Iron Man - or, how to shake people's confidence in Blu-Ray

[meStevo]

Fantastic, probably the title of the year second to Batman's release in September, and I have to disable the internet access on my PS3 to even get to the main menu.

If my parents had Blu-Ray, they'd have returned this movie and said forget it.

 

[yourbeliefs]

Why did you have to disable your internet?

 

[meStevo]

The movie wont load to the main menu otherwise.

AFK to watch it now that we got it working.

 

[tnsprin]

The movie wont load to the main menu otherwise.

AFK to watch it now that we got it working.

There were reports that the initial discs had to be recalled due to some sort of authoring error. Not sure if this is the same problem or a new one. The original discs were given out early to reviewers and such, and were not suppose to be released to the retail distribution chain.

 

[yourbeliefs]

There were reports that the initial discs had to be recalled due to some sort of authoring error. Not sure if this is the same problem or a new one. The original discs were given out early to reviewers and such, and were not suppose to be released to the retail distribution chain.

I think this is something separate. This is only affecting BD-Live enable players. Here's some more information:

Are BD-Live download times bogging down your Iron Man experience? - Engadget HD

 

[meStevo]

Horrible user experience. The 'Blue ring of death' as the article puts it is just that. It's just the chest arc reactor sitting there pulsing. No progress, no 'please wait, enabling advanced content' no download indicator. First thing you see when booting up is this thing sitting there flashing at you. We gave it several minutes as I suspected it was downloading (using a PS3, to thought it was installing maybe, lol?) or something, then restarted. When it did it again, I went and disabled the internet on my PS3 and we were able to watch the movie.

I appear to have the revised discs, didn't have a pre-release or anything, there is a sticker over my UPC so that they didnt have to reprint the packaging.

Article probably understated the importance of Iron Man, I'd almost be willing to argue this is the biggest Blu-Ray release so far. Mess this up and you have some PS3 gamers getting Hulk and Batman on normal DVD.

 

[gadgtfreek]

This aint the first one on HDDVD or BR, just chill and theyll fix it.

This is WHY I dont care to even see special feature BS on discs, just give me the MOVIE.

 

[SatinKzo]

This type of stuff happened with a few HD-DVD's (HD-DVD of transformers crapped out on me many times on the initial loading screen) and isn't the first BD to have a problem, but I have yet to find one glitch in either format that did not get correct quickly. And in repsonse, Iron man worked fine in my PS3 and my S350, No lockups or anything like what is being reported and both are connected to the internet all the time.

 

[gadgtfreek]

Sounds like he may have gotten a bad one. I waited till yesterday to order for that reason.

 

[meStevo]

From what I've read I have the newer version... discs different color, and have the re-UPC'd packaging. Maybe overloaded BD-Live server? Hard to imagine I guess that many people hitting it at one time.

Goes back to usability. There's no feedback at all about what is happening, just a flashing logo on the screen. I'm still in awe.

 

[gadgtfreek]

Before Panny fixed the Transformers issue, it would just hang on the icon. Way around it was to turn of my rcvr and tv for about 45 seconds, then it would load to the menu just fine. Dunno if thatll help you.

 

[meStevo]

My problem (im at work now, cant test) appears to just be internet congestion. They weren't able to handle the load of what some are saying was a 12mb download. Yesterday people were reporting waits from 6 minutes to over an hour.

For 12mb.

With no notice at all, no 'please wait a moment while BD Live content is downloaded to your player', no progress bar, nothing... and apparently not smart enough to time out and try again later... and especially not smart enough to just do this when prompted instead of allowing people to just watch the movie if they wanted.

Just some ominous pulsing arc reactor.

wtf?

 

[JamesJ]

worked GREAT on my PS3, whats your internet connection like?

 

[meStevo]

2nd highest tier Cox provides. They just upped it too, so im somewhere between 5 and 12mb down now i think, I'd have to look.

 

[yourbeliefs]

What exactly ARE these BD-Live features that are being downloaded?

 

[Bobby H]

I avoided buying the Iron Man Blu-ray release mainly over pricing issues.

IMHO, Paramount should have been more aggressive in pricing the release lower to encourage more people to buy. And I kind of expected for them to do just that. Instead, they're using the same as usual pricing scheme. Most retailers are selling it for at or near $30, with some doing the stupid $35-$40 idiocy.

Because of that, I'm going to do my usual thing when buying Blu-ray movies: buy them online for less money, no sales tax and free shipping. I'm not paying a huge premium for "instant gratification" via retail sales.

Getting back to the subject, the upside to that is not having to put up with these insane disc loading times by the time I get a copy of the movie.

Apparently, the latest slew of BD Live capable Blu-ray releases are allowing the discs to sniff out for new features via the Internet as soon as the disc is loaded into the player. That's just downright stupid. And this explains why the Internet traffic to the Iron Man BD website is so bad and why the discs are loading so slowly.

I rented Forgetting Sarah Marshall yesterday and experienced a noticeably longer loading time in my PS3. The screen was blank for over 30 seconds. Then it brought up a message that new features were available to download and asked if I wanted to do that now. Um, hell no. I just want to watch the freaking movie. I'll look at extras later after I have watched the movie.

This should serve as a news flash to movie studios. BD Live features should only be accessed when the viewer wants to access them. Don't force the issue, especially right when the disc is loaded.

 

[meStevo]

I avoided buying the Iron Man Blu-ray release mainly over pricing issues.

IMHO, Paramount should have been more aggressive in pricing the release lower to encourage more people to buy. And I kind of expected for them to do just that. Instead, they're using the same as usual pricing scheme. Most retailers are selling it for at or near $30, with some doing the stupid $35-$40 idiocy.

Because of that, I'm going to do my usual thing when buying Blu-ray movies: buy them online for less money, no sales tax and free shipping. I'm not paying a huge premium for "instant gratification" via retail sales.

Getting back to the subject, the upside to that is not having to put up with these insane disc loading times by the time I get a copy of the movie.

Apparently, the latest slew of BD Live capable Blu-ray releases are allowing the discs to sniff out for new features via the Internet as soon as the disc is loaded into the player. That's just downright stupid. And this explains why the Internet traffic to the Iron Man BD website is so bad and why the discs are loading so slowly.

I rented Forgetting Sarah Marshall yesterday and experienced a noticeably longer loading time in my PS3. The screen was blank for over 30 seconds. Then it brought up a message that new features were available to download and asked if I wanted to do that now. Um, hell no. I just want to watch the freaking movie. I'll look at extras later after I have watched the movie.

This should serve as a news flash to movie studios. BD Live features should only be accessed when the viewer wants to access them. Don't force the issue, especially right when the disc is loaded.

I see where you're going, and largely agree, but Iron Man is the exception for me. Like Hulk, and like Dark Knight, these are the movies you rake in profits on, and price them accordingly, making up for the aggressive pricing on other products that may not sell as well at damn near MSRP and serve more.

And plus, i got a spiffy case from Target!

 

[stimpson]

I see where you're going, and largely agree, but Iron Man is the exception for me. Like Hulk, and like Dark Knight, these are the movies you rake in profits on, and price them accordingly, making up for the aggressive pricing on other products that may not sell as well at damn near MSRP and serve more.

And plus, i got a spiffy case from Target!

Now that's a cool case!!!!

 

[tnsprin]

I avoided buying the Iron Man Blu-ray release mainly over pricing issues.

IMHO, Paramount should have been more aggressive in pricing the release lower to encourage more people to buy. And I kind of expected for them to do just that. Instead, they're using the same as usual pricing scheme. Most retailers are selling it for at or near $30, with some doing the stupid $35-$40 idiocy.

...

Not sure about most retailers. Its $25.95 at Target and $25.86 at Wal-mart For once even Best Buy has it at $25.99.

 

[yourbeliefs]

I went to Target and picked up (the last copy) of the Iron Man BD. As far as whether or not the added price is worth the packaging, I would have to say, you get what you pay for. You're essentially getting a $2 collector's item. It's a cheap plastic Iron Man head with what looks like low quality paint. It's not going to impress anyone, but may raise a few eyebrows.

I had no problems downloading the BD-Live stuff. The download took maybe 2 minutes (on my PS3.) I haven't really sat down with the movie yet, just skipping to that final minute of the movie that everyone was talking about. I won't spoil it, but it is a critical part that I think should have been included in the "real" movie.