BD-Live

I hope this goes without saying by now, but under no circumstances should you spend more than $100 on a Blu-ray player.

I mean, for months we've seen no-frills and lame-brand models selling for $99 or less. And now you can pick up a Sony BDP-S360 with BD-Live for $99.99 shipped (plus sales tax in most states).

(Note: The $99.99 price will appear once you get to the checkout. First commenter to tell me the product page shows $119.99 gets a virtual noogie.)

It's a refurb, meaning the warranty expires after 90 days. If that … Read more

This week on the Digital City, Joey tests the new Netflix/PS3 BD Live disc, with mixed results; we talk about all the cool new luxury laptops you'll never buy, including Sony's Vaio X, Dell's Adamo XPS, and HP's Envy.

We also show off Nokia's new Booklet 3G Netbook, and debate the relative merits of games sequels, from Bioshock 2 to God of War 3. We also note how everyone in New York seems to have gotten their hands on a copy of Modern Warfare 2 early, giving the holiday season's biggest game an … Read more

The PS3 has picked up a lot of momentum as of late (thanks to price cuts, PS3 Slim, Uncharted 2), and the addition of Netflix streaming is the most recent blow in the feature-war against the Xbox 360. While Netflix streaming is nearly identical on most devices that support it, there are some significant differences with the PS3 that make it worth testing.

Unlike Netflix streaming on other devices, the PS3 requires the Netflix Streaming Disc for PS3. That means you'll need to request a disc from Netflix and it will come in the mail like a standard Netflix movie. It doesn't count against your allotment of movies allowed out and you never need to return the disc. The disc uses Blu-ray's BD-Live functionality to enable streaming, and this is by far the best use of BD-Live we've seen so far.

Once you insert the Netflix Streaming Disc, it shows up in the XMB in the video section. Select Netflix from the XMB and the experience is largely identical to streaming Netflix on other devices, with a few new features.

The main interface shows you the cover art of the movies in your instant queue, arranged horizontally. If you select a movie, it will show a screen with more detailed information, a summary of the plot, and a star rating. You're also able to scroll horizontally within the more detailed view, without having to return to the main screen. If you stop watching a movie, you're able to resume where you left off or start again from the beginning.

The step-up over standard streaming Netflix devices are the tabs at the top of the interface. With other devices, like the Roku Digital Video Player, you're only able to access movies that you've added to your Instant Queue using a PC. On the PS3, you're given some additional tabs that allow you to browse new arrivals, movies Netflix thinks you'll like, and categories you use often. That's not quite as good as the Xbox 360's Netflix interface, which allows you to add new titles to your instant queue without using a PC, but it's a welcome addition to the basic Netflix streaming available on other devices.

While we've seen some reports that the image quality of streaming Netflix isn't quite as good as it is on the Xbox 360, we didn't notice any significant quality drop-offs in our testing. In our experience, the image quality of streaming Netflix movies is basically identical across devices.… Read more

Kenley Bradstreet and Mark Licea join the show today because Justin Yu is still battling with SARS. We wish him a speedy recovery, but in the mean time, we welcome the presence of two beautiful people. Plus, it's just fun to watch Kenley rock out to today's Audio Draft pick.

On today's show, we recant what we said about Sony yesterday. The company managed to botch up a feature that would have leveled the playing field with the Xbox 360. For those of you who didn't listen, Sony and Netflix announced the arrival of streaming on the console. Sounds great? Not so fast. Apparently, you'll need to plug in a BD-Live disc every time you want to watch Netflix. We know it's only temporary, but come on! It's accessible from the dashboard on the Xbox 360, and you don't need no stinkin' disc.

It's Jeff's pick today for the Audio Draft, and while traditionally we usually pick smaller bands or unknown acts, Jeff has decided to go the other way and picked Rancid. They've been around for a while, and released a couple of albums. According to Mr. Bakalar, their latest is turning heads. We play "The Bravest Kids" and "L.A. River" from their latest album. Stay tuned for the last Audio Draft pick of the month on Friday from Wilson! It won't be country music this time.

To round out the show, we talk talk a little bit about Droid from Verizon, the company's first Google Android phone. Wilson still thinks the phone is a pretty ugly design, but that it may change the market around considering it's the first non-BlackBerry-Storm smartphone on the network. Still, Apple seems to be the one still innovating in the smart phone market.

In other news today, Kenley tells us that it's the 15th anniversary of the birth of Internet advertising. That's right on October 27th, 1994, Hot Wired ran the world's first banner ad, and surprisingly, it was pretty effective! Mark gets excited about the Tekken 6, while Wilson can't really tell the difference between Tekken 5 or Tekken 6. Jeff adds snidely, "Tekken 4." Think it's hot that Kenley likes to watch guys play videogames? Well send her a message as usual through voice mail at 1-866-404-CNET (2638).

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The last time I found a Blu-ray player with BD-Live support in this price range, it was a refurbished Sony model that sold out in about 10 minutes.

Right now, Amazon has an even better deal: a new Panasonic DMP-BD60 Blu-ray player for $128.23 shipped. Regular price: $250.

This player not only supports Profile 2.0 (meaning it can play the BD-Live features found on some discs), but also performs such nifty tricks as streaming Amazon On Demand and YouTube video, accessing your PicasaWeb photos, and fetching weather and stock reports.

You'll need a wired Ethernet connection to … Read more

Update: Sorry, sorry! Looks like this is already out of stock. Try checking back later, but in the meantime I'll try to find you another deal for today!

Update #2: If you're still on the prowl for an inexpensive, BD-Live-friendly Sony Blu-ray player, here's an option for $199.99. Yep, it's the Sony PlayStation 3 slim deal from a couple weeks ago. Not quite $130, but you are getting a kick-ass game console as part of the bargain.

We've seen a few Blu-ray players for under $100, but most of those were low-end models from … Read more

SAN FRANCISCO--Even as Blu-ray Disc and Blu-ray player sales are growing, Sony is looking to build out its larger strategy surrounding the company's high-definition disc products.

At a small press event here Thursday, the company introduced a new feature of BD-Live and a new piece of Blu-ray hardware.

MovieIQ will be included on some high-profile releases from Sony starting in September. It's essentially IMDb live--while a movie is playing, facts about casting, directors, production, and actors' filmographies pop up onscreen. It's powered not by IMDb, but by Gracenote, creators of CDDB, which Sony purchased just over a year ago.

It's the kind of feature intended to keep people from pausing a movie and hopping online to ask questions like, "I totally recognize that actress, but from what movie?" It's also meant to build on the inherent capability of Blu-ray players that have Internet access. Sony has tried to do this by allowing BD-Live access to exclusive trailers and some trivia games, but MovieIQ seems like something that users would engage with repeatedly, not something they'd just use once and forget about.

A senior Sony exec at the event, Tracy Garvin, called MovieIQ the "first killer-app for BD-Live." That sounded like an admission that none of the BD-Live features thus far have been all that compelling.

It's clear Sony is still in the process of fine-tuning its BD-Live strategy.… Read more

According to the early reports, Blu-ray is faring well this holiday season and it's not hard to see why. With standalone player prices finally slipping below $250, more popular movies available, and reliable standalone players hitting the market, Blu-ray is now a solid option for those that want the best image quality from their home theater. If you're looking to go Blu over the next few weeks, here's a roundup of our recent Blu-ray coverage to help you make your choice.

Five Blu-ray players for less than $250 If all you care about is price, check out … Read more

We've certainly been critics of BD-Live in the past, but Sony reports that Blu-ray's interactive platform is catching on. Sony's servers for BD-Live content are coming up on the one million hit mark, according to a report by Video Business, and Sony VP Rich Marty is quoted saying that "consumers are engaging with this game-changing interactivity and are defining BD Live as that killer application." That's in pretty stark contrast to previous reports that industry insiders considered Blu-ray's interactive features to be mostly a let down.

While the one million mark is surprising … Read more