Audio Video News

The BD-Live interactive online content feature of the Blu-ray Disc format hasn't gotten much attention since it debuted last year. That's because the content sucked at the start, and it didn't improve despite ridicule in the press and on Internet forums. But at the recent Blu-Con 2.0 conference, I was corralled by a couple of guys from exhibitor Giant Interactive, who swore up and down that their new technological twist would at long last permit BD-Live to stop sucking. (OK, that's not exactly the way they put it.)

Although I couldn't quite get my head around their elevator pitch, the cool-looking graphics in their demo caught my eye long enough for them to get the new Blu-Ray Disc of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, The Ninth Season into my hands. They promised that the disc's state-of-the-art BD-Live features would change my mind about the technology. Even though I'd sworn to myself that I'd never again waste my time looking at BD-Live content, I told them I'd give it a fair shot.

Until now, BD-Live has been mostly a dumping ground: You sit through a slow download only to be "rewarded" with a menu full of movie trailers you could watch on any number of online sites.

Giant Interactive says its BD-Connect technology will improve this dismal status quo. As best I can understand it, BD-Connect is a development platform for BD-Live content, including video, interactive quizzes, photo galleries, and more. The company says the technology is in broad use in Europe, where it's known as dynamicHD.

CSI definitely delivered a richer experience than I've seen in other BD-Live content. A main menu provided me with numerous choices: an on-screen CSI Handbook, video clips from two recent forensics conferences, more clips featuring snippets of commentary from three of the show's stars—and, of course, trailers from CBS/Paramount.

I can't say the clips from the conferences dazzled me—after all, we're essentially talking about trade show coverage here. But that's not the technology's fault. If this were something more in line with my interests—if it were, say, the Flyboys Blu-ray and the BD-Live features included a lengthy interview with the world's greatest expert on the The conference clips are in standard definition video that looks pretty soft. However, I could choose from SD or HD versions for the actors' commentary, and while the HD versions didn't look like 1080p, they looked satisfyingly sharp nonetheless.

A CBS BD-Live community link led me to even cooler stuff, including a forum where you can talk to other fans of the show, and interactive trivia quizzes you can play while the show's running.

The downside is the download. All of the content has to be downloaded from the web through your Profile 2.0 Blu-ray player. Even with my LG Blu-ray player connected through a wired network, and with a reasonably fast 6 Mb/sec Internet connection, the download times were painfully slow. It took 3 minutes, 45 seconds to get into the main BD-Live menu, 1 minute to download a 2:18 SD clip, and 1:45 to download a 1:14 HD clip. Maybe I'm spoiled by the quick operation of my Blu-ray player's Netflix streaming, but these download times seem slow enough to dissuade a casual checking-out of a disc's BD-Live features

However, the quizzes and other content available on the CBS BD-Live community worked fairly quickly—not as fast as they would off a disc, but fast enough that I never got frustrated.

For BD-Live to get anywhere, studios will need to put much more creative energy into their BD-Live offerings. But at least CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, The Ninth Season proves it is possible to deliver worthwhile content with BD-Live.

—Brent Butterworth