Advanced Features of Blu-ray

"BD-J" mode
Offers unparalleled flexibility and features, because it is based on Java runtime environment. It allows for extensive interactive applications, and offers Internet connectivity.

"HDMV" mode
"HDMV" mode was designed to offer exciting new features, while keeping authoring process as simple as possible. It streamlines the production of both Blu-ray Disc as well as DVD-Video titles, as the production process incorporates many identical phases. It offers improved navigational and menu features, improved graphics and animation, improved subtitling support and new features like browsable slideshows.

"Out-of-mux" reading
Unlike DVD-Video, the Blu-ray Disc format allows for data to be read from a different location on the disc, while uninterruptedly decoding and playing back video. This allows the system to call up menus, overlay graphics, pictures, button sounds, etc. at user request without stopping playback.

Graphic planes
Two individual, full HD resolution (1920x1080) graphics planes are available, on top of the HD video plane. One plane is assigned to video-related, frame accurate graphics (like subtitles), and the other plane is assigned to interactive graphical elements, such as buttons or menus. For both planes, various wipes, fades and scroll effects are available, for example to present a menu.

Button graphics
Menu buttons can have 3 different states: Normal, Active and Selected. They support 256 color full resolution graphics and animation, thereby greatly surpassing the capabilities of DVD-Video. Buttons can be called and removed during video playback, there is no need to return to a "menu screen".

Button sounds
Button sounds can be loaded into memory of the Blu-ray Disc player. When a user highlights or selects a menu option, the sound can be played (such as a voice-over explaining the highlighted menu choice, or button clicks). These button sounds can even be mixed with the running audio from the movie or menu.

Multi-page Menus
In DVD-Video, playback was interrupted each time a new menu screen is called. Due to Blu-ray Disc's ability to read data from the disc without interrupting the current audio/video stream, a menu can consist of several pages. Users are able to browse through the menu pages or select different menu paths, while the audio and video remain to be playing in the background.

User Browsable Slideshows
In DVD-Video, user browsable slide shows were not possible with uninterrupted audio. As a result of Blu-ray Disc's ability to read data from the disc without interrupting the current audio/video stream, users can browse through various still pictures while the audio remains playing. This applies not only to forward and backward selecting: a user can make different selections on what picture to view (or selects from a screen presented with thumbnail images) while the audio remains playing.

Subtitles
In DVD-Video, subtitles were stored in the audio/video stream, and therefore they had limitations on the number of languages and display styles. Again, it is due to Blu-ray Disc's ability to read data from the disc without interrupting the current audio/ video stream, that subtitles can be stored independently on the disc. A user may select different font styles, sizes and colors for the subtitles, or location on screen, depending on the disc's offerings. Subtitles can be animated, scrolled or faded in and out.

"BD-J" mode
"BD-J" mode was designed to offer the content provider almost unlimited functionality when creating interactive titles. It is based on Java 2 Micro Edition, so programmers will quickly be familiar with the programming environment for BD-J. Every Blu-ray Disc player will be equipped with a Java interpreter, so that it is capable of running discs authored in BD-J mode.

Graphical User Interface
In BD-J mode, the author has complete freedom in designing the user interface. The interface is controllable by user using standard navigational buttons on remote. It can display up to 32bit dynamically generated graphics (millions of colors), and it supports the display of pictures in standard file formats like JPEG, PNG, etc.

Playback control
The BD-J application can act as the sole interface to the disc's contents (thus replacing the players on-screen controls as with discs authored in HDMV mode). The BD-J environment offers all of the playback features of HDMV mode, including the selection of subtitle, trick play modes, angles, etc. Video can even be scaled dynamically, so that it can be played in a small size in the corner of a menu, and resume full screen when a selection is made

Storage
Blu-ray Disc players might contain a small amount of non-volatile system storage (flash memory). This system storage can be used to store game scores, bookmarks, favorites from a disc, training course results, etc. As a manufacturer's option, a Blu-ray Disc player may also be equipped with Local Storage (hard disk, to allow large amounts of data like audio/video to be stored.

Internet connection
The BD-J system supports basic Internet protocols like TCP/IP and HTTP. The player may connect to the disc publisher's web site to unlock certain content on the disc (after certain conditions, like payment, are met), or dynamically display certain info (like theater playing schedules for a movie) on the screen. The disc's program may be extended with JPEG pictures or audio fragments downloaded from the Internet, or it can even stream full new audio/visual content to Local Storage.