BD-Live: Worth the Hype?

By Scott Wilkinson • Posted: Jun 17, 2008

Last Tuesday, I attended a demonstration of the BD-Live capabilities that will distinguish Disney's Blu-ray release of Sleeping Beauty, the first Disney animated title with these enhancements. Of course, to take advantage of them, you need a BD-Live (aka Profile 2.0) player, of which there are very few so far. In fact, the only ones available as of this writing are the Sony PS3 and Panasonic DMP-BD50, with the Sony BDP-S350 and S550 expected to ship soon.

Perhaps more importantly, Disney also announced the development of the world's first BD-Live network, which is facilitated by a dedicated Web server. Users can play a trivia game with others watching the movie at the same time. They can also text-chat using a laptop, smart phone, or any text-based, Web-enabled device, and the messages appear as an overlay on top of the movie. They can even send pre-recorded video messages from a computer that are also overlaid on the movie. In all cases, participants must agree to be watching the movie at a certain time, and playback is synchronized on all their machines. Engaging in any of these activities accrues reward points that can be redeemed for exclusive content such as avatars, downloadable extras, and other goodies.

Sleeping Beauty and Disney's BD-Live network will be launched on October 7, 2008. Why did Disney announce them so far ahead of the release date? The reps I spoke with said they just wanted to get the word out, but I'm not convinced that it wasn't premature. How many times have we seen announcements of new products far in advance of their actual release? Too many to count, and it has always bred more frustration than anticipation.

Even more problematic for me is the whole notion of gaming, texting, and sending video messages while watching a movie. Granted, I'm a not a youngster who has grown up multitasking like that, but when I watch a movie, I want to watch the movie without being distracted by all that felgercarb. On the other hand, I recognize that families with little kids often watch movies dozens or hundreds of times, so having something new to do as you play the movie for the umpteenth time might be very nice. It also engages watchers in a bit more social interaction than they might otherwise.

The demo also renewed my concern about teens and twenty-somethings multitasking as a matter of course. I hear lots of stories about friends' kids who listen to music, talk on the phone, text-message, watch TV, and do their homework all at the same time. How can they engage fully in any of these activities? How can they learn anything from their schoolwork? I believe this behavioral trend is an important part of the reason that the average attention span seems to be getting shorter, especially among the young.

Maybe the BD-Live features available with Sleeping Beauty and other titles will appeal to some—even many—users. But for others like me, they're mostly a distraction from the reason we love Blu-ray—the potentially stunning quality of the picture and sound.

If you have an audio/video question for me, please send it to scott.wilkinson@sourceinterlink.com.

Comments

Submitted by ender21 on June 18, 2008 - 6:21am.

Agreed wholeheartedly. Except for some unforeseen applications (like web browsing, or viewing uploaded videos and pictures, perhaps?), for me BD-Live goes to the same dustbin that most other movie supplements go. I'm watching the movie, not 6-hours of commentary/behind-the-scenes-footage/video games/karaoke songs. Of course, with my first child on the way, who knows how that'll change in the future!

Submitted by Bruce in CO on June 18, 2008 - 10:50am.

Personally, I think the primary reason for BDLive will end-up being the merchandising (with apologies to Mel Brooks and Spaceballs). It's the merchandising!!! I can see a time when kids watching a movie will have the opportunity to purchase via BDLive the shoes that Hannah Montana is wearing or a replica necklace, etc. The promotional opportunities are endless. As an adult, there are locales within scenes in movies that I would like to visit. It isn't a far stretch of the imagination to search a database via BDLive as to where a particular scene was shot, and then to be able to book a vacation via BDLive to Southern New Zealand while watching Lord of the Rings. Or buy the Fedora from the company that makes the hat for Indiana Jones....the possibilities are endless. And not far-fetched.

Submitted by Peter S. on June 19, 2008 - 6:08am.

I'm with you, I just want to watch the movie. Why can't they release a version with just the movie on it. I used to buy special edition DVD's with all the extras, but I never watched the extra's. So now I just buy the movie. I do have HD-DVD and Blu-Ray but most of the first run Blu-Rays are still too expensive. But they could release a stripped Blu-Ray with just the movie and sell it for less and the average person might make the jump sooner. But that makes too much sense and we all know that the music and movie industries are run by complete idiots...

Submitted by Bruce in CO on June 19, 2008 - 8:57am.

I think there is room in the market for both approaches. It makes sense to offer two versions - movie only and another with all the special additions. I happen to like the extras because they add to the overall experience, though there are a quite a few where the extras are worthless if not downright stupid. I really like a well down "Making of..." feature, but really hate interviews where it's nothing more than a self-congratulatory lovefest - like an awards show.

Submitted by The FLAP on June 19, 2008 - 9:42am.

the short answer is nope, not worth the hype.

Submitted by Robert Deutsch on June 19, 2008 - 5:47pm.

Back when ultimateavmag.com was guidetohometheater.com, there was a feature called "Vote" in which a question was posed and readers were asked to vote for different answers. I posed a question about how often people listen to the commentary tracks on DVDs. I don't remember the specific results, but, to my surprise, the overwhelming majority of respondents said that they did not listen to the commentaries, or listened very seldom. If people are not interested in or can't be bothered to listen to the director's commentary, then I doubt if they would be any more likely to engage in the much greater degree of interaction that BD-Live requires.

Submitted by Dave on June 20, 2008 - 6:33am.

Nice review of the Westinghouse but can you get it repaired after the warranty runs out? Are parts available? Do you need the original box? How much is shipping back to the repair center? This info is important on 2nd and 3rd tier products and may offset the price differential for some buyers. I have a website on my cumputer book amrked that has this info. you should be able to find via Google. Many 2 tiers TVS can be repaired.

Submitted by Kevin on June 20, 2008 - 8:11am.

I will never understand the need for all these extras. Call me old fashion, but give me 1080P with DTS-MA and I'll go to my cave and watch my movie. Who has time for all this extra stuff anyway? And, at work after several of us have watched a movie and discuss it at lunch, we talk about the story. No one has EVER referenced the directors commentary.

Submitted by Bruce in CO on June 20, 2008 - 12:40pm.

Since when is the director's commentary the only extra on a disc? I don't care much for the director's commentary either, but there are other extras some of us like. May be it's because I don't spend time watching regular TV that I have time to look at the extras on the disc. Everyone likes something different, so offer two discs. One for those who only want the movie and another for people like me who want to look behind the scenes.