Attention: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment is interested in YOUR feedback
Specifically, concerning the movieIQ feature which was first announced back in June:
Have you tried it?
Do you like it?
Do you dislike it?
Are you ambivalent about the feature?
How do you think it compares for instance, in terms of user friendliness to Universal’s U-Control feature, etc?
P-M thanks you ahead of time for all intelligent and mature comments (pro or con) regarding this feature and assures you that those responses will be read by someone at the V.P. level (or their administrative assistant) involved with this project.
A paucity of responses will be assumed to reflect the fact that you guys are so ecstatically happy with this feature, that you are truly speechless.
For some background information, this is the original press announcement:
Quote:
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Partners with Gracenote To Deliver First Live, In-Movie Film Information with MovieIQ
BD-Live™ Enabled Technology to be Featured on Upcoming Blu-ray Disc™ Titles Including Angels & Demons and Easy Rider
San Francisco, CA (June 18, 2009) - Sony Pictures Home Entertainment today announced the launch of MovieIQ, a new Blu-ray Disc feature powered by Gracenote® that offers viewers access to a real-time movie database. With a movieIQ-enabled Blu-ray Disc and an internet-connected Blu-ray™ player, movie fans can immediately access continuously-updated information on cast and crew and explore relevant trivia such as production facts, music and soundtrack information all tied to scenes within the movie. SPHE will feature movieIQ on upcoming Blu-ray Disc titles starting in September and will offer it on all major catalog titles and new releases including Angels & Demons, Easy Rider, Punch Drunk Love, The Quick and the Dead, Silverado and sex, lies, and videotape.
"It has always been our goal at Sony Pictures to offer fans the ability to truly connect with their favorite movies using BD-Live," said Lexine Wong, Senior Executive Vice President of Worldwide Marketing at Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. "We know many people interrupt their movie-watching experience to look up the filmography of an actor or to find out more about a song playing in the background. Now through movieIQ, movie lovers can dive into constantly-updated information about the movie they are watching without leaving their sofa, further enhancing the experience of watching movies in this always-connected age."
movieIQ takes advantage of Gracenote's Video Explore solution, which brings powerful search and navigation capabilities to connected consumer electronic devices. Video Explore allows users to search the online Gracenote video database, linking together related cast, crew, movies, TV episodes, franchises, seasons, DVDs, and Blu-rays. Gracenote's global Video database contains rich video information for North America, Europe, and Japan, including factual metadata, synopses, credits, and detailed descriptive elements.
"We are thrilled to be partnering with Sony Pictures to deliver movieIQ, a feature that takes full advantage of the Blu-ray format's internet connectivity and truly demonstrates that Blu-ray is the future of home entertainment," said Ross Blanchard, VP of Business Development at Gracenote. "Now, movie lovers will have access to an incredible new service where they can explore and discover all the rich details on their favorite actors, directors and movies."
The movieIQ feature is the latest addition to SPHE's BD-Live portfolio, which also includes social networking through cinechat, multiplayer games, and a customizable music video editor, as well as soundtrack playlists, e-movie cash, downloadable featurettes, and more, available on over 100 Sony Pictures Blu-ray titles worldwide since the technology launched in spring of 2008.
I personally enjoy it. I used it on Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 to identify certain score cues that I liked and actors that I weren't sure who they were. It was easy to find out that 3 of the actors starred in Transformers 2 together. I look forward to using it on Angels & Demons as well.
That surprises me because I would think that at least the members here who jointly hold moderator privileges would keep up with the News Page regularly……. https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=2931
Oh well, let me know what you think when you try out the feature.
If anything, threads/polls like this differentiate SPHE from the rest of the ‘pack’ in terms of obtaining input from consumers………..
I think it shouldn't need a connection to the internet. Maybe a player connected to the internet can be more up to date, but I think it should work with non-connected players too, by putting the data on disc. I won't be using this feature if it needs an internet connection.
I think it shouldn't need a connection to the internet. Maybe a player connected to the internet can be more up to date, but I think it should work with non-connected players too, by putting the data on disc. I won't be using this feature if it needs an internet connection.
I think these type of features can only really work when they can be updated continually.
I think these type of features can only really work when they can be updated continually.
According to the article:
Quote:
movie fans can immediately access continuously-updated information on cast and crew
They will know cast and crew information up to the time the Blu-ray is released. In fact if you bought a newer Bu-ray release, maybe that could store the newest info on a memory card or something in the Blu-ray player.
Quote:
and explore relevant trivia such as production facts, music and soundtrack information all tied to scenes within the movie.
All of the above could be put onto the disc. There is no reason for them to require an internet connection for that.
Quote:
find out more about a song playing in the background
They will know cast and crew information up to the time the Blu-ray is released. In fact if you bought a newer Bu-ray release, maybe that could store the newest info on a memory card or something in the Blu-ray player.
All of the above could be put onto the disc. There is no reason for them to require an internet connection for that.
No need for internet connection for this.
It's about being able to update it regularly. The most up to date info on a memory card when you buy it will be cumbersome to do, will be outdated as soon as the standard information on a disc and will probably increase the price as well.
Of course you could fit the information on the disc itself, but there's always something being left out or something like that. That could easily be avoided when there's internet access. I can understand that you don't like to hook up your BD player to the internet, but you don't have to knock this program for that.
Have not had the chance to play with it but i'm very interested in this type of feature. I know there are times when watching a film that you always have a curiousity of someone or something going on in a scene, this provides a real time connection with the latest information available for the film.
It's about being able to update it regularly. The most up to date info on a memory card when you buy it will be cumbersome to do, will be outdated as soon as the standard information on a disc and will probably increase the price as well.
Of course you could fit the information on the disc itself, but there's always something being left out or something like that. That could easily be avoided when there's internet access. I can understand that you don't like to hook up your BD player to the internet, but you don't have to knock this program for that.
I meant the information should always be put onto the disc - and it will be a lot quicker to read the info from the disc than through the internet. For any info that needs keeping up to date (and I've said that a lot of stuff doesn't), that info could be could be copied from your disc onto a memory card in the player if the release date of the disc you are playing > the release date of the disc that had had the data previously copied from the disc to the memory card. So even if you watched an old release, the data on the memory card would be as up to date as the newest release you had bought.
I wish they would stop making features that they make require an internet connection when what they do/most of what they do doesn't need it, and it would work faster if reading from the disc than through the internet.
I meant the information should always be put onto the disc - and it will be a lot quicker to read the info from the disc than through the internet. For any info that needs keeping up to date (and I've said that a lot of stuff doesn't), that info could be could be copied from your disc onto a memory card in the player if the release date of the disc you are playing > the release date of the disc that had had the data previously copied from the disc to the memory card. So even if you watched an old release, the data on the memory card would be as up to date as the newest release you had bought.
I wish they would stop making features that they make require an internet connection when what they do/most of what they do doesn't need it, and it would work faster if reading from the disc than through the internet.
Do you mean have the consumer copy/download the information from the internet on their computer, transfer it to a memory card and then plug that in while watching the movie so that the feature is up to date? Either way, it's adding useless steps IMO. I like it the way that it is, it only takes me like 30 seconds to get the MovieIQ function working.
Do you mean have the consumer copy/download the information from the internet on their computer, transfer it to a memory card and then plug that in while watching the movie so that the feature is up to date? Either way, it's adding useless steps IMO. I like it the way that it is, it only takes me like 30 seconds to get the MovieIQ function working.
No, they should put the info on the disc, and not need an internet connection.
eg. every movie with this movie iq feature gets released with the very latest movie_iq.dat file on the Blu-ray disc. If there is no movie_iq.dat on your memory card, the one from your current disc gets copied over, otherwise, if the version number of the movie_iq.dat file that is on your memory card is < the version number of the movie_iq.dat file that is on disc, the one that is on the disc gets copied over to the memory card. This way, even while playing a Blu-ray disc that was released ages ago, the movie iq data would be as up to date as your most recent Blu-ray disc that had this movie iq feature (whichever had the highest/most recent movie_iq.dat version number).
No connection to the internet is required for this. Also, things that don't need to be kept up to date wouldn't need to be copied over. eg. the disc itself would hold things like the name of whatever music/song was playing at a particular point in the film or whatever else that wouldn't change for that title.
No, they should put the info on the disc, and not need an internet connection.
eg. every movie with this movie iq feature gets released with the very latest movie_iq.dat file on the Blu-ray disc. If there is no movie_iq.dat on your memory card, the one from your current disc gets copied over, otherwise, if the version number of the movie_iq.dat file that is on your memory card is < the version number of the movie_iq.dat file that is on disc, the one that is on the disc gets copied over to the memory card. This way, even while playing a Blu-ray disc that was released ages ago, the movie iq data would be as up to date as your most recent Blu-ray disc that had this movie iq feature (whichever had the highest/most recent movie_iq.dat version number).
No connection to the internet is required for this. Also, things that don't need to be kept up to date wouldn't need to be copied over. eg. the disc itself would hold things like the name of whatever music/song was playing at a particular point in the film or whatever else that wouldn't change for that title.
So you're saying MovieIQ should be like IMDB, but without the internet connection? And that each MovieIQ disc, should contain updates for previous MovieIQ releases?
The internet connection seems to be the best way that this is handled. Think of how far in advance a disc is produced. By the time a title is release, a person's bio could be out dated.
All countries
Argentina
Austria
Belgium
Brazil
Bulgaria
Chile
China
Colombia
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Estonia
Denmark
Finland
Greece
Hong Kong
Hungary
Iceland
Indonesia
Ireland
Israel
India
Latvia
Lithuania
Malaysia
New Zealand
Norway
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Russia
Singapore
South Africa
South Korea
Sweden
Switzerland
Taiwan
Thailand
Turkey
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
MovieIQ Feature
when you try out the feature. 
Linear Mode
