BD-Live: Sony's secret weapon or bust?
Posted on 08/07/08 12:37 by Tim Stork                             
BD-Live: Sony's secret weapon or bust?

The Sony PlayStation 3 is one of the handful Profile 2.0, or "BD-Live enabled", Blu-ray players. With more to come the question rises if BD-Live is Sony's secret weapon or a bust. BD-Live is a Blu-ray feature that enables a consumer to interact with a Blu-ray movie through an Internet connection. The future will give buyers chat sessions with actors and friends while watching Batman Returns.

Many do like the fact this is possible, but don't like Sony's current strategy with releasing players that are not BD-Live enabled and are better known as Profile 1.1. To enjoy BD-Live you need an Internet connection, Profile 2.0 Blu-ray player and a movie that offers interactive features.

Toshiba's HD DVD format was more customer-friendly when it comes to interactivity, but lost due to a major studio shift in Blu-ray's favor. Now some say better sound and picture won't be enough to persuade customers in buying high-definition, and Disney seems to agree with this statement by proudly announcing more interaction on their movies.

Walt Disney Studio recently released Sleeping Beauty for its upcoming 50th anniversary. The new, Blu-ray version of the movie is stunning, but the studio hardly mentioned the improved picture and sound quality, says David Carnoy at Cnet.com. Instead, the studio's representatives mainly showcased Disney's new BD-Live functions, showing the studio's believe in the interactive technology. So, is this Sony's secret weapon?

Disney calls its BD-Live network a "platform" that can be used as a community or social network, meaning you can live-chat with friends and play director with Movie Mail. The latter allows you to record your own movie with a webcam, and embed it in a scene of the movie. Other things to expect are games and trailers, which both will mean long download times.

Currently Disney promises that the company will have a strong backend system to support and shorten these download times. If this is the fact, this could be a succesful product and maybe a secret weapon, but how do you explain this to those who paid hundreds for a Profile 1.1 player?

Reactions
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By Dr. Who, Tue 8 Jul 2008 15:18
Dr. WhoPeople buy movies to watch it is extremely rare that one wants to view the extras.
By ron spencer, Tue 8 Jul 2008 16:20
I agree Dr. Who....people really have time to do all this stuff?  Who cares...go outside
By DukeNukem, Tue 8 Jul 2008 17:14
DukeNukemI have 650 DVD movies and I've watched the extras on maybe 5 of them. Life is too short.
By Crabbyappleton, Tue 8 Jul 2008 17:20
CrabbyappletonFinally, we are seeing the truth...that "HD" alone cannot motivate most folks away from DVD. So, we now see that the REAL reason for the "upgrade" is to get folks to buy the same "films" all over again. Since planA didn't work, HD, now Disney and other bloodsuckers are shifting to planb. Trying to add on some fluff to get folks to part with their hard earned money. If you haven't got a PS3, I guess you need to run out and buy ANOTHER Bluray player so you can "chat with the stars". *rolls eyes* Good luck! pukey    
By DukeNukem, Tue 8 Jul 2008 17:46
DukeNukem@ CompUser "When I make backups of my DVDs, I don't even include the extras in the backup, just the movie." Ditto here. No need to go through all the crap to get to the good stuff. Plus, I go from DVD 9 to DVD 5. Getting rid of the extras makes more room for the actual movie, so it'll look better.
By DukeNukem, Tue 8 Jul 2008 17:47
DukeNukem- Comment edited - Off Topic
By CompUser (guest), Tue 8 Jul 2008 18:23
I agree with Dr. Who, and think it will be an incredibly small niche market that will want/actually use the "interactive" features.  The rest of us will just have to pay for them.  When I make backups of my DVDs, I don't even include the extras in the backup, just the movie.
By Wesociety, Tue 8 Jul 2008 22:26
WesocietyWhat is secret about BD Live? Blu-ray internet connectivity and interactive features have been on the product road map since the launch.
By nsd3, Mon 14 Jul 2008 12:06

 

So sessions with actors?  A whole Internet support vehicle for each movie release?  Besides the time factor from the consumer point of view, the willingness to actually view/interact with remote content, how long before the novelty wears off.  I can really see a mainstream actor sitting beside a computer while Joe Public links up.  Might happen once for a couple of hours at a major title launch, then what about anyone who buys the disc later?  How long will all this additional content be kept on line? If you buy a BD-Live disc 6 months later, will the additional content still be there?  If it isn’t will we see law suits as people demand what they’ve paid for and what it says on the disc cover.

Then there’s the quality of the added Internet content.  How many times have you sat waiting for the DVD you’ve just inserted into your machine to simply bring the main menu up?  Some DVDs are so badly authored, you lose the will to live waiting to access the main menu.  Can you imagine how some of the interactive content is going to turn out?  This could be the quickest killing of the studio golden goose ever.

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