IHD Interactive Format
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- The correct title of this article is iHD. The initial letter is shown capitalized due to technical restrictions.
iHD (abbreviation taken from "interactive high definition") is a format developed by Microsoft and Toshiba for providing interactive features and menus for HD-DVD, one of the high definition video formats. It is an open specification, which has been developed with inputs and support from Hollywood movie studios, especially Disney. Microsoft has made available a free download to let users author and debug iHD content on computers running Windows XP or newer operating-system from Microsoft.
[edit] Technology
iHD allows interactivity to be authored into a data format using XML and ECMAScript (standardized JavaScript) as its interpreted scripting engine. In contrast, the competing Blu-ray Disc high definition video discs format uses BD-J for authoring interactive features and menus.
The iHD model includes an XML subset for content format of images, buttons, video objects; cascading style sheets (CSS) for layout, color, font types; and SMIL for timing and synchronization as well as ECMA scripts for programmability.
iHD is not limited to being used on optical media. It can even be used on media delivered or streamed over the internet or any other network. iHD allows menus to be displayed during video playback, persistent user-defined bookmarks, picture-in-picture, and network access to download new features, trailers and extras using standard HD-DVD players.
