Lyris Lite :: Team Blu-ray is flying me out to Berlin

Just in case the last few weeks of High-Def fun/drama (delete as appropriate) haven't been interesting enough, things are about to get interesting-er. Via DVD Times (who publish my hardware reviewing hijinx), Sony and the BDA (Blu-ray Disc Association) have invited me to an exclusive VIP cocktail party that's being hosted by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment and Sony of Europe. O la la indeed. When does the shindig take place? Friday 31st August, at 17.00 - 19.00 (Greenwich Mean Time, for all you international visitors). Visitors will be able to watch streaming video from the event over at Sony's "Blu-ray Blog". More details nearer the time, right here.

Some of the big names in attendance from Sony will be Akira Shimazu, who's the senior general manager of the BD Strategy Office, Hiro Shinohara, director of all things home video Europe at Sony. And, from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Don Eklund, Rich Marty, and Claude Borna will all be there, getting tipsy with other European journalists/bloggers. (No idea if the drinks served will be blu). Sony Europe's press people have been absolutely great in organising the whole thing, and I'm looking forward to the trip to say the least.

So! Got any questions you'd like to have answered by the Blu-ray top brass? If you do, then just give me an e-mail or leave a comment here. I imagine in wake of the events of the last week, there'll be plenty. Oh, and don't worry - I'll be attending both the Blu-ray Disc Association and HD DVD Promotion Group press conferences, as well as snapping pictures of whatever electrical goodies the major manufacturers (yep, Sony included) have on show, and posting them both here and over at DVD Times.

I have an (in my humble opinion) important question for you to ask the "blu-ray camp". It is this why give company's 25-50 gig of space on a disc when you don't fill it? Spiderman 1-2 are prime examples of this. I buy dad's (hd-dvd or other wise) for extras.
Also ask them why they spell blue Blu that has bugged me for awhile.

P.S. Not kidding on either of these questions.

Please forgive the triple post (a first for me). But love the blog!

Hey Allan

I'll ask them those. My own answer to the "Blu" spelling question: I've heard that it's because you can't trademark "Blue" since it's a commonly used word.

Well that's one of two, also excuse the random triple post comment, I will now blame the booze rather than the computer. One other question you may want to ask is has the hd-dvd "acquisition" of Paramount and Dreamworks dented the blu-ray plan (and please dig beyond the pr bull that they will spin).

Hi Lyris, I have a more technical question....I realise this may be a bit late but my original post disappeared??

Will either the HD DVD or Blu Ray camps be taking advantage of Deep Colour...Normal encoding is at 8bits per pixel colour...deep colour should allow upto 16bits per pixel colour. There is some confusion whether either format can/will support this feature.

The latest HDMI standards should allow for upto 16bppc at 24fps, but without support from BluRay or HDDVD it seems a bit pointless.

I have a personal interest in this, since I've spent most of this year working on the latest HDMI design to support deep colour (I'm a chip designer).

Thanks

DaveC

Site Design © by David Mackenzie. Unless stated, the opinions contained herein are entirely my own. I make no claim to any other properties or trademarks mentioned. NOT AFFILIATED with Lyris Technologies, an e-mail marketing software provider. This site uses a cookie to store your preferred visual style. Some Javascript functions are the work of other programmers (used with permission).