The forthcoming Blu-ray Disc Academy forum at Frankfurt will be Europe’s first event showcasing advanced Blu-ray features and BD-Live applications and how these can unlock commercial opportunities.

Participants to the Blu-ray Disc Academy forum held in Frankfurt, Germany, on 19 May, will be treated to live demonstrations of advanced Blu-ray applications that are pushing the creative boundaries of the high-definition format.

Examples already abound, notes the Academy: a BD disc linking Internet-based social networks; a BD player communicating with WiFi-enabled smart devices; a pay-per-view video delivery service that lets users rent movies via their BD player; a low-cost ’out-of-the-box’ BD-Live content management solution with back office server; a copying software added to a Pure Audio Blu-ray service; an application which allows mobile phone users to send videos to any BD-Live-enabled BD player. Not to mention the noisy arrival of 3D on Blu-ray.

“But most of these are best-kept secrets,” says Forum Director Jean-Luc Renaud, co-founder of the Blu-ray Disc Academy and publisher of the industry website www.dvd-intelligence.com. “Content publishers have little ideas of what BD tools and applications are available to their authoring providers to enhance their content. And, indeed, still few authoring facilities are acquainted with the wealth of possibilities the BD format could offer their clients. The goal of the Blu-ray Disc Academy is to answer this call - provide an arena to showcase the variety of advanced BD features and BD-Live applications and how to turn them into commercial opportunities.”

The Blu-ray Disc Academy is taking place under the aegis of the MEDIA-TECH Association along with partner DVD Intelligence, and with the support of the Blu-ray Disc Association.

Industry pioneer Todd Collart, Senior VP New Media at Deluxe Digital Studios, will give the keynote speech on consumer usage of BD-Live so far, what works what doesn’t, based on the large volume of aggregated data from several major studios at his disposal – 50 million BD disc inserts in 18 months from 9 million unique connected BD players!

Collart is responsible for Deluxe's new technology initiatives, including network services (BD-Live, Digital Copy), digital (electronic) distribution, R&D, and intellectual property development. His team has shipped over 1000 Blu-ray skus, 200 of which are BD-Live enabled. Todd was President and CEO of InterActual, best known for inventing what is now called "connected DVD.” InterActual's technology was the predecessor for the advanced interactivity features included in Blu-ray

Companies which will be showcasing their work include German authoring and production house Imagion that pushed BD-Live technology and creative envelope in turning the release of Star Trek Season 1 boxset into a “mind-blowing” interactive event if we go by comments from Star Trek fans congregating at the FEDCON convention in Germany. The company will also demonstrate it ‘out-of-the-box’ BD-Live content management solution affordable to smaller, independent publishers.

Authoring solution provider Sonic Solutions will showcase the latest BD interactivity and BD-Live developments created by Sonic customers as well as discussing the production challenges encountered with BD-Live production.

Leading Paris-based authoring facility DVDpartners will present advanced work in HDMV and Java, including a BD title with menu chapters with their own individual audio when rolled over – a first in Blu-ray. Also shown will be a children’s game developed for Arte France consisting of an editing console to create short films out of 30 video extracts from the classic masterpiece.

Hamburg-based enteractive will present the latest version of its BD-Live Video-on-Demand service 'Videociety' – a digital pay-per-view video delivery service that lets users rent movies via their Blu-ray player. In a nutshell, enteractive's ground-breaking Videociety technology transforms a Blu-ray player into a home entertainment centre with access to a video delivery service.

California-based BluFocus, the entertainment industry's first advanced testing and advisory service specialist for Blu-ray – and the company that oversaw Warner Bros’ biggest BD title to date The Dark Knight – will be showing novel solutions for BD-Live. Amongst others, the BD Touch application that allows for two-way communication between a Blu-ray player/disc and a Wi-Fi-enabled smart device such as the iPhone. Also discussed are the necessities and processes in accurately testing BD-Live, addressing some common issues and how to avoid pitfalls.

Czech authoring and post-production house Brickbox Digital Media earned kudos with its restoration on Blu-ray of Dario Argento’s acclaimed 1977 classic horror film Suspiria. The restoration techniques employed included frame-by-frame film and digital artifact restoration, scene-by-scene colour correction and noise reduction. The company’s latest BD work, The Interceptor, include 3D modeling and advanced animated flash techniques.

Blu-ray format progenitor and developer of high-end authoring solution Blu-print, Sony, will be talking about BD authoring and show examples of how its tools are being used to push the BD features’ creative boundaries and consumer experience.

Munich-based msm-studios, a digital production house that specialises in high audio-quality music DVDs and Blu-ray Discs, will show the functionality it has extending to its Pure Audio Blu-ray service with copying software which enables users to copy the songs of a Pure Audio Blu-ray title from BD players directly on their computer via a network connection. Using mShuffle, the owner of a BD player can switch between the audio streams during playback. Though selection via the four color buttons of the BD player remote.

Now that the Blu-ray Disc Association has finalised 3D standards and thus set the stage for the proliferation of 3D in the home, the Blu-ray Disc Academy will showcase 3D BD. Sony Europe will be demonstrating the latest ‘active shutter glasses’ technology. Another major consumer electronic maker is to be confirmed.

Testronic, the global leader in quality assurance and testing services to the Blu-ray, has just opened a 3D Test Lab located in Burbank, California. It will tell content publishers why, with the ever more rapid transition to a new format, ensuring an optimal consumer experience on the content side is critical.

“The Blu-ray Disc Academy is specifically designed to bring together the creative community, business/marketing professionals and content publishers from across Europe to share experiences in turning content into profit,” says Bryan Ekus, Managing Director of the MEDIATECH Association and co-founder of the Blu-ray Disc Academy. “The unique component of this forum is state-of-the-art live demonstrations, including Blu-ray-based 3D, from pioneering production companies. The Blu-ray Disc Academy at MEDIA-TECH 2010 provides a great opportunity to see the whole BD ecosystem in one location.”



For details and registration, visit www.blurayacademy.com