Let's hope it doesn't put a buzz kill on my childhood memories the way GI Joe and Transformers have.

Dan Lin, who is shepherding Warner Bros.' "Sherlock Holmes" and exec produced the studio's upcoming family film "Shorts," will produce the movie through his Lin Pictures, which is also behind a "Tom and Jerry" film that will put the feuding animated characters in a live-action setting.

[Variety via Sci Fi Wire]

To refresh, BD-Live is the Blu-ray technology that allows for more interactive special features on your disc, like being able to arrange "screenings" with your friends or record commentary tracks yourself.

It all comes down to the technology. Instead of having director Chris Nolan talk into a mic and answer questions as they were asked via the website, Nolan had to do all his own typing. Or, we assume it was Nolan and not some designated typist, since the answers were slow going and contained a bunch of typos. The largest problem was that the text, displayed IRC-style with a white overlay behind it, was too small (on my PS3, at least), forcing me to sit closer than I normally would.

Smaller issues included Chris Nolan connecting and disconnecting every two minutes for the first 1/3 of the movie, which lead to the unfulfilling situation where questions were displayed but his answers were dropped. He also intentionally stayed silent or deftly evaded when certain questions on sensitive topics chosen by the moderator, such as piracy, making a third movie and any talk of money.

There were some enjoyable moments, such as when he took not one, but two pee breaks, explaining that he needed to make a shorter film next time. Fortunately, the BD-Live format let him pause everyone's movie simultaneously. He also reused the same joke three times in different formats, thanking an actor or a contributor by name when someone asked how awesome it was working with said person.

Here's how to fix the experience. Give Chris Nolan a microphone. Make whatever adjustments you have to make to the BD-Live technology to allow a low-bandwidth audio stream to reach however many players were signed on last night. Then, record the "podcast", and let people who were still at work (it was on at 6PM PST) watch it after the fact whenever they like. I stare at chatrooms all day at work, don't make me stare at another one when I'm watching Batman tearing around Gotham City.

Warner Bros. Licenses Content for Distribution on DivX Certified(R) Consumer Electronics Devices

Agreement Enables Retailers to Offer Premium Content in DivX(R) Format for Playback on Variety of Devices

SAN DIEGO & LOS ANGELES —(Business Wire)— Oct 14, 2008 DivX, Inc. (NASDAQ:DIVX) and Warner Bros. Entertainment today announced an agreement that will enable online retailers to offer Warner Bros. titles in the high-quality DivX® standard definition format in October 2008 and high definition format in September 2009 for playback on DivX Certified® consumer electronics devices.

The wide-ranging agreement covers all titles available for digital distribution in the Warner Bros. catalogue including current and back-catalogue major motion pictures and television programs. All titles offered in the DivX format are compatible with a variety of DivX Certified devices from major consumer electronics brands, including DVD players, Blu-ray devices, gaming consoles and more. The agreement allows retailers who sign additional agreements with DivX and Warner Bros. to offer Warner titles in the DivX digital media format.

“Using the DivX secure format is in keeping with our overall digital distribution strategy,” said Jim Wuthrich, Senior Vice President, Warner Bros. Digital Distribution. “The visual quality, security and widespread interoperability of the DivX format offers an excellent means for consumers to enjoy Warner Bros.’ content whenever and wherever they desire.”

“Warner Bros. offers an extremely compelling catalogue of premium, high-quality content enjoyed by consumers all over the world,” said Kevin Hell, CEO of DivX, Inc. “We’re very excited to work together to offer consumers premium content on any DivX device, from the PC to the living room and on the go.”

For more information about DivX, visit www.divx.com. To learn more about Warner Bros. Entertainment visit www.warnerbros.com.

The stakes for RealNetworks aren't terribly high either, as sales of RealDVD might have been slow because of, oh, I don't know, the mountains of free software that does a better and more complete job. Within the day, Real filed a countersuit which could possibly set a new precedent for the interpretation of the Hollywood's DVD license. Even in a best-case scenario, the most legal headway that could probably be made would be to permit neutered software like RealDVD, which would still leave any useful method of DVD backup well outside of the law. [NYT]

In Hollywood, the same rule that applies to babies and cars applies to key props: There has to be more than one. In the shooting of Get Smart, there were a total of seven functional Swiss Army knives, three with working crossbows, and two each with working flamethrowers and blowguns. There were also a dozen or so rubber versions for shots where the knife flies through the air or takes some other kind of a beating.

Wiles—whose prop mastery has been seen in everything from Magnolia to You Don't Mess With the Zohan, and whose inventory includes USPS-friendly sex dolls, magic remote controls, a diver stuck in a tree and a "crazy hair stimulator" for Jack Nicholson—was naturally excited to be on the Get Smart gig. As you'd expect, the script called for numerous gadgets:

• Dental floss detonator, explosive floss
• Tooth transmitters ("We got fake teeth from a dental supply company, embedded microchips and hollowed them out to make them look like toothcaps," says Wiles.)
• Bracelet receiver made from an existing Marc Jacobs watch, with a slide-out antenna and compartment for wireless bugs
• Smoking compacts
• Glowing coin transmitter
• Piano bomb with countdown timer
• Violin tuning peg laser for cutting holes in walls
• And of course, the Cone of Silence

But it was the knife that was the center of Wiles' attention. He got clearance from the companies who own the Swiss Army license (Wenger and Victorinox) to feature a souped-up version in the movie. "Then we bought 50 or 60 big fat Swiss Army knives and gutted them—took them apart and built frames to house the mechanisms to do what we needed it to do."

As you can see in the sketches above, the crossbow concept requires a little "suitcase" for the bolts, while the flamethrower makes sense only when the knife has its own propane tank, so Wiles had to add both, on either side.

When it came time to deploy the functional units for scenes, some trickery was still required. For instance, the flamethrower did manage to shoot a jet of fire four to six feet, says Wiles, but it was assisted by a line to an actual propane tank that was hiding just off-camera and controlled by "the effects guy."

The crossbow totally worked, but its bolts were rubber tipped. Even though Carell appears in the stills below punctured with bolts, Wiles and the crew assumed the real ones probably wouldn't have done too much damage. Nevertheless, on the day of shooting, the crossbow turned out to be all too powerful, and they had to "back off the tension" before someone lost an eye.

"Even though they were rubber harpoons, they still hurt if you got hit by them. In that confined space [an airplane bathroom], while we were shooting, they ricochet all over the place," says Wiles.

It's great to know that Hollywood isn't all CGI these days, and that actors are willing to put their lives (or at least their eyes) on the line for a solid visual gag. Below, you can see the knife featured in its various configurations—and hopefully in the movie, which opens on Friday, June 20, we'll get to see the knife (or knives) fully in action. Now, if they could just install an electric screwdriver, I'd be sold. [Get Smart]

We're not going to tell you that HD DVD will somehow come back from the grave to eat Blu-ray's brains or anything Romero-esque like that. Even China's CH-DVD—an easily mass-produced sibling to HD DVD—once a looming HD DVD mercenary force on the horizon, now seems to serve the opposite purpose. By keeping Chinese firms busy with something other than Blu-ray, Hollywood's movie content may be kept safe from piracy, and big electronics brands may be able to hold onto their profit margins—at least for a short while.

No, the earth is Blu, and we are at least grateful for having a winner. Now begins a different kind of shakeup, where once friendly compadres like Sony, Pioneer and Panasonic start to lock horns with one another. This will bring multiple benefits, but here's what all parties involved need to accomplish:

1. Get the Spec In Order
Now that Blu-ray is fully in the spotlight, it's got to get its act together spec-wise. You may recall that we lambasted many Blu-ray supporters for only building 1.0 spec players, including the $1000+ home-theater flagships from Sony and Pioneer. Except for Panasonic's DMP-BD30 and the PlayStation 3 with up-to-date firmware, no current Blu-ray player can even handle the 1.1 spec with picture-in-picture, already appearing in certain Blu-ray discs (and quite the handful of HD DVD titles—but we'll get to that).

The place to be is spec 2.0, referred to as "full profile." Suddenly, it's Sony who is looking the best here, with not only the amazingly upgradable PS3 but two new players announced this week, the BDP-S350 and S550. For $400 and $500 respectively, they are set to deliver all of the features promised in the Blu-ray palette, including both picture-in-picture and BD-Live internet connectivity (with USB storage for downloaded content). Nobody else, with the possible exception of Daewoo, has even muttered about a 2.0 spec player.

Samsung's BD-UP5000 dual-format player is purportedly compatible with 1.1, but besides the fact that it's pricey even at $550 and requires a firmware update for full compatibility, it'll soon be discontinued. Given our initial experience with it, we say that it's best to wait and see what its successor, the BD-UP5500, can do. Heck, dual-format playback may not be all that necessary for long. But that brings us to another reason why you should wait...

2. Finalize the Video Library
We only need dual-format players as long as the library is split down HD DVD and Blu-ray lines. We are waiting for Universal, Paramount and DreamWorks to jump to Blu, and even once they do, it's not a certainty that they can simply re-release everything currently out on HD DVD. Universal claims 150 titles—surely the Bournes will go Blu as soon as Uni does, but how long do I have to wait for a Blu-ray of The Big Lebowski? Hell, it's almost worth scooping up an ultracheap HD DVD player now just to enjoy that one movie alone, 47 or 48 times in a row. At any rate, some speculation suggests that the remaining HD DVD studios may not even come around until summer or fall, depending on weird smoke-filled-backroom negotiations with Toshiba.

Even when all the studios are on the Blu-ray tip, though, a new problem begins to surface: second-edition releases of movies already on Blu-ray. Think about it: a handful of big Warner titles like 300 and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix came out with more deluxe HD DVD versions which include picture-in-picture and certain online capabilities. Who's to say Warner won't re-release their 300 and Harry Potter Blu-ray discs with the same compelling extras, now that it's feasible on the Blu-ray platform? Warner is easy to single out because we have that comparison, but who's to say that half of the blockbuster movies out on Blu-ray now won't get a re-release with more interactive content when the spec 2.0 players saturate the market?

3. Bring On the Old-Fashioned Electronics Store Competition
Sony's more affordable new Blu-ray player will hit the market this summer for $400. Nothing built by Sony or anyone else should be considered before then, the one exception being the PS3. But even the Sony standalone at $400 is expensive, especially for a player whose capabilities are more or less the same as Toshiba's HD-A30 HD DVD player, now (in a price nose dive) selling for around $130. Only when Panasonic, Samsung and LG announce their own Blu-ray 2.0 players, will true competition finally exist. (Pioneer will launch a 2.0 player too, but it probably won't get involved in a price war.) It surely wouldn't be long after that that we see a full-spec Blu-ray player for $200 or maybe even less. Our bet is Christmas, since Sony doesn't seem like it will have anything on the market until "summer" and no one else is talking about their next Blu play.

There you have it, the three big reasons why you need to hold off on buying a standalone Blu-ray player, and amassing a library of Blu-ray to rival your intimidating DVD collection. Don't worry though. Your patience will have its rewards. And Christmas will be here again before you know it.

[Blu-ray on Giz; image source for "halt" parody graphic]

That said, here are some numbers. Movies come in two sizes: the larger "PC" size and the smaller portable one. They dodged the question about the resolution of movies (supposedly they're getting back to us and when they do, we'll let you know) but the PC version is "near DVD quality," which is to say it has a bit rate of around 1.3-1.6 Mbps. TV shows, on the other hand, are decidedly focused on being quick downloads, with a bit rate of 500-800 Kbps for the file.

All of the files are WMV for the time being, and are encrypted with Windows Media DRM. You can burn them for back up—they encourage customers to do so—but right now they're stuck on a single PC with the option to move them to up to "three compatible portable devices." They are working to the expand that, however. Moreover, only PCs (XP and higher) and only IE 6 and up. Firefox support is coming.

As we said earlier, they offer "3000 productions." This is "about evenly split" between movie and TV content, with each episode of a show counting as a single production in that number. No ABC, Fox, CBS or NBC yet, but they're working on it and "would like to be in business with everybody."

The way they got to be in business with "everybody" in the movie business, we should note, is by closely following the studios' set prices for movie downloads, which are designed not to cannibalize physical DVD sales. (Steve Jobs's refusal to cater to that price point, along with the fear of an iTunes monopoly, is why he as of yet, only has Paramount and Disney on board with iTunes.) Strongly emphasized throughout the interview was Wal-Mart's committal to ensuring a strong DVD market.

To that end, we found out how the discounts for consumers who buy both DVDs and digital movies works. Basically, when you buy the physical DVD, you will get a code allowing you to download the "portable" version of the movie for $1.97, the PC version for $2.97, and both for $3.97. (Much like they did with Superman Returns back in November.) This will be the major way the service is pushed and utilized, at least initially. Obviously, the service isn't intended to disrupt traditional means of movie watching.

Part of the non-disruptiveness is given Wal-Mart's view that "the business is new now," and they (along with everyone else) still "need to figure out how it works." So no big marketing campaign, at least for a while. It'll be featured on the site, and there will be some in-store promotion, but nothing big. It's still very much all about the physical Wal-Mart store, but expanding into "multi-channel and multi-format" distribution.

Lastly, while we're not thrilled with the current price points, it was clearly stated that the studio "sets the price," and Wal-Mart is pursuing and will continue to advocate for "a good price for the customer," which we interpret to mean lower prices.

If this service fails, the blame rests mostly on Hollywood's shoulders, since most of these terms were dictated by the studios. Middle America isn't the target for this service, at least for right now, largely due to its beta status, but also, we think, because of the unnecessary restrictions placed on it by the studios, making it too complicated for Wal-Mart's core customers. And that is a big mistake on the part of the "Big Six," one they may soon pay for. – Matt Buchanan

Wal-Mart First to Offer Digital Movies From All "Big Six" Studios [Gizmodo]

Movies will run from $12.88 to $19.88 on the day the DVD drops, while older flicks start at $7.50. All movies will have roughly the same price as the actual DVD at Wal-Mart stores, though. This is also the deal's biggest flaw in our view—why pay almost what you'd pay for the actual DVD? Intriguingly mentioned is the possibility of discounts for people who buy both DVDs and digital videos.

It will also have TV shows from Comedy Central, CW, FX, Logo, MTV and Nickelodeon—all Viacom networks, so maybe we'll see CBS in the mix? TV shows run a bit cheaper than iTunes, at $1.96 a pop. Altogether, it will offer "access to 3,000 productions," though there's no indication as to how that's divided between movies and TV shows.

Topping it off, Wal-Mart has recruited HP to design the store and ostensibly make it more user-friendly than its standard site. We tried getting in to scope it out, but right now it appears to walled off. This is a huge win for Wal-Mart, but it remains to be seen if the Wal-Mart name can drive the market to new heights (with lower prices to boot), or conversely, if it winds up driving people away. Either way, begun the download wars have. – Matt Buchanan

Store? (Roadblocked as of 3 a.m. EST)
Wal-Mart and Studios in Film Deal [NYT]

The hybrids work by having HD DVD players read through the 0.1mm Blu-ray layer to the 0.6mm HD DVD layer. As far as the player knows, the disc is just a plain old HD DVD. Blu-rays will just read the 0.1mm layer and ignore the other. Plus, a regular DVD can be pressed on the reverse side, allowing users to flip over the disc in case they want to play it in an older machine. – Jason Chen

Warner patents Blu-ray/HD DVD hybrid disc [TGDaily]

Warner Brothers to back Blu-ray as well as HD DVD [Inquirer]