BD-Live is about to make the jump from your Blu-ray player to your phone: movie giant Universal is to begin offering iPhone apps that tie in with new high-def releases. But will they be useful add ons, or just frivolous extras on your mobile?
Movie studios have struggled to come up with any real purpose for BD-Live, which lets you download extras for your Blu-ray from the internet until recently, when Sony announced plans for MovieIQ. Rival Universal has been brainstorming too though, coming up with a new route for Blu-ray extras to go down: your iPhone.
Starting with Fast & Furious on Blu-ray later this month, you’ll be able to download apps for your iPhone and iPod touch that pull up movie trivia, let you control the features with your Apple device acting as a remote, and even get bundled, iPhone ready versions of the movie.
It’s all very well meaning of Universal, but the iPhone extra on the first release doesn’t bode well: it’s a garage that lets you look at the cars on screen in 360 degrees. Meanwhile Universal’s intention to integrate Blu-ray releases with Twitter and Facebook to provide updates about “movie-related activities” sound ominously useless. You’re expected to turn your phone off in the cinema, should you really be playing around with it while trying to watch a Blu-ray at home?
Out 28 July | £TBC | Universal and Apple (Via Home Media Magazine)
