The blu-ray live features are pointless.  I have never wanted to talk to strangers while watching a movie via the internet.  In fact, at the movies, I wish that other people in the theater would imply shut up.  Just because we have the technology to make movie watching interactive, doesn't mean that it's a good thing.

And as for interactive trivia quizzes on blu-ray, what percentage of the population uses the non-interactive versions on DVD right now?  I bet it's pretty small.

So it seems that Disney has spent a lot of time developing new interactive features for a 1959 film.  Wow, if they spent half that much time developing the storytelling and visual artistry of their current features, they wouldn't have to reach into the vault and dust off an old classic every six month to maintain profitability.  

But you know, just my two cents.

I think it's a hard sell when the BD-Live doubles the cost of a Blu-Ray player. But what if you put out a B-R player priced to sell in the $175-200 range that's compatible with more advanced features like BD-L via external devices sold separately. The all-inclusive player still being around for those willing and able to pay for the convenience.

Just one more example of clueless execs "managing by spreadsheets", then being baffled when sales figures don't materialize as predicted.

If they wanted to push unnecessary technology, they needed to push it on HSM and Hannah products - to teenagers who don't know any better, but can be convinced that talking and texting during a movie is cool. Those would be the only consumers that I can think of that don't realize you can sit at home, watch a movie, and talk to your friends on the phone - all at the same time!

In another 100 years, they will have a new system where a holographic image of Walt sits beside you on the sofa and talks about how difficult it was to get a particular scene to work. Technologically amazing, but after 5 minutes: "Hey Walt, could ya pipe down, I'm trying to watch a movie here."

Yeah, Blu-Ray is gorgeous. Really, I've seen it. But it's taken me a LONG time to replace my VHS collection with DVDs, and I'm still not done. The list of DVDs to get grows longer every week, and they come out faster than I can purchase. So until the industry simply stops pumping them out and MAKES us switch to BD, I'll keep saying how gorgeous they look, but I'll keep admiring them on store windows. And I certainly won't be triple-dipping any time soon. I've heard people say they won't buy new DVD releases of the Summer movies because they want to get the BD version, when they finally buy a player. Yeah, like I'm gonna be without a good movie like Iron Man or Indy IV for who knows how long, more than a year for sure, hoping that one day I can get a BD player. I don't know about the US, but I've barely seen players for sale down here in Brazil, and the ones I've seen are like half the price of an LCD, sometimes more than half. And the discs cost 2, 3 times as much as regular DVDs. It's still too expensive, and it really doesn't seem like the same "rush" like it was to switch from VHS to DVD.

I think there's always been a risk that Blu-Ray would be the next laserdisc rather than the next DVD.  The success of the DVD format happened because several factors came together to make it a success.  It represented a quality jump from VHS that even the average persno could appreciate.  It mirrored the familiar music CD and presented a similar argument: better quality recordings on a more permanent format than tape.  The studios committed to it pretty quickly and put out lots of titles to woo both tech geeks and the general public.  Both the format and the players became reasonably affordable in a relatively short time.  And the economy was good at the time.  Blu-Ray does look really nice, but I don't know that it's struck the public as a step up to the degree that DVD was from VHS.  Releases are coming out at a pretty god clip, but unlike DVD vs VHS, there aren't extra features you can put on Blu-Ray that you can't have on a DVD for the most part.  A major holiday price drop may help things, but with the economy in the state it's in now, consumers may just decide to wait until their finances are a bit more stable.  The whole competing format thing with HD-DVD early on probably didn't help either, encouraging consumers to wait and see how the format war played out rather than adopt early.  

I think I'd find Blu-Ray live about as useful as the most kid-aimed features on the Disney DVDs, which is not at all.  There are better and easier ways for me to watch a movie and talk to people I want to talk with about it.  Maybe I'm misunderstanding and there is a way to choose who you talk with, but again, easier ways to do that exist and I certainly don't want to listen to a bunch of random people and bored kids jabber about nothing while I view a film.  The trivia game could be kind of entertaining, but the prizes are a total waste.  "Play our trivia game and win points to 'buy' stuff we'f otherwise give away for free!"

Since storage space is becoming the major issue with my DVD collection, the format I'm waiting for will either be tiny flash drive or memory card sized movies, or digital downloads will all the features of a DVD and the ability to play on my TV.  Blu-Ray just strikes me less as the next generation of home entertainment and more as an intermediate step and gimmicky add-ons like this aren't going to get me excited about the format.

Well, coming from the "mom with kids who's spent a gazillion dollars on Disney stuff" angle...they clearly aren't marketing to me here.  

Personally, we're trying to cut down on the amount of stuff we buy, not because we can't afford it, but because we've already got too much stuff!  So we'll keep using Netflix, watch the movies on good-old DVD, put them back in the mail and get them out of our house!  I don't want walls and cabinets filled with piles of discs that get watched a few times and then gather dust for years.

I think if Disney wants to do this successfully, they need to use different titles...more modern, up-to-date stuff that will appeal to the "my car payment's higher than my rent" crowd.  Good luck with that!

I'm sure my dh will get a blue-ray before long...but there aren't very many discs we plan to buy to go with it.

Sue in Texas

I have to admit that I am purchasing a Blue-Ray player specifically for next month's release of Wall-e. I somewhat agree with MalGragon that BR is not on par with VHS vs. DVD. BUT all TVs going forward will be Hi-Def and DVD will get phased out.

A Pixar film such as Wall-e deserves a platform like BR. True I am a bit of a techno-geek and the common consumer wont care. No, I don't want to chat with people either while watching a film!

The old stuff doesn't excite me too much. How much better can a film from the 50s (even if it's been "digitally enhanced") be?? Modern films are indeed the draw for BR. I can just imagine that the workstations at Pixar even have an "Export to Blue-Ray" options when they save their movie! LOL!

DVD will not be phased out if Blu-Ray can't grab a larger market share than it has garnered so far.  Good upscaling DVD players will take a standard DVD close enough to true Hi Def for most viewers.  As the upscaling push gets stronger, people will recognize the limited advantages of the Blu-ray format.

As an earlier poster mentioned, I have always said that the Blu-Ray/HD-DVD fight was the fight over who gets to be the next laserdisc. (That is, successful, but never mainstream.)  If the time since HD-DVD dropped out is any indication, this is what is happening.

I agree with most of what's already been said. Blu Ray is cool. The option of interacting with other people is cool. But am I personally interested in it, well...no.

I suspect that Blu Ray will remain a niche business. I just replaced by old VCR with a VCR/DVD player, so why should I now throw away a perfectly good player? Guess what? I won't. Those into always having the latest stuff will do that but not me.

I like Curmudgeon said about a Holographic Walt! Now that would be cool and I would by a player for something like that. However, his current surviving family members may not like that so I suspect it'll be awhile before we ever see anything like that.

The average user isn't convinced they need to upgrade and many techies are moving right on to downloads from the Internet.  iTunes/AppleTV and the likeis the future.  Not Blu-Ray.

Oh, I dunno.  Blu-ray looks pretty spectacular, sounds incredible, and I've been

very happy with it for about a year.  Granted, my "player" is a Sony Playstation,

and has been upgraded to use BD-Live, but I doubt I'll use it much.  I really

couldn't care less what Heather and Tommy are texting to each other during

a movie.  I can go to the cineplex for that.  In any case, Blu-Ray beats

upconverting DVDs or digital downloads any day.

That's another thing I'll never get into: downloading movies. I like the feeling of buying my DVDs, of a nice box art, of having my shelves full, having an extra disc filled with bonus. Why would I change sitting comfortably on my sofa to watch a movie to downloading and watching in my 15" notebook? No, thanks. :)

My 2 cents -

BlueRay is a nice step up from DVD but not a big enough step up to justify the price.

Any 'technology' that encourages people to talk, text, or anything else other than WATCH THE MOVIE is pure evil.

(On this same note, I'm about ready to stop going to the movie theater all together due to the fact that kids AND adults alike cant be quiet for the duration of a flick)

I am in agreement with most of the comments here today.  I think it's a waste of Disney's and the consumers resourses to invest in this technology at this time.  I think the target market is too narrow.  The people that want to text each other during a movie are tweens and teens and after a couple of Hannah/Jonas/HSM type releases then what?  Besides can't you just text and call someone right now using your cell phone?  Why would I need an expensize Blu-Ray Live to do that?  

Also, what are the security features to prevent predators from targeting underage children through this new technology.  (Especially since Disney seems to be targeting the family market with the list of animated releases that are mentioned in Jim's article.)  As a parent I'm already concerned that kids have too much access to people I don't want them to know.

On the other hand, since we are talking how the ecomony is affecting Disney's business decisions, I think most of us are interested in how this roller coaster stock market crisis/recession/depression will affect what is happening in the parks, the expansion of the DCL fleet, DVC sales, etc.  Will Disney start cutting construction on in-the-works projects like the new DCA or Night Kingdom?  How will this affect their marketing of their vacation packages?  Are more entertainment cuts coming like the recent eliminations in the parks and the scaled back Fantasmic schedule coming in January?  Hopefully Jim will have some insight into all of this in the next few days.

"The average user isn't convinced they need to upgrade and many techies are moving right on to downloads from the Internet.  iTunes/AppleTV and the likeis the future.  Not Blu-Ray."

Personally I have major issues with downloadable content.  

First and foremost, there are too many different formats.  When I buy a DVD, I can convert the content to be play on my Windows Mobile Smartphone, my Playstation Portable and my Xbox 360 (via TVersity).  iPod/iPhone is also an option, but I haven't ventured into that world myself.  Oh, and I can also play the original DVD on a half-dozen TVs in my home, our car, portable DVD player, take it to grandma's house, etc.  

Comparatively speaking, downloadable content is limited to the specific device for which it has been purchased.  And content providers are notoriously unforgiving when it comes to working with customers.  When users have hardware failures, upgrade their hardware, reformat without keeping backups...their response often falls along the lines of "sorry, you gotta buy it again."  

I can appreciate the immediacy of downloadable content, but the multitude of formats is an insurmountable sticking point with me.  It's ironic that this discussion is mostly a debate of whether or not two DVD formats can coexist, while some are suggesting that consumers will readily embrace a system that would require them to buy the same content a half-dozen times in order to view it in the same manner they currently do DVDs.  

As for Blu Ray, I did decide to invest in the technology myself but I have no intention of upgrading my entire DVD library.  Over the past year I've amassed around 40 Blu Ray titles.  About 15% were promotional freebies.  Another 40-50% were disks that were purchased with attractive promotional discounts (i.e. Pirates 2 and 3 for $10 each via a BOGO offer.)  The rest are newer titles that I simply decided to buy on Blu Ray instead of standard DVD.  

I'll echo others' comments regarding the on-line features.  I have no interest in that stuff.  But I don't have any regrets over my Blu Ray purchases.  Even standard DVDs look fantastic on the Blu Ray players.  

Backward compatibility will help Blu Ray greatly.  Both hardware and software prices do need to fall before the technology will become mainstream.  But once you have sub-$100 players and disks that are more in line with current DVD pricing, I think it's only natural for people to embrace Blu Ray.  

I doubt that consumers will choose to upgrade their DVD libraries in the manner that they did going from VHS to DVD.  Still the industry will see some new revenue stream from those who do opt to upgrade.  

The thought of one of my favorite Disney movies being used as Internet Explorer just sickens me...

This reminds me of a movie I saw a couple months ago.  I can't quite remember the name or who made it but it involved people doing nothing but social networking all day.  Even while watching movies and TV they sat on their butts and would talk to each other.  I think flying hover chairs were involved and lots of fat people.  I also recall a love story with robots.  Weird.  Obviously the company who made that would think this is stupid.

Perhaps I should put it this way:  Having people social network while watching movies at the same time through the same system is the worst idea Disney has gone with in years.  Why would anybody want this?  WHY?

My kids would never be allowed to become the kind of tool that would want something like this.  I forbid it.

Disney thinks Sleeping Beauty sales will surpass Iron Man - the story of a hard-drinking/womanizing/self-centered vigelante?  Er... maybe we're talking about two different sales demographics here?

I guess you'd call me one of the earlier adopters -- primarily because I wanted a Blu-ray Lightning McQueen for the "Cars" diecast collection -- and I had seen the improved picture and sound Blu-Ray offers viewers.

I'm a movie fan and love all the bonus material -- and quite a bit is exclusive to Blu-ray titles. Since purchasing the Blu-ray player for last Christmas, the wife and I have purchased a couple dozen Blu-ray titles, including all of Pixar's releases to date, the BBC Planet Earth documentary set (simply a must-see on a LCD flat-screen TV), a couple of classic Westerns and sci-fi titles.

Backward compatibility has been a bonus as well -- to the point that I'm wondering how the standard "Finding Nemo" DVD COULD look any better in Blu-ray. The upscaling does improve the picture -- although I'm seen basic DVD players at $80 to $100 offering upscaling for the Hi-Def TVs.

It's the behind-the-scenes bonus material, deleted scenes and the commentary tracks by those involved in the film that interest me most about Blu-ray. Yes, I watch/listen to eveything available to me on Blu-ray titles like "Cars," "Ratatouille," "The Searchers," "Close Encounters of the Third Kind,"  and others.

In the case of the Pixar titles, I've enjoyed so much that hasn't been offered on DVDs, lots of documentaries, little tributes to people like Glenn McQueen and Dan Lee (artists who died far too young), as well a great piece on some of the extremely talented women who work at Pixar. There's more women than ever before working in animation, but it's still mostly men.

"The Searchers" offered great documentaries on John Ford and John Wayne as well as Monument Valley, where this "Vista Vision" western was filmed.

With "20 Million Miles to Earth," I enjoyed a geeky but fun interview of  stop-motion animation legend Ray Harryhausen conducted by John Landis.

These are the things that keep me buying Blu-ray titles; not a chance to IM chat with someone in real-time as we watch a film. Discussion is best over a snack or meal and beverage AFTER we're done with the movie. Besides, I'm not a gamer and don't think my Sony Blu-ray player offers that option.

I agree that Blu-ray titles are a bit costly at $25 to $40-plus -- but those movies give me more pleasure than a $40 to $50 game title. I buy most of my Blu-ray titles from Amazon because they almost always cost less there than elsewhere. I'm making an exception on "Wall-E," playing about $10 more from Disney online to get the "free" litho set.

Also RedBox (available at Wal-Mart and several other locations) just started renting Blu-ray titles for $1 a day ... so I'm likely going to check out more titles there -- films I want to see but not necessarily own.

Finally, I don't know important the IM chats while watching a film will be as an added feature to lure people to Blu-ray. To me, it's not important. I'd rather see more documentaries and behind-the-scene featurettes and $20 to $25 MSRPs -- especially when the DVD is frequently on sale for $15 to $20 when it first comes out -- and then (especially if it's not a Disney title) sold for $5 to $10 a year later.

"In any case, Blu-Ray beats upconverting DVDs or digital downloads any day."

You really need a 50 inch or larger TV before most people will see any major difference between an upscaled DVD and Blu-ray.  And Hi-Def digital downloads (if they are *really* Hi-Def) look no worse than anything Blu-ray can put out.

"It's the behind-the-scenes bonus material, deleted scenes and the commentary tracks by those involved in the film that interest me most about Blu-ray."

Most of which can be easily done on standard DVD, but are intentionally left off to push Blu-ray.  There's no reason for Disney to keep the audio commentary off of "Cars", except to give consumers a reason to buy Blu.  This is a phony-baloney way of pushing technology that is *not* exciting very many people.

I would rather see Disney spent their DVD compilation money on great bonus features - audio commentary, "Making Of" features, etc.  Not every consumer has the financial ability to upgrade to $700 systems on a whim [if I had that cash, I could afford my pet ferret's operation, and perhaps pay my bills....].  New technology is simply another effective way to separate the "haves" from the "have nots";  let's make the features useful to <i>everybody</i>.

Dude, seriously, how many ads for Mix can we jam on one page? It's interesting to see the evolution of the campaign, all featured together. Makes you understand how little differences can make a big difference, even on the same basic design.