Finally got round to checking out the Disney Platinum release of Sleeping Beauty on Bluray and was simply blown away. Picture and sound are incredible. The bonus "Dragon Encounter" is my new home theater audio demo with its incredible 7.1 atmospheric audio. The remastered Grand Canyon short looks beautiful and the surround mix of Grofe's suite is wonderful.
The real revelation here is the existing and planned features that hint at the future potential of BD Live. The living menus that change with the weather, seasons and time of day are cute but the concept is way more interesting.
I see many reviews which dismiss bonus features and BD Live functionality. Their premise is based on the existing use case of DVD. Most people only watch the main movie, hardly ever touch the extras. I am in the camp myself for most movies. The problem with this thought process is that it marginalizes your bluray player as simply a hidef dvd player. It is like comparing your pocket calculator and your PC.
The hidden potential of your bluray player is that it is a connected device. not just that but a 2-way connection. This means that any other connected device has the potential to interact with your player and even more importantly, the content.
Disney hints at this in their BD Live options. They talk about you being able to control your movie experience from another device. From something as simple as controlling the player and menus from your iPhone or Laptop to more interesting possibilities such as interacting with the content, moving it between devices, having one device know what you are doing on another device and responding. The basic value proposition of Java from day one.
The other argument against interactive TV has been that TV is a lean back experience, not a lean forward. You may have several viewers and interactive experiences are historically best suited to single viewer applications. You need to come at interaction from a different angle. How many of us use our laptops while watching TV for example? TV will likely always be a lean back shared experience but connected devices allow interaction at a different level. They also allow personalisation like never before.
The reality is the movie is only a small part of the experience in the future. Everyone is fighting to own your entertainment experience. Take the disc out the equation with digital content (forget downloading, it will all be online and live) and what you are left with is ONLY the surrounding experience.
Apple have already skipped the physical media step altogether. Apple TV is just an experiment for them. To see what they will do with your living room experience you really need to look at the iPhone. What Apple did was to present us their idea of a complete mobile experience. It is not a phone with additional features. It is a personal mobile device and as such has a feature list that includes making phone calls, listening and viewing media, information access, a complete experience. The iPod was the experiment for this experience. The Apple TV is the same for the living room. We should expect that Apple will try to reinvent that experience and present us a new vision that encompasses not just viewing of content but gaming, music, home automation, information access, etc. Don't be confused by the home theater PC. It may be able to be configured and programmed to give a similar effect but it will not present a truly connected experience and it will not be grandmother proof. That is what Apple excels at. And it will take them some time to do right. Not next year, but it is coming.
Given Walt Disney's own fascination with technology and the world of tomorrow it seems only fitting.
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