Does Java give Blu-ray an edge?

Associated Content has published an interesting article about the content authoring on Blu-ray and HD-DVD formats. According to the article, the Blu-ray would have an clear advantage over the rival HD-DVD. Both of these formats have a basic and a more advanced modes for content development. In Blu-ray the basic mode (High Definition Movie Mode, HDMV) offers more features than HD-DVD’s standard authoring. But the real cherry is supposed to be the BD-J, which is a coding intensive Java-based platform. It should provide Blu-ray developers plenty of possibilities to create neat applications.

Then there is BD-J, a coding intesive method which further extends the capabilities to include networking and 32-bit graphics (as opposed to 8-bit graphics in HDMV,) and has all the power of Java. BD-J is developed using Java 2 Platform Micro Edition (J2ME,) “the most ubiquitous application platform for mobile devices across the globe.” This is the same platform used for interactive TV and a growing list of web-connected multimedia devices. Can you say ‘interoperability’ everybody? Could your Blu-ray Disc player push content to your cell phone, Palm Pilot or iPod?

Source: Associated Content