Shane C. Buettner - Ultimate AV:
February 9, 2006 — Blu-ray Players, Java Interactivity, And1080p
At the close of CES 2006 a few stories circulated around the Internet that some of the first Blu-ray players out of the gate would not support the full implementation of Java-based interactivity (dubbed BDJ, for Blu-ray Disc Java) touted as one of the format's chief selling points. These stories expounded that players would be classified as either basic or full profile, with the latter being the only players that would support full BD-J interactivity.
Intrigued for obvious reasons, I contacted the Blu-ray Disc Association's PR firm and asked for clarification. Pioneer's Andy Parsons told me in a phone interview that he doesn't know where the information became distorted, but that all licensed Blu-ray players will be required to be fully BDJ capable with no distinctions of functionality. Pioneer's own Pioneer Elite BDP-HD1 will certainly be fully BDJ compatible and is currently targeted for the end of May. Parsons added that he expects BD software in stores when the players arrive.
I took further advantage of having Parsons on the phone to ask how Pioneer's BD player will handle 1080p native material on Blu-ray Discs (BDs) in a world in which native 1080p is supported by so few displays. He answered that to his knowledge, BDs will store movie material at 1080p/24fps. Users will be able to select whether their BD players output the native 1080p signal from the disc, or the more commonly supported1080i. In the latter case, the player will interlace the signal and essentially perform 3/2 pulldown on the fly to create the 1080i output at the proper frame rate. That seems like a lot of processing overhead, but Parsons assured me that's how the Pioneer Elite player will work, and other players are likely to do the same. There could be a disparity in image quality between players based on how well this conversion is performed.
Read more here.
February 9, 2006 — Blu-ray Players, Java Interactivity, And1080p
At the close of CES 2006 a few stories circulated around the Internet that some of the first Blu-ray players out of the gate would not support the full implementation of Java-based interactivity (dubbed BDJ, for Blu-ray Disc Java) touted as one of the format's chief selling points. These stories expounded that players would be classified as either basic or full profile, with the latter being the only players that would support full BD-J interactivity.
Intrigued for obvious reasons, I contacted the Blu-ray Disc Association's PR firm and asked for clarification. Pioneer's Andy Parsons told me in a phone interview that he doesn't know where the information became distorted, but that all licensed Blu-ray players will be required to be fully BDJ capable with no distinctions of functionality. Pioneer's own Pioneer Elite BDP-HD1 will certainly be fully BDJ compatible and is currently targeted for the end of May. Parsons added that he expects BD software in stores when the players arrive.
I took further advantage of having Parsons on the phone to ask how Pioneer's BD player will handle 1080p native material on Blu-ray Discs (BDs) in a world in which native 1080p is supported by so few displays. He answered that to his knowledge, BDs will store movie material at 1080p/24fps. Users will be able to select whether their BD players output the native 1080p signal from the disc, or the more commonly supported1080i. In the latter case, the player will interlace the signal and essentially perform 3/2 pulldown on the fly to create the 1080i output at the proper frame rate. That seems like a lot of processing overhead, but Parsons assured me that's how the Pioneer Elite player will work, and other players are likely to do the same. There could be a disparity in image quality between players based on how well this conversion is performed.
Read more here.
