HD DVD's "Community Screening" Feature

[Pirate]

Promising to bring high-def interconnectivity to a new level, Warner will introduce a first-ever group screening function with its upcoming HD DVD release of 'Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.'

Dubbed "Live Community Screening," the new feature will allow multiple owners of the 'Order of the Phoenix' HD DVD to simultaneously watch the film via their own individual web-connected players. Playback is controlled by a single "host" user, who initiates the invitation-only viewing, and can control the film by pausing and playing the feature on everyone else's machines. Even more cutting edge, Warner says participants will also be able to text between their remote devices, creating a virtual "live chat" environment while they watch.

Introducing this new feature with little fanfare (it wasn't even mentioned in the disc's press announcement), Warner revealed the complete details of 'Harry Potter's exclusive HD DVD content via this just-launched 'Harry Potter' product page at the newly redesigned thelookandsoundofperfect.com, the official consumer website of the HD DVD Promotions Group.

Set for release on December 11, other content exclusive to the HD DVD of 'Order of the Phoenix' includes a "Behind the Screen: Focus Points" picture-in-picture video commentary, additional downloadable material including screensavers and ringtones, plus a custom bookmarking function.

Although Warner is also debuting a Blu-ray version of 'Order of the Phoenix' day-and-date with the HD DVD, that disc will not include any web-enabled content.

http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/sh..._Function/1188

[ganthc]

This still seems gimmicky, like the rest of the web-enabled things. I'm not saying that web features for movies doesn't have potential, but right now it just seems like fluff.

[Ruined]

Sounds like it could be a hoot to me - you can MST3K your own movie over the net! Now what they really need to do is activate those USB ports in the front so you can plug in a USB keyboard. Then we'd be talking.

[Pirate]

I don’t care about this kind of crap. I just want the film to look and sound . . . um . . . perfect.

[esc]

haha! I did this first Here (2001), Here (Alien), Here (Pulp), and Here (Videodrome)

and I still want to do a live voice chat

I do like the idea of an auto synced movie that one person can pause and rewind. No if they would add voice chat capability to the players or USB keyboard support for chat that would be teh cool.

[Astrakan]

While I agree that this does indeed seem gimmicky and will most likely be just that for the majority of HD DVD users, for me it'll probably be pretty neat.

Every so often I do this manually with my brother, and then talk on the phone or over Xbox Live throughout the movie. It's sort of fun when you live thousands of miles from each other and only get to meet once every couple of years. The problem we usually run into is that one person is ahead by a little bit, or if one person pauses to point something out the other is usually not on the ball, etc. This will take care of all that.

If he could just get around to getting an HD DVD player we'd be all set.

KM

[tomdkat]

Sounds like fun!!! I can just see myself being the 'host'... Pausing at the best parts... skipping chapters... replaying the nudie scenes over and over...

Bring it on!

Peace...

[Pirate]

Originally Posted by tomdkat

Sounds like fun!!! I can just see myself being the 'host'... Pausing at the best parts... skipping chapters... replaying the nudie scenes over and over...

So, it'd be like hell?

[SilentBob]

Originally Posted by piratehunter

So, it'd be like hell?

No. It means HD-DVD just won another viewer.


***Official Tomdkat goes HD-DVD thread*** right here.

I can just see us watching host Tom's movie choice. The night will be filled pizza and tons of spelling mistakes. As everyone tries to type with one hand and keep up with the movie

[sub780lime]

This sounds fun...if you got the people to watch it with...but if this keeps going like this, ESC, you may have a new way to start up movie chat again.

[Daze]

Do HD-DVD players have Wi-Fi? or would you need to wire your living room somehow?

[Ruined]

Originally Posted by Daze

Do HD-DVD players have Wi-Fi? or would you need to wire your living room somehow?

Simply grab this:
http://www.amazon.com/Linksys-WET54G...6824392&sr=1-1

or if you prefer apple products (this one also receives higher marks for being easier to setup):
http://www.amazon.com/Apple-AirPort-...6823894&sr=8-4

if you want to give wifi access to more than just your HD DVD player, simply pair either one of the above two devices with a $20 ethernet switch and you can give wifi to up to 4 different components such as HD DVD, 360, A/V Receiver, Tivo, etc, all at once without having to buy any seperate expensive adapters for each one:
http://www.amazon.com/D-Link-1105-5-...6823967&sr=1-2


If you need to go on the cheap and don't care about transfer speed (i.e. not going to be streaming HD movies wirelessly), this device will get the job done for $40:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...r=1-22&seller=
Of course I'd always recommend one of the above (more expensive but faster) wireless G devices first