At least someone is (seemingly) listening to our Blu-ray gripes. /Film hit a Fox hosted press summit and heard exactly the things we've been waiting to hear: a future where "advanced" Blu-ray players can do what DVD players have done for years: automatically resume play where we left off on all players, dramatically reduced load times and a live demo of the IMDB Live Lookup feature available on the Wolverine release. The company has nabbed a researcher from Panasonic, Joe McCrossan, who is heading up the efforts to improve viewer's experience and tossing around long promised buzzwords like iPhone connectivity and Digital Copy along with the previously mentioned features under development -- if he succeeds on making them reality we'll rename an Engadget editor Joe in his honor, and it might not even be the one already named Joe.

[Thanks, chevelleman]

Digital Copies packaged in with DVDs and Blu-ray Discs are an old hat, but now Sony is adding a new twist. Up until now, a DVD was bundled in with a Blu-ray Disc just to deliver the Digital Copy. This way you could put the DVD into any PC or Mac and grab the Digital Copy of the main feature. What Sony is doing now is something that was demoed at CES 2008, which is to store a PSP friendly copy, on the actual Blu-ray Disc. This way all you have to do is insert the disc into a PlayStation 3 and transfer it directly over to a PSP -- no computer required. This of course doesn't help those who'd prefer to watch the Digital Copy on their PC or iPod, so they'll still need to continue to look for an extra DVD in the box. All this fun starts November 10th with the release of Godzilla and The Ugly Truth, both of which sport the PSP copy on the Blu-ray Disc, but only The Ugly Truth will also come with the DVD with the traditional Digital Copy.

Waiting for the next big 3D release to come home? Universal has slotted Coraline for July 21, with a 3D and 2D version included in the 2 disc set, along with four pairs of 3D glasses. Extra features like U-control and Digital Copy are 2D only, but with 5.1 DTS-HD MA soundtrack and D-BOX Motion Code included, it's hard to see anything this release is missing. Of course, it could be proper stereoscopic 3D instead of anaglyph, but until those 3D HDTVs gain wider adoption, we guess this will have to do.

Studios are reporting the number of digital copy activations has risen even more over the last few months. Numbers are skying highest on Blu-ray discs, with The Dark Knight reaching a 20% transfer rate, compared to 10%-12% on the DVD release. That's no real surprise if you figure anyone buying high definition editions of their favorite movies is more likely to have a portable device or additional PC they'd like to copy the movie to, and studios are picking up on digital copy as a feature that customers might actually value, as opposed to free movie tickets and rebates that typically go unredeemed. Video Business mentions Sony and Fox are moving towards digital copy only on the Blu-ray releases of upcoming movies, and including more flicks the additional copy embedded on disc as opposed to requiring a download. All that's well and good, but really we're still wondering what happened to the managed copy dream that was supposed to take care of all this.

With DVD sales slipping, every studio is trying new strategies to eke out a buck, and now Fox is trying to coax people towards buying instead of renting, by selling stripped down versions of some movies to rental outlets and keeping premium extras for buyers. According to a letter obtained by Video Business, Slumdog Millionaire will be one of the first discs with the treatment, where extras like deleted scenes and commentaries go retail only on the DVD, while the rental Blu-ray edition loses the (probably useless on a rental) digital copy. At least so far the HD editions of these movies don't seem to be affected, but unless prices come down we wouldn't be surprised to see this kind desperation double dipping on the Blu-ray front as well. Still, with as many of our readers that have said they don't care about extras and the relative ease of piracy, studios may just have to learn to be happy people are paying to watch at all.

[Via Switched]

We predicted drastic measures in Blu-ray pricing, but Disney might be going the wrong way. CEO Robert Iger indicated on a conference call with analysts today that since the company's Blu-ray releases are packing all sorts of extra features like Digital Copy and BD-Live, it might be able to raise prices following a Q1 profit drop of 64%. The scariest part is that Disney's economic shortfalls were consistent with the overall home entertainment downturn, so it might not be the only studio with this reaction to shrinking profits, looking to squeeze an extra few bucks out of the customers willing to spend the most.

Is it any wonder that Blu-ray Disc buyers are taking advantage of Digital Copy more frequently than ever? According to a recent writeup at TWICE, it's becoming even easier to find 'em. Today, a grand total of 52 BDs, practically all from seven major studios, are available with Digital Copy versions of the movie for playback on portable media players and computers. Unfortunately, the total of Digital Copy-enabled DVDs wasn't available to compare, but we are told that Warner Home Video is leading the charge on the Blu side with 19 Digital Copy-equipped Blu-ray Discs. As for the other guys, Lionsgate and Universal offer eight apiece, while Disney offers up three with a fourth coming in February. So, have you taken advantage of Digital Copy on the BD flicks that you've purchased?

Ever wondered if anyone ever bothered to utilize that Digital Copy that so many films are shipping with these days? Warner Home Video did, so it engaged in a bit of research to find out who exactly was tapping in. In short, BD movie buyers accessed Digital Copy around twice as much as did DVD buyers, and it was found that the uptake rate is "measurably growing among Blu-ray consumers with successive Warner releases." Still, data shows that Digital Copy usage across the industry is still relatively rare, with title uptake across studio titles ranging between 5% and 13%. We found it particularly interesting that adding a copy of the film to a disc carried with it a substantial expense -- around $1.15 per unit -- so we wouldn't be surprised to see studios refine their strategies to ensure that consumers appreciate the addition.

Maybe we're just off our rocker, but we can't figure out what NPD Group hoped to actually discover from this here survey to save our lives. Apparently these folks asked around 1,500 movie buyers (read: clearly not movie thieves) if they preferred purchasing a video that included digital copy or simply downloading it from the internet. Shocker: 79% said they favored the digital copy, while only 21% confessed that they'd rather get a low quality rip from a shady website that could potentially infect their computer with some rare strain of virus. Seriously, what's the point? If you're buying a film in the first place, why wouldn't you want the studio to do the hard work for you and include a portable copy? At any rate, this groundbreaking poll also revealed that 38% of those interested in digital copy "appreciated having a physical disc as a backup," while 27% admitted that they would be "more inclined to buy a portable device in order to take advantage of the digital copy feature." Moral of the story? Let us know, will you?

While high ranking executives from high ranking companies have bickered back and forth about the longevity of Blu-ray as a format, Atari president Phil Harrison has some pretty strong feelings on physical media as a whole. In an interview with Edge, the bigwig stated that "there's a generation of kids being born today and probably already alive who I'm pretty confident will never buy a physical media product; they will never buy a DVD, they will never buy a CD, and they will never buy a game in a box." While some may jump on this as being patently absurd, we're not so sure it's a crazy as it at first sounds. Video games in particular have been distributed via the 'net for some time now (Steam, anyone?), and it's no secret that programming and movies are headed in that direction. There's no way to accurately predict how many more generations will be buying wares in boxes, but it's safe to say we're a lot closer than most people expected us to be just a decade ago.

[Via G4TV]

It's a momentous occasion, folks. Sony -- the outfit known for boldly sticking to its proprietary guns when perfectly acceptable options are widely available -- is finally showing that it can reach across the aisle to get things done. All politics aside, the January-bound Pineapple Express will include a downloadable version from iTunes. We're told that this is the first time in which a Sony Pictures Home Entertainment release has included such a thing, and yes, a traditional digital copy for PCs / PSPs will also be bundled with the DVD / Blu-ray. Which is just about as cool as killing your arch enemy with a Daewoo Lanos.

[Via HomeMediaMagazine, image courtesy of SPHE]

We know you're hungry for every last morsel of information on Warner's hotly-anticipated Ultimate Matrix Collection on Blu-ray, so here goes. Warner Home Video just released information confirming that the data we already had was true, and that a seven-disc BD box set would be landing on (and shortly departing from) store shelves on October 14th. Aside from housing the complete trilogy with lossless 5.1 Dolby TrueHD audio, the package will also include an hour of special features on each film. More specifically, you'll see the studio's In-Movie Experience alongside The Animatrix (which is debuting in high-definition here), 35 more hours of undisclosed bonus material and a digital copy of The Matrix. Yeah, $129.95 is still the asking price, but you know it'll be going for a bit less on launch day.

Looks like Warner's BD-Live commitment doesn't stretch beyond U.S. borders, with Warner Bros. International VP Marc Gareton recently telling a conference in London not to expect an BD-Live titles in 2008. European BD fans aren't going totally without, as he added it might follow in it's domestic twin's footsteps by adding digital copies to movies before the year is out. A lot of things could play into this decision by the studio, but for the time being if there's any Blu-ray exclusive features your best bet may be importing or hoping someone else owns the international release rights and goes the extra mile to make things right.

BD-Live isn't the only thing Warner's adding to its Blu-ray releases, with the news that 10,000 B.C. comes with an iTunes Digital Copy. Unlike previous Fox and Lionsgate releases, this one isn't on the disc, apparently due to space considerations on the single-layer 25GB disc. DVD buyers don't even get that option, and in the absence of an official announcement by Warner or Apple about inclusion going forward, it seems to us this is a way for the studio to dip a toe in the water before making a decision on possible wider inclusion. However, if cost is a concern, the choice between copies to take on the road and bonus online features on the disc itself is an interesting one. [Disclosure: Engadget is part of the Time Warner family]

[Via iLounge]