CD-i's seamless branching technique used in modern DVD

Devin surprised us with some remarkable use of the old CD-i technology in todays DVD standard. Jean-Pierre Abello described the technique as follows: "The seamless branching mechanism allows a CD-i player with the Digital Video cartridge to play non-linear interactive Digital Video. Seamless branching provides the ability to play MPEG data from different streams or different portions of streams without breaking the delivery and presentation continuity of video or audio."

Now, let's have a look at the DVD release of 'Blade Runner: The Final Cut - Ultimate Collector's Edition'. Devin: "Composed of 5 Discs some of which hold 3 different versions of the same film, not even mentioning all the extra content, we began to ask how this was done! The average DVD can only hold 2 hours of video footage, double that for Dual-Layer. Quoted on the boxset itself, 'All Seamlessly Branched and Seperately Available on one Disc'. A relative obscure technique originally used on CD-i applied to a modern problem. Combining common elements of footage between each version this effectively eliminates the need to duplicate film on the DVD thus reducing the storage capacity required from the DVD. So that's how they got 3 versions of the same film onto one DVD! Maybe the technique was re-invented as an original concept, however we'd like to believe it was poached from the vaults of creative design within Philips Media!"

More? Check The Black Moon Project! Credits: Devin