View Full Version : Sony Interview about Blu Ray in the UK.
THX 1138
02-07-2006, 12:46
Sony has finally given an interview on what Blu Ray holds for the UK market and it's interesting and frustrating www.avpodcast.co.uk it's in podcast #9.
Nothing we don't already know, sorry
Any release dates on players and films?
Nope. All very vague, capacity and number of companies/studios backing it is stressed repeatedly.
They're watching the US launch before deciding on UK launch. PS3 will be the first Blu-ray Player in the UK. They also mention 50 launch titles in June in US (which is not true) And 50 in Europe in September.
DeadKenny
02-07-2006, 16:50
I can't be arsed with wasting time listening to "podcasts" (stupid trendy Apple derived name anyway for nothing more than an audio clip :p), is there a transcript available? ;)
I can't be arsed with wasting time listening to "podcasts" stupid trendy Apple derived name anyway for nothing more than an audio clipI couldn't agree more, i mean that's all it is another mp3.
Since when has dvd been 4.9gb per layer?
Michael Mackenzie
03-07-2006, 09:35
Well, that guy either didn't know what he was talking about or was intentionally talking crap. Comparing dual-layer HD-DVDs that are on store shelves right now to multi-layer Blu-Ray discs that currently only exist in labs? Claiming that Toshiba are the only company making HD-DVD players? Conveniently forgetting to mention Microsoft as an HD-DVD partner? Implying that only one studio will be releasing HD-DVD titles? Doesn't know why the players have been delayed in the US? I don't suppose I'm the only one who suspects that this "podcast" (ugh) has done Sony's cause more harm than good.
bradavon
05-07-2006, 15:05
What's wrong with Podcasts?
Michael Mackenzie
05-07-2006, 16:19
What's wrong with Podcasts?Nothing much. The name just makes my skin crawl. I suppose it's because I dislike the whole trendy "I've got an iPod" mentality (best illustrated by the hordes of people who bought iPod headphones so they could pretend they had iPods).
Shaun666
05-07-2006, 18:31
Nothing much. The name just makes my skin crawl. I suppose it's because I dislike the whole trendy "I've got an iPod" mentality (best illustrated by the hordes of people who bought iPod headphones so they could pretend they had iPods).
I've got an i-pod but I don't use the phones that came with it. I use Sennheiser PX-100's. What does that make me ?
Michael Mackenzie
05-07-2006, 18:33
I've got an i-pod but I don't use the phones that came with it. I use Sennheiser PX-100's. What does that make me ?Someone with an ear for superior audio quality. :thumbs:
Someone with an ear for superior audio quality. :thumbs:I won't go that far! :lol: For the best go for Creative Zen coupled with a pair of Sennheiser PX-200
Michael Mackenzie
05-07-2006, 19:54
I won't go that far! :lol: For the best go for Creative Zen coupled with a pair of Sennheiser PX-200Well, yes, I'm a Zen boy myself (although I believe the Sony HD-5 offers the best audio quality for a portable music player)... but pretty much anything from Sennheiser has got to be a step up over the earphones that come packaged with the iPod.
They also mention 50 launch titles in June in US (which is not true) And 50 in Europe in September.
They mean launch window not launch day. How long the launch window is, is anyones guess
DeadKenny
13-07-2006, 13:04
I won't go that far! :lol: For the best go for Creative Zen coupled with a pair of Sennheiser PX-200
Pah, Zen. Go for an iRiver and some Shure's.
thescrounger
16-07-2006, 12:56
An interesting article here:
Bluray, can it survive? (http://www.projectorcentral.com/blu-ray_2.htm)
The Blu-ray launch delivered a rude surprise—picture quality that is moderately better than that available on standard DVD, but not rising to the level of anything one could call high definition. We viewed The Fifth Element, Terminator, and The House of Flying Daggers side by side in their DVD and Blu-ray versions, deriving the same results from each test: the Blu-ray discs showed somewhat better contrast and detail over their DVD counterparts. But the difference was not nearly as dramatic as the comparisons between DVD and HD-DVD. Moreover, none of the Blu-ray discs matched the higher quality of the HD-DVDs.
Michael Mackenzie
16-07-2006, 13:05
Yeah, I thought that was a really great article, especially where it points out that many upscaled standard definition DVDs look roughly the same as full 1080p Blu-ray discs. I really do think that the other studios will eventually come round to HD DVD. Sony, predictably, will hold on to Blu-ray exclusivity for as long as they can, but I expect they'll have to give in sooner or later. Put it this way: even if Blu-ray does improve substantially, it's not going to look any better than HD DVD does already, which begs the question: why bother?
kiran_mk2
16-07-2006, 13:34
Sony must be fairly non-plussed with Samsung for delivering an underwhelming player that could kill off the format before the other partners even have time to release players. Of course, Sony haven't helped things by releasing discs in MPEG2.
How Sony have messed this one up - they had a massive amount of backing, a technically supierior product (50gig vs 30gig means a BR PC drive could be used for films and data storage) and more studio support? I think it comes down to Sony having too many vested interests in DRM. If Sony was only a technology company, it would have been more defiant in the face of Hollywood, but since Sony also own some studios, they were determined to get as much pointless protection onto the discs as possible which delayed the players and has ****** off most early adopters.
I think once a BRD "exclusive" studio jumps ship, the others will follow pretty quickly. The question then becomes - if the BRD format dies, Sony is stuck with keeping it in the PS3 keeping the PS3 price high for the forseable future.
I think if BR 'fails' then HD-DVD will still only be a shortlived format because of the lack of capacity. However I dont see either being big sellers within the next 12 / 24 months as they dont offer any significant advantage over DVD to the average consumer.
Grandmaster
17-07-2006, 05:15
I think if BR 'fails' then HD-DVD will still only be a shortlived format because of the lack of capacity.
Why's that then? Are movies suddenly going to become a lot longer? VC1 or AVC at a VBR 15mbps through a decent encoder is pretty much visually lossless. This leaves tons of space for whatever audio you want. The way I see it, the forthcoming Lord of the Rings HD-DVD release will be the litmus test.
The only 'danger' I can see is that extras may end up on a second disk, which has hardly damaged the DVD market.
DeadKenny
17-07-2006, 06:58
I think if BR 'fails' then HD-DVD will still only be a shortlived format because of the lack of capacity.
HD-DVD can go up to 45Gb now, only 5Gb off Blu-Ray's 50Gb, so that's a non-issue (more so when you consider an HD movie doesn't need anywhere near all that space, and besides they still have the option of putting extras on a 2nd disc).
Michael Mackenzie
17-07-2006, 07:02
HD-DVD can go up to 45Gb now, only 5Gb off Blu-Ray's 50Gb, so that's a non-issue (more so when you consider an HD movie doesn't need anywhere near all that space, and besides they still have the option of putting extras on a 2nd disc).
Very true, and if we are to believe that Sony will be capable of mastering 50 GB dual-layer discs, it's only fair to afford the same courtesy to Toshiba and believe that they will be able to get their triple-layer 45 GB discs out the door, given that both exist only in labs at the moment.
HD-DVD can go up to 45Gb now, only 5Gb off Blu-Ray's 50Gb, so that's a non-issue (more so when you consider an HD movie doesn't need anywhere near all that space, and besides they still have the option of putting extras on a 2nd disc).
The 45GB HD-DVD version has not been added to the HD-DVD spec so they may not work on the current players as the 45GB version requires a new laser pickup.
Blu-Rays 50GB disc is part of the Blu-Ray spec so all Blu-Ray players will be able to read them.
On the HD-DVD promotional website they state the highest capacity tested is 45gb and the theoritical limit is 60gb. But when you're average HD film is probably going to use no more than 15gig, all this talk of size just comes across as irrevalent.
kiran_mk2
17-07-2006, 13:49
If Toshiba can get the 45gig discs out the door in the next year, then they may well take a larger market share of the PC data market. Why Sony didn't push minidisc as a data storage medium is beyond me - they would have destroyed Iomega and their bulky, expensive zip disc.
As for LOTR, if most 2h films fit into 15gb, then the extended editions should easily fit onto a 30gb dual layer disc.
If Toshiba can get the 45gig discs out the door in the next year, then they may well take a larger market share of the PC data market. Why Sony didn't push minidisc as a data storage medium is beyond me - they would have destroyed Iomega and their bulky, expensive zip disc.
As for LOTR, if most 2h films fit into 15gb, then the extended editions should easily fit onto a 30gb dual layer disc.
Minidisc surely doesn't hold that much data though, the same if not less than a zip disk?
neilalford
17-07-2006, 15:16
Minidisc surely doesn't hold that much data though, the same if not less than a zip disk?
Yep, they're pretty small, can't remember the exact figure but certainly under 100meg, I think they could hold roughly the same amount of music as a CD but only through using compression, so think about the size of an entire album in MP3 or something!
They use ATRAC compression which is a sony proprietary thing.
thescrounger
17-07-2006, 15:27
As for LOTR, if most 2h films fit into 15gb, then the extended editions should easily fit onto a 30gb dual layer disc.
Well they are re-releasing the EE on a single DVD in couple of months using branching, so I imagine it would be no problem for HD-DVD.
DeadKenny
17-07-2006, 15:40
Talking of branching etc, I do hope they've sorted out the issues with branching and layer changes with these HD formats.
Michael Mackenzie
17-07-2006, 15:58
Talking of branching etc, I do hope they've sorted out the issues with branching and layer changes with these HD formats.I've not had any problems with layer changes. In fact, I've not even noticed layer changes due to the way the data is cached.
Grandmaster
17-07-2006, 17:59
I thought this might be of interest (nicked from another forum)
Audio output from the PS3 will be via Optical and analag stereo pair. The HDMI module will allow for HDMI 8 channel audio as well, in the form of PCM and Dolby Digital.
Audio output from the BDP-S1 will have discrete linear PCM from the HDMI, standard PCM, DD and DTS. There are also individual audio connectors for each of the 8 audio channels in addition to optical, coaxial and stereo connectors.
The PS3's BluRay playback is software based... How that translates into what we get remains to be seen. Could be very good, could be second best or it could just plain suck. I've had Sony reps tell me that the playback quality is not as good as the BDP-S1 and the playback software has limited color processing abilities and is not as adept at some of the deinterlacing and motion functions. They also dodged the question about direct 24p output, but I think it's because they didn't know the answer. Some indications point to the PS3 not supporting 1080p or 720p output at 24fps, but rather only at 60Hz. So for those with newer 72 and 120 Hz displays with native 1080p24 input, the PS3 won't be able to accommodate and the TV will have to attempt to properly remove the duplicate frames to eliminate motion judder.
First and foremost, the PS3 is a game system. The fact that it plays BD Video is an added feature/bonus as are several of the other media-centric features. I've had two different individuals from Sony on two separate occasions compare the BD Video playback of the PS3 to DVD playback on the PS2 vs. their other stand-alone DVD players of the time. In other words, it's going to be the "cheap" solution. ...But I'm still willing to bet that PS3 BD Video output is still better than what you'd get from that new Samsung BDV-P1000 turd.
DeadKenny
17-07-2006, 18:15
Cheap solution to get into BR, but it seems daft to go that way to get into HD. You'd surely want to spend a bit for quality rather than go budget on a games console.
I can't see, other than for early adopters, that the PS3 will sell primarily on it's BR support. I can see however that it may promote BR from the more wealthy games players who are looking primarily for a games console. It won't be a big seller for kids though at £400 when the xbox360 (sans HD-DVD drive) is cheaper and "out there" unlike the forever delayed PS3.
Besides, as a "cheap" solution, the PS2 is beaten in quality by even cheaper DVD players you find in Tescos etc.
thescrounger
17-07-2006, 19:22
I thought this might be of interest (nicked from another forum)
So basically it sounds like at best the Bluray player on the PS3 will be mediocre, if that.
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