With the Blu-ray disc getting the green light as the preferred high definition home entertainment format, companies throughout the San Fernando Valley are positioning themselves to get a piece of the action. These firms test and replicate discs, and provide workflow services for the Sony-created disc that bested the HD DVD from Toshiba in a format war reminiscent of the battle between VHS and Betamax. With a higher capacity for data, the Blu-ray disc is not simply for watching movies but also offers online gaming and special features that turn passive viewers into active participants. With the “BD Live” feature, Blu-ray players hook-up to the Internet for real-time interactivity with feature films. “They are sophisticated pieces of software with an enormous amount of programming and interactive content,” said Seth Hallen, executive vice president and managing director of Testronic Labs in Burbank. “There is a lot that can go wrong.” It’s Testronic’s job to make sure flaws are never seen by the DVD-buying public. The company invested $50,000 in Blu-ray and related equipment for an enhanced test lab at its facility on Empire Avenue. An entire feature is viewed to check video and audio quality; to see that the navigational menus and interactive content work; and to ensure the right languages appear in the subtitles. At Technicolor, also in Burbank, technical tests on the discs check that the data compilation meets industry standards; and empirical tests are conducted on every type of Blu-ray player available to the public. “It is important that we test them carefully to get a reliable appliance-like behavior out of the discs so consumers don’t get a negative reaction,” said Chris Carey, chief technology officer and chief marketing officer. Technicolor’s strategy of building support for all Blu-ray-related activities emerged from its involvement in developing the technical standards for both high def formats. In addition to the testing, it also compresses and authors the discs, replicates them, provides content security, and handles the back-end server and hosting for the live interactive features. With its high concentration of studios and post-production houses, Burbank could change its name to Blu-bank. Testronic shares space in the same building with Deluxe Digital Studios, developer of content supply chain services. This year My Eye Media on Pacific Avenue launched Blu-Qual, a testing facility specifically for the discs. New Wave Entertainment develops special features found on DVDs and the end of the format war has the company experimenting more with the gaming aspect. The real-time online connection also forces the designers to think in terms of multi-platform features as online features that can be made available even after the disc is in stores, said Mike Meadows, president of home entertainment at New Wave. “We hope it never stops, especially from a business perspective,” Meadows said. “They will be downloading different things as the title plays out a bit.” Taking Sides Sony and Toshiba released their respective high definition discs to the public in 2006, and the Hollywood studios quickly chose sides. The Walt Disney Co., Sony Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox and MGM went with Blu-ray format. Universal Pictures, Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks SKG (owned by Paramount) all released films on HD DVD. Warner Bros. on the other hand, continued to release in both formats until January when, in response to consumer demand and to eliminate format confusion, the company announced it, too, was siding with Blu-ray. That decision turned out to be the Waterloo for HD DVD. Within weeks, DVD rental firm Netflix and retail giant Wal-Mart said they would no longer stock HD DVD titles. (Blockbuster has stocked Blu-ray titles exclusively at its stores since June.) Toshiba surrendered in February, ceasing production of HD DVD discs, players and associated software this spring. While taking a neutral position during the format dispute, companies working with the studios were nonetheless pleased when a single format had been chosen. Technicolor happily dropped HD DVD development and doubled down on Blu-ray. Testronic does have unneeded players of the discarded format yet expects to grow with its Blu-ray work. Greater choice in the number of players available to consumers and more space per disc may have been the tipping points in favor of Blu-ray. A dual layer disc contains some 20 gigabytes more of data when compared with an HD DVD disc. So far, the studios have not capitalized on filling those extra hours available on the disc, focusing more on the interactive features, Meadows said. “There are a few more hours to fill with added value,” Meadows said. “They are not doing that yet but I think they will.” Media Distributors, a business-to-business supplier of media and storage products in Studio City, sensed that Blu-ray would come out the winner as the discs far exceeded its rival. Working in high def creates a different workflow filming of content through putting it on disc so Media Distributors has spent the past six months or so educating its customers in the entertainment industry on working in the format. Tony Cahill, manager of the solutions group, created easy-to-use starter packages to get customers familiar with working with Blu-ray discs. These packages streamline a lengthy process to meet the quick turnaround time required by the studios, Cahill said. “With a unifying position on the HD distribution format a lot of these workflow improvements are starting to come of age and we are seeing a lot of interest in Hollywood for these products,” added Tom Evans, vice president of marketing. Image Entertainment Inc. one of the largest independent home entertainment distributors in the U.S., began releasing its catalogue in Blu-ray in January. Its strategy is to release major feature films and titles that were best sellers in standard definition DVD, said Garrett Lee, senior vice president of product development. Bringing interactive features to their releases is not a high priority and the company instead will wait and see what the consumer demand is, Lee said. “For now, the Blu-ray version will mirror the standard definition version,” Lee said.
