Blu-ray’s Coolest Feature is Bonus for Movie Lovers

There’s an ongoing battle rivaling anything the Transformers could throw at it: do you watch your movie from a disc or off of an Internet connection coming into your home? Discs may be easy to use, but broadband advocates will point out that all the content on it is locked when it ships – it can’t add anything new. Which is why BD-Live, found on Blu-ray discs, might represent the best of both worlds.

BD-Live is just a fancy way of saying that the disc has “hooks” for accessing a server online to receive new content that the movie studio has set up for it. Of course this won’t work unless the Blu-ray player has 1) an Ethernet port for connecting to the Internet, and 2) memory space for storing the content (as very little is being streamed at this time). Initially, that pretty much meant using a Playstation 3, but the latest generation of BD players are not only Internet capable but either come with internal memory storage, have a USB port for a thumb-drive, or add SD card slots to hold downloads (for example, Panasonic’s DMP-BD55 accepting up to a 32GB SD card).

More players being BD-Live capable has lead to more studios adding this capability to their discs; the paltry few with this feature found in early 2008 now becoming commonplace. But even better, studios are going beyond just being able to view a movie trailer or download a deleted scene, and instead adding unique content and forging online communities for aficionados of the titles.

It’s through these special BD-Live features that are peculiar to the disc that can make it a destination to keep coming back to. Sure, that sometimes requires an online registration first, but we’re all for being entertained in new ways and it’s great that new content can be available at any time. So here are some examples of what stands out when you go to the BD-Live party.
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment

Passion and action is key to what makes the cult-favorite X-Files enduring. The X-Files, I Want To Believe takes this to the next level by letting viewers weigh in with their own theories after browsing through Agent Dakota Whitney’s case files on clairvoyance. The Special Agent avatar that is created can post notes to the files online, as well as being able to download other profiles directly to the BD player’s memory. You can also become an agent-in-training and aid Agent Drummy in solving a number of forensic challenges that are posted to the BD-Live Web portal.

Staying with “X” gives us all three films in the X-Men Trilogy with the BD-Live exclusive previewing footage from the upcoming theatrical release of X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

Genius Products and The Weinstein Company
Superhero Movie includes a BD-Live portal where community forums can be accessed along with added and supplementary materials particular to the title. Other Blu-ray films from the studio also follow this lead, such as Vicky Cristina Barcelona.

Lions Gate Entertainment
Saw IV was one of the first to feature BD-Live in 2008. It introduced MoLog, where viewers could share in discussions online about Blu-ray titles from LG (forums can also be accessed from a computer as well). Saw V, Disaster Movie and My Best Friend’s Girl continues this tradition but also adds an interactive “blog tool set.” This lets viewers insert and animate graphics into “blogs” that integrate with the film – shared with and viewed by other MoLog users. My Best Friend’s Girl also lets users put together their own version of the “Tanking Game.”

Paramount Home Entertainment
The multiple choice IQ test found on Iron Man: Ultimate Edition is specific to scenes being shown from the movie and time sensitive – a timer counting down to keep the stress level up. The BD-Live on Transformers won’t come as a surprise to those who had the HD DVD disc – the Intelligence Mode features on-screen widgets that accompany the film’s playback and track where the robots are, as well as provide information about them, along with a data panel providing updated commentary.

There is also video streaming of a fight sequence using video diary footage and animatics, with the anticipation of content becoming available for the upcoming sequel. Tropic Thunder: Director’s Cut meanwhile goes the route of additional video content to view – including video rehearsals and commentary from the film’s “director” (actually the actor).

Kung-Fu Panda (Dreamworks Animation and Paramount Home Entertainment) provides kid-centric downloadable content. There’s a featurette on young monks, as well as being able to choose from and listen to the Panda speaking in a number of foreign languages.

And for the eternally patient Trek fan, two box sets upcoming – Star Trek: Motion Picture Trilogy and The Star Trek: Original Motion Picture Collection (all 6 films) will come with BD-Live as part of the mix.

Showtime Networks, CBS Home Entertainment and Paramount Home Entertainment

Dexter – The Complete First Season
As befits a serial killer, the BD-Live additions are nice and gory. Online featurettes – The Academy of Blood: A Killer Course and Witnessed in Blood – A True Murder Investigation – are accompanied by a podcast from the lead actor, Michael C. Hall. Additionally, there is the option to download and view the first episode from Season Three as well as from another Showtime show, United States Of Tara.

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Starship Troopers 3: Marauder uses BD-Live to let you become part of the movie, albeit just for a few scenes. Take a picture of yourself and upload it to the special Sony Web server. Then select “Put Yourself In The Film: Join The Fight” and watch as your face takes the place of one of the troopers. There’s also a download from Comic-Con 2008 that happened too late to be included on the disc.

What does an older title like Men In Black share with the more recent Rachel Getting Married? Both can access Sony’s BD-Live portal. Not only can new content be found here even when the discs themselves don’t feature any (for example, a download of an extra from the movie Hancock), but there’s also the BD-Rewards program offering points for buying Sony products and merchandise.

Donkey Kong and other platform-loving retro-gamers will find Pineapple Express’ Ride The Express a hoot. Playing a character from the film, you’ll scale ladders and levels while retrieving your personal property and scarfing down points. Just make sure Ted and the killer pineapples don’t get you!

Universal Studios Home Entertainment
Universal’s earlier experience with HD DVD shows in their BD-Live Center, a one-stop-shop for viewing trailers, finding information on new titles, as well as accessing community features and of course viewing the particular content of a disc.  

The Bourne Collection features a number of BD-Live options; the first particular being the Bourne card battle strategy game, which pits users against each other in a hand-to-hand combat simulation. There’s also My Chat, for messengering online with others also watching the movie; My Movie Commentary which lets you record a video (using a Web cam) that can be shared with others online; My Scenes Sharing, for book marking and sharing favorite video clips with others through live Internet discussion.

There are a number of other titles with some of these features active in them, such as Death Race, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor and Mamma Mia: The Movie. The same goes for The Rock Collection (Doom, The Rundown, Scorpion King), WANTED and Street Fighter: Extreme Edition. Hellboy II: The Golden Army also has downloadable content to watch from comic book artist Guy Davis plus the Comic Book Builder – where still images from the movie can be selected and placed into a comic-book format along with text and then e-mailed or published through BD-Live buddy lists. And Role Models will include the BD-Live “Ye Old Crest Maker” for personalizing a coat of arms that can be shared with others through the BD-Live Center.

Walt Disney Home Entertainment
Disney’s BD-Live Network offers an online community that is family-friendly and easy to use. It was first introduced with Sleeping Beauty and is now shared by other BD titles like Wall-E, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian and Tinker Bell. The BD-Live Network eschews passive watching for actively engaging the viewer, for example through Movie Mail that lets you send and “insert” a created video into the film while it’s being watched.

There’s also Movie Chat for “instant messaging” and being able to accumulate and redeem points for watching special videos and other downloadable extras (Movie Challenge). And while using these features is done in a similar fashion on each disc, the graphics are uniquely designed to be specific for each movie.

Warner Bros. Home Video
Warner’s BD-Live Home Screen includes many options, including Profile information, Help screens and a WB store (some of which are works-in-progress at the time this was written). Those accessing the Media Center with The Dark Knight disc can view streaming serialized Batman cartoons along with tidbits from creative types like the Director in Extras as well as watching trailers.

Express Yourself lets you set up a movie commentary as a live screening that can be shared with others online, while My WB commentary lets you watch or record your own commentary to the movie (this being done using a Web cam and the PC and then uploading the video to an online server). Exclusive content is also becoming more readily available as a result of BD-Live; being found on new titles such as Body of Lies and Nights in Rodanthe. yy