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***Official Blu-ray insiders thread - Page 2

post #31 of 108
11/13/07 at 1:33pm

Re: ***Official Blu-ray insiders thread

You are a BAD BAD man Jeff Adkins, I had not heard of Black Book before today. So I looked it up and it sounds like a really good movie. So now because of you I have to put another Blu-ray title on my want list.
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post #32 of 108
11/14/07 at 9:30pm

Re: ***Official Blu-ray insiders thread

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave Moritz
You are a BAD BAD man Jeff Adkins, I had not heard of Black Book before today. So I looked it up and it sounds like a really good movie. So now because of you I have to put another Blu-ray title on my want list.
It's a great film and as I said before, the disc is stunning (in both video and audio). Hope you like it!
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post #33 of 108
11/15/07 at 12:54am

Re: ***Official Blu-ray insiders thread

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave Moritz
I had not heard of Black Book before today.
Well.
It was announced, reviewed and discussed on the forum, Dave.

Didn't get as much exposure as a Hollywood movie would have gotten, perhaps, but there were several threads.

Here are a few:

Paul Verhoeven's latest: Zwartboek / Black Book
Black Book (Zwartboek)
SPHE Press Release: Black Book (DVD/Blu-Ray)


Cees
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post #34 of 108
11/16/07 at 6:25am

Re: ***Official Blu-ray insiders thread

warm welcomes, paidgeek =).

just 1 question: when is lawrence of arabia debuting on Blu-Ray?
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post #35 of 108
11/16/07 at 7:53am

Re: ***Official Blu-ray insiders thread

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeff Adkins
Paidgeek,

Thank you so much for your participation here.

I was amazed at the transfer on Black Book. For anyone who hasn't seen it, it is a terrific film with near flawless video & audio.

My question is in terms of films aquired by Sony from foreign studios, how difficult is it to get ahold of the original elements? Does SPHE do their own scan or are the scans generally done overseas?

Thanks!

I am happy to participate on the forum, but please excuse my delayed responses...

In answer to your question, all the possibilities you mention happen. It depends on the deal and when the deal is made. This is at least in part why some titles look exceptional and others just so-so. Lately some of the best masters have been coming from Sony Classics acquistions. Keep and eye out for "Jane Austin Book Club" and "Sleuth". They are both reference quality masters.
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post #36 of 108
11/16/07 at 8:04am

Re: ***Official Blu-ray insiders thread

Quote:
Originally Posted by JediFonger
warm welcomes, paidgeek =).

just 1 question: when is lawrence of arabia debuting on Blu-Ray?

I would like to say soon, but I just don't know. It has been seriously discussed for 2008, but we want to make sure it meets everyone's expectations...
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post #37 of 108
11/16/07 at 9:17am
Thread Starter 

Re: ***Official Blu-ray insiders thread

PaidGeek,

I could easily look over my huge collection of Columbia sDVD
titles and pick out those that I feel are most deserving of being
released to Blu-ray because of their notoriety or visual appeal
to the format.

Unfortunately, I'm at work and can't do a quick scan.

However, there are two very distinct titles that come to mind
that are personal favorites: Glory and Leon: The Professional.

Hope you will consider these for release sooner than later.

Finally, I want to officially welcome you to HTF. I know where
you have been before and I can promise you that you'll find
our members to be highly respectable and that you should feel
very comfortable here with us.
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post #38 of 108
11/16/07 at 10:21am

Re: ***Official Blu-ray insiders thread

Welcome to the HTF, paidgeek. I'll try to refrain from turning this into a wish list thread, but since Ron mentioned a couple of titles I have to mention at least one title. I'm pretty sure that 2046 would look amazing on Blu-ray.

Anyway, no specific questions, just welcome to the HTF.

- Walter.
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post #39 of 108
11/26/07 at 11:48am

Re: ***Official Blu-ray insiders thread

Hi Paidgeek, thank you for joinnig this great forum!'

I really appreciate your continued effort to provide us accurate technical information on SPHE products and listenning to our concers.

I'm very curious about sampling rate for Sony's DTHD BDs and I believe this is of interest to a lot of other enthusiasts.

There's seems to be too much confusion or mis-information regarding the implementation of DTHD tracks on SPHD BDs.

From what I gather, this is what we have:

Ghost Rider - DTHD 5.1 @ 48/20
Stomp The Yard - DTHD 5.1 @ 48/20
The Fifth Element - DTHD 5.1 @ 48/20 upsampled from 48/16
Immortal Beloved - DTHD 5.1 @ 48/24 upsampled from 48/16
Close Encounters Of The Third Kind - DTHD 5.1 @ 48/24 upsampled from 48/16
Spiderman - DTHD 5.1 @ 48/24 upsampled from 48/16
Spiderman 2 - DTHD 5.1 @ 48/24
Spiderman 3 - DTHD 5.1 @ 48/24
Surf's Up - DTHD 5.1 @ 48/24


I have no information regarding how the ones bellow are (will be) presented.

Hostel
20 Million Miles to Earth
Paprika
The Legend Of Zorro


Can you please take the time to help clarify this matter and confirm if this is indeed how the discs are presented?

Thank you for your attention


(I've shot you this question beforein another forum, but I'm not sure you actually got to see it.)
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post #40 of 108
11/27/07 at 10:02am

Re: ***Official Blu-ray insiders thread

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ronald Epstein
However, there are two very distinct titles that come to mind that are personal favorites: Glory and Leon: The Professional.

Hope you will consider these for release sooner than later.

Me too. Glory is my favorite movie of all time and one of a tiny handful of films I'd upgrade from DVD without hesitation.
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post #41 of 108
11/27/07 at 12:18pm

Re: ***Official Blu-ray insiders thread

Both Leon: The Professional and Glory are on my to get list, but I can not wait to own Glory in 1080p and a uncompressed pcm track.
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post #42 of 108
11/27/07 at 5:39pm

Re: ***Official Blu-ray insiders thread

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeff Adkins
Paidgeek,

Thank you so much for your participation here.

I was amazed at the transfer on Black Book. For anyone who hasn't seen it, it is a terrific film with near flawless video & audio.

Ditto that! Great looking title, and an excellent movie.

For another great foreign title (I even prefer it over Black Book) that Sony has released on Blu-ray (that also looks excellent) I highly recommend The Lives of Others!

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post #43 of 108
11/28/07 at 11:21am

Re: ***Official Blu-ray insiders thread

RX-V995 owners unite!

Sorry.
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post #44 of 108
11/30/07 at 11:04am

Re: ***Official Blu-ray insiders thread

Paidgeek,

welcome to HTF and thanks for your participation in this thread.

I'll do my plug for 2 things I've seen previously mentioned regarding BD-production strategy:

1. Use branching to provide various "cuts" of movies on BD rather than sticking us with the theatrical-cut only in high-def when the various versions are already available on DVD. Having a favorite title come out in high-def in theatrical form only, when you've got the director's cut on DVD already, is salt-in-the-wound to any film collector.

2. Provide bonus material in high-def whenever possible. HOWEVER, make a valiant attempt to at least provide the bonus material available on DVD editions, even if it's SD-only in resolution. No collector should be forced to give up content as he/she "upgrades" to a high-def disc. In cases where multi-dics DVD sets might need to exclude non-essential material to fit onto a single 50GB disc, that might be forgiveable... but when BDs come out with no bonus material and their 2-disc DVD editions are overflowing with SE content, there's a problem for the high-def consumer.

Thanks to you and the other guys at Sony for leading the way with high-quality high-def transfers and lossles audio! I'd love to see Sony print on the packaging the specific resolution of the PCM/TrueHD audio (such as "24 bit/48 kHz").

Keep up the good work!
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post #45 of 108
11/30/07 at 1:50pm

Re: ***Official Blu-ray insiders thread

Agreed on both counts.

Quote:
Originally Posted by DaViD Boulet
1. Use branching to provide various "cuts" of movies on BD rather than sticking us with the theatrical-cut only in high-def when the various versions are already available on DVD. Having a favorite title come out in high-def in theatrical form only, when you've got the director's cut on DVD already, is salt-in-the-wound to any film collector.

This also works the other way -- it would've been nice to have the theatrical cut of The Great Raid included, especially since the director's cut removed a couple of scenes.

Quote:
Originally Posted by DaViD Boulet
2. Provide bonus material in high-def whenever possible. HOWEVER, make a valiant attempt to at least provide the bonus material available on DVD editions, even if it's SD-only in resolution. No collector should be forced to give up content as he/she "upgrades" to a high-def disc. In cases where multi-dics DVD sets might need to exclude non-essential material to fit onto a single 50GB disc, that might be forgiveable... but when BDs come out with no bonus material and their 2-disc DVD editions are overflowing with SE content, there's a problem for the high-def consumer.

Dropping extra features = no sale for me (see The Great Raid again ).
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post #46 of 108
11/30/07 at 2:04pm

Re: ***Official Blu-ray insiders thread

agreed. Branching is THE solution for every "director's cut" where it can be seamlessly delivered (ala Close Encounters). and it works both ways... providing theatrical and new cuts to all viewers who know and love each versoin of the film.

I *abhor* the new scenes added in Warner Brother's director's cut of Amadeus. I would LOVE to have that in HD and be able to watch the original theatrical version... while others enjoy the new director's cut.
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post #47 of 108
12/1/07 at 1:28pm

Re: ***Official Blu-ray insiders thread

Quote:
Originally Posted by DaViD Boulet
agreed. Branching is THE solution for every "director's cut" where it can be seamlessly delivered (ala Close Encounters). and it works both ways... providing theatrical and new cuts to all viewers who know and love each versoin of the film.

I *abhor* the new scenes added in Warner Brother's director's cut of Amadeus. I would LOVE to have that in HD and be able to watch the original theatrical version... while others enjoy the new director's cut.
Ditto. Unfortunately, Warner hasn't shown any interest in using branching yet. They should have done so with both Alexander and Troy.
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post #48 of 108
12/3/07 at 1:09pm

Re: ***Official Blu-ray insiders thread

"Amen" and "Hallelujah" to David's post #45.

Might there be a BD of Guess Who's Coming To Dinner streeting along with the recently-announced-for-February 12, 2008 SD?
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post #49 of 108
12/3/07 at 1:50pm

Re: ***Official Blu-ray insiders thread

remember, branching doesn't work for EVERY single film that has been recut due how scoring changes and different types of dissolves used. that is why Blade Runner is 5 discs! it just simply can't be done the way we're imaging. the only way seamless works is if the edits are adding/subtracting cuts ONLY and not doing fancy additional visual fx DURING those transitions and whole new scores, etc.

either way, TroyC and Alexander FC are the best cuts. much better than the original. no reason why the originals should exist, but let's not talk about that here, that's another thread for another place.

i do have a question, when will the first profile 1.1 or 2.0 Blu-Ray discs be arriving?
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post #50 of 108
12/3/07 at 3:21pm

Re: ***Official Blu-ray insiders thread

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeff Adkins
Ditto. Unfortunately, Warner hasn't shown any interest in using branching yet. They should have done so with both Alexander and Troy.
I'm doing a research paper on historical feature films with multiple cuts and these are two of the three I'm examining (the other is Kingdom of Heaven). I haven't watched the alternate cuts of Alexander yet (I have all three versions) but I have watched Troy in both versions and it would have been impossible to "branch" them. The musical score is entirely different in the director's cut and there would be no way to integrate it into the theatrical version. It works in Gladiator, but Scott goes out of his way in the intro to explain the extended version is NOT a "director's cut" (he was happy with the theatrical release) but rather an alternative exercise (the additions are not all that extensive and they do not alter the essential story). As for Alexander, while it may have been possible to branch between the theatrical cut and the "Final Cut" (though I reserve judgement until I've actually seen the latter), from what I've read about the "Director's Cut", branching would have been impossible there as well. I agree that branching should be used when it is possible to do so, but the more extensive the alterations, the less likely it would work.
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post #51 of 108
12/3/07 at 4:33pm

Re: ***Official Blu-ray insiders thread

Quote:
Originally Posted by JediFonger
either way, TroyC and Alexander FC are the best cuts. much better than the original. no reason why the originals should exist, but let's not talk about that here, that's another thread for another place.
This is like farting and then running out of the room. Even if I agree with you, please don't make provocative statements and then say it's not an appropriate subject of discussion.

Re: "when will the first profile 1.1 or 2.0 Blu-Ray discs be arriving?"

Sony, Fox and Lionsgate have already announced Resident Evil: Extinction, Sunshine and 3:10 To Yuma, respectively.

http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/sh...n_Blu-ray/1165
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post #52 of 108
12/3/07 at 5:33pm

Re: ***Official Blu-ray insiders thread

Is there any news on when the Denon blu-ray will be in retail stores here in the US? My first priority is to buy the Denon receiver first and then the Denon Blu-ray. If I really had the money I would buy an extra full ht setup and buy the matching Pioneer Elite receiver & blu-ray.
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post #53 of 108
12/3/07 at 7:56pm

Re: ***Official Blu-ray insiders thread

i happen to do the former quite often

anyways, thx for the announcements. i think i read those here:
http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/sh...Explained/1186

is Blu-Ray capable of having the same types of smooth menu animations that HD DVD does like in WB titles? the WB titles on both Blu-Ray and HD DVD are not the same.
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post #54 of 108
12/18/07 at 11:11pm

Re: ***Official Blu-ray insiders thread

paidgeek,

Nice to see you back in action!

Please, please, please continue on this trend of 24 bit lossless audio without dial. norm. from the master original language tracks.

Also, I really need to stress that those people who have (or want) scope front projection setups desperately need to be able to manipulate the subtitles (size, position, color, etc.) so that they stay within the picture frame and don't get cut off. From what I understand, the disc must have the codes necessary to do this onboard and the player can't adjust the subtitle data by itself as Samsung's DVD players could do with DVD subtitles (that feature was a godsend for constant height home theater systems).

Most of your Blu-ray's have been good about keeping the subtitles within the picture just as with commercial prints, but lately the subtitles are straying back into the lower (and sometimes upper) black letterbox band. Don't drop the ball now.

This request goes out to ALL studios.

Thank you for your time and consideration.
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post #55 of 108
12/19/07 at 6:38am

Re: ***Official Blu-ray insiders thread

Quote:
Also, I really need to stress that those people who have (or want) scope front projection setups desperately need to be able to manipulate the subtitles (size, position, color, etc.) so that they stay within the picture frame and don't get cut off. From what I understand, the disc must have the codes necessary to do this onboard and the player can't adjust the subtitle data by itself as Samsung's DVD players could do with DVD subtitles (that feature was a godsend for constant height home theater systems).

Good point.

EVERY high-def title sold on HD DVD or BD should be "Constant Height Friendly" and allow for people with native 2.35:1 projection screens to see/do all that they can without needing remove masking or shrink down to 1.78:1 mode.

If it's possible for someone to build a player that can manipulate the placement of all subtitles and menu items to accomplish that regardless of software encoding, we'd love to know!
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post #56 of 108
12/19/07 at 7:42am

Re: ***Official Blu-ray insiders thread

dan,

i believe it's upto the player to adjust the caption/subtitles. on my PowerDVD, there are settings that designate where the subtitles should go
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post #57 of 108
12/22/07 at 7:40am

Re: ***Official Blu-ray insiders thread

Will PS3 one day have the capability to upgrade firmware to output DTS-HD Master Audio and Dolby True HD? Deciding factor in buying a stand-alone dvd player. PAIDGEEK, if you have the answer to this one i'll be your best friend.
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post #58 of 108
12/22/07 at 7:28pm

Re: ***Official Blu-ray insiders thread

Quote:
Will PS3 one day have the capability to upgrade firmware to output DTS-HD Master Audio and Dolby True HD? Deciding factor in buying a stand-alone dvd player. PAIDGEEK, if you have the answer to this one i'll be your best friend

It already does Dolby TrueHD several firmware update ago.

DTS-HD MA decoding is expected early '08 (according to Paidgeek and other insiders as mentioned on other forums already).
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post #59 of 108
12/22/07 at 10:36pm

Re: ***Official Blu-ray insiders thread

Thanks Paid for answering our questions, it's very nice to have someone available for this. My first question is this..being a huge fan of classic films, I understand that Sony needs to concentrate on newer titles with limited shelf space as you mentioned, but wouldn't the release of some classics like Lawrence of Arabia, Kwai, Funny Girl or Oliver attract a classic audience that might not have purchased a hd player yet? I know I would buy many of these instantly and am sure there are many more.

My 2nd question is more of a statement but also a question. When these older films come out, do they plan to continue the wonderful tradition of the PCM (or any uncompressed format) sound? This is very important to me, as we have been dealing with compressed Dolby Digital for far too long. Heck, even older mono films would provide some benefit with uncompressed sound, but I am more concerned about the stereo releases.

My third and final question mirrors David's. Will the PS3 be upgraded anytime soon for DTS Master? All of Fox's films, now New Line and even a Sony release (Close Encounters) has it. It would be great if that could be sent at least converted to PCM.


(added later: sorry I didn't see David's post about early '08 for DTS HD).
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post #60 of 108
12/23/07 at 2:33am

Re: ***Official Blu-ray insiders thread

Quote:
Will PS3 one day have the capability to upgrade firmware to output DTS-HD Master Audio and Dolby True HD? Deciding factor in buying a stand-alone dvd player. PAIDGEEK, if you have the answer to this one i'll be your best friend

p.s.

if you mean will the PS3 be able to *bitstream* advanced audio over HDMI 1.3 for external decoding, so far the word from Paidgeek and other insider sources is "no" because of hardware limitations with the early version of the HDMI 1.3 chipset in the PS3. We all hope that's an overstatement that might change with time... but that's been the consistent word thus far.

Sorry for jumping in, it's just that Paidgeek has been hammered with these same questions on AVS and Blu-ray.com and provided consistent answers so I figured I'd just reiterate what he's said elsewhere since he's tied up with CES preparations and probably won't have a chance to get into this thread for a little while...

dave
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