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[jamesb23]

I'm going to be interviewing someone from Sonopress, which is a company that manufacturers and distributes tons of CDs and DVDs for the music, film and game industries. They are also part of the Blu-ray Disc Association.

Does anyone have any specific question they'd like me to ask?

 

[urk]

Was the Killzone 3 demo at E3 realtime or was it pre-rendered?

Thx.

 

[kaching]

See if you can get them to comment on exact estimates for Blu-ray disc pressing costs, since that's been the most contentious difference between Blu-Ray and HD-DVD. If they're also involved in HD-DVD disc pressing, since if they can comment on the costs their too.

 

[sonycowboy]

I'm going to be interviewing someone from Sonopress, which is a company that manufacturers and distributes tons of CDs and DVDs for the music, film and game industries. They are also part of the Blu-ray Disc Association.

Does anyone have any specific question they'd like me to ask?

1) Biggest one is cost. How much do they expect each to cost relative to DVD (at launch, year 1 , year 2, etc)

2) Are they preparing for both equally or are they betting on Blu-Ray

3) Blu-Ray player likely speeds at launch, knowing that movie playback is 1.5x of "reference velocity" (1x, 2x, 4x. What would a 2x Blu-Ray drive transfer data at? 72Mbs or 108Mbs?

4) Expected Blu-Ray and HD-DVD launch dates

 

[Sapiens]

Yeah, will there be a cost difference between the two formats when in retail? Will the change in manufacturing for Blu-ray make it more expensive for the consumer than HD-DVD.

 

[GhaleonEB]

See if you can get them to comment on exact estimates for Blu-ray disc pressing costs, since that's been the most contentious difference between Blu-Ray and HD-DVD. If they're also involved in HD-DVD disc pressing, since if they can comment on the costs their too.

Exactly - even if they don't want to go into specifics, a comparison would be useful (ie, BR is 2x as expensive as HD).

 

[teiresias]

I'm going to be interviewing someone from Sonopress, which is a company that manufacturers and distributes tons of CDs and DVDs for the music, film and game industries. They are also part of the Blu-ray Disc Association.

Does anyone have any specific question they'd like me to ask?

How long can the newest version of the sonycowboy robot run without a recharge?

 

[jamesb23]

Yeah the costs question was the first thing I thought of too, and I think they are betting on Blu-ray since they are part of BDA but don't seem to be on the list for the DVD Forum which supports HD DVD.

EDIT: This interview will be posted on GDBiz a week from today for those who are interested.

EDIT #2: I'm sending them questions today, so don't bother replying to this thread after today. Thanks.

 

[sonycowboy]

How long can the newest version of the sonycowboy robot run without a recharge?

I'm in my prime and I'll be going forever bitch.

 

[kaching]

Yeah the costs question was the first thing I thought of too, and I think they are betting on Blu-ray since they are part of BDA but don't seem to be on the list for the DVD Forum which supports HD DVD.

EDIT: This interview will be posted on GDBiz a week from today for those who are interested.

EDIT #2: I'm sending them questions today, so don't bother replying to this thread after today. Thanks.

Okay, couple more ideas for questions:

- Ask what they features of Blu-ray that they think will entice consumer to upgrade from DVD. We know there's a number of enhancements, but it'd be interesting which ones they put emphasis on.

- Primary reason for Blu-Ray disc cost of manufacturing is due to the inability to leverage existing DVD manufacturing techniques and infrastructure but their seems to have been some news recently that they may be able leverage at least parts of existing DVD manufactuing methods. See if they confirm and elaborate on that.

 

[Lunar Aura]

ask if Guierrmo still works there.

 

[Frankfurter]

Was the Killzone 3 demo at E3 realtime or was it pre-rendered?

Thx.

He doesn't have to ask that. Arjan Brussee, Development Director of Guerilla Games, has confirmed that Killzone 3 was a CGI-Demo. Originally it had 5fps, but was accelerated to present a smooth game.

More details @ gamefront.de

 

[acklame]

He doesn't have to ask that. Arjan Brussee, Development Director of Guerilla Games, has confirmed that Killzone 3 was a CGI-Demo. Originally it had 5fps, but was accelerated to present a smooth game.

More details @ gamefront.de

that email is a hoax
http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=60856

 

[antipode]

1) The Blu-Ray specification offers a choice of non-transparent substrates, and a paper substrate BD has been demonstrated. Do anticipate settling on a single substrate for all customers, or different susbtrates for different clients?

2) Are new copy protection schemes in place for the two formats?

3) Will your packaging and production solutions for Blu-ray and HD-DVD be the same as DVD? Are there special packaging needs for those formats?

4) CAV (Constant Angular Veolcity) discs were not used for movie applications this generation, but at least one game system (Gamecube) used them with the intent of reducing seek times. Do you anticipate CAV BD-ROM discs?

5) Does the use of "out-of-mux" data (an audio stream decoded at the same time a slideshow is shown) in the Blu-ray specification add difficulties for content preparation?

Obviously the questions about cycle times and costs posted above are the biggies though.

 

[jamesb23]

Guys, I've posted the interview today; it's too bad the guy answered everything with such brevity, but I have to go with what I got.

You can read it here: http://biz.gamedaily.com/features.asp?article_id=10603&filter=interview

 

[sonycowboy]

Guys, I've posted the interview today; it's too bad the guy answered everything with such brevity, but I have to go with what I got.

You can read it here: http://biz.gamedaily.com/features.asp?article_id=10603&filter=interview

There were some nice tidbits there, but damn. Does that guy get docked in his pay for each extra word he used. That was a bit ridiculous.

Also, with respect to this question:

BIZ: How critical do you believe the success of the PlayStation 3 console will be to the adoption rate of the Blu-ray disc as the next optical media format?

PS: Pretty much the same impact as the DVD for PS2—means not much.

Did he put the "- means not much" or did GD?

Finally, good word on BD-ROM costs and transfer speeds.

Thanks for the interview.

 

[TTP]

too bad the guy answered everything with such brevity

BIZ: The primary reason for Blu-ray disc cost of manufacturing seems to stem from the inability to leverage existing DVD manufacturing techniques and infrastructure but recent news suggests that they may be able leverage at least parts of existing DVD manufacturing methods. Can you confirm or elaborate on this?

PS: Absolutely.

:lol

 

[kaching]

You weren't kidding about brevity.

 

[teiresias]

Have you actually verified the identity of this interviewee, :lol :lol

 

[jamesb23]

Sonycowboy, he wrote "means not much." GD, unlike some other sites, doesn't twist quotes.

But, yeah, the interview really could have been tons better if the guy showed some more interest... sigh.

 

[mckmas8808]

He said that 2X Blu-ray machines is 108Mbps. So what is the speed of a 12X DVD?