http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/ihd-hdi-nope-its-called-advanced-navigation/ Engadget Comments for iHD, HDi? Nope it's called Advanced Navigation http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/ihd-hdi-nope-its-called-advanced-navigation/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/ihd-hdi-nope-its-called-advanced-navigation/Jan 25th 2007 6:41PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/ihd-hdi-nope-its-called-advanced-navigation/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/ihd-hdi-nope-its-called-advanced-navigation/Jan 25th 2007 7:08PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/ihd-hdi-nope-its-called-advanced-navigation/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/ihd-hdi-nope-its-called-advanced-navigation/Jan 25th 2007 7:17PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/ihd-hdi-nope-its-called-advanced-navigation/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/ihd-hdi-nope-its-called-advanced-navigation/Jan 25th 2007 7:30PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/ihd-hdi-nope-its-called-advanced-navigation/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/ihd-hdi-nope-its-called-advanced-navigation/Jan 25th 2007 9:28PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/ihd-hdi-nope-its-called-advanced-navigation/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/ihd-hdi-nope-its-called-advanced-navigation/Jan 25th 2007 11:27PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/ihd-hdi-nope-its-called-advanced-navigation/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/ihd-hdi-nope-its-called-advanced-navigation/
*groan*

ps. HDi is da b0mb.]]>Jan 26th 2007 9:31AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/ihd-hdi-nope-its-called-advanced-navigation/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/ihd-hdi-nope-its-called-advanced-navigation/
The implemetation of BD-J on The Descent was awful. While I didn't have playback problems with my PS3 that PiP commentary wasn't done as well as HD DVD implemetation of PiP where that picture only comes up when there's something to be said.]]>Jan 26th 2007 3:17AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/ihd-hdi-nope-its-called-advanced-navigation/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/ihd-hdi-nope-its-called-advanced-navigation/Jan 26th 2007 10:28AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/ihd-hdi-nope-its-called-advanced-navigation/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/ihd-hdi-nope-its-called-advanced-navigation/
Wake me up when HDi (and BDJ, for that matter) does something other than have a video commentary with boring talking heads, or selling you insurance and painting rice rockets.

People are not buying HD discs for interactivity.]]>Jan 26th 2007 2:02PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/ihd-hdi-nope-its-called-advanced-navigation/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/ihd-hdi-nope-its-called-advanced-navigation/
However, to correct the FUD (or perhaps just misunderstanding), BDJ is actually far superior. It has commerically proven implementation, and extremely developer-friendly feature-rich API's.

BDJ is actually not at all new, it is actually been around for some time (it is basically an implementation of GEM, and wait for it... AN INDUSTRY STANDARD), see here for more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BD-J

There are also arguably more Java programmers in the world than for any other language, this is supported by the fact that there are more Java jobs than for any other language. Why does this matter? It means they can bring to bear there considerable experience to bring things very unique to DVD interativity. Think of all those Java ME (mobile phone) developers...

It's a shame that the use of BDJ has not been taken up to well so far, and it is a shame that the quality of what has been put out is not too hot. However, this does not reflect, and is not the fault of BDJ itself.

I shudder at the thought of writing this kind of interativity stuff in XML (as is the case for iHD)... Yeuck. But wait, it also has Javascript for interactivity! Yay! Oh hang on, not many decent web games doing the rounds in Javascript are there... perhaps because it simply is not appropriate for pushing pixels. SMIL support is nice, but that is its only redeming feature.

I think once they get some decent Java 2D developers and artists on the case, you see see BDJ pretty much wipe the floor with the competition.
]]>Jan 26th 2007 11:11AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/ihd-hdi-nope-its-called-advanced-navigation/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/ihd-hdi-nope-its-called-advanced-navigation/
If you read the site you know I am a BDA proponent, some readers even call me Ben "Blu-ray" Drawbaugh. But I am disappointed with the lack of interactive content on Blu-ray and when the studios tell me it's because of the authoring tools for BDJ, I believe them.

I guess it's not a big surprise since the number one Java IDE isn't made by Sun, maybe someone should take Eclipse and modify it to work with BDJ. ]]>Jan 26th 2007 11:40AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/ihd-hdi-nope-its-called-advanced-navigation/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/ihd-hdi-nope-its-called-advanced-navigation/
Your post is rather funny to even comment on. Do you work for Microsoft? Or just Toshiba?]]>Jan 26th 2007 11:15AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/ihd-hdi-nope-its-called-advanced-navigation/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/ihd-hdi-nope-its-called-advanced-navigation/
As for "[Java could] ...hypothetically do the same stuff as HDi" - I bet you don't know anything about Java to make such a loaded statement. Did you base your view of Java off some crappy phone game? In a showdown in a steel octagon, Java would kick HDi to death. *Launch tumbleweed*

Not only is HDi a scripting language and hence interpreted. It is also a closed standard operating within the .NET framework meaning expensive and bulky development tools. Its going to be harder to code for since MS are very good at protecting who knows about their standards (shrouding them in ever more acronyms). Pah, HDi makes me sick.

The only think HD-DVD has going for it is that it's cheaper (which could easily bring it out on top). Challenge: Name me ONE way in which HD-DVD is technically superior to Blu-ray and back it up with evidence.]]>Feb 8th 2007 12:25PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/ihd-hdi-nope-its-called-advanced-navigation/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/ihd-hdi-nope-its-called-advanced-navigation/
I would take some exception to calling Eclipse the number one Java IDE though. ;-) It might be the number one *free* Java IDE, but my personal favourite is Intelli-J. If you get a chance, you should try it some time!]]>Jan 26th 2007 11:53AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/ihd-hdi-nope-its-called-advanced-navigation/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/ihd-hdi-nope-its-called-advanced-navigation/Feb 8th 2007 12:11PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/ihd-hdi-nope-its-called-advanced-navigation/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/ihd-hdi-nope-its-called-advanced-navigation/
Don't confuse the current lack of maturity of authoring tools and player implementations with future capability. BD-J is capable of far more compelling content than HDi, which is one of the reasons why it was strongly supported within the BDA in spite of very strong pressure personally applied by Bill Gates to sway the BDA to use HDi.]]>Jan 27th 2007 3:13AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/ihd-hdi-nope-its-called-advanced-navigation/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/ihd-hdi-nope-its-called-advanced-navigation/
I am a DVD author in a big produciton house in London, a programmer with a degree in Computer Science and I am emphatically NOT a Microsoft hater.

HOWEVER, I back BDJ fully... As someone else said, not only is BDJ a derivation of existing standards in interactive television, its base, Java, is a very clean, full programming language, well defined, open language that is easy to read and work with, can be coded and compiled with any number of development environments (even notepad).

My present view of HDi is that it is technically weaker, being a scripting language and therefore 'interpreted' (slower) and more importantly, it's shrouded in Microsoft endorsed standards that are revealed to developers as they wish. Uses .NET for development meaning use of heavy development environments restricting you to a particular coding style.

I am not saying I think Blu-ray will win, or that there will even be a winner. What I am saying is that as a coder who appreciates technically neat and open standards, I desperately HOPE that Blu-Ray wins. Otherwise I will wake up every morning knowing I have to code a steaming pile of HDi.]]>Feb 12th 2007 3:10AM