Summary of my first impression on various BD-Live from different studios

 

So now I have experienced several BD-Live titles from different studios, I think it’s time to put down something before I forgot…

1. SONY

SONY’s BD-Live has a clean interface, but not very attractive, actually it looks very retrospective… The BD-Live page separates to three columns, each column reveals a bit more details. The BD-Live account, for the first time user you have to register; however if you are a SONY rewards member, you can log in using your account info, no registration is required. SONY also gives a bit incentive to buy their titles, you can register to become a SONY Blu-ray Club member, for each title you registered, they give you 100 points (equivalent to $1). When you register 10 titles, they give you a $10 coupon redeemable only at their own sonystyle store, which has some seriously inflated prices (basically MSRP price). So combining 100 points*10 = $10 + $10 off coupon (can’t double), the best you can get is $10 for a catalog Blu-ray movie… Back to the BD-Live content, currently they offer a bunch of previews, but somehow no actual streaming videos (maybe I haven’t found that place)?

Tested title: You Don’t Mess with the Zohan (Terrible movie and some of the worst Blu-rays I’ve seen in terms of video quality)
From now on, I think all SONY’s release will be BD-Live. For older releases, you can refer to this page.

 

2. Warner Bros

WB’s BD-Live has a clean interface as well, it’s quite attractive. The BD-Live page separates to top and bottom, the bottom portion has a series of buttons, kind of like the buttons in Mac, that you do navigation, the top portion which consist most of the space displays corresponding information. Most contents are streaming video with poor quality (VC-1@ 1Mbps), shown in a very small boxed window. They delete the cache after you left BD-Live page I think. Other contents are special events, they just had a screening events with Dark Knight’s Director on 12/18, I missed that since I bought my steelbook Dark Knight from Canada Futureshop.

Tested title: Dark Knight

 

3. Disney

Disney’s BD-Live is absolutely terrible, you can’t register directly from their disc. You have to register on computer first, then log on… And the registration process is very confusing, I spent at least 30-40 minutes trying to register, fortunately I got it through, turns out that I have a bad username… The BD-Live page is in similar fashion as Warner’s, but the operation isn’t very smooth even on the most powerful Blu-ray player on the market – PS3 (maybe they just used too much Java codes..). For BD-Live contents, I don’t remember what they offered…

Tested title: Wall-E

 

4. Paramount

Paramount’s BD-Live is exactly the same as the HD-DVD version. I don’t think registration is necessary for accessing any contents. The navigation is a lot smoother than HD-DVD.

Tested title: Transformers, Kung Fu Panda, Iron man (boring movie, not sure why so many people think it’s great…)

 

Summary:

At least BD-Live is functioning on my PS3, I have heard quite a few people who can’t get it to work on their standalone machines.