Fox Plans First ‘PIP’ Blu-ray Disc
by Greg Tarr -- TWICE, 10/30/2007 8:41:00 AM
Los Angeles — Interactivity was a hot topic among Blu-ray Disc supporting studios during a Blu-ray Disc Fest for the press here Monday.
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment disclosed it expects to be the first to launch a Blu-ray title with picture-in-picture interactivity enabled by Sun’s BD-Java platform, when it releases the Sci-Fi thriller “Sunshine” in January.
A number of players will be on the market that support the 1.1 specs that enable the picture-in-picture with audio capability, including 256MB of persistent memory. Sony’s PlayStation3 is expected to soon receive a firmware update to utilize the feature.
Fox demonstrated the picture-in-picture feature during the festival event at its studios here. The feature presents an inset video of the filmmakers discussing the production of the film in a video stream that runs along with the feature.
Several early Blu-ray players were not designed to support the 1.1 BD specs supporting picture-in-picture features. Players using the rival HD DVD format have offered picture-in-picture capability since launch.
All new Blu-ray players launched after Oct. 31 are mandated to support the 1.1 spec by the Blu-ray Disc Association.
Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment has also disclosed it will offer picture-in-picture enabled releases next year, including “Finding Nemo” and “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.”...
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