Sony and Blu-Ray pull a fast one -- free content!
by Nick Doerr 
{ Jul 17th 2006 at 12:30PM }
According to an article over at T3, a leaked Sony document details a few secrets about the PS3 and its internal Blu-Ray player. The Playstation 3 will be one of Sony's first pieces of hardware to use the "BD Live" technology, which allows Blu-Ray players (not limited to the PS3 -- most Blu-Ray players will incorporate this technology given a year or two) to go online and download new content whenever a disc is inserted.Thinking spyware? Adware? Pssh, please. Think more like movie trailers, actor biographies, or exclusive web-sites which can be accessed by the disc and/or saved directly onto your player for viewing later on. Sony says these downloadable contents can "also be shown, at least by the PS3, in a picture in picture window while the main movie is still playing." That doesn't seem really useful, but if you want to surf a secret website whilst a movie plays on, knock yourself out. Still, this downloadable content secret from Blu-Ray is pretty keen. Any ideas of good random content that will magically be downloaded onto your PS3? A movie soundtrack, at least a sample of, would be pretty cool.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Paul @ Jul 17th 2006 12:38PM
very cool, maybe this will translate into a way for free content (new PS3 exclusive levels? or character appearances?)
Paul @ Jul 17th 2006 12:53PM
just thought of another one - a company could produce X number of unmarked "special editions" that could access this stuff if you got lucky enough to get one. for some games (MGS/FF) i am sure some fanboys would buy multiple copies to try and get it.
SuicideNinja @ Jul 17th 2006 4:00PM
That could be used for good and bad things. The idea is sound; hopefully it isn't abused.
However, I'm not willing to plug in a movie player to my home network. There's enough traffic on it as is.
naggs @ Jul 17th 2006 4:36PM
this sounds pretty stupid, are they using my bandwidth to try to sell me stuff or is this content specific (if im watching Clerks info about jay and silent bob comes up)?
if there is no value added you can expect people to disable this.
Jeremy Brayton @ Jul 17th 2006 5:41PM
*Thinking spyware? Adware? Pssh, please.*
Nah, I'm just thinking the Sony DRM rootkit just got a hardware upgrade. It wouldn't work on computers but it will work on the PS3 since Sony owns every inch of the hardware.
Logically the idea doesn't hold up but when companies are hit with a "your DRM is evil" they usually don't scrap the project. It's someone's pet project, their baby that they obviously spent valuable time and energy (read: money) on. Just because we had the right to protect our PCs (our hardware), it will not translate to the right to protect our PS3s (their hardware).
I'm optimistic that Sony wouldn't dare try this again but if I would be foolish to blindly trust them not to try it again. Somehow people were convinced the rootkit was a viable solution and I don't think those same people have been convinced otherwise.
I do own a Xbox 360 (plan on getting a PS3 when I can justify the cost outside of just curing my Final Fantasy appetite) but I would be saying the same thing if the company involved were Microsoft. Neither company, when convinced of a "feature", are convinced when practically their entire customer base think said feature is evil.
Edge of Blade @ Jul 17th 2006 8:29PM
Mark my words. Sony, you are up to no good.
If your disk is so god-awful huge, why not just put it on the disk instead of giving us incentive to connect to your network so we can unwittingly send you a list of all the movies we watch. Or how about an incentive to connect and update the DRM that keeps your precious Blu-ray spinning money at you.
Think this way. When something illogical happens like the content that should be on the disk, you have to ask what's up. If they aren't charging money, then they have to be up to something else.
Scott @ Jul 17th 2006 8:38PM
"If they aren't charging money, then they have to be up to something else."
Well said!!
Tyler @ Jul 18th 2006 4:10AM
The disk already has enough memory as is. why have people download content when it could already be added in the movie. whats the point in spending money on a movie that doesn't have everything on it.
Ben @ Jul 18th 2006 5:36AM
"The disk already has enough memory as is. why have people download content when it could already be added in the movie. whats the point in spending money on a movie that doesn't have everything on it."
because the disk's ain't as big a sony want you to believe, otherwise it would all be on there, why would people PAY for How the movie was made anyway?
Jim N @ Jul 18th 2006 8:47AM
For those of you who were asking why they need to have the player go to the internet and download content instead of just store it on the disk, I think this website will help you understand.
Major Nelson did a podcast about HD-DVD and Blu-Ray it talks about the codecs used and the technology behind each. Check out the link and download the podcast.... yes the first 20 minutes are of some guy talking about HD-DVD but then they get into specs about Blu-Ray. I found it really interesting and learned alot about each techlogy.
http://www.majornelson.com/archive/2006/07/16/Show-183-The-one-about-HD-DVD.aspx
Todd H. @ Jul 18th 2006 9:18AM
From the sounds of things I'll prefer HD-DVD, seems to be less confusion going on with that platform. For now though, DVD is just fine...
Todd
http://www.proplaystation.com
JJ @ Jul 18th 2006 9:32AM
Well i guess they can add stuff the same way developers add stuff to games on 360. Just bonus content really, if it is really bonus content... stuff that comes out a few days after a game drops is suspect... but it could be useful for things like Roster updates and what not if of course developers used it right and to actually ADD things and not just fix mistakes.
For instance they could do things like what oblivion keeps doing and adding more and more to the game or add more quests to an RPG, etc.
It seems a lot like the DL content on 360 in a sense, except its tied directly to the disk.