The latest development on the Blu-Ray landscape is the feature known as BD-Live. It allows for interactive viewing and enables users to download additional content over the Internet using a Blu-Ray player or Sony PlayStation 3.
However, the one key ingredient for this to work – Internet connectivity – is a costly damper on uptake in South Africa. Through its partnership with ISP Axxess, SterKinekor Entertainment hopes to assist South African users to exploit this functionality more conveniently and at a lower cost.
Explains Nelmari Claassens, Sony Pictures marketing manager at SterKinekor
Entertainment: "Sony’s PS3 and Blu-Ray players both feature connectors to a router that provide Internet connectivity. By simply selecting the BD-Live button on the Blu-Ray disc menu, users can connect to the Internet and launch the BD-Live application.
They can then navigate the BD-Live homepage using the Blu-Ray player’s existing remote control and download content such as updated reviews, ring tones, and exclusive special features, and participate in gaming activities.
South Africa, however, faces a few unique challenges that make exploiting this functionality in BD-Live, available with the launch of Sony’s latest BD-player in September 2008, a challenge.
"BD-Live requires international bandwidth and in South Africa this is a costly service. This is why is it important to partner with an Internet service provider (ISP) that understands these challenges and is driven to provide packages that offer value-for-money along with value-adds," says Claassens.
Paul Fontana, director at ISP Axxess, says that “the quest for a ‘digital lifestyle’ is driving the development of applications and entertainment devices that increasingly make use of Internet connectivity. Blu-Ray technology and the enhanced home theatre experience that it delivers falls into this category with the introduction of the BD-Live feature.
"Although undersea cables will see the introduction of far more realistic pricing around international bandwidth, we are cognisant of current Internet enthusiasts’ requirements and are gearing ourselves for this."
Franco Barbalich, director at Axxess, says that “to meet the demand of Blu-Ray users in the local market, we plan to launch a new division of Axxess known as Axxess Media. Users will be able to download content from our servers, allowing them to save on the cost of international bandwidth.
Claassens says that BD-Live has “enjoyed a phenomenal response in the UK with 2 000 visitors on the first day of its launch. This figure increased to 8000 at the end of the first week of its soft launch, without any marketing behind it. The new features that will be imminently released on the BD-Live platform include interactive games with friends, family and other movie/gaming enthusiasts anywhere in the world. The pending release of ‘Men in Black’ in the Blu-Ray format, for example, features an interactive trivia game with BD-Live’s gaming option.
“And possibly the best part of this movie is the hysterical ‘alien commentary track’ where you can watch the movie with an alien language translated into subtitles. This is truly a 10th Anniversary Intergalactic Experience that only Blu-Ray can offer.”
"These are the kinds of value-adds that will have Blu-Ray viewers logging in via BD-Live. With ISPs like Axxess making this possible at a lower cost, uptake of this feature becomes realistic for a broader segment of users."
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