Writing a letter to Warner about lack of lossless audio on their BRD (1 Viewer)

[David Wilkins]

That brand of sarcasm can be used to dismiss just about any legitimate beef. I'm not being tortured, sir, I would simply like for the format to live up to its promise, by utilizing the basic audio and video technology at its disposal. I assume that is the position of most people taking part in this forum.

I know...I'm going to get hit with responses that defend Warner, and we'll get into the BD50 issue again. All I can say is, that if Warner had handled their course of action in a better, more public and candid way, I doubt that scarcely anyone would have wasted their time on such threads as these.

That's all I have to say, or care to say.

 

[DaViD Boulet]

Who here in this thread (or any other at HTF) *is* producing the discs? We're all consumers. Up until this comment, I hadn't been aware that being a consumer mitigated our right to demand an optimally produced product.

 

[PaulDA]

To David Wilkins

First--Warner IS releasing some lossy audio titles and it is very LIKELY because of the exact situation I describe about large corporations. Of course it would be better if Warner was not doing so, but it is in the nature of such large corporations for decisions to be split among people who don't (even if, ideally, they should) communicate all that much. I'm not sure why pointing this out is problematic.

Second--I'm not certain that Warner has made such a comment--I am certain that someone alluded to it in this forum. As I am not certain of the comment itself, I expressed it as a question. I agree that an official announcement would more than likely diffuse a lot of the resentment directed at Warner.

Third--it was not my intent to suggest that you, individually, are a "no lossless, no sale" person. But it has been a common enough expression here to warrant a general comment (which, in the context of my entire post, is what it was--a general comment not directed at any one person in particular). If you felt singled out, my apologies for not being as clear as I could have been.

Fourth--Again, my comment was not aimed at you, specifically, nor was it intended as sarcasm. It is a legitimate observation. I have encountered more than a few comments, here, and more frequently elsewhere, that suggest regular DD is "unlistenable", "horrible", "contemptible" and so on. In my circle of friends and acquaintances in the "real world", however, no one has ever made such a comment--hence my observation.

I do not seek to defend Warner (if others can deliver the goods, there is no inherent reason for them not to do the same) but rather to suggest some possible explanations for their choices (I could be entirely off track--so be it). Explanations are NOT the same as excuses (though, sadly, the two are often conflated--happens all the time in my profession where attempting to explain why Stalin, for example, made certain decisions is often interpreted by some as offering excuses).

 

[Douglas Monce]

Not to mention the fact that that is what you hear in 99% of movie theaters. In fact what you hear in theaters isn't even as high a bit rate as you get on standard DVD.

Doug

 

[Douglas Monce]

I've said it before, but seems prudent to say again. Warner releases more titles than any other studio. It maybe that their choice is one of release some titles with lossy audio, or simply have fewer releases in a given time period.

Frankly I'd rather have more releases.

Doug

 

[Michael Reuben]

In fact, you don't really know this, and anyone who has the patience to read through the verbiage of your subsequent posts will see that you were forced to admit it. One can always tell when you're backpeddling, David, because you invariably jump to another subject (in this case, the irrelevant disquisition on video compression and the learning curve).

And in response to your question about who here at HTF *is* producing discs, you'll find a few such people in the Insiders area. (One of them had dinner with some of us in L.A.) But I'm glad to hear you acknowledge that none of us participating in this thread, including yourself, are producing these discs. You should remind yourself from time to time that you're just a consumer.

 

[PaulDA]

This only makes the "no lossless, no sale" argument weaker (put forth by some, not all)--particularly if the avowed goal is to "recreate the theatrical experience". For the sake of "peace of mind", lossless should be available as much as possible, but I don't lose sleep over lossy sound for movie soundtracks.