Rivergate Software Inc. - makers of DVDAfterEdit

Yes - interaction isn't a selling point (a sore spot for me as a menu designer). As implemented, pop-up menus that play over a movie (which are pretty unobtrusive and minimal) may turn out to be the "baseline" UI for many high-definition discs, esp. for catalog titles.

But can't we do better? I certainly intend to try! Now all I need is a risk-taking client with some vision and the budget of a Hollywood film. ;->

Michael

My vision is not about "watching a movie" or "playing a game" (experiences which are both being delivered on a "disc") or even "producing games with movies." It's about blurring the lines between these experiences. I could say more but...perhaps enough said for now.

Neither BD-J nor HDi are "selling points" as far as the end user is concerned. These are underlying technologies which can be used to create a particular user experience. If your primary goal is to provide access to HD content, then HDAC may be enough - or even more than enough. Since I want to make crazy things which the studios are probably not interested in doing (at least today) and which HDAC wasn't designed for, BD-J seems a more fertile place to play and invest. Frankly, it feels to me like it has an open ended future.

Michael

Thanks for the link, Ian.

As it says in the "High Definition DVD Hand Book" (pp 8-5):

"The feature set defined in HD DVD Advanced Content was derived from direct discussions with several major motion picture studios. As a result, it largely covers the functionality that has been requested by a majority of content producers."

This is actually stated in a discussion of BD-J and asks, in effect, why bother with it? But I say the studios by and large have little or no imagination and aren't really interested in that much more interactivity or new user experiences - only the promise of a "better picture," a nominally improved user experience and selling content (in many cases, the same content we already own on DVD). There are and will be exceptions but I am sure we're going to see the majority of high definition titles released (regardless of format) with more or less cookie-cutter menus. The studios are not likely to be the folks pushing any format very far once the market settles down. (*)

Me? I want to create fantastic new forms of entertainment that go way beyond pop-up chapter selection menus and trivia games that remember high scores. I want to see the line between what's "a movie" and what's "a game" get blurry. And frankly I don't expect to be doing that with a markup language and some scripts. ;->

Michael

(*)- Aside: much could have been done with plain old DVD and it wasn't, least ways by the studios. Things that were "broke" - like random numbers - stayed that way in part because the studios didn't use 'em and didn't demand they be fixed.