Preparing your customers and your facilities for Blu-ray

1. Preparing your customers and your facilities for Blu-ray A powerful format that leads to new challenges in authoring and creative design Sony Pictures

2. Exceeding expectations • After several years of development, consumer and industry expectations are high • DVD was a leap in complexity, BD will be as well • Expect a transition to happen over the next year in how titles are developed • The best products are expected to have not only great picture and sound, but also added value that drives product sales Sony Pictures

3. Blu-ray data structure Sony Pictures

4. Mature authoring tools Ubiquitous MPEG2 video Mature audio codecs Mature subtitles creation Little or no programming possible Mature QC processes Creative design built around DVD capability New authoring tools New compression codecs New audio codecs New subtitles New programming environment New QC complexity New creative process with many possibilities DVD vs. Blu-ray Sony Pictures

5. SPE authoring tool development Sony Pictures

6. The current DVD world with PAL and NTSC compression • At present, most Film based DVD content sold in Europe plays 4% fast in order to manage the difference between 24fps film and 25fps PAL video • This affects the consumer experience, the video speed is not noticed, but correspondent change in audio pitch is obvious • Studios have to conform elements and compress video for both NTSC and PAL standards adding cost and complexity to DVD manufacturing Sony Pictures

7. The European standard • Movies can and should be encoded to one standard - worldwide • EICTA – “HD ready” sanctioning body • http://www.eicta.org/files/LicenseAgreement-114914A.pdf • Basic Requirements (information copied from license agreement) • The display device accepts HD input via: • Analog YPbPr and DVI or HDMI • HD capable inputs accept: • 1280x720 @ 50 and 60 hz progressive (“720p”) and 1920 x 1080 @ 50 and 60hz interlaced (“1080i”) • The DVI or HDMI input supports content protection (HDCP) Sony Pictures

8. Blu-ray Video Codecs • AVC – computation intensive, some LSI implementations exist, but typically uses blade servers • VC1 – also computation intensive, software implementations • MPEG2 – less efficient at very low bit rates, but equivalent performance at >15mbps. Encoding and decoding readily available. • Master tape quality – results of tests Sony Pictures

9. New audio codecs • Both Dolby and DTS have new codecs included in Blu-ray • Studios are already expressing interest in using “lossless” coding • Decoding hardware needed before new codecs can be used Sony Pictures

10. New subtitles • HD resolutions • Both Unicode and BMP available • 256 colors available – excellent anti-aliasing • New standards for delivery • New methods of delivery – network Sony Pictures

11. BD-J A programmable environment • Blu-ray provides an implementation of Java that can be used to create newer forms of disc interactivity • DVD authoring and BD-J authoring are not the same skill set • Game / web development skills are converging with packaged media development • Keeping order – spiraling complexity Sony Pictures

12. Blu-ray Movie Mode • Similar to DVD functions with improvements • Ideal for first titles • Can provide a better user experience than DVD • The first step in player development and compatibility • Low level conventions are used in BD-J Sony Pictures

13. QC for Blu-ray • What display • Consider scaling artifacts – full resolution avoids this • Screen size, two to three picture heights • Professional versus Consumer devices • Interlace artifacts – should allowances be made? • Interactive disc QC • Network connection • Game style capability Sony Pictures

14. The creative process • Balancing improved performance and graphic complexity • Re-educating the industry on what can be accomplished • Providing better tools to eliminate redundancy • Balancing format capability with time to market Sony Pictures

15. Priorities – before the first order • Staffing - Blu-ray has capabilities through Java programming that are not in the typical skill set of most DVD tool users • Video encoding – MPEG2 encoders are available and can do an outstanding job for this application. Adoption of alternative codecs may not be needed for a while • Data handling – can your network and storage systems handle HD? • Quality control – How will you check HD video? Display choices are limited. Sony Pictures

16. Launch timing (estimated) JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC - BD players in market - BD software in market - BD software with Java based navigation -BD player/software network usage - BD authoring in progress from Nov 05’ Demand for software and players On time! Sony Pictures

17. Summary • Blu-ray will launch in the Spring – the time to prepare for compression and authoring is now • 24p encoding worldwide is a win – win • Consumer broadcast experience with HD is uneven, packaged media should set the benchmark… again… • The distinction between authoring games and authoring movies will start to blur. Hiring for development and QC needs to adapt accordingly Sony Pictures