"Father of Two" reporting from the 2-Day Blu-ray Festival in Hollywood. With the November 6th release approaching, Disney hosted a Cars/Ratatouille "Blu-ray Disc" Launch Party. With dozens of 1080P wide screen plasma TV's on the walls of multiple rooms (AND an exquisite buffet of great food), I was able to enjoy the presentation of both movies in Hi-Definition.

With a daughter who has watched Cars (the standard DVD version) over 50 times in the last year, I'm quite familiar with the film. The next level of detail that this presentation shows has pushed me to the point of buying a system for Christmas. The clarity was spectacular. For instance, early in the film when Lightning McQueen drags his rear rims down the track, the sparks are so clear, you'd think the TV itself was lighting fireworks off. In another scene, the definition of the tires and the change in pressure of the tire (based on which way the car is leaning) is absolutely captivating. The detail is something you have to see to believe.

Movie PictureI played with a few of the interactive features on the Cars Blu-ray Disc using the Blu-ray system. It was very cool. You can watch the movie AND play an interactive game about the movie at the same time. I noticed a set of 8-9 yr olds working the interactive features on the system next to me and they were even more enthralled than I was.

John Lasseter (Director of Cars, and Executive Producer of Ratatouille) spoke to the group. He is a guy who clearly enjoys what he does for a living. He is genuinely excited and happy that the public finally gets to see the amount of detail that his team puts into these films.

I had an opportunity to talk with Bob Chapek (Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment Worldwide President). The passion he has for the technology was quite apparent. He really believes they have the right technology going with their product to provide the best consumer experience possible. You can see this belief throughout the team that he had assembled tonight. Everyone was talking about the technology, showing off the features and enjoying the movies.

As I look toward the big family Christmas gift, the advice I've been given is to look closely at the 40gig PS3. A Blu-ray player with excellent quality sound and picture, with an auto-updating firmware (for future enhancements) AND a gaming station for the PlayStation games...this could be the ticket.