Sony pushes forward with BD-J
Using the NAB's yearly meeting as a backdrop, Sony reaffirmed its commitment to Blu-ray Java by announcing new upgrades to authoring software from in-house and third-party sources.
Sony has hopes that pushing BR-J harder will help silence critics who often pointed out Toshiba's now defunct HD DVD format was far more advanced in authoring functionality. Making BD-J easier to use is likely a top priority for the Japanese company.
Both its DVD Architect and Blu-print applications have been upgraded to support the BD-J platform fully. DVD Architect is part of Vegas Pro, a complete authoring software and the new functionality will be provided as a free upgrade to registered Vegas Pro users in June.
DVD Architect allows menus and content on a disc to be organized, which will obviously include interactive content, which is where BD-J comes in.
That application is more targeted towards independent content creators. For professional authoring houses, Blu-print offers a similar solution. Available in May, it will be integrated with Ensequence on-Q Create for Blu-ray Java which simplifies the task of creating interactive content.
In addition, Sonic has also announced an upgrade to its Scenarist application which allows for easier creation of advanced BR-J content. Among those enhancements is a new project creation wizard, drag and drop functionality, security tools, and additional BD-J tutorials.
Sonic's upgrade is available immediately.