Advanced Content

The Advanced Content specification was developed by Microsoft and Disney with input from other members of the DVD Forum including Toshiba and Sonic Solutions.

Its features were defined by content providers (specifically Disney and Warner Bros.) based on the scenarios they required for a next generation disc format.

; An XML attribute grammar based on CSS and XSL to describe layout, color, font types, etc.

To support the ECMAScript code, Advanced Content defines a large number of objects, properties, and methods ("APIs") that are analogous to the DOM in a web browser; these APIs allow the script to query and control the player, animate the markup page, respond to user events, and connect to the internet to download new content such as trailers, cast & crew bios, or other information.

[8] An HD DVD movie, including the interactive functionality, is presented as an Advanced Content application, which is executed and rendered by the HDi runtime.

The playback of the video, along with its integration with the rest of the navigation system, is initiated from and controlled by script code.

The markup is parsed into a Document Object Model, which allows ECMAScript code to control and modify the UI layout during execution.

However, Microsoft has made an HDi simulator available as a free download, as a part of the HD DVD Interactivity Jumpstart Kit, to let users author and debug HDi content on computers running Windows XP, although this is not intended as a full authoring tool nor a playback device.