Movie & TV sell-outs: When tech product placements go bad

Casino Royale: Sony HD5, Blu-ray, Vaio laptops, Sony Ericsson phones and Ford cars 
The HD5 is probably the greatest MP3 player ever made, if you ignore the glaring problems with the way it worked and Sony's ludicrous SonicStage software.

If you compare it to the iPods available at the same time, it had superior battery life, better sound quality and it was smaller and better-looking. These days, kids won't get out of bed for less than a VGA screen with millions of colours and video playback. But back in the day, this was the MP3 player to have.

Of course, that doesn't explain its location in naughty secret-seller Dryden's desk drawer, sitting there right next to his gun. It's a funny combination of things to have in a drawer, and you can imagine him sitting there thinking, "Do I want to listen to some tunes, or shoot someone? Music or murder? Hmm."

And it doesn't end there. It's hardly a secret that Sony owns a significant chunk of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the movie studio behind the James Bond films. It's also no secret that Casino Royale, while being very good indeed, did play out as a Sony advert, with placements for Vaio laptops, Sony Ericsson phones, Blu-ray players and even a Ford Mondeo -- Sony doesn't make cars, you see.

It's the Blu-ray security camera system that made us laugh hardest though. We could scarcely believe the audacity of including such a ridiculous and over-blown recording system in a movie, and then we remembered we were watching James Bond -- rarely a bastion of believability.

At the time HD DVD was still alive and kicking, but after seeing Blu-ray in James Bond, everyone threw their HD DVD players in the sea and rushed out to get Blu-ray players instead.