Disney was the first studio to fully integrate iOS systems with their films, but they're no longer the only filmmaker doing so.

The Weinstein Company and Technicolor have teamed up to utilize the tech company's MediaEcho application to supplement last year's Best Picture "The King's Speech" with historical footage, additional commentary and behind the scenes information.

Like Disney's SecondScreen tool, the app syncs with the BluRay version of the film, displaying relevant content at appropriate moments of the film.

"The key benefit of MediaEcho as a second screen application is to offer consumers content that is synchronized and relevant to what they are watching on the TV screen," said Lew Rothman, executive vice president of Operations and Chief Technology Officer at The Weinstein Company.

It's a one-off right now, but the companies plan to add the free app to other films moving forward. The service only works with BD-Live enabled players and you'll need an iPad as well. iPhones and iPod Touches lack the necessary screen space to fully support the content.

Fox, too, jumped on the Second Screen movement earlier this year with its Sons of Anarchy app , only instead of using it as a place to highlight "extras," it focused on capitalization.  "SOA Gear," will enable viewers of the current season and the third-season Blu-ray to purchase products that appear during episodes.

Curious what George Lucas and co. have in store for the "Star Wars: The Complete Saga" Blu-ray collection? The discs won't be available until Sept. 16, but an upcoming iPhone and iPad app will spill some of the beans.

The Star Wars Blu-ray: Early Access App, available for free tomorrow (July 20) in the App store, promises to offer an early look at footage and bonus materials from the collection. All totaled, the blu-rays will have over 40 hours of bonus footage.

Apps that tie-in with big home releases aren't exactly new. Disney has found an especially creative way to integrate the two, as it did with "Tron: Legacy" and its second screen feature. What's especially distinctive about this one is the fact it's releasing so far in advance of the blu-ray.

The app's release is timed to tie-in with Thursday's launch of the San Diego Comic-Con, a mecca for Star Wars fans.

iPad owners who pick up a copy of today's Blu-Ray release of "Tron: Legacy" will get a little extra with their purchase. The Mouse House is including its recently unveiled Second Screen feature with the disc, letting fans watch bonus features alongside the film.

First rolled out with the Blu-Ray release of Bambi, Second Screen meshes wonderfully with this special effects-infused sequel, offering viewers a blend of concept art, select filmmaker commentary and concept and storyboard images.

The Second Screen feature can be used on the PC as well as the iPad, but it's something that's really made for portable screens, which are lighter than laptops and won't get burdensome during a two-hour viewing experience. Syncing with the film, the app shows behind the scenes video, comments and more specific to what's happening at that point in the movie.

Among the highlights with the Tron: Legacy Second Screen are details that likely breezed by most fans in theaters (like the 'recognizer' night light in young Sam's room – which happens to be the first thing he sees when he enters the Grid) and some interesting behind the scenes setups. The only risk is that the amount of information included in the app occasionally threatens to overshadow the film.

Given the growing number of people using a PC or tablet as they watch programming at home, Second Screen is a very forward-thinking approach by Disney. It gives fans a chance to learn about areas of interest as they watch without having to stop the film and dig up relevant extras or commentary. Further, it lets the user decide how intrusive it will be on the viewing experience.

Disney's not alone in exploring new digital boundaries, of course. Warner Bros. has been experimenting with Facebook and iOS distribution of films recently, mixing extras with films such as "The Dark Knight" and "Inception". And Android distribution is on the rise at other studios. Second Screen is different, though, in that it's a free accessory meant to enhance the viewing experience.

To date, Disney has not announced other films on which it plans to include Second Screen, but the company says there will be more this year. 

Variety tech guru David Cohen answers your questions about the industry. Chat starts at 10 a.m. PST.

While the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii are still game machines first and foremost, they’re increasingly being used for other forms of entertainment.

A new survey by Nielsen finds that non-gaming functionality is on the rise among console owners – and among PS3 owners, it even surpasses the time spent playing games.

Overall, users 13 and up spend just 49 percent of their time playing games on Sony’s console. Xbox 360 owners spend 62 percent of their time gaming. Wii owners, which ironically are often the butt of jokes among the core, spend the greatest percentage of their time playing - coming in at 69 percent.

Watching DVDs or Blu-rays is the second most popular function for consoles after gameplay. Xbox 360 owners spend 11 percent of their time watching DVDs, while PS3 owners use those machines for Blu-ray films 27 percent of the time – more time than they spend playing online games. (The Wii does not offer movie playback functionality.)

Streaming media – using services such as Netflix and ESPN3 – is the next most popular category. The Wii leads the charge there, with 20 percent of users’ time dedicated to streaming video. The Xbox 360 comes in at half that and PS3 owners use the console for that 9 percent of the time.

From there, the percentage breakdown gets miniscule, but items include watching downloaded movies or TV shows, listening to CDs or MP3s and using the console’s internet capabilities for surfing or social networking.

You have to give it to Sony. When they made the decision to join the 3D battlefield, they jumped in with both feet.  

Starting Tuesday, Sept. 21, every PlayStation 3 on the market will begin supporting 3D playback. (The move will come via a free software update.) That instantly puts 3D hardware into 38 million homes worldwide.

Of course, users will still need a 3D TV to see the effects, but it’s one less consumer objection for Sony (and other TV manufacturers) to overcome. If someone has a PS3, they’ll automatically have a content source for a 3D set. Conversely, an installed base of this size might nudge content companies towards releasing more 3D home content.

Initially planned for the summer, then delayed, the move actually comes a bit earlier than Sony CEO Howard Stringer had predicted earlier this month. At IFA in Berlin, he said 3D Blu-ray playback would hit the PS3 in October. 

If you’ve got a Panasonic set with VierraCast functionality, don’t get too excited about the company’s newly announced partnership with Netflix.  

Earlier this week at CES, Panasonic announced it would be bringing several new partners, including Skype, Twitter, Pandora and Netflix, to its line of Internet-enabled TV sets. Existing customers will receive the new services via a firmware update.

Expect, it turns out, for Netflix. That widget will only be included in sets or BluRay players that are built in 2010 or later. Early adopters of the technology are being left out in the cold.

Apparently, there were contractual restrictions – which would seem to point the finger of blame at Netflix. What Panasonic couldn’t answer was why other manufacturers, some of which have had Netflix included for a while now, haven’t faced similar problems. 

Blu-Ray may get a little more momentum this holiday season, thanks to a new program from Warner Bros. The studio, which earlier this year ran a trial program allowing customers to exchange their HD-DVDs for Blu-Ray copies of the same film, is now letting traditional DVD owners make the swap.

Consumers who visit the studio’s DVD2BLU website select the movies they want to exchange (assuming they’re one of the 55 listed), send the DVD in to the studio and can get the Blu-Ray version of the same film for a deeply discounted price (as low as $7.95). They’ll receive the BD versions within 4-5 weeks.

One important note: The film selection on the site is generally limited to older films, so if you’ve bought a DVD of a recent release and want to upgrade, you’ll have to make a second trip to Wal-Mart or Best Buy. And many of the films may be on sale during the holidays at prices rivaling the trade-in price. If the promotion gets good traffic, though, expect Warner to expand the number of films available for trade.

The NPD Group, keepers and analysts of all things consumer electronics data driven, believes Blu-Ray is about to hit the big time. The recording technology should penetrate the mainstream next year, it says.

The proclamation comes after the company compared the types of people using Blu-Ray players last February to those using them last month. Last year, early adopters (those electronics hounds who will buy virtually anything new and shiny) were 64 percent of the Blu-Ray users. This summer, they only represent a 38 percent of the audience.

That’s good news for Blu-Ray, of course – especially as we close in on the holiday shopping season. And while this particular survey honed in on Blu-Ray set-top boxes, the recent price cut of the PlayStation 3 could be another momentum boost as well.

With all due respect to my friends at NPD, though, I’m less convinced that Blu-Ray will find the acceptance of its forerunner – the DVD. To take full advantage of the discs, you need a high end HDTV and the numbers for that are still relatively slim. Meanwhile, digital distribution, such as the programs offered by Netflix and Vudu, is rapidly gaining traction. Both are being carried by multiple Internet-enabled television sets and have distribution through other outlets as well (such as Netflix’s deal with Microsoft’s Xbox 360).

Blu-Ray’s not going away anytime soon – and might find some mainstream acceptance, but it has a long way to go before it becomes the default storage solution for home video. 

Here's the good news, while DVD revenue was down a stark 14% last quarter, according to the Digital Entertainment Group (a home entertainment trade organization), Blu-ray revenue was up 105% and digital downloads were up 19%.

But here's the bad news: About a decade after digital movie downloads started and over two years after Blu-ray launched (and a year since HD DVD folder), their substantial growth is still not big enough to make up for the declines in DVD revenue.

To be precise, Blu-ray revenue rose $118 million to $230 million, while digital download revenue grew $78 million to $487 million.

Standard DVDs, however, fell $470 million to $2.89 billion.

That's a $291 million gap between growth in new formats and the decline of the old.