One of the first things that publishers of BD Live options learned in the past year was that movie buffs that purchased Blu-ray players for better imaging were not automatically enamored with the Internet interactivity that now comes with some Blu-ray titles.
Thus, the interactive online side of Blu-ray (BD Live) does not appear to be what's slowly but steadily growing Blu-ray users and titles, but rather, the promise of 1080p video (preferably displayed on 1080p TV sets) compared to standard DVD.
Sony, which both makes Blu-ray and other HD equipment—and also has a Hollywood studio to produce content—admitted at a recent studio press briefing in Culver City, Calif., that BD Live faces its own set of hurdles. (Some of them are logistical—such as a typical user's online connection not being close enough to the living room Blu-ray player to make practical use of both technologies simultaneously.)
BD Live proponents point out that interactive options accompanying some Blu-ray titles have only been available for about a year. According to published reports, one Sony exec said, "We're just in the Pong stage of BD Live," referring to the earliest and simplest of computer games. Yet Sony also acknowledged that several BD Live options have struck some early adopters as "a bit underwhelming."
Sony said it will continue to launch new BD Live features, with a big test of sorts coming up with this week's (April 28) Blu-ray release of "The Da Vinci Code." For the first time, Sony will include a BD live option in the Da Vinci package to enable users to obtain "movie cash" to go see the film's highly marketed prequel, "Angels & Demons," which opens in mid-May. While the two Dan Brown storylines differ, both films center on the same main character, played by Tom Hanks.
