Dexter Seasons 1-6 BD-LIVE feature can damage the Blu-ray formats reputation

[HDTV1080P]

Dexter Seasons 1-6 is an excellent example on how the BD-LIVE feature can damage the Blu-ray formats reputation

I am not against the BD-LIVE feature when it’s reliable and offers some nice features. Some Blu-ray titles from some studios offer additional audio commentary tracks as a streaming or downloaded feature over BD-LIVE 6 months or so after the Blu-ray physical disc is released (That is a good example of BD-LIVE). There are some studios like 20th Century Fox that uses BD-LIVE in a positive way by offering several HD movie trailers and several HD bonus features that can be downloaded to a 2TB e-SATA hard drive that is connected to an OPPO BDP-93 Blu-ray player.

I am not a Dexter fan but one of my family members likes Dexter and they own seasons 1-6 on Blu-ray since it is one of their favorite series. This thread is about how Showtime Entertainment/Paramount Home Video has used the BD-LIVE feature in a very negative way to upset some consumers that own Blu-ray players. It should be mentioned that Dexter seasons 1-6 contains almost no bonus feature on the physical Blu-ray discs except for rare examples like season one which has an audio commentary track. So the BD-LIVE feature becomes an extremely important feature for seasons 1-6 for those consumers that want to watch exclusive bonus features.

Dexter season 4, season 5, and season 6 will load directly to the BD-LIVE main menu instead of the Blu-ray discs main menu when the Blu-ray disc is inserted in a Blu-ray player. So every time a consumer inserts Blu-ray disc number 1, number 2, or number 3 for season 4, season 5, and season 6 they are forced to see the BD-LIVE main menu instead of the Blu-ray discs main menu. To play any of the episodes for season 4, season 5, and season 6 of Dexter the consumer needs to push the buttons on the remote control and select the Main Menu option so the Blu-ray discs main menu will load. To make matters worse some older Blu-ray players have loading problems with Dexter season 4, season 5, and season 6 and it can take several minutes for the BD-LIVE screen to load and then another several minutes for the consumer to exit to the Main Menu to watch a Dexter episode (A very high-end fast computer with a BD-ROM drive can load the Dexter discs in a few seconds).

The Dexter season 4, season 5, and season 6 BD-LIVE feature has also caused problems with Blu-ray players not even being able to load these 3 seasons at all when BD-LIVE network access is turned on. OPPO Digital INC on August 14th 2012 came out with a firmware update for the OPPO BDP-93/95 that allowed consumers for the first time to load Dexter season 4, season 5, and season 6 when BD-LIVE network access is turned on. I can understand why the average consumer still collects DVD discs since they do not have to deal with all kinds of loading problems that the 6 year old Blu-ray format still has for some Blu-ray titles.

99.9% of the consumers do not want their Blu-ray player automatically going to the BD-LIVE main menu screen when they insert any Dexter season 4, season 5, and season 6 Blu-ray disc. Consumers want to watch the episodes first. They do not want to have to exit out of the BD-LIVE menu to get to the Dexter Blu-ray discs main menu every time discs number 1, number 2, and number 3 is inserted. In the past BD-LIVE portal to the Internet was an optional feature that consumers manually clicked on after they finished watching the episodes.

If Showtime Entertainment/Paramount Home Video wanted to use the BD-LIVE feature on Dexter season 4, season 5, and season 6 then they should have only offered a manual option for consumers to launch the BD-LIVE feature instead of Showtime Entertainment/Paramount Home Video forcing the BD-LIVE main menu screen to load when any Blu-ray disc for seasons 4-6 is inserted into a Blu-ray player.

Dexter season 4, season 5, and season 6 contains exclusive BD-LIVE content that consumers can stream over the Internet. The BD-LIVE Showtime features include behind the scenes 480i MPEG-4/AVC Dexter interviews with the cast along with many hours from other Showtime programs that are shown at 480i using MPEG-4/AVC. Showtime offers a few complete preview episodes of some of their other Network TV series in hopes that consumers will become interested in other Showtime programs.

Dexter season 1, season 2, and season 3 Blu-ray discs BD-LIVE interface is much better but there is no working BD-LIVE content to currently watch

Showtime Entertainment/Paramount Home Video correctly designed the interfaces for seasons 1-3 of Dexter. For seasons 1-3 of Dexter each Blu-ray discs loads to the Blu-ray discs main menu when the Blu-ray discs are inserted in the Blu-ray player (That’s how every Blu-ray disc should work). BD-LIVE for seasons 1-3 requires the consumer to manually select the BD-LIVE feature from a option on the Blu-ray discs main menu to launch the Internet based BD-LIVE feature. For example season 2 uses a unique looking download interface that allows consumers to download higher quality 480i bonus material to their Blu-ray players internal or external storage location (higher quality compared to low bit rate 480i streaming). Season 1 and 3 of Dexter share the exact same BD-LIVE download interface but the interface is different when compared to season 2.

The problem is the BD-LIVE 480i Dexter interviews and 480i Showtime preview episodes are disabled for seasons 1-3 of Dexter. For Dexter season 2 on Blu-ray there is an Episodes and Trailers section that will access BD-LIVE. The problem is all the bonus features for season 2 on Blu-ray can no longer be played over BD-LIVE since Showtime has pulled the server that was handling the BD-LIVE downloads for Dexter season 2. Then for the Dexter season 1 and season 3 download interface Showtime Entertainment/Paramount Home Video has never offered any bonus features for seasons 1 and 3 and most likely will never do so. Its been over 3 years since Showtime Entertainment/Paramount Home Video released season 1 and 3 of Dexter on Blu-ray and they have never offered any BD-LIVE features at all for those two seasons even though the Blu-ray discs contain the BD-LIVE download interface:

The following is a quote from season 1 review of Dexter

“standard bonuses are a couple of commentaries ported over from the DVDs.”

“The rest of the bonus features are only accessible online via a BD-Live capable Blu-ray player. This content was supposed to be available on January 6, 2009, but as of this writing Paramount still hasn’t put anything up yet. I can’t give any ratings for what isn’t there, but I can tell you whats supposed to be here eventually.”

The following is a quote from season 3 review of Dexter

“The Complete Third Season' sinks to a new low. All that's here is a BD-Live portal which technically is supposed to include novel excerpts, cast interviews, and bonus episodes from other Showtime series, however there wasn't anything there the last time I checked. This really could have (and should have) been handled much better. Very disappointing indeed.”

In summary

So even though Dexter seasons 1-3 use a much better BD-LIVE download interface that requires the consumer to manually launch the BD-LIVE feature, it is totally useless since for over 3 years there has not been any downloadable BD-LIVE content for seasons 1 and 3. Plus season 2 downloadable bonus features were pulled from the server which makes season 2 BD-LIVE features totally useless also.

Seasons 4-6 of Dexter do contain active streaming content currently. However when it comes to Dexter seasons 4-6 those 3 seasons use a streaming BD-LIVE interface that launches the BD-LIVE main menu automatically every time a Blu-ray disc is inserted. People want to go to the main Blu-ray disc menu when a Blu-ray disc is inserted and they do not want the online BD-LIVE internet connection to automatically load the BD-LIVE menu every time a Blu-ray disc is inserted.

The solution to this problem is to do the following for Season 7 of Dexter on Blu-ray

Seasons 1-3 used the best interface for BD-LIVE but since BD-LIVE is not being supported at all for those seasons then the same thing could happen in the future for seasons 4-6. Consumers are getting tired of the BD-LIVE feature from Showtime Entertainment/Paramount Home Video and BD-LIVE has turned into a big negative of the Blu-ray format because of loading problems and studios not supporting the BD-LIVE feature properly.

The BD-LIVE feature should not even be used at all for season 7 of Dexter. For season 7 of Dexter Showtime Entertainment/Paramount Home Video should raise the list price of Dexter season 7 by $5.00 in order to pay for a 4th bonus disc. Then Dexter Season 7 should include a 4th bonus disc on either Blu-ray or DVD that contains all the extra features. If the bonus features are only going to be 480i quality then a dual layer 8.5GB DVD might be all that is needed. If the bonus features are going to contain more than 8.5GB’s of 480i data then a 25GB or 50GB Blu-ray disc should be used. The ideal bonus features should be on a 50GB Blu-ray disc in true HD quality.

[victimofthecity]

...Um I didn't really know this was a huge issue? And also, no thanks for the price hike. I'd rather push some buttons to get to the episodes then pay five dollars more for some content I probably won't even want to watch.

[HDTV1080P]

Originally Posted by victimofthecity

...Um I didn't really know this was a huge issue? And also, no thanks for the price hike. I'd rather push some buttons to get to the episodes then pay five dollars more for some content I probably won't even want to watch.

The other options are to either offer no bonus disc with no price hike or to start supporting BD-LIVE properly like other studios do.

[Red's got the Blu's]

Huh, I've never watched the series and figured at some point I'd blind buy it when I see a real good sale, after reading this I think I'll be staying far away no matter the price point.

[Cahleb]

What? I am not reading all of that. Can someone post a smaller rundown?

[KilloWertz]

Originally Posted by Red's got the Blu's

Huh, I've never watched the series and figured at some point I'd blind buy it when I see a real good sale, after reading this I think I'll be staying far away no matter the price point.

The series is good enough and is very solid on Blu-ray, so I think it's still worth it even without any working special features beyond commentaries on half the series so far. It does really suck that they put almost all of the features on BD-Live since there are several features I will never see now, but again, you shouldn't miss out on the show because of it.

[McCrutchy]

Originally Posted by HDTV1080P

The BD-LIVE feature should not even be used at all for season 7 of Dexter. For season 7 of Dexter Showtime Entertainment/Paramount Home Video should raise the list price of Dexter season 7 by $5.00 in order to pay for a 4th bonus disc. Then Dexter Season 7 should include a 4th bonus disc on either Blu-ray or DVD that contains all the extra features.

And Paramount have done exactly this will all the UK Region B releases of the series. Season 4 in particular, has a finale episode commentary with John Lithgow and the director of the episode, which, to my knowledge, has not been made available in the US at all. My understanding is that most or all of the non-US season sets in all countries (Paramount is completing a dissemination of season 1-3 catalog releases across Europe and Australia presently) have an extra disc with the bonus features from that season.

I can't understand why they insist on releasing the show in this bizarre format in the USA, especially when they see fit to release it properly everywhere else...

[Red's got the Blu's]

Originally Posted by KilloWertz

The series is good enough and is very solid on Blu-ray, so I think it's still worth it even without any working special features beyond commentaries on half the series so far. It does really suck that they put almost all of the features on BD-Live since there are several features I will never see now, but again, you shouldn't miss out on the show because of it.

Eh, I watched like the first five minutes of the pilot a year or so back and it seemed really cheesy to me. Quite a few people have told me it gets better but between that and this I think I can wait until the put out editions with the special features on the disc.

Also

[Show spoiler]I'm trying to send a message that this is unacceptable.

[KilloWertz]

Originally Posted by Red's got the Blu's

Eh, I watched like the first five minutes of the pilot a year or so back and it seemed really cheesy to me. Quite a few people have told me it gets better but between that and this I think I can wait until the put out editions with the special features on the disc.

Also

[Show spoiler]I'm trying to send a message that this is unacceptable.

Not to be a jerk, but I wouldn't hold my breath for them ever to re-release the series with the features on discs.

[McCrutchy]

I had an idea, and, as I suspected, Paramount is also releasing the season sets in Japan (also Region A) for the first time on September 14th:



Amazon.co.jp lists every set as having four discs, but the catch is they are extremely expensive, and may have some optical censoring if there is any full frontal nudity (I can't remember any, however).

[mzupeman]

Originally Posted by Cahleb

What? I am not reading all of that. Can someone post a smaller rundown?

The OP basically wrote a novel out of this. May I remind the OP by the way of the quote, "If you can't explain it simply, then you don't understand it well enough"? (May be slightly paraphrased)

He's saying that all the special features that are included ON DISC on the DVD sets, are only available via BD-Live access on the Blu-ray sets. This is true. It can be frustrating but the extras aren't usually worthwhile anyway.

He also complains that having BD-Live access turned on, has caused some consumsers problems loading the discs. Wow... imagine that? We can just turn it off!!!

I can't believe he had to write so much just to get those points across. Insanity.

[ls35a]

We have a real problem here.

I have one of these season six blu rays.

When I put it in my Oppo player if the internet is not connected to the player the disc will not load.

All I get is a blank screen.

If I connect my player to the internet then I can see the first menu screen and go from it (it's a bd portal thing) to the 'main' menu.

So I can't watch this without the internet.

This is seriously FUBAR.

[hardtosayx]

Maybe update the firmware. When I watched it the Internet wasn't connected at the time.

[blu-ray_girl_fan]

Yes, I 100% reject anything having to do with BD Live. This is why I will not buy Tropic Thunder -- it has LESS Bonus Features than the 2-disc DVD set b/c you're supposed to use BD Live to watch the missing stuff. No thanks, Paramount.

[ls35a]

Originally Posted by hardtosayx

Maybe update the firmware. When I watched it the Internet wasn't connected at the time.

I have current firmware.

I think it works like this:

If you always watch it with no internet, you're good.

If you watch it one time with internet on then it defaults to the BD live page and it will not display it properly with no internet.

[manicsounds]

The Japanese discs are identical to the international discs. Nothing censored.
(Seasons 1,2,3 are the same as the UK/France/German/etc discs,
Seasons 4,5,6 are the same as the France, German/etc discs.

[HDTV1080P]

Dexter season 7 comments

One of my family members is a Dexter fan, and they own Dexter seasons 1-7 on Blu-ray. The good news is that all 3 Blu-ray discs for Dexter season 7 has a super-fast loading time that is comparable to the loading speed of the DVD format. In theory, no consumer should have any complaints about the loading reliability and speed of season 7 of Dexter. The reason for the fast loading time is because season 7 of Dexter loads directly to the Blu-ray disc main menu instead of the BD-LIVE main menu. In fact all 3 Blu-ray discs for Dexter season 7 does not even use BD-LIVE at all (not even an option to manually launch BD-LIVE is offered). This is the very first Dexter season that does not use BD-LIVE at all.

The big negative about Dexter season 7 is the fact that there is absolutely no bonus features offered at all (Not even an audio commentary track). Season 7 of Dexter has plenty of space on all 3 Blu-ray discs to place a few HD and SD extra features on the physical Blu-ray discs, however the studio decided not to use that available space. For example on Blu-ray disc number 1 for season 7 a total of 43.6GB is used on the 50GB Blu-ray disc. On Blu-ray disc number 2 for season 7 a total of 42.8GB is used out of 50GB. On Blu-ray disc number 3 for season 7 a total of 43GB is used out of 50GB. So Showtime Entertainment/Paramount Home Video if they wanted to add a few extra features to season 7 of Dexter, they would not have needed a 4th bonus disc.

Now if the bonus features for Season 7 of Dexter were not ready at the time of release date, then Showtime/Paramount Home video should have offered a manual BD-LIVE feature. For example it would have been nice to have Blu-ray disc number 3 have a manual menu option in the Blu-ray disc main menu to access BD-LIVE. Hopefully season 8 of Dexter on Blu-ray will offer at least some Blu-ray disc based extra features or at the very minimum BD-LIVE based extra features with a manual BD-LIVE interface.

[whiteberry]

Originally Posted by HDTV1080P

The big negative about Dexter season 7 is the fact that there is absolutely no bonus features offered at all (Not even an audio commentary track).

If you want extras for Season 7 including commentary tracks, you'll have to get the UK/Australian/Japanese blu rays. They reportedly have the following extras:
-Behind Episode "Are You...?"
-Behind Episode "Sunshine and Frosty Swirl"
-Dissecting A Scene: The Mighty Pen
-Becoming Ray Speltzer
-Writer's Roundtable
-Season Finale: Select Scene Commentaries by Jennifer Carpenter

[HDTV1080P]

BD-LIVE special features have now been completely disabled for Dexter seasons 1-6 Blu-ray’s

Update: Dexter seasons 1-3 has no working BD-LIVE features, however as of November 15th 2013 Dexter seasons 4-6 BD-LIVE features are fully functional once again (The Showtime BD-LIVE servers for seasons 4-6 are up and running again). This means that every time seasons 4-6 is placed in a Blu-ray player the Dexter BD-LIVE main menu loads instead of the Dexter Blu-ray disc main menu.


I was doing some BD-LIVE testing late tonight and I discovered that Showtime has completely disabled the BD-LIVE feature for seasons 1-6 of Dexter. Dexter season 7 never used BD-LIVE. This means that for seasons 1-6 of Dexter for the American Blu-ray’s there is no longer any BD-LIVE bonus features. When manually launching BD-LIVE for seasons 1-6 the BD-LIVE feature will not work. Also in the past for seasons 4-6 the BD-LIVE main menu would automatically load instead of the Dexter Blu-ray disc main menu. Now when inserting Dexter season 4-6 the loading time is greatly reduced since either the Showtime BD-LIVE server was taken down completely or the BD-LIVE server is instantly redirecting the java code to load to the main Blu-ray disc menu. What every Showtime did they were able to disable the BD-LIVE feature on seasons 1-6, which has resulted in a much faster disc loading time for seasons 4-6 (seasons 1-3 were always faster loading in the past compared to seasons 4-6 since a better BD-LIVE interface was used for the first 3 seasons).

No one should be complaining about disc loading times now for all the Dexter seasons, however the only complaint now is all the BD-LIVE extra features no longer exist. That’s another reason why studios in the future need to place all or most the bonus features on an optical disc.

Studios in general are moving away from BD-LIVE, however studios like Universal still use the BD-LIVE feature in a reliable way. There are positives to BD-LIVE as long as the studios like Universal and 20th Century Fox have unique and reliable interfaces for BD-LIVE.

[HDTV1080P]

Dexter season 8 comments (the Final season)

One of my family members is a Dexter fan, and they own Dexter seasons 1-8 on Blu-ray. The good news is that all 3 Blu-ray discs for Dexter season 7 and season 8 has a super-fast loading time that is comparable to the loading speed of the DVD format. In theory, no consumer should have any complaints about the loading reliability and speed of season 7 and 8 of Dexter. The reason for the fast loading time is because season 7 and 8 of Dexter loads directly to the Blu-ray disc main menu instead of the BD-LIVE main menu. In fact all 3 Blu-ray discs for Dexter season 7 and season 8 does not even use BD-LIVE at all (not even an option to manually launch BD-LIVE is offered).

Season 8 of Dexter has 480i bonus features on Blu-ray disc number 1 and 2. Blu-ray disc number 3 for season 8 of Dexter has several 1080P bonus features. Finally, with the release of season 8 of Dexter, 100% of the bonus features are located on the physical Blu-ray discs, with no BD-LIVE features for season 8. This was a very positive move by Showtime/Paramount Home video.