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NHL uses BD-Live to connect Blackhawks fans via championship Blu-ray discs
One of this week's Blu-ray releases was the NHL Stanley Cup Champions 2009-2010 disc from Warner, and it's surprisingly packing a few BD-Live extras courtesy of Imagion AG and Giant Interactive. As one of the discs released with their BD-Connect features, fans (or bandwagon jumpers -- c'mon, no one was rooting for the Blackhawks when they were losing) can expect downloadable content including dynamically updated news from Blackhawks TV and league sources every time they pop the disc in to relive the glory of last season. That's an ambitious start for the NHL's first Blu-ray release, we guess hockey has realized how important its high-def fans are.
Japan, Europe ready to deliver Blu-ray 3D discs
The U.S. may have been first with a Blu-ray 3D capable authoring facility, but Europe and Asia are on the case, with Imagion AG delivering the EU's first 3D disc (ironically, if we're not Alanis Morrisette-ing the meaning, Grand Canyon Adventure) and Panasonic replicating its US facility in Roppongi,Tokyo. Of course, over here it's still a wait and see game to find out when the first retail 3D release arrives, but seeing some of the same names that pushed through early Blu-ray disc technology is a welcome sign things should ramp up quickly.
Imagion AG hits 500 BD-Live movies authored, plans more U.S. Blu-ray releases
It's been an under the radar race to 500, but that's how many Blu-ray discs Imagion AG has put together using its dynamicHD BD-Live platform. Many of those are international releases, although their work on CSI and Star Trek:TOS hits closer to home, and now the company is partnering with Giant Interactive to work on more BD-Live discs in the U.S under the BD-Connect name. We're still holding out hope BD-Live lives up to its promise and brings many worthwhile new experiences to Blu-ray discs, are we the only ones? Hello? Anyone?
Big Buck Bunny Blu-ray disc busts out 3 PiP streams, BD-Live
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.
HD DVD's last hurrah: Terminator 2: Ultimate HD-Edition due March 20
HD DVD fans have at least one more high profile release to look forward to, as German distributor Kinowelt is prepared to release Terminator 2: Ultimate HD-Edition (region free of course) March 20th. Produced by HDi (and Blu-ray) pioneers Imagion AG this release includes the directors cut of the film, with DTS-HD 7.1 audio and more than four hours of bonus material in a high quality SteelBook case. Expect this to be the triumphant example of HD DVD's advanced features and capabilities that American Gangster so sadly wasn't. Check out a list of features after the break or our hands-on from CES to learn more about the disc's interactive and online capabilities, and maybe a peek at the future of BD Live.
