HDMV
HDMV (High Definition Movie) mode is one of the interactive modes used in BD applications. It is similar to the interactivity used on DVD-Video, but has more advanced features.
Indie and Boutique labels (and some major studios like Warner Bros.) often prefer using HDMV for their
Blu-ray development projects due to its simplicity, quick loading, and
ease of running on computers without requiring a runtime environment.
For those interested in Blu-ray development, HDMV is a
"beginner-friendly" framework to consider due to its standardization and straightforward programming.
Features
The HDMV mode is a vast improvement over basic DVD-Video interactivity:
Picture-in-picture – Secondary video can be overlaid on the Primary video.
The 2006 release of Memento uses a fancy HDMV menu with
animated graphics and sound effects that fit the movie's theme.- Audio Mixing - Secondary audio can be mixed with the Primary audio.
- Multi-page Menus - Menu presentations can be changed with no interruption to AV playback.
- Pop-up Menus – Menus can be shown or removed from display based on User request with no interruption to AV playback.
- Browsable Slideshow: Navigate still-images without interrupting background audio playback
- Full color High Definition animated Buttons and animated Menu transition effects.
- Interactive Audio: Provides sounds effects for menu buttons when selected or activated
Virtual Machine
 |
| The execution process of HDMV mode |
The Illustration on the right shows the execution process of HDMV Mode:
⭗1: Reads PlayList information via the virtual file system
⭗2: Decodes PlayItem information that constitutes the PlayList information
⭗3: Reads Clip information via the virtual file system
⭗4: Decodes Clip information
⭗2: Decodes PlayItem information that constitutes the PlayList information
⭗3: Reads Clip information via the virtual file system
⭗4: Decodes Clip information
⛛0: Executes a JumpTitle command.
⛛1: The module manager referring to Index.bdmv file; and sends a notification to activate a Movie Object that constitutes the branch destination Title (⛛2).
⛛2: Receives “activate (mobj_id)" from the module manager.
⛛3: Decodes the navigation commands written in the Movie Object file.
⛛4: Issues a function call to the play back control engine.
★ 1 & ★ 2: Reading the TS packets that constitute the AV Clips
★ 3: Transferring the TS packets from the virtual file system to the presentation engine
★ 4: Outputs the TS packets to the decoder
★ 5: Outputs decoding results from the decoder to the planes (layers)
HDMV supports two types of raster bitmap graphics streams for menus and
interactive content, the Presentation Graphics stream (available in HDMV
and BD-J) is for subtitles and decorative/animated graphics, and the Interactive Graphics stream (available only in HDMV) is for interactive menu
graphics.
 |
| Example of a menu that uses Interactive Graphics (on the right) and AVC video for the background. |
Both streams are limited to 8-bit 256 colors and alpha transparency, and sprites
cannot overlap. They support simple animations such as scrolls, wipes,
cuts, fades (transparency changes), and color changes with frame rates
up to 30Hz. Supported resolutions are 1920x1080 / 1280x720 / 720x480 /
720x576.
Interactive Graphics uses a 16 MB memory
buffer for graphics and Presentation Graphics use a 4 MB memory buffer (per common authoring guidelines like Scenarist/HD Cookbook).
They're stored into the preloading memory buffer before loading the
main video, audio, and subtitle streams into the primary memory buffer.
HDMV provides multi-stream handling called Out-of-Mux. Out-of-Mux is
when the primary stream with individual streams is stored separately but
decoded simultaneously in a 27 Mhz clock.
Interactivity Framework
Popup Menu
 |
| Example of a Popup menu with multiple pages |
Always-On Menus
HDMV's Interactive Graphics support an “Always-On” Menu Interface; the Interactive Graphics content that cannot be removed from the screen by user request is called “Always-On”. This is one of the methods provided by HDMV to present interactivity to the user and is similar to that provided by DVD-Video. For example, a Menu implemented with the Always-On interface may be presented to the user when the disc is inserted into the player (e.g. Main Menu).
Menus that support an “Always-On” Menu Interface is usually pre-loaded or multiplexed with the Primary video. If the Interactive Graphics stream is multiplexed with video, PTS/DTS timestamps can frame accurately determine when the Always-On Menu shall appear and disappear (at a frequency of 90KHz).
Multipage Menus
Menus can be composed to multiple pages. The user can browse these pages without interrupting audio/video playback. Besides displaying static pages, HDMV's Interactive Graphics also provides the ability for effects and animations. Each page can have a in- and out-effect associated with it that plays prior before loading the page or right before transitioning the page into the active state. The effects supported are scrolls, wipes, cuts, fades, and color changes.
Button enabling and disabling
The Interactive Graphics framework supports dynamic button control, allowing content creators to instantly show or hide specific buttons on a page at any time. For instance, a menu can display initial option buttons, and upon selecting one, new related buttons can smoothly appear without any flicker or disruption to the screen. When a button is enabled, it becomes visible and selectable through navigation; when disabled, it is removed from the display. The author can choose to either keep previously displayed buttons active and accessible or disable them entirely for a cleaner interface. This provides a fluid and seamless user experience.A Browsable Slideshow is in an interactive framework for the user to navigate still-images of galleries or text information. HDMV enables simultaneous decoding of still-picture data and audio data. Since the decoding process of each is independent, the decoder enables the user to freely navigate (skip next or skip back) the slideshow without interrupting the audio presentation.
Unlike DVD-Video, HDMV provides interactive sounds effects for menu buttons when selected or activated. Both the Select and Activate actions may be associated with short sound effects which are mixed with the Primary audio.
Picture-in-picture
 |
| Example of Picture-in-Picture |
The Blu-ray specification defines two types of Picture-in-Picture (PiP):
- Synchronous PiP presents a secondary video stream that is tightly synchronized with the main (primary) video stream, such as a director’s commentary that plays in perfect timing with the movie.
- Asynchronous PiP offers a secondary video presentation that can be started, stopped, or positioned independently at any point on the primary video’s timeline, typically used for interactive features like pop-up menus or supplementary video content.
HDMV mode uses a simple navigation command language for menu navigation logic, the code is stored in the MovieObject file that is read by the HDMV Virtual Machine.
| Example Code |
|---|
| Move
[
4075
]
{
Title
(
4
)
} Move [ 2599 ] 4075 Move [ 4075 ] 2599 Move [ 4076 ] 65535 /*0xffff*/ If [ 4075 ] != 4076 GoTo 7 GoTo 9 GoTo 2005 /*0x7d5*/ Move [ 4075 ] 0 Move [ 2552 ] 4075 |
Storage
HDMV mode only supports Persistent Storage (68 KB) for storing user-settings such as language and subtitle preferences, and resume play. It is common for BD players to delete old data that is unused.
External Links
Sources
- Blu-ray Official White Paper Tech Specs and 3D specs (PDF) Version 2.5 - 2011 - Details of the BD platform standards (Up-to-date for standard BD development)
- Scenarist BD Development manual, Doom9 forums, and original research.
- Hughnews.ca - The Authoritative Blu-ray Disc
- Blu-ray Disc Demystified
Author(s) : Æ Firestone
0 responses to “HDMV”
Popular Pages
-
The Sony BDZ-V9 is Sony's second generation Blu-ray recorder and first generation BD-ROM player released around 2006 exclusive to Japa... -
Oppo BDP-103 and BDP-103D are high-end Blu-ray players manufactured by Chinese company, Oppo Inc, who are known for their high quality Blu...
