Industry Insiders Master Q&A thread IV: ONLY Questions to Insiders - Page 2  

I wonder where they are getting their numbers from? Also, wasn't it the BDA that said the format war was over? Every statistic that I have seen shows that HD DVD is far ahead of BD standalone players, unless they are counting the PS3's as standalone players???

Yeah, I had figured... I had other witty and rambling posts that seem to have been pulled, alas, a fact uncovered when I did a search for them just today.

Please let me try again on the combo player front - without naming names or talking out of turn, is it possible to give more details about MS's involvement in integrating HDi and general HD DVD implementation with existing BD frameworks? In other words, talking about your experience with the guts of the BD framework and how it plays nice (or doesn't) with HD may speak volumes about the potential for a usable, competent combo player (Talk makes it sound like at least at this oint it's a next to impossible task to do it well, a feeling I at least partially share).

Also, the implication was that some manufacturers (again, not naming names) are developing their own HDi - can you discuss reasons why they would do this?

Finally, can you provide -any- new information about the MS/Broadcomm solution that'll start showing up (I assume) with the newly announced Venturer and other products? Can this solution scale (ie., is it included in the new Tosh models?)

Thanks for letting me take another shot, for me this is a most intriguing development of the Paramount deal, that the drive for BD manufacturers to go at -least- combo has increased significantly.

There is no BD framework per-se. People are simply merging the two implementations into one. How they are doing it is up to them or the SoC provider. We provide a working subsystem for our section, they do the rest.


NIH and saving money. We charge for our implementation so in some cases their engineers are saying they can do the same work and not pay us anything.


I cannot say who is using it. Sorry.


My pleasure.

To any insiders:

BD and HD DVD are both mostly regarded for high def picture throughout the general public. Are there any thoughts or plans to market to the person that may not have and HDTV, but can still benefit and enjoy either format on other ways such as: better sound(especially for the DTS core on the DTS Master tracks, which most people can benefit immediately) the interactivity features and networking, and heck, better picture resulting from advanced authoring/compression that even 480p users benefit from. I ask this because most people I have come across think they would only benefit if they had a HDTV because they think these new formats only improve picture quality.

Basically, is any marketing being planned for non HDTV owners?

I have seen many questions here regarding manufacturing costs of HD DVD vs BD, but I have a somewhat related question.

In regards to costs of HD media (both HD DVD and BD) vs standard DVD, is there much of a difference? Not just in manufacturing, but in any licensing fees with the technolofy or other areas?

Just curious if there's a cost reason that HD discs are 2 (and in some cases 3) times as expensive as their SD counterparts, or is it simply because it's an HD disc (discounting combos as a cost reason)?

I got thinking about this when 300 was released, and while browsing the CC ad, the SD version was $13.99, while BD was $29.99 and HD DVD was $34.99.

Is the price just because they're "new" and "cutting edge" or are they actually more expensive to produce once all factors are taken into account?

To dave vaughn

Thank you for the honest and daring input on hidef replication.

Can you please enlighten us on the number of HD DVD lines avalaible worldwide. It has been said numerous times that DVD lines can be converted in HD DVD lines with ease.

thanks in advance

Let me help him out because this one is easy. Info was posted in the news thread also: http://cms.singulus.de/en/presse/pre...ash=a62accc3f4

""...Combo production machine SPACELINE II for HD DVD and DVD
The first HD DVD production system was already launched by SINGULUS in the summer of 2005. These machines are able to produce DVD 9 as well as the new HD DVD. Therefore, SINGULUS enables its customers to respond flexibly with respect to the new format development. As early as December 2004, SINGULUS had concluded a development cooperation for the development of HD DVD production technology with MemoryTech/Toshiba. The majority of the HD DVD movies are produced on SPACELINE II production equipment by SINGULUS. The Kahl am Main-based company is the leading equipment supplier and has a global market share of more than 65 %. Since 2006 SINGULUS has exclusively been delivering HD DVD enabled production lines and installed nearly 200 machines worldwide. ..."

So Singulus alone has sold 200 lines. Basically, anyone buying DVD lines in the last two years, has bought machines which can also make HD DVD.

As for conversion, yes, that is an option also although for any company who has been growing their business, they would have little need for it because their new DVD lines can produce HD DVD per above.

omg - atleast 200 HD DVD vs 8 BD (only 3 own by Sony are doing BD50). What are the chances of the figure be enough to mass market BD?

My information is that it will support profile 1.0

Paidgeek, with Fox's recent decision to get back to releasing movies on Blu-ray and thereby a coming onslaught of Movies with DTS-HD tracks, does the Playstation team have any plans to create a fw update allowing the PS3 to pass TrueHD and DTS-HD untouched to an AVR for decoding in the future?

A few ways:

1. If we are not around, go back to using more BD-25 if they can't keep up with demand if BD-50 comes up short.

2. Spend more money adding lines internally to Sony. This is a tough one because I know the other studios don't like to rely on Sony for their releases. So they may have to donate this money to other replicators.

3. Don't care and let there be shortages.

4. Pray for a miracle .

Think about it this way. To have 300 lines out there at $3 to $5M each, requires ~$1B to $1.5B investment to just catch up to where we are today! And this still would not match HD DVD capacity because BD cycle time is around 4.5-5 seconds where as HD DVD is half that. So even if the yields are same (which they are not), they would need twice as many lines for a whopping $2B to $3B investment! And the cost keeps going higher every day as new DVD/HD DVD lines are installed.

You have to wonder if the world really needs BD format badly enough to tax the customers this much to build the infrastructure....

With BD-J being Java and HDi being an XML-style markup language, what's the possibility of being able to use the same content for viewing BD-J and HDi content online?

Is BD-J able to be viewed on a PC with the latest Java installation?

Is there an HDi viewer that is stand-alone or available as an ActiveX/plug-in for IE/Firefox?

If that content can be viewed on someone's PC, then I'm thinking that two possibilities open up:

1. It would be interesting to see working examples of HDi and BD-J interactivity so that people that don't have HD DVD and/or Blu-ray players can see what they're missing.
   
   If interactivity is a big selling point for the studios (according to Amir, this is a big deal because it's a clearly visible differentiating factor over DVD), providing such real-world samples should be a great way to make the point about the interactivity available on HDM.
   
2. The same talent and tools could be used to create content for a web site that created the HDM content. This may or may not be preferable due to availability of resources, but I would think that the ability to reuse code/markup and elements created for one could help the other release their product faster.

Does this make sense, or are the two media (HDM and PC) just too different for such a simplistic cross-compatible opportunity?

They are very different animals. So while you can use the same assets like graphics and such, the code is not directly portable.


There is no plug-in for either today. You have to use a media player which handles BD/HD DVD.


They are too different. And there is not enough demand to build a browser.

What we have shown is that one can port HDi to Microsoft's new Silverlight. We showed Fast and Furious at NAB in Silverlight and it looked identical. But it sill required work so someone needs to invest in the energy to do it. It is a good suggestion though.

No . You don't have to alter those lines. All new DVD lines can make HD DVDs. It usually takes about 5 minutes to switch from HD DVD to DVD and vice versa. So what is stated is truly the HD DVD capacity in the wild. And further, the fact that it cost zero to roll out HD DVD in the replication chain. Courtesy of DVD, we get a free ride!

The lines you have to alter are the older DVD lines bought more than two years ago.

Are PS3 games pressed on the same line as bd movies? Or is there a separate line/process for bd games?

of the more than two hundred, hd-dvd capable lines, how many are making hd-dvd? more than 8?

Is profile 1.1 not mandatory after October 31st, or does this mean it will be shipping before this date?

Thank you.

That's disappointing. When will profile 1.1 players come out?
J

I don't know. But a number of them are being used intermittently to create HD DVDs between DVD runs.

Will it be firmware upgradeable to support future profiles?

@paidgeek

This is what "KJack" from Sigma Designs was talked of the new Sony after the S300:


http://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.ph...&postcount=187

He also said the profile 1.1 hardware is finished!

http://www.sigmadesigns.com/public/P...ray8634_br.pdf
http://www.broadcom.com/products/Consum

Why they don´t use it?

I don´t need PiP, but i want DTS-HD MA!

Amir,

Can Blu-ray lines also produce DVD? If not, do you consider that another cost advantage for DVD / HD DVD lines?

Amir-

Thank you for the information, assuming all of this is true:

Are subsidizes the reason for the more numerous BR software sales at the retail level?

Have any studios had production time lengthen or bump due to capacity issues ?

Also, if this is true I assume HD DVD software is priced at market vs. cost + profit model?

Thanks Kevin

Thanks Paid!

Paid,
Does sony have any plans to release a Blu-ray player in "ES" product range?
And also, Does Sony have a plan to ship a Blu-ray player with SACD capabilities? (standalone player)

No. Because BD uses a completely different strucutre (0.1mm recording versus 0.6mm) the two systems are completely incompatible.


Oh yes for sure. People think someone by magic spend $2B to $3B to create such equipment but that is not the case. Consumers would have to pay it (plus profit).

I think subsidies are the reason BD has any studio support.


I don't know thist to be the case given the low volumes today. However, I have clearly heard of cases where the studio was denied BD-50.


Correct. Of course, studio stock price and executive compensatoin is done the other way .

Good to hear from you Talk. And congrats on the Daewoo 2.0 profile announcement. I am sure it is a feather in your cap!

Then what is the reason for the delay? Is it only that CE's needed more time to work on their implementations on hardware and software that had been complete for 18 months?

I just don't understand. SoC designs have been out there for a year and demo's have been doing showing PiP in use. BD-J was supposedly all wrapped up and complete too according to some, and not according to others. Why the wait? And then the further delay? Denon has delayed the release of their 3800 citing 'technical difficulties'. Why is it so difficult to get a Profile 1.1 player to retail when HD DVD players with Profile 1.1 capabilities and more have been available for 18 months?

And on that note, what is the issue with the PS3? It supposedly has the capability and power to handle Profile 1.1 and Profile 2.0 features -- why hasn't Sony even officially annouced that this is the case and an update is TBA at some point in the future?

If these CE implementations really take this long, then wont Blu-ray always be 18 months behind a technology curve when it comes to new and improved features due to all this implementation time and tweaking?

Talk,


How is it that Daewoo was able to make a fully compatable 2.0 BD player and not Sony?

I would think Sony or Panasonic would be leading the format in this technology at least, and the smaller compaines then would follow suit. How was Daewoo able to accomplish this?