HDi, Microsoft’s implementation of the interactivity layer (developed with input from Disney) for the HD DVD format now has an official logo program. This means that products which support or feature HDi can display the HDi logo so that consumers can make better-informed purchases. This is an important point to note because LG’s first dual-format player did not support HDi, which is actually a mandatory feature on all HD DVD players.

All Toshiba HD DVD players have supported HDi, and in a couple of months the new third-generation units will sport the HDi logo. Movies that have HDi features will also display that logo on their packaging, which will make it easier to figure out whether a movie has any kind of advanced interactivity in it or not.

All HD DVD movies already have some kind of HDi, even if it’s just the live menus during movie playback (instead of stopping the movie to go to the menu). What’s more interesting is the web-enabled aspect. Universal announced that all of their HD DVD movies from now on will include web-enabled network features powered by HDi. Warner has already used web-enabled HDi on movies like 300 and Blood Diamond, and Paramount will definitely include this on Transformers.

The ‘i’ in HDi is not for “internet” but more for “interactive.” This interactive prgramming is done with with XML and JavaScript, a combination known to web developers as AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML), and also includes other web standards such as CSS and SMIL. On the internet, AJAX competes with Java from Sun Microsystems, and in the high-definition format war, HDi competes with Blu-ray’s BD-J (the J stands for Java).

For more information and background:

• HD DVD Authoring
• AJAX Introduction at W3Schools.com
• AJAX vs. Java #1
• AJAX vs. Java #2
• Previous posting (with videos) where Microsoft’s Kevin Collins demos HDi features