Comments on: Is BD-Live even necessary?

BD-Live functionality on certain Blu-ray movies makes it easy for content makers to add features after a movie is released, but it can also make it more annoying to access the content.

[kswa1987]

personally i think bd-live is worthless, i just want to watch HD movies!

[DJ_Lae]

Gimmick. It was a gimmick back when HD-DVD touted it as one of its advantages over Blu-ray, and it's a gimmick now that Sony and the rest of them have rolled it up (which at the time was no doubt to bring it in line with HD-DVD, but hey). Extra features I can just as well watch on Youtube? Online polls? Reordering movie scenes and sharing them with people? Great, those are just what I want.

I understand that Blu-ray is having a tough time distinguishing itself from DVD (really, all it has is an increase in picture/sound quality) but most people are going to need compelling reasons. Including digital copies of movies with a Blu-ray is a good way to lure people from the DVD version. Useless online features is not.

[mmntech]

As useless as RIAA's Ringle. What ever happened to that? I've personally never used the BD-Live feature. Flash based movie games? I can just play proper games on my PS3. I think what Hollywood was searching for when then developed BD-Live was something to set Blu-ray apart from DVD (same goes with HD-DVD's online features). Most people really don't see that much difference between the two formats when upscaling is brought into the picture. They don't see much of a reason to invest $400 in new hardware for such small gains. VHS to DVD represented a quantum leap in the way we watched movies. DVD to BD not so much. Your average Joe is perfectly content with 128kb/s MP3s, why would video be any different.

[MickBurke]

Well said. Actually I had always assumed that was what BD Live was for, delivering interactive or 'timely' features, not old stuff that is suddenly cool because you had to download it; "The kids are crazy about downloading stuff!"

[limeythree]

I think BD-Live has the potential to bridge the home theater and the web in a groundbreaking way.

Agreed that none of the current download features have any value at all, but from a developer's perspective: 50Gs worth of HD video combined with a flexible Java run-time environment and socket level TCP-IP support is very promising.

And at $200 this X-mas the platform will be everywhere fast...

With time and more experience the studios will move away from bogus downloads and will start integrating BD-Live into web content and services at a API level. Think personalized special features, community experiences around movies, and Blu-ray discs as a high-def front end to ongoing stories and franchises.

[Dave_BluRayStats]

BD Live has many capabilities - the number of useful ones is perhaps limited.

The kinds of features that would be cool include:

Video from events after disc release (Starship Troopers 3 is a good example)

Live feeds of information pertinent to the movie (Blood Diamond did this for HD DVD)

Updated Trailers - though there are many sources for these.

I think it will take a while before the studios sort out what can be done and what will be useful to the consumer. On the plus side, they can log traffic so they will get solid feedback on what works and what is a waste of time and effort.

[chadmcneeley]

I often marvel at the impatience with this type of new technology and the naysayers. And it always seems like everyone wants it all and they want it all now. It is what it is, now, but imagine what can it become and quickly.
Patience is a virtue. Its going to be something great and special. Hollywood just needs to commit to it, and they will.