Warner Pledges BD-Live for Winter

During the keynote address at the Entertainment Supply Chain Academy conference, Darcy Antonellis, President of Warner Technical Operations noted that the studio would begin utilizing BD-Live features as early as this winter. The yet-to-be-named title would include real-time viewing, library tools, a search engine, a recommendation tool with e-mail reminders, ringtones and wallpapers.

Originally set aside for HD DVD releases, these advanced web-based features will dramatically increase Warner's ability to compete for consumers' time. Antonellis commented, "I think it has the ability to compete [with MySpace and YouTube] for a user's time because you are taking them online and you're able to create a community that we have never been able to do before. That's huge for us."

Antonellis also feels that advanced Blu-ray features will be widely adopted by consumers faster than advanced DVD features. While this will no doubt add time to disc production process, it will also allow Warner to extend movie viewing beyond the disc. She remarked, "We are no longer limited by finite capacity on the disc."