Sony Pictures to smarten up Blu-ray with MovieIQ, the "killer app for BD-Live"
By Richard Lawler 
posted June 18th 2009 7:22PM
posted June 18th 2009 7:22PM
Update: Official press release is included after the break
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Partners with Gracenote To Deliver First Live, In-Movie Film Information with movieIQ
BD-Live™ Enabled Technology to be Featured on Upcoming Blu-ray Disc™ Titles Including Angels & Demons and Easy Rider
BD-Live™ Enabled Technology to be Featured on Upcoming Blu-ray Disc™ Titles Including Angels & Demons and Easy Rider
San Francisco, CA (June 18, 2009) - Sony Pictures Home Entertainment today announced the launch of MovieIQ, a new Blu-ray Disc feature powered by Gracenote® that offers viewers access to a real-time movie database. With a movieIQ-enabled Blu-ray Disc and an internet-connected Blu-ray™ player, movie fans can immediately access continuously-updated information on cast and crew and explore relevant trivia such as production facts, music and soundtrack information all tied to scenes within the movie. SPHE will feature movieIQ on upcoming Blu-ray Disc titles starting in September and will offer it on all major catalog titles and new releases including Angels & Demons, Easy Rider, Punch Drunk Love, The Quick and the Dead, Silverado and sex, lies, and videotape.
"It has always been our goal at Sony Pictures to offer fans the ability to truly connect with their favorite movies using BD-Live," said Lexine Wong, Senior Executive Vice President of Worldwide Marketing at Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. "We know many people interrupt their movie-watching experience to look up the filmography of an actor or to find out more about a song playing in the background. Now through movieIQ, movie lovers can dive into constantly-updated information about the movie they are watching without leaving their sofa, further enhancing the experience of watching movies in this always-connected age."
movieIQ takes advantage of Gracenote's Video Explore solution, which brings powerful search and navigation capabilities to connected consumer electronic devices. Video Explore allows users to search the online Gracenote video database, linking together related cast, crew, movies, TV episodes, franchises, seasons, DVDs, and Blu-rays. Gracenote's global Video database contains rich video information for North America, Europe, and Japan, including factual metadata, synopses, credits, and detailed descriptive elements.
"We are thrilled to be partnering with Sony Pictures to deliver movieIQ, a feature that takes full advantage of the Blu-ray format's internet connectivity and truly demonstrates that Blu-ray is the future of home entertainment," said Ross Blanchard, VP of Business Development at Gracenote. "Now, movie lovers will have access to an incredible new service where they can explore and discover all the rich details on their favorite actors, directors and movies."
The movieIQ feature is the latest addition to SPHE's BD-Live portfolio, which also includes social networking through cinechat, multiplayer games, and a customizable music video editor, as well as soundtrack playlists, e-movie cash, downloadable featurettes, and more, available on over 100 Sony Pictures Blu-ray titles worldwide since the technology launched in spring of 2008.
Useless feature, they should instead added more HD sound like offer both Dolby HD and DTS Master + PCM, look at those asian blu-ray, many of those offer dual hd audio by reduce extra content.
Agree but that's like saying:
"Oh no.. Apple included a tab in iTunes, guess we'll never see tethering"
What are you talking about? Most discs now include either a Dolby True HD or DTS-HD Master Audio track, both are lossless, there's no need to have additional duplicate audio tracks when the one you have is already bit for bit perfect to the original data.
I agree. I would never use this feature.
i wish hd-dvd would have never have included their interactive crap. because then you had the BDA who thought, "hey...we need to include this too to be relevant". cuz simply having better picture quality over dvds wasn't enough for other people, they actually had to have features..stuff they could actually click on that would give them content that wasn't on the disc. well damnit...now the common man has it, and now the common man suddenly realizes "hey this really isn't that cool". i dont think this interactive crap will ever be good. especially since those crooked ass movie studios make u register...just so they can spam you.
Agree 100% SimbaDogg.
Yeah, I love random crap showing up onscreen to take me out of the movie that I'm watching.
OTOH, this is probably not a bad idea for most of the brainless trash Hollywood peddles, it's kind of like Pop-Up Video.
Random crap? Looks like from the menu you can launch it intentionally or keep it off and when you have it on, it pop-ups up when you push a button, not automatically. Sounds like an shortcut to IMDB rather than opening the MacBook Pro.
Don't deflate my sarcasm!!!
But yeah, it doesn't pop up automatically. I just don't think all this BD Live stuff is such a big deal. It reminds me of the 'interactive set top box' phase with all those test families in Orlando or wherever. Yes, it could possibly be useful sometimes though. Are you happy now?
worst sarcasm ever
still not interested. thanks anyway sony. MKV is fine for me.
by MKV you mean this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiple_Kill_Vehicle
or the ability to PASS OVER freakin commercials/trailers.
hello??!? i paid how much for this movie???
as for BD-Live? just slows down the initial movie experience WITH NO ADDED incentive to use the BD-Live features.
doubt it will be implemented properly or nicely; most likely another feature/extra that no one knows or cares about.
also, why aren't tv shows full seasons on a bluray? or are they? i'd love to have the full newsradio series on a bluray disc vs 16+ dvds :)
They do, I was comtemplating buying south park season 12 on Blu Ray the other day.
but are they all on ONE bluray disc? or multiple blurays?
In order to fit the entire series on one disc, the series would have to be in SD. Selling SD content on Blu-ray makes no sense at this time. You chop out 97% of your potential market for what, to remove 3 discs costing $1.20 total from a package?
Did you know that 89% of people make up random percentages to prove a point?
I actually like the ability to have an IMDB-type details on a movie be accessable while watching. This feature would have to be hidden and only come up if I request it....sometimes you just need to be able to figure out who "that guy" is during the movie.
Just wait until you can go shiopping via this - cursor over an actors clothes and boom - off to amazon.com to buy the same outfit they are wearing....while I would hate this you know this is where it is going.
Idk, I like it, but don't get me wrong, BD-LIVE = fail in my books
this would still be cool if I were to say watch a movie a second time (shock!) and was wondering where the location was (for fun) then id be cool...honestly its just a feature bump in my books
Im still not sure about the compatibility, so this will work with all currently released BD-LIVE discs or not? sorry a little confused here
Or they could, you know, store that data on the disc instead of accessing it from the internet...
Nah, for the same reason they didn't put this info in the black bars at the top and bottom of the screen rather than having it overlap a third of the actual movie - that would make too much sense.
Umm... store it on the disc? Even Blu-Ray Discs have a finite capacity, you know.
@ Gad Get: "Umm... store it on the disc? Even Blu-Ray Discs have a finite capacity, you know."
Yeah, and how much space do you think all that data takes up? The complete Moby Dick is only 1.2 MB in size. I'm SURE that all those 'extras' will fit on a disc.
Wouldn't work. Actors filmographies are constantly updated...the information would become irrelevant if stored on a disc.
@Micheal
Yeah but that's the only thing that would. Plus, if you're looking up that info, I'd rather just be at IMDB or Netflix where I can then click the link to the latest move to see what that one is about, or click related actors or anything else as I'll probably be in that mode. Also the factoids and what music is playing is the most interesting.
Or why not do a combination of both? So offline BD players (which is probably every non-PS3) can use it at least somewhat.
With many new TVs having widget support built in, you could easier just bring up an IMDB browser and find the movie quickly yourself. I can't see how BD Live helps, apart from giving advertisers more space to sell stuff.
By saying "many tvs have widgets" you mean tvs that were sold in the last year (and only high end models). Thats like saying most people have laptops who need this feature.
Your just not looking at the big picture...BD-Live is here just thank Sony for giving a shit what we think. I think that this is useful now just keep working on it, and please no more wack games.
I watch movies to watch movies, not to look up crap. But then again, I never understood why anyone ever buys a disc anyway -- or ever looks at all the "bonus" stuff. I guess I am old fashioned, but a good picture and sound are about all I really care about.
And maybe it's just me, but I don't really think that hooking everything in the world to the Internet is all that great. All it really does in the long run is give the companies more data on what you are doing so they can market at you.
As Stu says - why not just include the data on the disc if there is demand for it. It's not like any of it will change.
Yeah, it's not like that actor will ever be in another movie ever. ???
I agree, I mean what type of movie fan is interested in how a movie is actually made?
As long as the pixies keep painting as fast as they can in the magic filmographic boxes, that's all I care about and all any movie fan should care about.
People buy discs because the same quality can't be had from other sources. Right now, nothing can compare to the raw amount of data that can be pushed by disc-based content.
A lot of us look at the "bonus stuff" to see how the movies we love are made. If people didn't like the stuff in there, the companies would save their money and "bonus stuff" wouldn't have made it into multiple generations of this type of product. Why do you think companies almost never include booklets anymore? They were all the rage when DVDs first came out, when the companies believed that it would be mostly movie buffs that went for the format. Now almost no movies come with booklets that have information.. they include the extra stuff on the discs because people actually look at that information far more often than they did in the booklets.
Complaining about being hooked to the net when you're [posting] on a net-only publication about peoples opinions is kinda silly.
True, if it was just some IMDb-type lists about music/actors/etc. in the movie, they should just include it on the disc; here's more than enough space. I suppose that it would be more useful if they include the ability to link to other movies/shows that the same actors/music/directors have worked on.
Also, what's the point in complaining if you know the video/audio is pretty excellent with blu-ray? You're getting what you said you want out of a movie.. why does it matter if there are features there that you don't want? Have you complained about the LATCH devices in your seats in your car, just because you don't have a LATCH compatible child seat currently hooked into them?
Also, didn't you say that you don't like to buy discs anyway? So this doesn't even apply to you, right?
Maybe I missed something......
Meh.
Thats all I got. BD Live is lackluster.
Instead of adding extra downloadable bullshit, let's spend some R&D on figuring out a way to write the movies to the disc/produce the disks, so that they are no longer $30 a friggin movie.
or spend more R&D on making better original movies instead of remakes or stuff from comic books or video games
So you're telling me that you think the reason Blu-ray movies are $30+ per disc is because of manufacturing costs?
Before you answer, consider that new releases on DVD cost $20+. Do you really think that it costs anywhere near $20 to manufacture a DVD? Please don't use the "cost of investment" argument because most production houses for DVD stamping paid their equipment off a long time ago.
This is nothing but Hollywood greed. That, and the BDA taking a cut of the profits as well. This is why you shouldn't support Blu-ray.
lol @ blu ray, im not paying £20 (roughly $30+) MORE for blu ray than a standard DVD. I watch movies, then it gathers dust somewhere in my movie collection. Blu ray is a waste of money
I learned a long time ago that even DVD isn't worth the money unless it's < $10
There are very few movies that have enough rewatchability to own, let alone having interactive pop ups telling us trivia about how the gaffer almost electrocuted himself while setting up the scene.
@ Mizzike
Erm, where the heck have you got your prices from?
Blu-rays range from a tenner for older movies to around £17 for new releases. No idea why you think a blu-ray costs £20 MORE than a DVD.........unless they give you money when you buy a DVD these days?
Anyway, here's a link to blu-ray pricing: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Blu-Ray-DVD-Movies/b/ref=sa_menu_blu1/280-8291157-3165521?_encoding=UTF8&node=293962011&pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=left-nav-1&pf_rd_r=07KXP9C5YCP4SPXXW10K&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=218610391&pf_rd_i=468294
@Mizzike: In the ten or so years that I've been using DVDs, I've bought maybe 20-25 movies (or 2-2.5 a year), at a price of between $10 (used) to $25 (new) dollars. (not counting a few anthologies) I bought an HD-DVD player, sort of assuming that they'd go under; since the price of HD-DVD's has dropped to under $5 per movie, I've purchased over 60 HD-DVDs, just in the last year.
I'm very knowledgeable about computers, and could easily torrent any one of those movies, saving a few dollars per disc. Guess what, I didn't! You know why? Because to me, $5 is a very reasonable price for purchasing a movie. $10? Not so much. $25? Well, just look at how many DVD's I bought at the price...
The bottom line is, what you are saying I think is true (it is for me at least). Price movies at a rate that is reasonable, and people will not only ignore piracy for the most part, but also buy MORE movies.
Nice...it could finally shut up the girl friend wondering where she has seen the actor before...
Dude, next time she asks "Where have I seen that actor before?", reply with "In my pants..." and see what happens. Could be good, could be bad. ;)
or.. it could be scary. if he keeps an actor in his pants, there might be something to worry about.
and... maybe he meant his hag.. he said "girl friend" maybe it's just a friend that's a girl?
Yet another BD Live feature I don't give a rip about. Come on, it's about the movie. Make sure to have good transfers, good audio, get ride of the 15 mins of trailers at the front and continue to work the costs down.
Movies I have a BluRay that are definitely must haves:
Transformers,
Ironman,
Spiderman Series,
Dark Knight,
Batman Begins
All based off of comic books. But the thing is they all have tons of action and Action Movies are worth buying on Blu Ray in my opinion. They are so much better in Hi Def.
Transformers isn't worth owning in any format, at any time. Some of those other titles are pretty sketch too.
That's your personal opinion. And I'm pretty sure not to many people are going to agree with you. And that's based solely on revenue numbers. So. I'll keep buying the movies I like, thanks.
Yep, you expressed your opinion, and I expressed mine, but defending one's opinion with the "most people" argument is a pointless exercise. Even a movie that makes $300m domestically means that only 1 in 10 people went to see it.
I'd say that it's a safe bet that over 70% of the population don't give a crap either way.
I'm I the only one noticing that this is Angels & Demons? Isn't that still in theaters?
Nope. I noticed it too. Sony torrented an HD-Cam of it I guess. ;)
Still useless junk.
If you want us connected to the Internet so you can check up on us, why not just ask?