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Admittedly I’m trying to stir it up a little.  Our last post was in October so I’m looking for a fight.

5.  The Wii.  Seriously?  The only good game for the Wii is Wii Sports which comes with the system.  All of the other games I have tried to get into require way to much motivation when the only time to be playing vids is during relaxation time.  Admittedly, I’ve heard anectdotal evidence of major weight loss from Wii Fit, but as far as an entertainment system, it is incredibly overhyped.  I prefer my active immersive experiences to be real, like outside on a real bike.

4.  Ipods.  I have yet to hear good quality MP3 or lossless formats that can be put on external speakers and not sound like junk.  I realize that if you have it blaring in your ear via headphones you can’t tell, but I have conducted experiments with the best encoded MP3 quality over speakers at my house, with the most amateur listners.  Better yet, the new iPod Nano I bought takes video…  Sort of.  I finally spent $60 on a cord that can connect it to my tv at the highest quality possible and the people looked alien and blurry.  Ipods serve a purpose but my guess is that American spending has overhyped this product.

3.  LCD-  Seriously?  What is the rub?  What happened to plasma?  The blacks and refresh rate are like 5 times better  with plasma and no one seems to care that plasmas are going by the wayside for inferior, more expensive LCD screens.  I demand answers!

2.  3D-  Dear Cable and Dish Companies…  Are you seriously considering making us wear goggles to watch football?  I can think of a million other things that would make watching sports better… Like higher bit rates, currently over dish you are running 4-5 megabits per second and claiming it is “HD”.  DVD is 8 mbs, Blu-ray is up to 50 mbs.  You haven’t even mastered HD yet, and now your spending all of this money on a technology that will force us to buy a new TV?  You can’t even deliver the goods to my TV now!  C’mon Man!

1.  Streaming Movies via Netflix.  In theory this would be awesome.  I could get Netflix Blu-rays and then while I’m waiting I can download movies in my queue to my PS3.  So I signed up.  Hook, line, and sinker.  Number 1- the “hd” is like YouTube quality on a 58″ TV.  Number 2- I’m pretty sure the only moves they have available for Streaming are available on TNT and AMC- skip it and set your DVRs folks.  Weak selection.  Somehow, I thought that I would have access to the entire Netflix catalog.  Fail. 

Keep in mind, I think some of this stuff has value…   but I believe it is over valued by the consumer.  Stay tuned for the Top 5 Most Underhyped Consumer Tech of Today.

The Digital Entertainment Group has just issued a press release stating that Blu Ray sales are up 91 percent in the first half of 2009.

“Although consumer spending on sellthrough packaged media was down 13.5 percent in the first half of 2009,” the release says, “this was partially offset by the growth of Blu-ray (up 91 percent to $407 million) and digital distribution (up 21 percent to $968 million, which includes $196 million for electronic sellthough).” Additionally, rental spending was up 8.3 percent for the first half of 2009, “boosted by an increase in Blu-ray rental spending, which was up 62 percent.”

Some will go ahead and say “Optical Disc is Dead.” Some will point to the music industry and the shrinking number of brick and mortar music retailers as proof of this doomsday assertion. iTunes has made revolutionary advances in its product offerings as the “AppStore” is celebrating its one year anniversary this July.

Proof in the alternative can easily be found in the video game industry. Here we have the most technically savvy consumer and yet the most effective distribution of content is via optical media. However, a totally optimistic view of optical disc product expansion is likely misguided.

There are certain situations where digital delivery makes perfect sense. Sub-1 gig applications like music, casual games, and ring tones are perfect examples of this. In the consumer market, as we recover from this economic crisis, our insatiable hunger for rich entertainment applications will intensify. Boundaries will be pushed instead of retracted as has happened in the past 5 years. The need for larger tangible storage and delivery solutions will continue to outpace the necessary bandwidth needed for digital delivery of these rich applications.

Corporate promo videos and applications likely aren’t perfect for digital delivery. Email marketing is becoming less and less effective, so how do you steer people to your download space with high rates of success? Packaged media provides savvy marketers two avenues for promotional real estate- the media and the packaging. Proof can be found in the “As Seen on TV” market. How many free DVD offers do you see now?

There will be effective uses for both methods over the next 10 years. Great Lakes Media Technology will be positioning itself to help with both methods. Currently we offer solutions for your developed or undeveloped content to be delivered on disc or web. No matter how you need it done, we’ll help deliver it.

GLMT Featured In One To One Magazine!!!

Please take a look at the article published in One To One magazine featuring Great Lakes Media Technology and its unrivaled blu-ray authoring services.

CNET Posts on why Blu-ray will Succeed:

Summarized:

1. Digital downloads will not eliminate the need for discs anytime soon.
2. Having one clear standard is a big advantage.
3. Blu-ray isn’t going to be replaced by another disc format anytime soon.
4. Prices for large-screen HDTVs will continue to drop.
5. Prices for Blu-ray players will continue to drop.
6. Prices for Blu-ray discs will drop to near DVD price levels.
7. Sony will sell lots of PlayStation 3 game consoles.
8. Sony can’t afford to have Blu-ray fail.
9. Sony and its partners will figure out a way to have Blu-ray resonate with the public.

Read the full article here.

GLMT attending North American Music Manufacturer’s (NAMM) Show

BD-Live: Could it Make Blu-ray Applicable to the Corporate World?

I previously posted about BD-Live (see below) and what it has to offer to consumers. Call me a naysayer but those consumer features are not all that exciting… yet. Our business, disc replication/packaging and content development (NewMedia), has to be concerned with corporate communications as it is a major part of our business.

The DVD specification does not include web linking from a DVD player. Mostly because DVD players were not wired for internet connections from the beginning. Of course Sonic, Adobe, and other authoring platforms have created the ability to link through to websites from menu screens for DVDs playing in computers, but the compatibility and consistency of it actually working makes it difficult to include on any large scale project.

Blu-ray and BD-Live aims to make physical disc media more dynamic with web connectivity. Experts more negative than I, claim that if Blu-ray is adopted, they will never connect those players to their networks. I respectfully disagree with that view point. With 20% of current Blu-ray player owners already accessing BD-Live content, one can conclude that at least 20% of these early generation players are connected to the Internet.

This 2008 holiday season it is expected that the second generation players will have internal wireless networking capability(which will make it hard not to connect to the Internet) and will have a sub $250 price point. Will this be enough? It is important that consumers find this enticing because the potential for innovative corporate communications will be endless. It will be new medium, with stunning resolution, and an unparalleled way to attach excellence in branding with your business.

What about BD-Live and Corporate Communications? This is where I see BD-Live even more useful than on the consumer product side. Think of these possibilities:

• Allow your end-user to request slides, .pdf manuals, applications for credit- all contained in a carefully branded, high definition menu and have the materials pinged to home/office computers or handheld devices.
• After a stunning high-definition video, ask for feedback, ask for an order, and allow the user to communicate with your company right then and there, while the juices are flowing.
• Track who is actually watching your program.
• Become more responsive by allowing users to open up chat screens with experts from your company after questions about a how-to video.
• Provide up-to-date documents at all times to your dealer network without making new discs.

These are just some of the ideas I have for the medium. I know marketers and business communicators are looking for new, innovative ways to excite their customers and/or employees. Enthusiastic employees and customers grow your business and Blu-ray and BD-Live have the capability to harness and convey that sort of power. Now we wait for the consumer to adopt this technology and the major entertainment publishers have a responsibility to provide valuable content. We wait…. Enthusiastically.

BD-Live Gaining Momentum
Is this Tangible Media’s Answer to Digital Downloads?

With the swarm of Blu-ray titles touting BD-Live capability, many consumers want to know what BD-Live has to offer. BD-Live is the ability to use a Blu-ray Disc, a Blu-ray Player, and an internet connection to access additional features and interactivity not included on the disc. Some of the features make more sense than others. Below are some that may be of value:
-Make movie clips with user faces superimposed on characters in the movie and send them
over the BD Live network as viral marketing campaigns. See Sleeping Beauty.
-Edit movies for viewing with sensitive viewers and store the custom edits on remote
servers.
-Send digital copies direct from the disc menu to your portable device. See iPhone/iPod
Touch Application.
-Allow storefront merchandising from the disc menu.
-Update audio on older blu-ray discs for new audio codecs optimized for your home theater.
To get our opinion on how we actually see some of these features being useful for corporate communications see our blog.