Sean writes:
Iron Man was released [this week] on DVD and Blu-Ray and there is much ire in the Blu-Ray community regarding the BD-Live aspects of the disc. When the disc is first booted the disc loads some information from the internet and begins an auto download. This load is taking anywhere from 2 minutes to over 45 minutes.
Last night I struggled for over an hour and half trying to get the disc to play, but all I could get was an "Iron Man" heart on my screen that did nothing but flash. I finally consulted the internet and found some advice on a few forums stating that I needed to change the BD-Live function of my player from Auto to Confirm; then to reload the disc and not allow the BD-Live functionality.
There is no warning on the disc that this initial load could take 30+ minutes to load. And what does this time intensive application do? It loads an interactive quiz that viewers may take during the movie. This should be something that is offered after watching the movie for the first time from the menu, not during initial start up.
I wonder how many consumers are taking the discs back to the retailer thinking the disc is broken or defective, only to get home and see the same thing again.
A post on Consumerist could go a long way towards educating the public on another "wonderful" marketing idea.
Done! Change the BD-Live setting on your player from Auto to Confirm so you're not forced to deal with future auto-connect Blu-ray "features."
]]>@bitgod: and I've never had the same problem with a bluray disk, either. So far, this is the first I've heard of this (and it didn't even do it when I played it this weekend on my PS3).
]]>There I was a month before any discs were on the shelf watching a rip I downloaded.
]]>Has anybody attempted to disconnect/turn off their modem before watching the movie? If no internet is detected, is the movie unplayable?
I also wonder why people are not being alerted via their firewall when new and unknown connections are being made.
Is there a reason why more and more companies are putting in "call home" functions into their software?
I see no consumer benefit from this except to receive the latest patches and even then the console should only review the content on its side, not server-side.
Sort of a-la windows update. I guess I'm assuming that when Windows says "No information is being sent to Microsoft" it actually means that.
Also these programs/BluRay DVDs are assuming you have network access. What happens if there is no network or if there is a firewall?
]]>@cerbie: I don't think so. And I'm pretty sure that VLC's DVD function isn't legal.
I haven't looked at it closely enough. Anyone can inform us of this?
]]>He noted that HD DVD specifications mandated that all HD DVD players had to come with a built-in Internet connection. Why? It allowed producers of movie HD DVDs to supply consumers with trailers, cuts and games. He also noted that interactivity best mirrors the lifestyle of today's growing YouTube, MySpace and Facebook fan base.
]]>Wow ... inviation @ its worst ...
Eat up my bandwidth ( unrequested )
Lock up my computer
Focus on crapware instead of the fact that I bought the movie to WATCH the movie ...
Someone tell me again why I want to run right out and piss away 400 dollars on a Blu-ray player ?
And as a previous poster said, Standard DVD's have already had these lame " features " since the 90's.
]]>I doubt it. DRM is pretty much built into blu-ray players already. Any more would be redundant.
]]>I bet it's some sort of DRM package.
]]>"And they get to PAY for it too!"
HAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHHAHAHAHHAAAA!!!!!!!!
(evil laughter)
]]>And if you read the BD live, they will collect info on you. What kind of player you are using, your IP, Day, Time, and more, "non identifying info."
If I didn't think this movie was awesome I wouldn't bother. But alas, it is awesome and I want to watch it.
it doesn't take an hour to download if the servers aren't bonked, that was the issue on Tuesday (along with some possible internet issues on the customer end)
i'd guess the trivia is downloaded not because of a lack of storage space but because they want to add questions in the future.
]]>Nice to know that a disc with such massive storage capacity can't make room for a tiny, text-only quiz, which is so bloatedly programmed that it takes almost an hour to download.
This is why people pirate movies, Paramount.
]]>It doesn't take that long, Their BD(BS)-Live Servers were just overloaded on the first day. I did it on Wednesday and it took less than 2 minutes and it asked me if I wanted to download it to my Playstation 3.
]]>If you look it up online it says that Iron Man Blu-Ray discs put into Sony Blu-Ray players have "issues"...
]]>Also make sure your servers can deal with a lot of people trying to watch the movie for the first time all at the same time. Most people who had this problem seemed to be trying to watch it in the evening on Tuesday which tells me the server was just overloaded.
]]>My PS3 asked if I would like to download the extra content. It didn't "just do it". Not to mention like a previous poster, my PS3 took all of 2 minutes to download it. It's not the disc manufacturers fault if your player isn't hooked up to the internet or you have a slow connection.
]]>Another reason the big boys should be trying to prevent caps from being put in place by internet providers.
]]>Obviously Sony does not know what people want from their Blu-rays.
]]>I had a similar problem and found myself staring at ARC reactor logo for 10 minutes. Nothing. It just froze. I restarted and I popped in Disk 2 and it worked. I took it back to the store and exchanged it. This time it loaded right away and didn't hassle me or otherwise prevent the Blu-ray DVD from working. To access the Bl-ray Live content, you have to drill down into the menu to turn it on. Exchange it.
]]>Wonder if anyone with Blue-Ray on their PC has noticed any rootkits or trojans or crapware appearing after one of these downloads.
And no, this isn't innovation. In the late 90's several of my son's DVDs had interactive games (lame ones, yes)and the ability to open special websites if you were on a computer. I don't see the innovation in letting you play a game that's got to download off of the internet.
]]>I don't see what the big deal is, obviously people aren't using a PS3 (the best recommended Blu Ray player) to watch Iron Man. I am an hour into it and I had it download the stuff at the beginning, and it only took 2 minutes...and I agree with Darklighter, Blu Ray Live is apparent on any BD with the feature, especially this one. Not many BD's have this feature yet, but i'm all for it b/c it is innovation. Lets see your upscaled DVD access the internets...
]]>Sure wish I had upgraded.
/sarcasm
]]>@Khuluna
"It's like a meme! "You will do this quiz and you will LIKE IT!"
You want your internet meme, here ya go:
Don't quiz me bro!
:p
]]>