How many titles, again, are available in BD-Live?
Andy Parsons, who chairs promotions for the Blu-ray Disc Association, said during the Blu-ray press conference Thursday that only 21 Blu-ray titles included bonus features using BD-Live technology.
[ME's note: Correction made above to Mr. Parson's title.]
Only 21 BD-Live titles? Buh?
Even very cursory research (i.e., I went to Amazon and did a search for BD-Live) shows 54 DVDs with BD-Live available now -- 36 of them more than 90 days old, and seven more "coming soon." They range from the straight-to-video Tinkerbell to blockbusters like Prince Caspian and The Dark Knight, the undisputed best seller in the category.
You can even get some of them used, like the unrated version of Prom Night, for under ten bucks. If you like that kind of thing.
Jim Bottoms, an analyst with Understanding and Solutions, projected in May 2008 -- only a month after the first BD-Live titles came out -- that 20% of the Blu-ray titles released in 2008 would include BD-Live features, leaping to 80% in 2009. So how many is that? According to bestblurays.com, there are 1,443 Blu-ray titles. including TV shows and concerts. Twenty percent of that figure would be 289 titles with BD-Live. So maybe BD-Live is a little behind -- or maybe Amazon doesn't carry them all.
Certainly studios are jumping on board. Disney, one of the early Blu-ray supporters, said in June that all of its upcoming features would have BD-Live.
However, the Association's own Web site blu-raydisc.com does list only 21 BD-Live titles, from which Parsons most likely got the number.
Maybe he needs to quit looking at industry sites and see where consumers are looking.