Live from the Blu-ray interactivity demo
By Ben Drawbaugh 
posted Jan 7th 2008 2:20PM
posted Jan 7th 2008 2:20PM
11:28am - We're finally in, but waiting for the show to start, seems to be a lot of buzz.
11:35am - Host Leonard Maltin takes the stage. Starts talking up Blu-ray, says he likes it despite not understanding how it works. Goes down home media memory lane; VHS, Laserdisc, etc. Says "Your eyes adjust to whatever it gets." The evidence is building that Blu-ray will be the next format. It's not only about PQ and AQ, but interactive content.
11:47AM - Dean talks about the new possibilities with the capacity of Blu-ray, and that they take it into consideration when making movies. Now they're just going on and on about how directors like to muck with movies long after the theatrical release.
11:51 - Leonard says fanboys can go over every detail in a movie.
11:52 - VP of ad Don Eckland takes the stage and joins the panel. Says that 2008 will take it to a new level because of the network connection and will make it a more powerful device. They will be able to send ringtones from disc straight to a cell phone. Portable copy means a copy of a movie for the PS3 will be included on a Blu-ray disc and possibly games too. They are sending a Godzilla ring tone to a "shills" mobile phone -- Leonard knows all the lingo. Now they are copying to a PS3, but Don seems to have forgotten the password.
They are welcoming everyone on Sprint or Verizon to come get a Godzilla ringtone afterwards.
11:57 - Now we're all watching the clip on a PSP. And now for a demo of the interactive Men In Black trivia game. Players can be anywhere, using a network. They can also create chat applications -- where have we heard that before? Both of the volunteers for the demo received a signed copy of the Patriot.
So after we get a photo we are going to choose our role and skills, so we can interact with others throughout the film, in a role playing game.
Now we're watching the demo of Alien Vs. Predator Vs. You -- looks cool, but wonder how much fun it'll be with a remote. "The future is blu, the future is BD Live." The whole idea is to extend the movie experience from two hours, to 10 more more hours of fun.
12:12pm - Ron Schwartz from Lionsgate takes the stage. We're going to be invited into a interactive commentary of SAW 4. Now everyone can engage in the conversation. Now we are watching Molog, or movie log, that allows us to interact.
Demo isn't going so great, they can seem connect - big surprise.
Leonard starts talking up SAW 4 to help pass the time. Now we can finally see what the box looks like, but we're not sure how they can enter data so fast with that remote, the comments are just flying.
This is a commercial ready disc, will be available in two weeks.
12:19PM - Don comes back on the stage to wrap things up with a surprise. Now they are downloading a HD video, featuring Will Smith.
You can download new trailers or other new features for the disc. Will looks good in HD and talks up his new movies, as well as Men In Black on Blu-ray.
12:25PM - That's it folks, demos are available afterwards.
GO BLU-RAY!!! :D
AdamK - You mean the fact that Beta was used for decades by the pros? Beta was a HUGE success for Sony in the pro market, which is a more profitable market.
woot! BLU-RAYYY!!!!!!!
Someone get out the hose, the monosylabic fantards got loose again..
Awww....someones sad that their overlords chose the wrong format! :-P Toolbags! HAHA!
Blu-Ray FTW!!! It's about time I can finally start buying some new media.
Not to pick healing wounds, but was betamax mentioned??
no, but they said that the mini-disc was going to be back.
OH thank god BEN is reporting this and not Ryan!!! That was brutal!!!
Lineard Multin?
:Leonard Maltin
Don't worry, liveblogging is pretty hard on the fingies.
Lineard Multin am bizarro wurld movey kritik. He am gratest kritik evar!
Looks like Warner's announcement boosted the morale of Blu-ray fanbois to the skies. The HD-DVD camp needs to do something quick.
Like saving money by joining bluray now instead of later.
"We would like to show you what your current BD player can NOT do today, because you have to replace them every 6 months to keep up with our specs."
Console aside since that's not a standalone player. No IR? god.
Where the fuq are BD 2.0 players?
Dean Devlin did not direct those movies, he produced them.
ryan is teh sucketh at live blogging
I thought Ryan did a good job with Gates' final keynote.
Blu-ray sucks goddamn seeing how hd-dvd could of done this at a lesser price i think its supiorer. HD_DVD FTW!!!! SCREW WARNER!
LOL! Sore loser!
I like Blu-ray but... inserting myself into AvP? Really? How about extracting characters from that steaming pile instead? As dumb as it sounds, both AvP movies would be better without any of the humans.
Seriously, though... the features are cute. But no one will use them. I just want a good HD format with commentary tracks and extras... I could care less about "features" on MySpace or inserting myself into the next Bond flick.
yeah....first character to be forever deleted: JarJarBinks. AMEN!!
Hmmm....I just can't seem to get over the fact that if anyone actually uses this supposed interactive content they have got to be out of their freaking minds and have to have absolutely no life. Seriously? extend viewing to a 10-hour experience? No wonder DVDs are winning...I just watch it and leave...
*Yawwwwwwwwwwwwwn*
So, ummm, when does this fun *experience* begin again?
Concur with doubters. There are features, and then there are features. Show me a movie, talk about how you made it, and show a couple of trailers. Does anyone here seriously play games included with the movies? The community commentary might be fun, but I already have a hard enough time getting friends to shut up to hear dialog when we watch movies together.
Isn't this stuff all CES 2009 since it won't be out until 2009 anyway?
This feels kinda like the bill gates phone lookup demo that we know will never see the light of day.
If it's not available to the consumer this year, then it doesn't need to be at CES 2008.
"The choice of Blu-Ray over HD DVD [Warner's choice] is obviously good news for Singulus, which makes machines for both types of disc. That's because DVD-makers like Germany's Bertelsmann or Canada's Cinram have to buy whole new machines for producing Blu-Ray discs, but they only have to upgrade their current disc-making machines to make HD DVDs."
This, just in from Forbes news. Get your heads out of the sand, BDfanbois.
"The rub is that while upgrading to an HD[-DVD] machine costs close to $37,000, buying a whole new Blu-Ray disc maker costs $1.2 million. Though Singulus has sold 8 Blu-Ray machines so far, the product has prospects for some deliciously high margins.
But investors should be wary of this technology firm--the profit it makes from extra machines churning out Time Warner's movies won't last forever, and that won't be enough to revive is flagging stock. Singulus shares have fallen by a third in the last year.
The problem is the demand for DVDs themselves. Some analysts believe that while Blu-Ray may be winning the battle with HD DVD to be the next generation DVD format, neither will win the war, since future consumers will probably choose to download their movies and transport them on memory disk. "They know this is a dying business," said Berenberg Bank analyst Thomas Wissler
Though its Blu-Ray machines have been its biggest money maker, the German technology company has thus diversified into other areas, where it can replicate its expertise for metalization, i.e. the process of coating plastic with a thin layer of metal. Singulus now makes machines for coating things from DVDs to packaging to camera lenses."
Even the Blu-Ray disc manufacturers have no faith in Blu-Ray - why should the consumer?
Tough questions for a tough business.
This thread is about interactivity, not disk manufacturing. Your post is an obvious attempt to spread FUD by a sore HD DVD supporter. I wanted HD DVD to win too, but I got over it and I've accepted the blu-side.
I don't necessarily see that upgrading either to HD DVD or Blu Ray is necessarily cheaper or less effort in one format than the other. In either case, the machinery that prints the disc is going to have to be replaced (not upgraded), so where is the advantage to either format?
I believe that is one of the fundamental differences between HD DVD and Blu-ray.
The HD DVD camp decided to "upgrade" the DVD format with the advantage of keeping current manufacturing processes. While Sony decided to forego compatibility for increased capacity (layers are different) which meant new machines.
Whether this is still the case, I couldn't tell ya.
The thing about movies is that you watch them once then store them for watching much later at some unpredicted time, which means that downloading it and storing 25GB on your hard disk just is not a good idea, and I don't think people will store it on a collection of flashdisks of tens of GB each either.
Therefore disks will still be produced, it's just easier to have a disk in the cupboard.
Oh and AFAIK you can still lend out disks to relatives and such, even with all the DRM on them (although that might be part of the 'BD live' internet connection in the future, to store the player MAC at sony HQ and disable playing it on other post-1.1 devices).
To Ryan Block (or other Engadget Editor):
Could you guys please find out from Sony whether or not the recently released (October 31st) Sony BDP-S500 Blu-Ray standalone player WILL BE upgradeable to Profile 1.1 or better via a firmware or did this $700 player that was rushed out right before the deadline cut off get the short end of the stick?!
Thank you.
The difference between profile 1 and 1.1 is that 1.1 has hardware to enable picture in picture and at least 256MB RAM to use it, so no software can magically update your hardware.
And the BD live thing requires an internet connection on the device, another thing that is hardware and no software update will magically create a LAN port on a device.
The reason it does work on a PS3 is because it already has the hardware that is required.
Oh and they warned you: http://www.engadgethd.com/2007/10/16/sony-sneaks-bdp-s500-in-before-1-1-goes-mandatory/
Thanks for obvious wwhat, but that still doesn't answer the question as to whether or not it will support 1.1. The S500 has the memory covered as far as I've read. And the warning doesn't amount to much, without definite knowledge no one had any idea.
Anyhow, thanks for the bunch of Captain obvious replies.
I expect the BD-J Java profile is going to be resemble mobile phone profiles in many respects. And the manner in which apps are controlled (via the remote) is similar to phones too. Considering how cool some phone games & apps are, the potential for BD-J is very high. Whether it uses that potential is another matter. I expect most interactive features to be crappy trivia quizes or mini games. Arguably these are not very compelling features. The better discs, especially kids discs might try and make a bit more effort than that.
Gawd! I sure hope that there is more creativity than this in the works! Especially if this still developing after 18 months BD interactivity crap, is expected to be forced down the unsuspecting throats of the poor HDM consumers!
I also would like to see how this crap runs on ALL of the various models of BD players, to see if there really is anything, anything at all that distinguishes all of the different CE BD offerings!
Not that I would buy into any of it anyway, but I have a morbid curiosity.
compare this to the hd dvd presentation.
i really wanted hd dvd to take it... but it really is a case of rooting for the underdog.
people say toshiba should just cut its losses and make a great blu-ray player... but theres alot of (foolish) pride at stake.
The captain's gotta go down with the ship, i suppose... and when you're gonna go down, i figured you'd go down in flames... but it ends not with a bang, but a whisper.
Enough cliches?
With a shakey hand, i swipe my credit card, damn you blu-ray ;P
Hey! I want the skinny on how to get the Godzilla ringtone from the demo! Hear my phone ROAR! Hmmm.. 7.1 1000 Watt surround sound system for your cell phone's ring tone. That woul do it justice. :-)
"ZillaGod" - Blue Oyster Cult