Joe Kane Interview link posted at AVS Forum (2 Viewers)

[PeterTHX]

Well, Joe doesn't seem to have much of a case against Blu-ray's "greed".
What about Panasonic? Mitsubishi? Sharp? Samsung? Apple? etc.

All he mentions is MPEG2 and Sony's preference for it.

What will he say when Warner & the rest are using VC-1 or AVC for BD titles? The quality will be on par with what he talks about.

Odd. Very odd.

 

[Robert Crawford]

When we see such product then Kane along with the rest of us will be happy that we're getting Blu-ray discs with the best possible PQ. I just hope they don't dangle that carrot in front of us for too long of a period.





Crawdaddy

 

[Chris Gerhard]

How is using MPEG2 greedy? If it isn't nearly as good as VC-1, then Sony will obviously lose money by not using VC-1, period. If he is saying, using MPEG2 is being done out of greed because it is much cheaper than using VC-1, then Sony has made a horrible mistake in assuming nobody will care about the lesser quality. If MPEG2 isn't as good, Sony needs to just quickly and quietly change to VC-1 as do all Blu-ray content providers and move on. I still haven't seen a satisfactory explanation of what is going on with the sub-par Blu-ray releases.

Chris

 

[DaViD Boulet]

MPEG2 is a temporary problem with non-Sony studios who wish to author BD titles. Sony may or may not continue to use MPEG2 for some time, but WB will be using VC1 exclusively on BD after their initial state of about 5 BD titles that were mastered in MPEG2 some time ago before VC1 authoring was available.

Fox and Disney are also going to use advanced video (and audio) codecs on Blu-ray disc.

 

[Chris Gerhard]

Now that makes sense and is very good news.

Chris

 

[Robert Crawford]

When I see the actual product in the hands of consumers then I will feel better about this issue, otherwise, it's nothing but talk.

 

[DaViD Boulet]

Robert,

It's more than just talk. WB already has their VC1 BD discs in-hand and is just waiting for the appropriate time to release given the politics with Sony and BD group right now.

 

[Lew Crippen]

Could you elaborate a bit on the problems David? After all politics enters into almost everything, but I’d had guessed that WB would look after their own commercial interests. Of course it may be that offending Sony would turn out to be counter-productive, but one would have to think that the success of Blu-Ray would be somewhat tied to the success of WB’s releases.

 

[Robert Crawford]

For you it is, but for me, it's talk until we see the product!




Crawdaddy

 

[DaViD Boulet]

Lew,

you've basically covered the bases. I can't say too much to avoid getting my source in trouble, but basically (and this is known by many) VC1 has been delayed at this point due to the BD player manufacturers dragging their feet with giving it the green light. Apparently, many companies wanted more and more time to do testing and a few BD group members even felt "forced" into allowing VC1 into the spec at all (not Sony, believe it or not). There's been progress and it's going to work out, but it's been much more politically arduous than it should have been.

Regarding WB and the first wave of MPEG2 titles... Sony had offered to compress them for BD long before authoring tools were widely available and so Sony actually compressed those MPEG2 BD streams from the HD masters WB gave them. I think it's fair to say that WB is probably as "aware" of how non-optimal these MPEG2 compression jobs look in comparsion to VC1 as the rest of us but to keep diplomacy with Sony they will go ahead and release the Sony-prepped discs as orginally planned. However, the inferiority of these MPEG2 compressions has WB, just like many in the industry right now, doing all that they can to speed their VC1 BD discs to market.

By fall (maybe sooner) this will all be a memory as WB BD disc authored in VC1 are on the shelf.

 

[DaViD Boulet]

But it gets tiresome because virtually *everything* is talk. The announced paramount titles are only talk... the announced universal titles only talk... the fact that any manufacturer other than Toshiba will release an HD DVD player is only talk. Whether we'll ever have more than 2.0 Dolby True HD is only talk... HDMI 1.3 is only talk...

there has to be some middle ground here... where things that are *reasonable* can be considered something more than mere "talk". IMO, if something is more likely than not, then that's "more than talk".

 

[Robert Crawford]

It may be talk, but at least there is a public announcement by the studios that those titles are being released with actual dates which is more than what's being said about BD being released without MPEG2. As far as "tiresome" the blame for that is squarely on the shoulders of Sony for going to market with an inferior product, quality-wise. I'm a supporter of this format, but my patience is only so long because I have a Blu-ray player that's not being supported with the necessary high-quality software.




Crawdaddy

 

[RobertR]

That WB and other Non-Sony studios want to get away from MPEG2 is nice, but can anyone show me where Sony acknowledges that MPEG2 is a problem, and they need to get away from it? Every quote I've seen from Sony says they think using MPEG2 is hunky dory. I've also seen NOTHING from them that indicates they have any awareness whatsoever that their initial BD releases were subpar.

In other words, does Sony "get it" at ALL? Or is this yet another example of their corporate myopia leading to another Sony failure?

 

[DaViD Boulet]

We both agree!!!

 

[Dave Moritz]

I hope it is a matter of the discs being available soon rather than later. I purchased 3 Blu-ray titles and will not spend another dime until VC-1 discs are available. Till then I am buying a HD-DVD player so I can start enjoying the 5 HD-DVD discs that I have allready purchased. It would be nice if they would put the codex information on the back of the case so we could tell what we where getting. I don't think ether format has that information on any of there releases.

Oh I can not wait for Pirates Of the Caribean, X-Men 3 & Lord Of The Rings to be out on HD video .

 

[Ed St. Clair]

My take & my take only, on the Kane "GREED" quote;
1. Sony is not "greedy" for using MPEG-2.
2. Sony is not "greedy" because MPEG-2 is inferior.
3. Sony is "greedy" for using MPEG-2 because it makes them money.
(using someone else's HD codec cost them money)
4. Sony is "greedy" for saying MPEG-2 is as good as any other codec.
(a "greed" driven lie, to hide the truth & make more money)

My no sense;
Sony will not use VC-1 (Mircosoft [did someone one metion "GREED"?!?!?!] codec), this year or next.