One of the main reasons why people buy DVDs (or Blu-ray discs, the situation's exactly the same) is the fact that they want to enjoy their favorite movies in the intimacy of their own home, without being bothered by other people or commercials (found both in cinemas and on TV). Despite this pretty straightforward state of things, it seems that a company called TellX has come up with a new technology, called “Active Video,” which will offer advertisers and brands the opportunity to have a direct presence on entertainment content stored in the DVD format.

“Technology-savvy movie lovers are always looking for the best home entertainment experience,” said Owen Carton, Founder and President, TellX. “We are thrilled to have a major national retailer showcasing the TellX-enhanced DVD release and believe consumers will appreciate the exciting added value at no additional cost.”

TellX Active Video titles work on standard-definition DVD players and require no additional hardware purchase for consumers. Each scene in a TellX Active Video DVD is fully interactive and features “on-demand” content at a touch of a button using the existing DVD remote control.

Examples of content range from information on the music playing in a scene, in-video maps showing where the scene was shot, details on what the actors are wearing, “fast facts” about the production and much more. All of the features can be branded to a particular company or product that fits the narrative of the film.

For the time being, the TellX technology has been implemented in a single title, namely First Look Studios’ “The Code,” starring Morgan Freeman and Antonio Banderas. For “The Code,” TellX created a “Cracking the Code” feature, one of several specially designed features offering viewers the chance to win an iPod by paying attention to moments in the film and then answering questions correctly, unlocking the winning code. Of course, it remains to be seen whether this technology will prove to be successful, but I'm pretty sure normal consumers will not love it, exactly for the reasons mentioned in the beginning of this article.




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