Bd-Live will just be another useless option. 2.0 who cares. It has nothing to do with watching a movie. Maybe 1 in 50 movies I might check out special features. Way too much is being made of this. NO ONE will use it. Just like BD-Live. Just more wasted effort towards a feature that was thought up by people who have no idea what customers use and or need. If it get built on Java then it won't stand a chance on being worth a crap. Nothing locks up a pc faster. Oh wait, is't a PS3 a PC?
I agree. It was a useless feature on HD DVD and it will only be a marginal feature on Blu Ray. Not a single HD DVD justified hooking up the player to the internet and I think the same will be true for Blu Ray. Of course if you have a PS3 you may already be hooked up for other reasons but it will still be a struggle to persuade people to go online.
Most disks will ignore it entirely, or feature some crappy games with online scores, or bundle up a generic portal or store so you can download trailers or buy merchandise. Whoopee.
In theory, it could have *great* potential. Imagine that you got points with every purchase that you could redeem for downloads. e.g. 1000 points per registered disk. Maybe it could track your collection and even allow you to participate in buy 5 get one 1 free style deals. People would be rewarded for their purchases and for going online. You could use the points to download and watch TV shows, or perhaps even movies. Hell, a Blu Ray player could in theory even allow you to rent and download movies.
But for now and the forseeable future it is a waste of time. I doubt many people would even bother to hook up their sets to the internet. The feature has to overcome the meh factor and tossing people a few trailers, crappy games or things that should have been on the disk to start with is not going to do it.
I love all the DVD extra features... and I love how they're included on every DVD.
Like "alternate angle" -- remember how when DVD first came out, the ability to see some scenes from a different angle was touted as a ground-breaking extra? And now, every title has it and I use it on all of them!
And I can't count how many times I go through a movie listening to the director's commentary. I love to pay extra for such "extra features" that I really care about! Oh, mr. director, please tell me why you chose the color of that rock in the background! Oh, mr. director, I love to hear you laugh at your own jokes!
I wish they'd offer two versions of films: 1) Movie Only. Max price when new: $10. 2) Movie plus extras and interactivity and whatever else. Max price: who the hell cares, somebody will pay it.
...I am exaggerating a bit...but I completely agree with mda20. So many "extras" are all just hype and either end up never being put onto disks, or end up being sold on tons of disks, but never really used by the consumer. I think interactivity is going to be one of those. Sure, it might seem real neat to make your own cut of 300 or whatever...for about 5 minutes. Most people really are only interested in watching the movie.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
mda20 @ May 6th 2008 1:25PM
Bd-Live will just be another useless option. 2.0 who cares. It has nothing to do with watching a movie. Maybe 1 in 50 movies I might check out special features. Way too much is being made of this. NO ONE will use it. Just like BD-Live. Just more wasted effort towards a feature that was thought up by people who have no idea what customers use and or need. If it get built on Java then it won't stand a chance on being worth a crap. Nothing locks up a pc faster. Oh wait, is't a PS3 a PC?
DrXym @ May 7th 2008 4:41AM
I agree. It was a useless feature on HD DVD and it will only be a marginal feature on Blu Ray. Not a single HD DVD justified hooking up the player to the internet and I think the same will be true for Blu Ray. Of course if you have a PS3 you may already be hooked up for other reasons but it will still be a struggle to persuade people to go online.
Most disks will ignore it entirely, or feature some crappy games with online scores, or bundle up a generic portal or store so you can download trailers or buy merchandise. Whoopee.
In theory, it could have *great* potential. Imagine that you got points with every purchase that you could redeem for downloads. e.g. 1000 points per registered disk. Maybe it could track your collection and even allow you to participate in buy 5 get one 1 free style deals. People would be rewarded for their purchases and for going online. You could use the points to download and watch TV shows, or perhaps even movies. Hell, a Blu Ray player could in theory even allow you to rent and download movies.
But for now and the forseeable future it is a waste of time. I doubt many people would even bother to hook up their sets to the internet. The feature has to overcome the meh factor and tossing people a few trailers, crappy games or things that should have been on the disk to start with is not going to do it.
EQC @ May 7th 2008 5:03AM
no no! you're wrong!
I love all the DVD extra features... and I love how they're included on every DVD.
Like "alternate angle" -- remember how when DVD first came out, the ability to see some scenes from a different angle was touted as a ground-breaking extra? And now, every title has it and I use it on all of them!
And I can't count how many times I go through a movie listening to the director's commentary. I love to pay extra for such "extra features" that I really care about! Oh, mr. director, please tell me why you chose the color of that rock in the background! Oh, mr. director, I love to hear you laugh at your own jokes!
I wish they'd offer two versions of films:
1) Movie Only. Max price when new: $10.
2) Movie plus extras and interactivity and whatever else. Max price: who the hell cares, somebody will pay it.
...I am exaggerating a bit...but I completely agree with mda20. So many "extras" are all just hype and either end up never being put onto disks, or end up being sold on tons of disks, but never really used by the consumer. I think interactivity is going to be one of those. Sure, it might seem real neat to make your own cut of 300 or whatever...for about 5 minutes. Most people really are only interested in watching the movie.