "war-talk". No one wants to read predictions (or wishes) that the format in which they've invested should disappear or is inferior, especially when those opinions are posted over and over again by the same few posters.

HTF is format-neutral, as explained by co-owner Ron Epstein on numerous occasions. As of now, we are establishing a zero tolerance policy banning HD format "war-talk", except for a few designated threads.

What is "war-talk"? Well, it includes, but is not limited to:
general comparisons of the two formats (other than in direct relation to a specific HD release);
sales numbers;
expressing the opinion/expectation that one or more formats will disappear from the market soon;
comparing or discussing alleged "support" by commercial parties or spreading "news" about such support or change of support or news about "future" extensions; and
linking to other threads or other sites discussing these "war-talk" topics.
At the moment we have created two (and only two) threads where "war-talk" is permitted:

Official HTF HD Formats Comparison Thread
Want to discuss Nielsen numbers? Different bitspace/bandwidth of the HD-formats? Tell us why one format should rule them all? Do it here.

Official HTF HD Formats Industry/Retailer/Studio Support Thread
Just heard that Walmart is going neutral? Or that New Concorde will exclusively release on BD? Why one studio really stopped releasing on HD? Post it here and discuss the consequences.

However, posting about those topics outside these threads will not be allowed, unless specifically authorized in specific cases by the owners of the forum.

Note that these threads are normal HTF threads, and that all rules apply. Even "war-talk" has to be civilized on the HTF.

Once again, this is a zero tolerance policy. Violators will find themselves and/or their posts removed, without further warning. Moreover, like all HTF rules and policies, this decision is not up for discussion. It takes effect immediately. We thank you in advance for your cooperation.

HTF Staff

Re: ***Official Blu-ray insiders thread

Jason,

If you feel you have to pose questions about our policies, will you please contact us and not post your explanations of those in a thread about something else?

Derailing a thread we put in place is not allowed.

For your information: this thread is set up to ask questions to paidgeek, a Sony Lab employee, who will occasionally try to reply here. We don't have a similar thread on the HD DVD side (who knows, we may create one in the future), but currently there are sufficient other means of communicating "all things" HD DVD on this forum.

And please consider this a serious warning. Thanks for understanding.

Re: ***Official Blu-ray insiders thread

back to the topic.

paidgeek, how is sony's remastering processes compare to DTS's lowry or even criterion. i'm sure there are similarities... what're the differences that make you compete better?

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As far as hardware goes, when can we expect profile 2.0 compliant hardware to hit the market? Excluding the PS3 of course. I see that most of the questions on here have been about movies and such so I don't know if you deal with hardware and software or just software exclusively. Any info would be much appreciated.

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Since it has been quite awhile since Paidgeek has been able to respond here I thought I would throw this out. Besides the PS3, the first profile 2.0 player should be the Panasonic DMP-BD50. It was just released in Europe this past week so hopefully it won't be long before it shows up in the US.

There have been a few other announcements of profile 2.0 players at CES but still no firm release dates announced.

The Sapphire 3 and 4 by Sony (no dates)
Daewoo DBP-1000 and DBP-2000 (Quarter 1)

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Add to that the new Sharp (May release) is supposed to have 2.0 and Marantz:

This is a great chart for comparison, though on the upcoming models, it is not complete but close( scan down for chart):

Master List Of Blu-ray Players

Re: ***Official Blu-ray insiders thread

Our apologies for the lack of participation by PaidGeek. It's
obvious he's on a busy schedule and only promised to post
when he was available to do so.

Stay Tuned!

Re: ***Official Blu-ray insiders thread

PaidGeek, are all Blu-Ray discs coated to prevent scratching? Also is it true uncompressed PCM is a stop gap and that Dolby TrueHD and DTS MA are going to be used exclusively in the future? What is the factor that determines which audio codec a release gets?

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I'm not Paidgeek, but I am pretty sure that the anti-scratch coating is part of the official BD spec. It should be on every disc that sports the BD logo.

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So, current players can't be updated to newer profiles ? How can I tell, before buying, which can be updated/not updated and what profile it comes with ?

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The PS3 is the only one that can be updated to a newer profile, IIRC.

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Are you sure about that ? I was reading where someone had trouble getting their Hellboy Blu-Ray to play so they updated the player.

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As I understand it, the BD profiles short of 2.0 can be remedied with firmware updates, but the requirements of Profile 2.0 involve hardware that not all players have, namely internal memory and ethernet to access the BD Live components (which I'm not sure exist on any release at this point). So the person updating his player to play Hellboy was likely doing a firmware update to Profile 1.1, not 2.0.

This article is pretty good: New Blu-ray 2.0 spec makes PS3 the most future-proof player

Though the folks at Engadget disagree since the PS3 doesn't do DTS HD audio Why the PS3 isn't the best Blu-ray player - Engadget HD

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Actually, updating to Profile 1.1 very likely involves hardware also on many, if not all, standalone players. If I understand correctly, to be Profile 1.1, the player needs either enough processing power (ie. PS3) to handle *two* concurrent 1080p(!) video streams (for PiP commentary and more) or must have 2 separate 1080p-capable video chips to handle that. Given that, it's not likely that too many Profile 1.0 standalones can be upgraded to 1.1 via firmware.

Also, I don't believe Hellboy is a Profile 1.1 title at all. The needed firmware update could well be for something else to get the player to work for Hellboy.


That's only true for now. If the rumored upcoming update is true -- and I feel pretty sure it is -- then the PS3 will be able to do DTS-HD/MA although it won't pass it as raw bitstream, but as decoded uncompressed PCM just like w/ Dolby True-HD.

_Man_