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Posts with tag BD live

Samsung BD-P1500 update finally enables BD Live

by Ben Drawbaugh, posted Oct 7th 2008 at 2:53PM

Samsung BD-P1500
Love it or not, BD Live is the latest must have feature for Blu-ray players. Samsung is finally delivering on its promise today by making a firmware update available for download that turns on the internet magic of your Blu-ray Discs when you load them in a BD-P1500. Of course you'll need internet access behind your TV for any of this to work, but if you prefer, you can still download an image of the update disc if you don't want to use the player's auto-update feature. Now that the BD-P1500 and Sony BDP-S350 do BD Live, can both be had for less than $300, and offer just about every feature you'd want, it combined with Hollywood's impressive slate of titles released on Blu for this season, we can't think of any other excuses that an HD lover could have to not jump on the Blu-bandwagon.

Blu-con 1.0 talks where Blu-ray has been, is going

by Richard Lawler, posted Oct 2nd 2008 at 8:14AM

Billed as a one-day summit for Blu-ray developers, marketers and producers, Blu-con 1.0 will feature "experts" (whether that includes the many people who have so thoughtfully and eloquently shared their opinions in our comments since the start of the format war we have not been able to determine) discussing the various issues and opportunities presented by the format. The $325 ticket price for the December 8 event shouldn't be much of an issue, the conference is only open to DEG members, sponsors and invited guests, we'll wait and see if anyone comes out of it with the secret to lower priced Blu-ray players or more interesting uses for BD-Live.

Are BD-Live download times bogging down your Iron Man experience?

by Darren Murph, posted Sep 30th 2008 at 9:10PM


Paramount was more than adamant that absolutely nothing was wrong with its Iron Man discs, but in what's easily one of Blu-ray's biggest releases of the year, folks are still having issues. The bulk of the problems seem to hover around clogged up pipes from everyone downloading BD-Live material at the same time. Users are reporting a handful of issues ranging from the film hanging on a "blue chest loading screen" (affectionately dubbed the Blue Ring of Death) to a muffled TrueHD soundtrack. Some PS3 owners have suggested that manually telling it to bypass the whole BD-Live download circumvents the hangs, but it seems that other players aren't having such luck. So, how has your Iron Man experience been? Do these folks have legitimate beefs, or are these fools just whining for nothin'?

[Thanks, Mark]

Panasonic's Profile 2.0 DMP-BD55 Blu-ray player gets priced: $399

by Darren Murph, posted Sep 24th 2008 at 12:58PM


We've seen it announced -- heck, we even saw it in person at CEDIA -- but until today, we've still had no idea what kind of sticker would eventually be laid upon Panasonic's Profile 2.0 DMP-BD55 Blu-ray player. Thanks to a few sharp eyes and a pre-order page at Amazon, we now know that this puppy will be launching for a respectable $399.95. Granted, this is twice as much as some of the aged units we've seen recently, but the inclusion of BD-Live support could be a strong selling point for some. Yeah, we hear you -- the PS3 is still the better bargain, but at least the days of $699 - $999 starting points seem to be coming to an end.

[Via Big Picture Big Sound]

Poll: Are you sold on Blu-ray Profile 2.0?

by Darren Murph, posted Sep 20th 2008 at 12:00PM


It's a little strange, really. Profile 2.0, which is currently the most up-to-date Profile in the world of Blu-ray, launched months ago. Even still, deck manufacturers insist on pumping out middle-of-the-road players stuck at Profile 1.1. We know, a lot of that has to do with keeping costs to a minimum, but is there really more to it? Are consumers at large really not into interactive content? Is web connectivity not as amazing as backers would have you believe? Do you, in particular, care if your Blu-ray player supports Profile 2.0 / BD-Live? Let us know just what you think in comments below, and tell us if your opinion would change should a $99 Profile 2.0 player hit the market.

Are you sold on Blu-ray Profile 2.0?

X-Files: I Want To Believe is Fox's first BD-Live title

by Darren Murph, posted Sep 20th 2008 at 4:01AM

If you plunked down the extra coin to get yourself a BD-Live-enabled deck, you can look forward to having one more BD-Live-enabled title to enjoy come December. Fox Home Entertainment has announced that its very first BD-Live enhanced film will be The X-Files: I Want To Believe, which will take advantage of the web-connected functionality with "exclusive features, games, additional content and connectivity to other BD-Live users and X-Files fans nationwide." The X-Files Dossier will allow users to "create their own Special Agent avatar that can browse through Agent Dakota Whitney's case files on clairvoyance and post their own notes and theories to her files online and download other profiles directly to their BD player memory files." Fun, right? Make your choice on 12/2 when it hits shelves (with Digital Copy, no less) for $39.99 MSRP.

Sleeping Beauty Blu-ray disc fully spec'd and ready for October 7 debut

by Richard Lawler, posted Sep 19th 2008 at 11:25AM

As the flagship Platinum release, Disney is going all out with its Blu-ray release of Sleeping Beauty. Surely you've pored over the BD-Live preview video, but with a fast approaching October 7 release date we finally have seen the full specs, including 7.1 DTS-HD MA soundtrack, full motion PiP commentary, interactive game and "living menu". Fans of the flick and Disney animation should also peep the HD special features, including a walkthrough of the original Sleeping Beauty attraction at Disneyland, deleted songs, alternate opening and "Four Artists Paint One Tree" featurette. Whether this will take BD-Live features mainstream -- especially while hardware prices remain static -- remains to be seen, but with a bonus standard DVD edition packed in with the Blu-ray, that sure-to-be-discounted $35.99 MSRP doesn't look bad at all.

Panasonic's DMP-BD35 / DMP-BD55 Blu-ray players hands-on

by Darren Murph, posted Sep 4th 2008 at 11:09PM Featured Story


Sharp wasn't the only company showcasing a new duo of Blu-ray players at CEDIA, as Panasonic decided to whip up a couple as well just for kicks. The DMP-BD35 and DMP-BD55 were made official during IFA, but not until now has Panny shown them off to the wide-eyed public. As with the aforementioned Sharp duo, this pair is also hard to distinguish from one another at first glance. Unfortunately, neither are really worth sweating, but you can have a look below if you just refuse to believe that.

Dreamer, L2Digital team up to bring interactive TV, VOD to BD-Live Blu-ray players

by Richard Lawler, posted Sep 2nd 2008 at 5:13PM


While we haven't seen many truly inspired uses for BD-Live yet, we'll see if Dreamer's partnership with disc authoring house L2Digital can turn that around. L2Digital plans to use the Biddle platform to deliver video on-demand, social networking and "interactive TV" to any BD-Live enabled Blu-ray player. We're not sure if the company's envisioned end-run around your cable or satellite provider will be realized but we'll be happy to see someone try.

Samsung BD-P2500 Blu-ray player packs familiar specs, price

by Richard Lawler, posted Aug 29th 2008 at 10:41PM


Samsung's upcoming BD-P2500 Blu-ray player promises BD-Live support out of the box when it ships in October, with its IFA announcement revealing identical specs and price ($499) to the Best Buy-exclusive BD-P2550 already on sale. Of course, with HQV video processing and a wealth of audio support including 7.1 analog output and PCM or bitstream audio for Dolby Digital, Digital Plus, TrueHD or dts soundtracks, and DTS-HD HR (after a firmware update) and DTS-HD MA bitstream support, that's not an entirely bad thing. Samsung, Panasonic, it's taken you this many generations to get a satisfactory spec sheet, now what about the price?

Panasonic DMP-BD35 & DMP-BD55 Blu-ray players officially official, still unpriced

by Richard Lawler, posted Aug 28th 2008 at 5:09AM


Say hello to the successors of the short-lived Panasonic DMP-BD50, the new DMP-BD35 (above) and DMP-BD55 (after the break) check off every feature we can think of for a new Blu-ray player, complete with a slim profile (49mm high on the BD35) and hopefully low, low price thanks to a 45nm 3rd-generation UniPhier processor. Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital Plus and DTS-HD MA audio support, with internal decoding or bitstreamed output in full 7.1 (plus 7.1 analog audio outs on the DMP-BD55) on top of fully BD-Live / Profile 2.0 compatible hardware finally promise no-compromise hardware for Blu-ray buyers. Release dates and pricing information? Your guess is as good as ours, for now.

Continue reading Panasonic DMP-BD35 & DMP-BD55 Blu-ray players officially official, still unpriced

The Incredible Hulk Blu-ray brings Green Ray, BD-Live October 21

by Richard Lawler, posted Aug 27th 2008 at 5:41PM

The Incredible Hulk Blu-ray is definitely getting a more thorough treatment than its barebones Hulk HD DVD distant cousin, packing U-control picture-in-picture and interactive features as well as a standard definition digital copy on a second disc. The 50GB Blu-ray disc includes the 1080p MPEG-4 encoded flick, a DTS-HD Master Audio track as well as BD Live chat, and scene sharing. Hopefully there's room for the hour+ additional footage hinted at by the director in previous interviews, but we're sure that won't stop fans from preordering to get the limited edition "Green Ray" 3D packaging.

Wall-E Blu-ray details seep out, it's unsurprisingly getting the royal treatment

by Darren Murph, posted Aug 25th 2008 at 3:39PM


To say that Wall-E was a hit for Disney would be grossly understating it, and that's evidenced by the robust Blu-ray release that's being primed for a November 18th release. Unsurprisingly, Disney and Buena Vista Home Entertainment will be releasing this one just before the holiday shopping season really gets going, and we have a hunch it'll probably do some record smashing of its own. The 3-disc BD package will include Digital Copy, Burn-E with Boards (PiP), Cine-Explor with director Andrew Stanton, Axoim Arcade: retro suite of video games with a twist and a few Blu-ray exclusive features including at least one that taps into BD-Live. So, are you going to hand over $40.99 (MSRP) to hear that sweetheart utter "EEEEEVVVAAAAAA!" once more?

Big Buck Bunny Blu-ray disc busts out 3 PiP streams, BD-Live

by Richard Lawler, posted Aug 21st 2008 at 7:18PM


After giving HD DVD a proper send-off with Terminator 2: Ultimate HD-Edition, the Imagion AG team has thrown itself fully into the b's like Paul Pierce, preparing the Blu-ray release of Big Buck Bunny, another open source creative commons-licensed movie from the creators of Elephants Dream. How do you top being the first to do PiP on Blu-ray? With three separate picture-in-picture tracks give us a look at the original storyboards, 3D renders or the original rough renders from the production team's Blender software. The dynamicHD-live portion should be familiar to fans of the T2 release, using BD-Live access to TuneHD.net for constantly updated news, Big Buck Bunny-related websites and calibration settings. The disc packs in both BBB and Elephants Dream and should be shipping soon.

Corel WinDVD 9 Plus Blu-ray Update Pack ready for download

by Darren Murph, posted Aug 20th 2008 at 4:36PM

Ooh, goodie! A full five months after Corel released its WinDVD 9 Plus Blu-ray application, the first major update pack has arrived. The unimaginatively named WinDVD 9 Plus Blu-ray Update Pack checks in at just under 50MB and size and promises to resolve the "Enable S/PDIF Out" / "HDMI output to speaker" issues while expanding the list of compatible commercial titles and enhancing compatibility for a slew of VGA chipsets within Windows Vista / XP. There's no direct mention of BD-Live support, but for those who purchased the original, why not give the update a go and report back?

[Thanks, Tyler]




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