New BD-Live Application Turns Blu-ray Players into VOD Boxes

Enteractive, a German Blu-ray production studio, demonstrated for the first time at the Media-Tech fair in Frankfurt its video-on-demand service 'Videociety' – a digital pay-per-view video delivery service that, through novel use of Java software, lets users rent movies via any Blu-ray player, provided it supports BD-Live. Official product launch is expected for later in the year. Basically, the Enteractive VoD Blu-ray Disc runs a specialized Java software application acting as a Client (browser). The Java application in the disc synchronizes with the Java operating system inside the Blu-ray player and executes the delivery of movies from a dedicated content management system and video server. Operation is similar to other streaming services already in existence, such as Netflix Watch Instantly, except that all BD-Live compatible players will support Videociety. The user must register and preselect the movies on a computer or iPhone. Then the BD-Live VoD-enabled disc is to be inserted in the Blu-ray player. Once a broadband connection and login are established, the title selected will begin streaming. The video codec used is MPEG-4 (H.264), although no information on the video resolution was given. Audio is stereo or 5.1 Dolby Digital. Videociety will be officially launched at Berlin's IFA in September. The company is currently in negotiations with all major and independent studios to secure content for the service in Germany, and already has access to over 400 titles from the catalog of sister companies Splendid Film, Polyband and WVG Media. There is no information about a launch in other countries, but if the application works, it will certainly become a very interesting product for all content providers worldwide.
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megazone  » Apr 30, 2009
I knew this kind of thing was coming - when I worked at Sling Media one of the suggestions I tossed out was that they look at implementing SlingPlayer in BD-J to turn every BD-Live player into a SlingCatcher.

The Great Robu  » Apr 30, 2009
were getting closer to only having 1 box to do everything

RIKANA  » Apr 30, 2009
Will I never thought I'de say it, But I think I'll rent more offten if this takes flight! RI

ubertaffy  » Apr 30, 2009
the earlier adopting people who already have BD players will not likely be as thrilled, since the quality is much lower on audio and certainly not quite as good on video than the full HD experience they wanted in the first place. however, this might do well for bringing in the masses to convert, which benefits everyone.

mustang750r  » Apr 30, 2009
Glad I bought a launch PS3.

djluis2k6  » Apr 30, 2009
Renting movies is so 90's.....

Minimejer05  » May 01, 2009
Sounds awesome!

russellstewart1  » May 05, 2009

Right idea, wrong implementation. I'm not sure I'm looking for a 5th VOD delivery platform in my living room (cable, xbox, PS3, apple TV, DirecTV). I'm sure there are cool connected experiences we can deliver with a disc based app (itself a throwback to...the 80's), but outside of casual gaming I'm not sure what they are. There's a good chance that there is a Netflix client already on the box, Amazon will most likely be there as well. What's the value of a disc based Java client??? Even inside the studios the idea of VOD delivery on BD disc is seen as a neat trick, but it's a tough sell against the number of existing VOD platforms two inches away (or on the same box for that matter).

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