Advanced Content
Advanced Content provides interactivity in the HD DVD optical disc format.
Advanced Content is used to provide interactive menus and "special features" such as additional bonus/extras content and games for
The ability to play back Advanced Content is a mandatory part of the HD DVD-Video specification. Its features were defined by content providers (specifically
The most popular implementation of Advanced Content (running in both the Toshiba HD DVD players and Microsoft Xbox 360 add-on) is Microsoft's
The rival Blu-ray format does not use Advanced Content. It uses BD-J instead.
Technology
Advanced Content is written using the declarative
Advanced Content includes an XML element grammar based on
To support the ECMAScript code, Advanced Content defines a large number of objects, properties, and methods ("APIs") that are analogous to the DOM in a web browser; these APIs allow the script to query and control the player, animate the markup page, respond to user events, and connect to the internet to download new content such as trailers, cast & crew bios, or other information.
HDi
HDi (formerly iHD[5]) is Microsoft's implementation[6] of the Advanced Content interactivity layer in HD DVD.[7] It is used in the Xbox 360 HD DVD add-on as well as stand-alone HD DVD players.[7]
Applications written for HDi are written using the XML dialect and ECMAScript, the latter of which is processed by the JScript engine when running on Microsoft Windows platforms. The HDi runtime exposes the APIs defined by the Advanced Content standard. It provides only a single threaded programming model, though certain operations (such as network and persistent storage access) are executed as asynchronous operations.[8]
An
.xas
), markup files (.xmu
) and scripts (.js
) in addition to the actual video, in a defined directory structure. The HDi runtime parses the markup and the scripts to execute the action. The playback of the video, along with its integration with the rest of the navigation system, is initiated from and controlled by script code.
The HDi runtime is responsible for execution and final rendering of the movie playback and navigation application. The markup is parsed into a Document Object Model, which allows ECMAScript code to control and modify the UI layout during execution. By dynamically altering the layout of UI widgets is how animations and interactivity is achieved. The DOM and associated APIs is used to enable other scenarios such as pausing playback and replacing it with the navigation UI, or seeking to a certain area in the movie (used for either manual seek or seeking to bookmarks). For the rendering stack, it presents six planes (which are containers for graphics) that are layered in front of each other. The final image displayed is the composition of the images from the individual planes. The composition of the planes into the final image is handled by the HDi runtime. These rendering layers, from back to front, are:
- Background plane: The background plane defines the background color for the application.
- Main video plane: When Main video is visible, it is displayed on this plane.
- Sub video plane: When Secondary video (such as picture-in-picture) is playing, it is displayed on this plane.
- Subtitles graphics plane: All subtitles (both standard and advanced) and are rendered on this plane.
- Application graphics plane: The UI rendered by the script and markup is displayed on this plane.
- Cursor plane: The cursor, if visible, is displayed on this plane.
Microsoft does not provide design tools for development of HDi applications, though third parties have made such tools available. Because the components used by Advanced Content (and HDi) -
HDi is not inherently limited to being used on optical media; it can be used on media delivered or streamed over the
Advanced Interactivity Consortium
The Advanced Interactivity Consortium (AIC) was to be an open forum designed to extend the Advanced Content interactive capabilities of HD DVD to new devices and delivery mechanisms. It was jointly announced by Toshiba and Microsoft on October 4, 2007[10] but never implemented. The companies included in the announcement included:
- Microsoft
- Toshiba
- DreamWorks Animation
- Paramount
- Universal Studios
- Warner Bros.
Examples
Some examples of Advanced Content on HD DVD are:
- Interactive features such as picture-in-picture, story boards, actor biographies, U-Control"[11]
- Passive features such as picture-in-picture and story boards on many Warner Bros. titles, branded as In Movie Experience
- User-defined chapter points, known as "Bookmarks" or "My Scenes" found on many titles from various studios
- Downloadable features such as a colouring book on for Shrek the Third from DreamWorks Animation[12]
- Downloadable trailers and other content on various titles, including Freedom from Bandai Visual
- On-line shopping for goods and services depicted in the film, such as Evan Almighty from Universal Studios[13]
References
- ^ "Amir Majidimehr describes the genesis of HDi". Archived from the original on 2007-10-30.
- ^ "Requirements Specification for HD DVD Video Application" (PDF). Retrieved 2007-10-03.
- ^ "Microsoft Announces Use of HDi Logo by Toshiba and Hollywood Studios".
- ^ HD DVD scenarios from the DVD Forum
- ^ Engadget:iHD, HDi? Nope it's called Advanced Navigation
- ^ "Trademark press release". Microsoft. Archived from the original on 2008-01-01. Retrieved 2018-07-25.
- ^ a b "Microsoft Announces Use of HDi Logo by Toshiba and Hollywood Studios". Retrieved 2007-10-04.
- ^ Peter Torr. "Maintaining Callback Semantics". Retrieved 2007-12-04.
- ^ "Toshiba and Microsoft Announce Plans to Form Advanced Interactivity Consortium". Microsoft. Archived from the original on 2007-10-24. Retrieved 2018-07-22.
- ^ "Toshiba and Microsoft Announce Plans to Form Advanced Interactivity Consortium". Microsoft. Archived from the original on 2007-10-24.
- ^ ""U-Control" Up Close: A Field Report". Archived from the original on 2007-10-27.
- ^ "Unique features announced for Shrek on HD DVD".
- ^ "HD DVD to Launch Online Shopping Feature". NBC News.
Bibliography
- "HD-DVD Jumpstart Kit". Microsoft. Retrieved 2007-12-04.
External links
- HDi trademark press release
- MSDN HD DVD Authoring Forum
- MSFT Peter Torr's HDi Blog
- MSFT Amy Dullard's Application Development for HD DVD Blog
- Xbox 360 HD-DVD Developer Interview
- HP Pressures Blu-Ray Camp
- Microsoft's Amir Majidimehr describes the genesis of HDi (and other things)
- Interview: Microsoft’s Kevin Collins on HD DVD Archived 2007-10-12 at the Wayback Machine