Bluray Live - do I really need it?

[EdJ]

I've been holding out on getting a blu ray player partly because I want to get a decent one with all the latest internet connectivity and live features.

However, it occured to me that as I never watch the "special features" on any of the DVDs that I watch, perhaps it's a waste and I'd never use it.

Please can those who have these latest players convince me or otherwise?

Thanks in advance.

Ed

[pmanson]

Just before Christmas I got an LG BD360 which has Bluray live etc.

I've used the youtube functionality once and to be honest I rarely look at extra features on DVDs (expect maybe the outtakes).

However it did download a firmware upgrade quickly and very easily so for that alone it seems worthwile as I have a feeling that a lot of devices are going to be doing that in the future.

I think I paid £130 or so for the LG so not expensive by any means.

[fivesixseven8]

I have a Sony S350 and have used the BD Live stuff about 5 times in the past 18 months. I watch extras from the discs directly but the only BD Live stuff I seemed to find was story boards and other stills galleries which don't really interest me.
Firmware updates are nice and easy with the net connectivity though.

[sixspeed]

The only element of BD-Live I've used recently was on the "Funny People" disc... it streamed trailers for the latest releases instead of having them on the disc already. I wondered why the quality was a bit iffy (few more artifacts than usual on fast scenes), but it was a nice touch. The "trailers" section is the most common "extra" I look at on most of my discs, as I like to see what's coming out soon, or films I may have missed...

I didn't actually realise that was what had happened though, until I realised that the 2nd and 3rd time I played the disc in the player that I got completely different trailers, and the 2nd time I just thought I must not have been paying attention properly when I first played it.

Anyway, that's the only useful/nice feature of BD-Live I've found. I haven't even bothered checking out anything else, so my gut reaction is that I wouldn't lose sleep over it.

[freecar]

You DEFINITELY NEED bluray live. Firmware updates need to be performed sometimes to watch the latest films. Without these updates your player would become obselete very quickly.

[EdJ]

Thanks for all the replies. Echoes pretty much what I expected, but the point about firmware updates is a good one.

freecar said:

You DEFINITELY NEED bluray live. Firmware updates need to be performed sometimes to watch the latest films. Without these updates your player would become obselete very quickly.

So there are plenty of high end players that don't do this which will struggle to play latest films? I was in particular thinking about a Denon BT2500 bluray transport which is now available for a very good price and seems to get strong reviews.

Thanks again.

[IntegraTypeR]

My Pioneer Blu Ray doesn't have Bluray live but you can still update the finmware by downloading the file and burning it onto a cd. You then load the cd into the player to update the firmware.

Ian

[freecar]

IntegraTypeR said:

My Pioneer Blu Ray doesn't have Bluray live but you can still update the finmware by downloading the file and burning it onto a cd. You then load the cd into the player to update the firmware.

Ian

This i believe is the only way to update some players, either that or a usb drive.

[callyman]

freecar said:

IntegraTypeR said:

My Pioneer Blu Ray doesn't have Bluray live but you can still update the finmware by downloading the file and burning it onto a cd. You then load the cd into the player to update the firmware.

Ian

This i believe is the only way to update some players, either that or a usb drive.

My panasonic BD player has Blu ray live but i've not used it, I have upgraded mine with a CD-R.
I cant be arsed to run another wire around my living room from the Router to it just to see a few extras on some discs.