Blu-ray's BD-Live gets its own IMDB-lite

MovieIQ - bringing trivia to Blu-ray
MovieIQ - bringing trivia to Blu-ray

In a bid to push BD-Live technology into the mainstream, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has announced MovieIQ, a new feature that will be available on its Blu-ray line-up from September.

While the name of the feature isn't really that enticing, it could well become an IMDB (the Internet Movie Database) for Blu-ray – offering things like cast-and-crew information, music and soundtrack details, and snippets of trivia.

Blu-ray is the future

The first batch of titles to include MovieIQ will be Angels & Demons, Easy Rider, Punch Drunk Love, The Quick and the Dead, Silverado and Sex, Lies, and Videotape, with all the information coming from the Gracenote Database.

"MovieIQ takes full advantage of the Blu-ray format's internet connectivity and truly demonstrates that Blu-ray is the future of home entertainment," explained Ross Blanchard, VP of business development for Gracenote.

"Now, movie lovers will have access to an incredible new service where they can explore and discover all the rich details on their favourite actors, directors and movies."

The best thing about the feature is that you can view the trivia while still watching a movie.

Essentially, you can create your very own Pop-up Video style experience. Let's hope that the feature is rolled out to more studios – considering that Gracenote is a subsidiary of Sony, however, the company may well keep the tech for itself.

Via Blu-ray.com and Home Media Magazine

Marc Chacksfield

Marc Chacksfield is the Editor In Chief, Shortlist.com at DC Thomson. He started out life as a movie writer for numerous (now defunct) magazines and soon found himself online - editing a gaggle of gadget sites, including TechRadar, Digital Camera World and Tom's Guide UK. At Shortlist you'll find him mostly writing about movies and tech, so no change there then.