What is BD-Live?

Written by: Tolga BALCI • Edited by: Lamar Stonecypher
Updated Feb 26, 2010 • Related Guides: Blu-ray | Playstation 3

Blue Ray devices offer far more than incredibly clear visuals and audio, and not only the bonus content that you may think of first. Additional features such as interactivity, and additional down-loadable content come to us courtesy of BD-Live.

Blu-ray Discs and Their Capacity

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25 Gigabytes is a huge storage space. You may be thinking that there are already terabyte hard drives are in the market, but if you consider that all this space is for just one thing- the movie - you'll see my point. Let’s do the math together: 1 hour of full HD video takes about 11.25 Gigabytes of space. If you have a single-sided (single layer) Blu Disc, you will have 23.28 Gigabytes. Let’s say that the movie is 90 minutes. It will have 16.87 Gigabytes of size on disc, and you still have 23.28 - 16.87 = 6.41 Gigabytes available. Stuff 20 minutes of HD bonus content (such as "behind the scenes" and "the making of") and it will take 11.25 * 20 / 60 = 3.75 Gigabytes. So we still have 6.41 - 3.75 = 2.66 Gigabytes available. Now, think about a double-layer Blu Disc, which has 50 Gigabytes of capacity. What will you do?

BD-Live?

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The answer is pretty simple: you put more content in it. It need not be more behind the scenes, but it can easily be something dependent on your Internet connection, secondary or overlay content in a picture-in-picture (PIP), online interactivity, access to additional local storage, exclusive downloadable content, trivia games to play with other people watching the same movie, or all these together and possibly more advanced interactivity that that they haven't thought of yet. And all these advanced technologies come with the Blu-ray Disc Live feature, also known as BD-Live.

Image courtesy of Blubutton.

I Want These Features, and I Want Them Now!

Of course you do. So do we all. But there are always prerequisites, which in the BD-Live case, are two:

Your Blu-ray player must support BD Live
You need a broadband Internet connection with high bandwidth

Please note that item number 1 is the most important part because the BD-Live feature is optional in all Blu-ray players. If you already have a Blu-ray player, check to see if it supports BD-Live, either built-in or by firmware update. If you are going to make a purchase, insist on seeing proof that the device supports BD-Live. And here's a Bright Hub tip: ask for the profile version. If it is 2.0 and if the product has Internet connection capability, it means that it supports BD-Live. BD-Live depends on Blu-ray Java (BD-J for short). BD-J is required for all the features I have listed under the “BD-Live?” section except the Internet connection. Basically, the equation is BD-J + Internet Connection = BD-Live. According to the Blu-ray Disc Association, the BD-J feature was made mandatory for all the devices as of October 31, 2007. BD-J is becoming the de facto standard for the interactive TV as well, thanks to the Sony Playstation 3, which is the showcase product of the BD-Live players.

joe Jan 19, 2010 12:53 AM

80 bucks?

g4 powerbooks go for 80 bucks now? damn. i paid $900 for one about 5 years ago.

Ken Pierce Dec 5, 2009 2:01 PM

Re: Your Features

Ward, You bring up a great point, today everyone needs to read-up on the technology BEFORE laying down the cash for components. I think your solution is a great one, putting what "was" (and is still) great equipment together in to solve all of your needs. I'm considering the purchase of a Blu ray player / PS3/ PC Blu ray drive / for the first time and reviewing what we really want. It can be overwhelming to review all the latest technology, it's best to start by first deciding what is it that you really want and looking for the simplest solutions, like you did.

Ward Lindsey Dec 4, 2009 9:12 AM

Your Features

Well, if you have a moronic big TV and it didn't come with a VGA connector, you didn't plan so well. I have a laptop sitting under the TV with a wireless keyboard and mouse. I can play any format of media files on the laptop, even stream them from my file server in another room. I can surf the net on a 46 inch screen, play Spyder, IM and whatever else it is you think you want, but aren't capable of because you don't know how to use technology you already own. Stop complaining, start learning.
AND $8.99 a month for all the HI DEF movies and TV shows I can watch from NETFLIX is a bonus. IF your blu ray player doesn't support Netflix and Pandora, your laptop does. I use a g4 powerbook, 80 bucks on ebay.

s Nov 24, 2009 10:59 PM

I Don't Want These Features, and I don;t care

I Want These Features, and I Want Them Now!
Of course you do. So do we all.
------
Oh no we don't.
Big Media's idea of "interactive TV" is just more force-fed drivel.

What We *want* is a simple ethernet connection that allows download of media files from our computer (supporting all important formats) and plays them on our moronic big screen, so WE control the stream. Unfortunately the manufacturers ignore us and continue to provide useless force-fed garbage carefully pureed to *their* specs.

What is BD-Live?

Blu-ray Discs and Their Capacity

BD-Live?

I Want These Features, and I Want Them Now!

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