There is much discussion around the value of BD-J in the Blu-ray industry, so we at NetBlender have crafted this wikipaper to address some of the key discussion points and, we hope, to clarify some of the confusion around BD-J. Apart from the dreaded AACS fees, no topic seems to polarize the industry as much as the question of whether or not BD-J should be used on Blu-ray discs.
What is BD-J?
It is good to start with a basic description of BD-J, however, there are many great resources such as Blu-ray Disc Demystified that offer in-depth explanations about the actual programmatic structure of BD-J that we will not attempt to re-create here. BD-J stands for Blu-ray Disc Java, and it is a sub classification of the Java programming language that is based on the Java 2 Micro Edition (J2ME) platform with Personal Basis Profile, which was developed years ago for use on mobile devices. In other words, it is a full software programming language that is aimed towards a specific device – your Blu-ray player.
BD-J is an important part of the Blu-ray Spec that is intended to extend the interactive capabilities of the format far beyond DVD. It brings the power of procedural programming and logic to Blu-ray as well as more powerful graphics rendering than DVD could ever offer.
What does BD-J allow you to do?
Build Better Menus
BD-J enables some of the more interesting interactive capabilities of the Blu-ray format. At a basic level, BD-J enables better looking menus because it supports 32-bit graphics, rather than the 8-bit graphics that are required for HDMV. The menus can be active across all titles on your disc, which allows you to create more complex menus that can navigate the viewer from any part of the disc to any other via the pop-up menu. HDMV pop-up menus are specific to a title in your disc, and so you as the author are forced into more of a DVD-style back and forth menu design.
A great example of a very complex menu is the Avia Blu-ray setup disc that is bundled with the Sony S5000 player (it was authored with DoStudio). It features three tiers of pop-up menus, which you can see in the image below. These menu tiers let the viewer quickly navigate to any of over 100 setup patterns and test tones with a single well-organized and efficient menu system.
Implement (or be ready for) BD-Live
BD-Live requires BD-J. Plain and simple. While Hollywood is making some innovative use of BD Live, NetBlender expects to see interesting applications of BD-Live in the non-entertainment space that go beyond the streaming trailers, chats and commentary found on some Studio titles. Imagine publishing an RSS feed within your menu system. How about updating promotional materials and sales data via the Internet? Create a disc that acts as the “key” to watch regularly updated videos delivered via the Internet. BD Live enables many interesting opportunities beyond the Home Entertainment industry.
NetBlender’s BD Touch is another powerful example of BD-J. The ability to create a connection between a mobile device and your Blu-ray player relies of the programming power of BD-J. Of course with DoStudio, you don’t need to touch a line of Java code to enable this feature – the developers at NetBlender have done that for you. BD Touch turns your iPhone into a great remote control for your Blu-ray player and also makes it possible to transfer digital files form the disc to your phone.
Is Hollywood using BD-J?
Yes! While most of the early Blu-ray discs were HDMV-only, the current trend is moving heavily towards taking advantage of the features BD-J has to offer.
Notably, all Blu-ray titles from Universal Studios have a feature called “U-Control” which is essentially a series of in-move extras that can be activated by the viewer at any time during the movie with their remote control. Commentaries, games, picture-in-picture storyboards and production still, and other such interactive features are accessed via U-Control. U-Control is made possible by BD-J.
All Blu-ray titles from Fox are authored with BD-J pop-up menus, similar in function to how DoStudio creates pop-up menus.
Paramount, Disney, Sony and Warner are all making heavy use of BD-J menus and features (The Dark Knight, anyone?). And any disc that advertises BD-Live or any type of iPhone integration (such as NetBlender’s BD Touch) – that’s BD-J, too. Universal’s Fast & Furious is the first major studio Blu-ray title to make use of the iPhone-Blu-ray interaction.
In fact, any time the trade press takes the time to review an innovative feature on a Blu-ray disc, the feature they are referring to is enabled by BD-J. A quick perusal of Blu-ray Disc Reporter (http://www.blu-ray-disc-reporter.com) reveals numerous such reviews. Here’s one about an interesting feature on Sony’s Nick and Norah:
Comedy Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist comes to BD with a special feature that perfectly suits the film’s musical heritage. Nick & Norah’s Interactive Playlist gives viewers background information and trivia on the songs and artists featured in the film, and the option to create custom playlists which can be shared with friends by email.
Gizmodo (www
.gizmodo.com) recently reported on Warner’s Blu-ray release of Watchmen featuring a Facebook tie-in:
In the interest of making Community Screenings a bit more practical (that BD Live function allowing users to watch a film in sync with friends over the network), Warner has teamed with Facebook in a cash-less deal to allow Community Screenings to sync with your Facebook friend lists.
So, Should I be using BD-J on my non-Hollywood discs?
BD-J usage on Blu-ray discs has steadily increased for the inception of the format to today. As the Blu-ray industry matures and expands, the trend towards taking full advantages of the Blu-ray format’s features in clear. As a professional Blu-ray author, it is important to consider whether your discs should emulate the trends of the industry leaders, or exhibit a more limited feature set.
Does BD-J cause compatibility problems?
One of the more puzzling aspects of the Blu-ray industry is how some of the authoring tool vendors are so adamantly opposed to supporting BD-J. It is true that the first generation Blu-ray players were iffy on BD-J support, but today, BD-J is widely supported and a properly constructed BD-J app will play on all Blu-ray players.
NetBlender, for example, holds DoStudio to the same compatibility standards as Hollywood. DoStudio-authored discs are routinely tested at 3rd-party facilities for compatibility and the CE manufactures test new players and firmware for compatibility with the NetBlender DoStudio BD-J engine.
Of course, a poorly constructed or overly-complex BD-J application can certainly cause compatibility problems. BD-J is a programming language that we at NetBlender feel should be left in the hands of qualified Java developers, not video and DVD professionals. This philosophy informs our approach to BD-J features in DoStudio and we applaud the arrival of new BD-J tools designed for Blu-ray professionals who wish to extend the power of the format.
