2009 JavaOne Conference: SDN Writers Take You There

Wednesday's Java TV technology panel was moderated by Bill Sheppard, Chief Digital Media Officer, Java Software Group at Sun. The agenda included a Tru2way market update, Blu-ray Disc market update, and a listing of Java TV community resources.

Panelists and topics included

• Frank Sandoval, principal architect, CableLabs (Tru2way technology),  with an update on cable operators
  
• Bill Foote, televangelist, Sun Microsystems
  
• Ivar Chan, Blu-ray Software Development manager, Trailer Park
• Ole Lutjens, Creative Director and Co-founder, MX Entertainment (Blu-ray creative and programming)
  

Sandoval called Tru2way the consumer-facing brandname for the OpenCable platform defined by CableLabs. OCAP supports both bound and unbound applications, with bound being more appropriate for TV operators (e.g., American Idol voting) and unbound being more for cable operators, installed independently of tv programs.

OCAP application guidelines include user-experience guidelines, application development guidelines, and operational guidelines. An OCAP Reference Implementation, Linux-based, will be released in mid-June. (Like other projects, the release didn't quite make it in time for the JavaOne conference, but will follow closely.)

Sheppard noted that ESPN is planning this year to provide an interactive  sports-picker of some sort, where you can choose which game to follow.

Ivar Chan then discussed the online comic-book generator for a Hellboy 2 comic book. The online generator's menu options let users choose, create, write, and publish a Hellboy comic book.

Bill Foote noted that his advice to developers is to team up with a graphics designer still in college. Get ready for a paradigm change into highly media-centric UI apps, he recommended.

Neil Young's 10-blu-ray disc set retrospective at the highest fidelity available, noted Sheppard, was unveiled at the 2008 JavaOne conference. This by way of introducing the next panelist, Ole Lutjens, which did the implementation.

Lutjens said MX Entertainment was able to do the Neil Young Archives because he retained the copyrights to his work/assets. There was a warehouse full of data (photographs, napkin notes, postcards, etc.) that had to find its way to a digital interface, so people could look at video clips while listening to his songs. Lutjens said they started with 2,400 individual pages of content.

There was discussion around the ability to play assets worldwide. The Neil Young Archives are a region-free boxset, which is fairly unique. Sheppard noted these encoding formats: DVDs have 7 regions, Blu-ray Discs have 3 (America + Japan, European, Asian).

An audience member asked why JavaFX was mentioned only once. Sheppard responded that while JavaFX is very visually rich, it is beyond the implementation requirements of GEM profiles (and therefore Blu-ray). In essence, the JavaFX common profile is incompatible with GEM. (There is one model of Playstation that is visually rich, but most players aren't.)

How will the remote control evolve to be able to take advantage of some of these applications?, another audience member asked. Sandoval said there will probably be onscreen representation. The expectation is that controls will evolve to gestural devices, Wii-style remotes.

Trailer Park has an app, which is available for the Apple iPhone, Blackberry and T-Mobile’s Android devices for a fee, that turns the smartphone into remote controls for Blu-ray players, among other features.

Foote said another company is working on a Bluetooth device that talks to the app on your Blu-ray Disc via a smartphone like an iPhone.

In closing, Sheppard reiterated that viewership hours are up, all around, so this market continues to grow. He recommended that developers check out the Java ME SDK 3.0 as the best resource.