For an informed view on connected entertainment in the UK & Ireland, visit Cue Entertainment
Way back in the mists of time, when the digital media experts at
the Nat West bank thought there was “no future in DVD because everyone will
have broadband by the year 2000”, the UK DVD committee faced a major
predicament. The sales figures coming in for the new format were going off the
chart faster than anyone expected and all the indicators pointed to a massive
success for the Digital Versatile Disc.
No matter how much they tried to fiddle the figures, it seemed
impossible to stay within the realms of the credible. In the end, there was
only one solution. The decision was made to tell the media that year-end DVD
volumes would be a fraction of the optimistic number that the spreadsheets
foretold. Committee members agreed: “If we give them these figures, they’ll
never believe us!”
In the event, DVD sales in 1999 exceeded every optimistic
forecast, achieving the published target by mid-year and, as everyone now
knows, going on to be a massive success.
In 2003, Cue Entertainment reported that Sony had a $3,800 Blu-Ray
HD recorder on sale in Japan. Today, the Sony BDP-S360 with support for all the
latest BD Live features is less than £120 at Play.com, including a bundled copy
of the Steelbook edition of “Avatar” to be delivered when it is released on
April 26. Several other of Blu-ray brands are available in the UK at or around
£100.
The price point is significant and not only because the Office of
National Statistics announced this week that the cost of Blu-ray players has
been added to the list of products in the national shopping basket that is used
to calculate inflation. British Video Association Director General Lavinia
Carey called it a “milestone moment” noting that more than half of UK
households now own an HDTV screen. “Sales of Blu-ray players are going to
continue to grow,” she told Cue Entertainment.
Unsurprisingly, in light of their early lack of enthusiasm for
DVD, the British national press hasn’t seen Blu-ray in quite the same light.
This time last year, the Daily Telegraph followed the same negative line about
high definition packaged media that newspapers had taken 10 years earlier on
DVD. According to a “technology expert” quoted in the paper last year, “The
increasing number of homes to have SkyPlus or other set-top boxes that allow
viewers to record their favourite films directly onto a hard drive is making
many viewers realise they don't need a Blu-Ray. Many people are also
downloading films onto their computers…”
By mid-year, the story had changed. “Blu-ray disc sales rise
despite the recession”, was the story, quoting figures from the BVA that showed
3.1 million discs were sold in the first half of 2009. In February this year,
the newspaper took an even more positive line: “Blu-ray disc unit sales
rocketed 167% last year, helping to steady the falling DVD market in Europe.”
Not quite the turnaround that DVD achieved in 1999 perhaps, but
portents for the format nevertheless are starting to look good. With 3D coming
over the horizon and Blu-ray the natural platform for the high quality sound
and pictures that are needed to make stereoscopic television a success, surely
packaged media is back in the game!
Up to a point, as they say, but there are some disconcerting signs
that many of the titles on sale in the UK are little more than DVDs with 1080p
pictures.
Anyone who has seen the impressive features that are offered on
the “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” Skynet Edition will understand that Blu-ray is
much more than a better DVD. From the seamless integration of the
picture-in-picture content to the superbly implemented menus, this title is a
near-perfect example of what Blu-ray can do.
The quote “viewers realise they don’t need a Blu-Ray,” might well
be turned on its head. Watching “T2”, viewers realise precisely why they do
need a Blu-ray. Certainly, a hard drive can store sound and pictures of equal
quality, if you have the bandwidth to download 50GB of data. With drive prices
falling all the time, you could probably store 15 or 20 films at a time.
Crucially, however, the experience would be nothing like the same. With titles
like “T2”, Blu-ray is seen to be interactive media “par excellence”.
So it is all the more surprising that the forthcoming release of
“Avatar” from Fox will be shipped in a plain vanilla version, without a trace
of bonus content, not even a trailer. Producer Jon Landau told the Los Angeles
Times, “Everything that is put on a disc takes up room — the menus, the extras,
the trailers and studio promotions — and we got rid of all of that so we could
give this movie the best picture and sound possible.” That, of course is true.
It may also be true that demand for this record-breaking movie on
Blu-ray will be so great that multiple versions will be released in the coming
months, culminating in a “collectors edition” with all the goodies that Blu-ray
has to offer – after all, “T2” has had almost 20 years to get it right.
The question “what is the point of bonus material” has been under
discussion since the launch of DVD and it is true that the inclusion of static
photos of cast and crew, accompanied by a few sparse lines of text, was about
all that could be mustered in the early years. The BBC’s “Walking with
Dinosaurs”, authored at Deluxe in 1999, was one of the few DVD titles to use
the technique of “seamless branching”, which allows the viewer to take a detour
into behind-the-scenes content without the need to stop, select a menu option
and then return.
On DVD, the technology needed to implement this trick was scarce
and expensive and the so-called “value-added material” usually languished in an
obscure corner of the main menu, seldom to be seen. The advanced technology
that makes Blu-ray possible includes seamless branching and much more, allowing
extras to be linked to the content in a timely and interactive way.
Unfortunately, the ability to do this has arrived at the same
moment as the emphasis on cost cutting, with the result that the majority of
Blu-ray titles have little to differentiate them from the equivalent DVD. In a
perfect world, seen on a perfect TV, the audio-visual quality would win over
those of us who care. For most viewers however, there is little justification
for premium pricing for a Blu-ray disc.
If filmed entertainment for the home is to be sold on price alone,
it is not surprising that consumers opt for digital downloads, legal or not.
When the Blu-ray experience is crafted with the skill and sympathy for the
content that Blink Digital Studios in California and Sofatronic in Germany have
dedicated to the “Terminator 2” Skynet Edition, then the “added value content”
can live up to its name.
Sources at Fox said “Avatar” will make history as the first
Blu-ray new release from a major studio to hit stores without a single trailer
or promotional content of any kind. Undoubtedly, this upcoming release will be
a treat for the eyes and ears and will provide a welcome boost to packaged
media revenues but will it do much to establish the unique benefits of Blu-ray
in the minds of the consumer?
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