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Motorhead's "Stage Fright" is the first online-enabled music, European HD DVD
After releasing Europe's first HD DVD -- the HDi enhanced Elephant's Dream -- Imagion AG is again breaking new ground with the first music HD DVD (and first European HD DVD) to include online features. Due in August, Motörhead's "Stage Fright" also uses HDi for new interactive features, allowing viewers to create their own setlist from concert footage and to take "snapshots" of the concert and create personal picture gallery in their HD DVD player's storage. Fans can hook their HD DVD player to the internet to download news, tour dates, pictures and artwork that will update the disc's menus. We may not be die-hard followers of "the dirtiest heavy metal band in the world" yet, but with this kind of release look for our tattoos to join the gallery soon. Check after the break for screen shots.
Blu-ray players get a new standard set of features this October
Blu-ray owners waiting for more Java features and highly interactive releases like the recently announced Matrix compilation on HD DVD could be due for a hardware upgrade this winter. VideoBusiness is reporting that the BDA has mandated all hardware launched after October 31 must support BD-J enabled picture-in-picture video playback, 256MB of persistent memory, and (for players with an internet connection) 1GB of memory for downloads. Currently these features aren't required and picture-in-picture support isn't in the PlayStation 3 or Sony's lower priced BDP-S300 that will debut this summer, ahead of the deadline. BD-J support has been sketchy so far, with many players needing upgrades to run titles like The Descent, which was able to do PiP by including two different versions of the movie on one 50GB disc. High profile DVD producer Van Ling (Star Wars, T2: Special Edition) is working on his first (unspecified) BD-J release, but is worried about supporting so many players with different capabilities. HD DVD mandated PiP and persistent storage support in all players since its initial launch; we'll wait to see if new Blu-ray hardware can implement new features and still continue the downward price trend.
