Frequently Asked Questions
1) The most popular question of all time! Can I turn the music off? I just want to listen to the nature sounds!
YES! For any of our discs that have nature sounds, you can turn off the music (or you can turn off the nature sounds and just listen to the music too).
Why don't all of the discs have nature sounds? Are we cutting corners here at Scenic Labs? No. There's no sound in outer space, and some of the art discs don't have nature sounds. We tried to record the sound of breathing into an oxygen tank for our underwater cozumel, but it sounded too much like Darth Vader. Not relaxing at all!
2) Will your Blu-ray discs work on my DVD player?
No, there are no Blu-ray discs in the world that will work on your DVD player.
3) Will these Blu-ray discs work in my country?
Yes. All BluScenes discs are created as region-free discs. There is no restriction on where they will play, and they will work on any Blu-ray player or PS3. They will not work on regular DVD players, but neither will any other Blu-ray discs.
4) Are BluScenes better than HDScape, HD Moods, and others?
Are your children smarter and more beautiful than other people's children? We can't answer this without being biased or being called out for faux modesty. We can say that we are fans of the ambient genre and own discs from all of our competitors and, for the most part, we're pleased with the majority of them.
5) What about image burn-in?
If I wanted to cause image burn-in on a TV that was built within the last 6 years, through some concerted effort and a lot of hard work, I could probably do it. I'm not sure that it's worth it. :)
All of our discs contain "play all/loop all" modes that switch between scenes. If you are concerned about burn-in, these are a good option. However, in normal use situations, our discs (and frankly, the discs of all of our competitors) are not any more risky than watching a sports or news program on TV. In ten years and over the course of millions of discs, I never saw a single claim, and that was at a time when TVs were more susceptible to these problems.
The nature of a screensaver-type program is that there are enough changes throughout the course of the program to eliminate burn-in caused by static images. Still, because TVs are rated for different lifespans, and because leaving a television on for prolonged periods while unattended is a waste of electricity, we recommend turning off your TV during those times when nobody is around to enjoy it.
If you own an LCD TV, they are highly resistant to burn-in (however, I have seen stuck pixels on some LCD computer monitors after years of use -- stuck in the image of a Windows taskbar, in case you are curious). One good way to prevent burn-in is to use a calibration disc, like Digital Video Essentials, Spears + Munsil, or to have your TV calibrated by an ISF-certified technician.
6) Do you realize that the screen on the cover of your discs is crooked?
Thanks for pointing it out! We'll fix it right away!
. . . Actually, the covers were designed by a very talented designer, named Collin Venuto. We felt that so many of the discs in the so-called "ambient" genre had pretty much the same look. Our covers still feature the screen, but we wanted to feature the colors of our content with a clean look. The crooked screen, much like a crooked painting or photo reminds us that this is basically 21st century wall art.
7) Will you ever release these programs on DVD?
No. We're a small company. We'd rather spend our resources making the best ambient Blu-ray discs possible than spreading our resources too thin and making lousy DVDs and Blu-rays. If you want DVDs, there are plenty of options already available.
However, we do plan to offer downloads, and we hope that AACS-LA allows enough flexibility for customers to convert their managed copies to different resolutions. If this doesn't pan out, we'll release unprotected files to our customers.
8) Some guy keeps posting on a message forum that your discs are no better than DVD! What gives?
We post long previews of each of our products on our site. The previews are highly compressed from the Blu-ray version (and down-converted from 1080p to 720p), and even these low quality previews are of a significantly higher quality than the DVDs you'd buy elsewhere.
You
wouldn't think it, but the ambient Blu-ray business is highly
competitive and cut-throat business. I guess that something happens to us when we spend our days filming fish tanks. (Stay in school, kids!)
Some person (or group of people) seems to show up in any
post about us and write that our discs look like DVD. These individuals usually have very few other posts associated with their profiles.
I'd like to debunk this once and for all. Below, you will find the same section of the same frame rendered in both 480p and 1080p.
This DVD rendition was downconverted to 480p and then upconverted to
1080p using nearest neighbor scaling.
This is similar to how most 1080p
upscaling DVD players will do it. If you are lucky, your player will
also add a blur to hide the rough edges. Additionally, NTSC DVD is only
720 pixels wide, so a widescreen disc is stretched
horizontally to 853/854 pixels, resulting in stretched pixels.
Can you tell the difference between DVD and Blu-ray? Me too.
All BluScenes Discs:
1) Originate from 1080p or better source material (Classic Fireplace and Coral Reef Aquarium are shot in 4K and the source files are really amazing. (They are huge!)
2) Contain a choice of 7.1 DTS-HD MA and 5.1 Dolby Digital and 2.1 digital audio.
3) Are designed for seamless looping. No looped sections are shorter than 20 minutes, and when a section does loop, the last frame matches with the first frame of the section.
4) Are flagged for managed copy. None of the current Blu-ray players support managed copy, but our discs all contain unique ISAN identifiers which will allow them to participate in future managed copy programs.
5) Include a public display license at no additional cost, on a one-screen-per-disc basis. You can play BluScenes in your office, restaurant, lobby, place of business, at no additional charge (many competing products charge a public use license fee).
If our programs are to appear as part of a broadcast TV/movie set, you may use our discs if you request prior permission (a credit would be most appreciated!). If the Space disc is used, we ask that any underlying credits are also given (i.e. to NASA, STScI, individual researchers and institutions).
This public use license does not extend to broadcast or on-demand display or streaming of the BluScenes programs. However, these rights may be available (i.e. lodging or other streaming services). Please inquire using our contact form.
The BluScenes music has been commissioned and synch rights have been licensed as part of each program and the songs are not authorized for use apart from the program. However, we would be happy to put you in contact with the musicians for your licensing needs. They are great guys and we highly recommend them.
