EMediaLive.com

So far, from the consumer's perspective, the market for burn-to-DVD movie downloads has been mostly about the dark horse--smaller, lesser-known companies like EZTakes and FluxDVD--and DVD has been little more than a bit player in the fast-growing world of online movie downloads. But those of us who follow DVD technology developments have been steadily tracking the progress of Sonic Solutions and its Qflix initiative, which has brought together numerous technology partners to deliver burn-to-DVD downloads to the mainstream movie distribution world. And today Sonic and one of its key Qflix partners, Dell, took a major step toward that mainstream with the release of the first Qflix recordable DVD drive.

So what exactly is a "Qflix drive?" As simple and straightforward as downloading a movie to your PC, burning it to DVD, and watching it on your TV ought to be in the abstract, there was no way the major Hollywood studios were going to support any technology that enabled it without some means of protecting the billions of dollars in intellectual property they have at stake in their movies. That's where Qflix media and drives come in. Qflix DVD media are single-layer DVD-Recordable discs with CSS copy protection built in at the manufacturing level; Qflix drives are writable models equipped to burn content to these discs. Movies downloaded via the Qflix platform and a Qflix partner site like CinemaNow can be burned only to Qflix media using Qflix drives and Sonic’s Qflix-ready recording application, Roxio Venue. The resulting discs will leave the burner with the same copy protection as a replicated Hollywood movie disc, and according to Sonic and Dell, will play in standard DVD players.

The Qflix drive released today is an external USB model, manufactured by Philips-LiteOn, that Dell is selling as an aftermarket item through its online store, and as a $120 add-on option on most Inspiron, Studio, and XPS laptops. Dell says the drive will also soon be available as an option on “select consumer desktops.” The Qflix bundle includes the external drive (which also functions as an all-purpose DVD reader/writer/rewriter in addition to its Qflix support), two blank Qflix recordable discs, Roxio Venue and CinemaNow software, and a USB cable.

The appeal of Qflix, according to Sonic EVP of strategy Mark Ely, is to add portability to the increasingly popular practice of downloading movies to the PC. “DVD is one of the most flexible formats we have,” Ely says. “Qflix allows us to take a [downloaded] movie that’s locked to the PC and make it portable.”

Pricing for Qflix download-and-burn titles, according to Ely, should run around $9 per movie, a price point “consistent with electronic sell-through.” While he says the catalog of currently available Qflix-ready movies numbers only in the 100s, he expects that number to scale into the 1000s by the holiday season, with additional titles coming not just from new releases but also from “older and special interest content,” according to Ely, which will be a “cost benefit for the movie studios,” drawing on the long-tail potential of the download-to-burn model. Ely adds that “major retailers will have Qflix frives by Christmas.”

One key difference between the movies available via CinemaNow for Qflix burn-to-DVD and their replicated DVD counterparts is additional (non-movie) content. When consumers download a movie and burn it to a Qflix disc, for the most past they’ll get a movie with chapter points and a basic menu, with none of the extras or special features they’d get on a rented or purchased DVD. One reason for this is the current limitation of Qflix to single-layer media, which means significantly less capacity than the DVD-9s used for most commercially sold DVDs. Ely says we can expect to see DL Qflix media some time “down the line,” but in the meantime one alternative for downloading and burning content that won’t fit on a single DVD will be to use two single-layer Qflix discs. Launch pricing for Qflix media, he says, will be around $1 per disc.

Also coming within the next few months, according to Ely, will be announcements from other hardware manufacturers concerning partnerships similar to Dell’s offering; Sonic’s hope, Ely says, is to see Qflix become “a standard feature of all major PC makers.”

Stephen Nathans-Kelly (stephen.nathans at infotoday.com) is editor-in-chief of EMedialive and EventDV.

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Flexplay: The Self-Destructing Disc Returns

Talk on the street is that discs are a thing of the past. As I pointed out in my column last month, entertainment is really about choice. Once again, I can back that statement up. Remember Flexplay, aka EZ-D? If not, here’s a refresher.

Flexplay is aimed at the rental market. Buy the disc, and watch it whenever you want, no return fees. The kicker, however, is that you can only watch the disc for 48 hours after you open up the package. It becomes unreadable; technically, it's garbage. Disney was the initial launch studio and the one that branded the product EZ-D, but they withdrew before it made any real ripple in the marketplace.

While the product pretty much vanished when Disney backed out, at the end of 2004, the Convex Group, which owns several entertainment and media-related companies, purchased Flexplay. Why? Joe Fuller, executive vice president of marketing for Flexplay said that as a company, they knew consumers were interested in the product. “The good thing that came out of the pilot program with Disney, was the discovery that consumers appreciated the convenience of not having disc returns, and that they could start watching it when they wanted. We’ve learned some things about price points and merchandising and different classes of retail trades needed to effectively merchandise and promote a product like Flexplay,” he said. The time was right.

Flexplay was re-launched last August, primarily in travel-related categories (e.g.truck stops, airports). Initially on-board was New Line Cinema, and now other studios have since been added including Warner Brothers, Paramount, Dreamworks and Starz Home Entertainment (Anchor Bay). Talks are also said to be ongoing with all of the other major studios.

Staples has also come on board, and recently Flexplay signed a deal with Hudson News which has about 450 total locations in the U.S. and Canada. A pilot program is also going on with 711. Suggested retail price of a movie is $4.99.

“As we started to research people’s consumption habits, we found people saying, ‘I like movies, but I don’t rent them because I’m tired of late fees.’ Others would say, ‘I rent movies, bring them home, and return them without ever watching them,'” said Fuller. These are Flexplay customers: people who never or rarely rented movies. From a studio standpoint, there is plenty of content coming out every week. A lot of good content that people are interested in is out there, but consumers never get around to seeing it because the product cycle, whether in the theater or at retail, is so quick, Fuller said.

Flexplay has identified 3-4 times as many consumers do not regularly rent movies than do. Flexplay can make the consumer pie bigger for studios, said Fuller. Studios can extend the movie’s lifecycle by picking an assortment of the best rental titles that are available in a given month, putting them on Flexplay and then selling them in national, high-traffic retail locations. Non-traditional entertainment retailers benefit as well because it opens up a new market. Retailers like 711 or Hudson News would never be able to offer traditional rentals because of the infrastructure already in place.

Of course Flexplay’s plan begs the question: How can Flexplay compete with Netflix? Fuller says Flexplay and Netflix consumers are different. “Netflix customers are typically very heavy consumers of content. They watch a lot of movies. While a significant portion of their interest is in the new-release titles, a lot of the people who are avid movie watchers appreciate the depth of the Netflix catalog. It’s a great place to get content that is not readily available anywhere else.” By contrast, Flexplay customers tend to be more convenience-based and “in the moment" Someone who leaves Netflix could become a Flexplay customer. They like movies, but react more on impulse and like the convenience of watching the movie today or in three months, Fuller suggests.

While I don’t want to disparage any product that can give the physical-media market a boost, it's hard to ignore one major issue that still exists with Flexplay. You throw it away. Flexplay sources know that is an issue, and they say they are being proactive. But remember, the key to Flexplay is convenience. Is it convenient to recycle or throw it out? Flexplay says that they are looking at putting recycling bins at the point of purchase. Will that make a difference to a “green” consumer? You be the judge.

Flexplay is working with GreenDisk, a company that specializes in all kinds of technology trash, including recycling DVDs. “We’re working through the supply chain, from the replicator all through to retail. We’re working with our technology suppliers to find a way to use recycled Flexplay discs to make new Flexplay discs to create more of a closed-loop system. While that is not something that we are able to do in production today, we are working with Cinram (who is also helping with distribution) and Geo-Tech Polymers,” said Fuller. All well and good, but remember municipalities need to be involved here as well. Plastic can be recycled, but it has to be collected first! While polycarbonate is recycled, from what I understand, most of that is post-industrial waste rather than post-consumer waste.

“What about the package?” I asked. “It’s cardboard, made of recycled paper," Fuller said. "It’s not part of our recycled program, but it’s easy to recycle paper. People can drop it into the recycling bin."

Flexplay has always been an interesting product. Whether it has truly overcome the initial obstacles to success remains to be seen. However, it’s nice to see companies realize there is still a marketplace for the disc. I, for one, will be watching the evolution of Flexplay very closely. In fact, I’m going to watch the Flexplay version of Semi-Pro right now!

Debbie Galante Block (debgalante at comcast.net) is a freelance writer based in Mahopac, N.Y.

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The Authoritative Blu-ray Disc (BD) FAQ: Updates

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Sonic Powers BD-Live With New Scenarist

Sonic Solutions® (NASDAQ: SNIC), the leader in digital media software, today announced the release of Scenarist® BD Version 5, a major upgrade to the industry's leading authoring solution for Blu-ray Disc (BD). Building on the field-proven strengths of previous Scenarist versions, Scenarist BD Version 5 adds new functionality focused on the creation of titles that fully leverage advanced interactive features such as BD-Live that enable the seamless blending of on-disc and online content. Scenarist BD Version 5 also streamlines data exchange with third-party interactive programming applications for BD-J - such as those available through the Sonic Extended Developer Group (EDGe) - to enhance and simplify the workflow in the production of cutting-edge BD title releases. The new version of Sonic Scenarist not only delivers the key features required for the rapidly growing BD authoring market, but also highlights Sonic's on-going commitment to the professional authoring industry in Hollywood and around the world.

BD-Live bridges the worlds of optical and streaming media, enriching the viewing experience by combining the stunning visual and audio quality of high-definition content from disc with network-hosted content that is up-to-date and user-customizable. The new Scenarist system uses network connections that are built into the latest BD players that connect to broadband via an on-board RJ-45 connector. With these enhancements in BD-Live support, Scenarist BD becomes the world's first BD-Live authoring system to fully enable and manage BD-Live updates, expanding the creative possibilities of BD title design within the fast, familiar Scenarist environment.

"Hollywood studios and BD publishers everywhere are enthusiastic about BD-Live because it offers them new ways to differentiate their titles and to keep products fresh long after their initial release dates," said Ole Lütjens, VP Product Development at MX Production in San Francisco. "With this new version of Scenarist, we can extend our services to offer these benefits to our customers without the inherent inefficiency of working with custom tools outside of our established Scenarist workflow. That's an exciting breakthrough that will spur the development of innovative new titles, which should help make consumers even more eager to upgrade to BD."

The BD-Live features of Scenarist BD Version 5 include progressive playlist support, which allows streamed content to start without waiting for the download to complete, and virtual file system control, which lets authors specify in detail how players handle downloaded BD-Live content. The new version of Scenarist BD also offers a number of other important enhancements for increased authoring power and flexibility including:

Ensequence on-Q integration – enhanced project data exchange between on-Q and Scenarist.
BD-J source creation – creation of Java class files containing all accessible project objects.
Partial mux control – fast, efficient project revisioning by focusing on only changed components for mux.
Portable project archives – two new archive formats optimized for shared network storage environments.

"Complemented by the innovative BD tools now available via the Sonic Extended Developers Group (EDGe), Scenarist BD provides a BD creation environment of unmatched capability, power, and efficiency," said Rolf Hartley, senior vice president and general manager of Sonic's Professional Products Group. "Version 5 proves that Sonic is once again moving full speed ahead to ensure its customers have everything they need to take full advantage of the creative and business opportunities offered by this exciting new format."

Sonic will be demonstrating Scenarist BD Version 5 at the IBC convention, Hall 7, Stand 7.D11, September 12 to 16, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

www.sonic.com

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Pioneer to Introduce its First Two HDD/BD Recorders in Japan

Pioneer Corporation announced today the introduction of the BDR-WD900, a Blu-ray Disc (BD) Recorder equipped with a 1-TB hard drive, and the BDR-WD700, a BD Recorder equipped with a 500-GB hard drive, for the Japanese market.

With digital terrestrial broadcasts becoming increasingly common, requirements of TV viewers are undergoing a change. Whereas previously viewers wanted to record as much high-definition content as possible, and as easily possible, they now want to record content in the highest quality possible. Thus, the market for BD recorders is rapidly expanding. Pioneer aims to meet this demand by launching its first HDD/BD recorders that can record two digital high-definition programs simultaneously for longer hours in the HD picture quality.

The Pioneer BD recorders BDR-WD900 and BDR-WD700 will be available in Japan in the early of October, 2008 (with no retail price suggested).

Main features

5 times longer recording of high-definition content (in HE mode/about 4.8 Mbps): The new HDD/BD recorders employ the latest movie compression technology - MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 - that features a greater compression rate than MPEG-2. This enables the recorders to record high-definition broadcasts in the high resolution of 1980 x 1080 for about five times longer than with previous Pioneer models onto the hard drive: up to about 450 hours with the BDR-WD900 and up to about 220 hours with the BDR-WD700. For 5.1ch surround digital broadcasts, the surround sound can be recorded as it is, as well as complementing the stunning high-definition images.
Interactive control with KURO LINK-compatible plasma TVs: When connected to KURO LINK-compatible plasma TVs via a HDMI™ cable, it is possible to record and play content via the TV's remote control. By pushing the "Disc Navi" button on the BD recorder, the TV automatically turns ON and the display changes to the recorder screen. The recorders also feature the "KURO Picture Quality Adjust" function that automatically sets the video output for the connected KURO TV to the optimum level. Thus, users of the new recorders can comfortably enjoy the KURO's beautiful images with simple operation.
High-grade, glossy black finish blends in with KURO plasma TVs

Other features

Double digital tuner enables users to record two different digital broadcasts.
"Scene View" divides each of the recorded content on the hard drive into 28 segments and displays the results in an index. Viewers can quickly locate the desired scene to playback.
"Quick Startup" allows the recorder in standby mode to turn on or display the home menu or TV program in approx. 0.8 sec.*3
High picture and sound quality technologies, including high-performance IP conversion LSI for 1080/24p high picture quality output, and HDMI™ (Deep Color, x.v.Color™, lip-sync) technology.
Pioneer newly-developed BD Drive corrects numerous optical aberrations to provide high accuracy recording
"High-definition Just Copy" automatically selects the optimum recording rate from 10 steps based on the recording time when copying high-definition programs onto a BD disc.
"Photo viewer" to enjoy pictures on a large-flat panel screen
BONUSVIEW™ BD video supported. A small sub-screen can be displayed on the TV screen to view special content, such as interviews of actors staring in the movie.
Next-generation audio format - Dolby® TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio™ lossless audio -bitstream output (via an HDMI connection) supported
The power consumption in standby: 0.9 W (Clock display OFF, Quick Startup OFF, Antenna Power OFF)

www.pioneerelectronics.com

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DCA to Launch Pulsar Automated Content Verification at IBC 2008; Showcase Digital Video Analysis Products

Doug Carson & Associates, Inc. (DCA) announces the launch of its Digital Video Analysis product line in time for launch at IBC 2008 in Amsterdam, 12-16 September. DCA is available at booth 7J47.

Pulsar, the automated content verification system for VC-1, MPEG-4/AVC/H.264 and MPEG-2 streams, includes format compliance checks for Blu-ray, DVD and CableLabs formats. The product is available in configurations for content destined for optical/digital distribution as well as content destined for broadcast and cable distribution.

Also on display will be DCA’s Blu-ray Video System Verifier, a complete analysis suite for Blu-ray images (post-mux) for Book 3 compliance, including BDMV and BD-J modes. The Blu-ray verifier has been built for performance, ease-of-use and simple to interpret results. Additionally, the product is in process for RRT approval by the Blu-ray Disc Association.

www.dcainc.com

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Rimage Premieres Panasonic P2 Camera Archiving Solution at IBC

Rimage, the leading provider of on-demand digital CD/DVD/Blu-ray publishing systems, will be demonstrating an innovative Blu-Ray disc archiving solution for the Panasonic P2 high definition professional camera systems. The solution will be shown on the Rimage stand G21a in hall 7.

Camera operatives, who are on rapid turn-around from one assignment to the next, want to be able to clear their camera's P2 card quickly and with the reassurance that all their files are safely archived.

Working with Panasonic, Rimage has prototyped a solution that enables swift and automatic downloading of files from a camera's P2 card and is purpose-designed to support a fast-paced production environment.

At the centre of the solution is a Rimage Professional 5300Nx Blu-Ray disc publishing system capable of downloading files onto two discs at the same time. The process is entirely automated with the camera operator simply having to connect the P2 card with the reader and push a button to start clearing out the files.

The process involves P2 files being first downloaded onto the cache on the RAID 5 partition of the Rimage Nx-system. Once the download is completed, the P2 card is checked and then cleared automatically. The time for downloading depends on the file size and typically is a matter of seconds. After the P2 card is cleared, the files are archived onto professional grade Blu-ray discs with capacities of up to 50GB. Each disc has a label generated automatically by using the meta data of the P2 footage. These discs become a secure, cost effective storage format for easy review and retrieval later in the day.

Markus Naegele, IT Integration Manager, Panasonic European Professional Broadcast and IT Systems said: "We're pleased with how Rimage has built a solution that resolves a practical issue for end users out in the field. This enhances our vision of how our P2 technology furthers file-based workflows in production and post-production environments."

Stefan Exner, managing director, Rimage Europe said: "This is a dynamic industry where seconds and minutes saved are extremely valuable. Marrying our highly reliable and fast Blu-ray production systems with Panasonic's ground-breaking P2 technology delivers an exciting solution for ensuring content files are never mislaid or missed in professional production environment where the pace of work is getting faster and faster."

Rimage systems are widely used in the production and post-production processes of standard and high definition video when valuable, large and complex data files need to be securely copied and distributed internally and externally.

www.rimage.com

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ISO Officially Adopts UDO2 Standard

Plasmon (LSE:PLM), the trusted source in archiving systems, today announced that the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and International Electrotechnical Committee (IEC) officially adopted Ecma-380, the second generation Ultra Density Optical (UDO2™) Media Format Standard by Ecma International, the industry association dedicated to the standardization of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). The new certified standard, which is known as ISO/IEC 11976, specifies the mechanical, physical and optical characteristics of Plasmon’s 60GB UDO2 media.

“The adoption of Plasmon’s second generation UDO2 standard by ISO, IEC and Ecma International further validates the significance of the technology and demonstrates to our customers that the Plasmon technology qualifies as an international high quality standard that meets the requirements for long-term digital archiving,” said Dr. Robert Longman, Group Technical Director, Plasmon. “This is the second time that Plasmon’s UDO technology has been adopted as the recognized technology standard by three of the top technical standards organizations in the world. Plasmon will continue to drive innovation in the data archiving market and provide its users with products that meet the highest technology standards."

Since its introduction, Plasmon has seen an increase in the overall market adoption of its UDO2 technology and rapid growth for UDO2 archival storage solutions. This positive growth can be seen from companies that are adopting archive best practices such as Plasmon’s 3-2-1 paradigm for simultaneously ensuring rapid data access, high availability, and very long-term, secure offsite retention. The paradigm calls for 3 copies of archive data to be made on at least 2 different types of media with a minimum of 1 copy written to removable, long-lived, and powered-down media, stored offsite. Plasmon’s archive solutions allow organizations to easily and cost-effectively deploy a 3-2-1 strategy to meet their critical business requirements. The adoption of the new UDO standard by industry organizations like ISO, demonstrates that Plasmon is responding to market demand with world class archive solutions that solve business problems.

The new Ecma publication is Standard 380 and is titled “Data Interchange on 130 mm Rewritable and Write Once Read Many Ultra Density Optical (UDO) Disk Cartridges – Capacity: 60 Gbytes per Cartridge – Second Generation” It can be downloaded from the Ecma website. ISO/IEC 11976 was published in July.

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RealNetworks Introduces RealDVD: 'The Best Way to Watch DVDs'

Digital entertainment services company RealNetworks® today unveiled RealDVD™, the first mainstream PC application allowing consumers to easily save their DVDs to their hard drive. RealDVD makes it easy to save DVDs to a PC or portable hard drive and watch them later without the physical discs. Unlike existing consumer applications on the market today, RealDVD is licensed DVD software that saves a secure copy of a DVD to the hard drive without removing or altering the CSS encryption.

"RealDVD gives consumers a great new way to get more out of their DVDs," said Rob Glaser, chairman and CEO of RealNetworks. "RealDVD continues in Real's tradition of consumer innovation over the past 15 years alongside RealAudio, RealJukebox, RealArcade, Rhapsody, and, most recently, RealPlayer 11."

RealDVD eliminates the hassle of searching through piles of DVD cases to find a missing disc and the disappointment of finding a favorite disc scratched and unplayable. Saving DVDs lets consumers create a valuable back-up copy of their digital library on their computer or portable drive for playback at home or on the road. RealDVD is ideal for traveling on business or entertaining the kids on a long trip with instant access to a variety of content and no physical discs to manage. Laptop users will appreciate improved battery life as the disc drive is no longer needed for video playback. Saving DVDs to portable hard drives creates an easy to manage personal library that is great for travel. Content saved to portable drives can be played on up to five machines licensed to an individual user.

Fast Facts:

RealDVD saves an exact copy of the DVD image to a PC's internal or portable hard drive. Users can simultaneously watch and save a DVD
Saved DVDs are then encrypted and locked again to make sure they cannot be shared or stolen
Saving DVDs takes an average of 10-40 minutes, and takes up roughly 4-8 gigs of space
RealDVD lets users pause and auto resume playback where they left off
DVDs saved on a portable hard drive can be played on up to 5 PCs per user with an authorized copy of RealDVD
Watching a saved DVD uses less battery life than viewing content from a disc in the drive
Browse cover art, genre, title rating and actor information, imported automatically during saving
Parental controls ensure children only access entertainment that is appropriate for their age
Fifty percent of U.S. broadband households have over 50 DVDs in their collections, and last year consumers spent more than $16 billion purchasing DVDs (According to TDG Reports & Screen Digest)
Hollywood shipped 1.1 billion DVD discs in 2007 — nearly 30 million more than in 2006 (According to Screen Digest)

In 1995 RealNetworks gave the Internet a voice with the first-ever Internet broadcast via the release of the RealAudio® Player, an innovation that garnered Real a coveted Emmy Award® by The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Two years later RealNetworks became the first to bring streaming video to the Web with RealPlayer®, and followed that innovation with RealJukebox®, one of the first products allowing consumers to save their CDs to PCs, build media libraries and transfer to devices. Last year Real re-introduced a new version of RealPlayer, featuring a consumer-friendly download button that made it one-click simple to save Web video. RealDVD is the next step in bringing video entertainment to the PC.

RealDVD will be available this month from www.realdvd.com. Consumers can register to be one of the first to receive RealDVD for a limited-time discount offer of $29.99 ($20.00 off the retail price of $49.99). Additional licenses [up to 4] are available at a discounted price of $19.99.

www.realdvd.com

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Sonic Dramatically Streamlines BD-J Production

Sonic Solutions® (NASDAQ: SNIC), the leader in digital media software, today announced new applications for BD-J creation that eliminate or drastically reduce the amount of hand-programming required to create titles in the advanced interactive mode of the Blu-ray Disc (BD) specification. Developed in partnership with Sonic® Extended Developer Group (EDGe), the new products include BD Fusion from Clickteam (www.clickteam.com), and BD-J Converter from ASV Corp of Japan. These new EDGe applications allow professional content developers to create sophisticated interactive components such as games without some or all of the traditionally required manual programming in BD-J's Java-based computer language. BD Fusion and BD-J Converter significantly lower the technical barriers to BD-J development for a broad range of new authoring facilities initiating their BD development businesses and drive greater efficiency to BD-J title development in general.

Until now, BD-J interactivity could only be implemented by using computer programmers proficient with the complex Java language. BD Fusion and BD-J Converter take a different approach to make BD-J application development accessible to non-programmers and Animators more comfortable using Adobe's Flash application. BD Fusion is based on Clickteam's proven Multimedia Fusion game creation software, and enables fast and efficient creation of extensive BD-J games and menus via an intuitive drag-and-drop interface. ASV Corp's BD-J Converter is the only BD-J solution to operate as an extension to the popular Adobe Flash authoring environment and automatically converting Flash animations into Java code ready to be integrated into BD projects.

"Our goal with the BD-J Converter plug-in for Adobe Flash is to enable the vast talent pool of professional Animators to leverage the power of BD-J; our partnership with Sonic EDGe has given us a powerful platform to realize this goal," said Yukio Adachi, CEO at ASV Corp. "Through our BD-J Converter plug-in, tens of thousands of professional Animators will have the opportunity to positively contribute to the broad consumer adoption of BD in general because they will be able to more easily create must-see interactive BD titles."

"Sonic's EDGe strategy is to engage with innovative technology companies who share our vision of enabling the most in-depth and creative title creation experience possible. Each of our EDGe partners offer unique solutions that function seamlessly with our industry-standard Scenarist® authoring systems, as well as provide a new level of access to a broad range of creative disciplines," said Rolf Hartley, senior vice president and general manager of Sonic's Professional Products Group. "Both BD Fusion and BD-J Converter have the potential to open the BD space to a huge variety of creative titles that otherwise might not be viable."

Sonic will be demonstrating BD tools from Sonic EDGe members at the IBC convention, Hall 7, Stand 7.D11, September 12 to 16, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

www.sonic.com

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iArtHouse to Offer Exclusive Download for "Blues by the Beach," a Joshua Faudem Film

iArtHouse, the first Web site dedicated specifically to world cinema, announced today the exclusive availability of the acclaimed Joshua Faudem documentary film Blues by the Beach.

Blues by the Beach is one of many highly praised, previously inaccessible international and arthouse films iArtHouse is bringing to cinema aficionados on DVD through innovative download-to-burn technology.

”We are thrilled to be able to share this important film, and we hope our easy distribution encourages more people to watch these incredible, shocking events,” said Larry Jackson, Principal at iArtHouse. “Blues by the Beach is a film about violence and resilience, but it’s also uplifting in a surprising way.”

Blues by the Beach is a story of understanding in the face of the Middle East Conflict. A middle-aged Irish Catholic journalist from the Bronx, Jack Baxter, travels to Tel Aviv to make a documentary about a Palestinian politico who was thought to be a peace advocate. Once there, he finds his protagonist to be a sham and a villain.

With no subject and, thus, no film, Baxter wanders Tel Aviv and discovers local blues joint Mike's Place, a cosmopolitan club devoted to American blues that is a popular hangout for Jews, Arabs, Christians, Americans, Europeans, Asians - just about everyone. It is a place of harmony and shared love, a place beyond politics or religion.

Along the way, Baxter meets filmmaker Joshua Faudem, and together, the two begin a documentary about this oasis of friendship and music. We come to love the people who frequent Mike’s Place, when suddenly the screen goes dark. British suicide bombers violently disrupt the peace, and the ensuing chaos and tragedy are all caught on film.

However, the documentary continues, covering the aftermath, the tragedy of people we learned to love, and the healing process that can follow, as resilient people put their lives back together and refuse to let the spirit of Mike’s Place be derailed.

“The aim is to show that there is more to the Middle East than seemingly endless war and terrorism,” said John Lawrence Ré, Principal at iArtHouse. “As in the case of Mike’s Place, the violence is not the product of the feuding parties, such as the Israelis and Palestinians, but is the product of ideological factions coming from thousands of miles away.”

To date, Blues by the Beach has received accolades including the Red Wagon Award at the Fire Island Golden Wagon Film Festival, Best Documentary winner at the Avignon New York Film Festival and Conflict & Resolution winner at the Hamptons International Film Festival, as well as Official Selection at the Newport Beach International Film Festival and Sarasota International Film Festival.

For more information and a full list of films, please www.iArtHouse.com.

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Sonic Debuts Scenarist BD Studio Workgroup

Sonic Solutions® (NASDAQ: SNIC), the leader in digital media software, today debuted Scenarist® BD Studio Workgroup, a new cost-effective title production suite based on Sonic's ultra high-end professional Blu-ray Disc (BD) creation solutions. Scenarist BD Studio Workgroup features two new programs, Scenarist BD Studio for authoring and CineVision® Studio for encoding, which have been expressly configured and priced to meet the needs of professionals in the video post, independent film, and corporate video production industries. Designed to help expand the overall BD title production market, Scenarist BD Studio Workgroup makes high quality HD title creation available to a broader range of post facilities and specialized content owners. In addition to being available as part of the Scenarist BD Studio Workgroup, Scenarist BD Studio and CineVision Studio will also be available for purchase separately.

"The Scenarist BD Studio Workgroup is another example of Sonic's commitment to advancing the market for professional content creation. The Studio Workgroup is the right product, at the right price, and is being delivered at the right time in the development of the BD format," said Paul Stellingwerff, vice president at Transtec in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. "Blu-ray represents a large opportunity for post facilities to expand their production services using Scenarist BD Studio to deliver great high-definition content on disc. We are already seeing a surge in adoption at such facilities."

Scenarist BD Studio and CineVision Studio are each based on the same engines as Sonic's other industry-leading products, which are installed in more facilities worldwide than any other high-end authoring and encoding solutions. Offering streamlined power tailored to the demands of independent facilities, Scenarist BD Studio breaks the price barrier while also providing a comprehensive, professional BD title production solution that includes detailed control of advanced interactivity and field-proven playback compatibility. CineVision Studio provides complete support for BD encoding modes (AVC, VC-1, and MPEG-2), includes Digital Vision's DVO Brickwall low-pass filtering plug-in as a standard feature, and offers the optional ability to incorporate additional DVO plug-ins. Owners of either component of the Scenarist BD Studio Workgroup can also select Sonic's renowned SonicCare® training and support services, designed to ensure that customers have everything they need for on-schedule delivery of top-quality titles.

"Thanks to the variety of encoding and authoring solutions offered by Scenarist BD Studio Workgroup, a broader range of professional content creators can now take advantage of the storage density, quality and unprecedented interactivity offered by the Blu-ray Disc format," said Rolf Hartley, senior vice president and general manager of Sonic's Professional Products Group. "BD is an ideal medium to showcase HD content for post facilities, independent and specialized film content, event videography, and high-impact corporate communications. Our Scenarist BD Studio Workgroup is perfectly featured and priced for creative professionals and entrepreneurs who have the talent and vision to apply BD to these rapidly expanding market segments."

Sonic will be demonstrating Scenarist Studio Workgroup at the IBC convention, Hall 7, Stand 7.D11, September 12 to 16, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

www.sonic.com

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Sonic EDGe Debuts Key BD Revisioning Solution with BD Reauthor

Sonic Solutions® (NASDAQ: SNIC), the leader in digital media software, today announced that DVDLogic, a developer of field-proven productivity tools for professional authoring, has joined the Sonic Extended Developer Group (EDGe) and is debuting a revolutionary solution to revision finished Blu-ray Disc (BD) titles through its BD Reauthor application. BD Reauthor allows completed BD titles to be opened and edited directly in Sonic Scenarist®. This capability not only significantly reduces the time required to create alternate versions of an existing title, but also can instantly turn all previously completed unencrypted BD discs, volumes or disc images into living archives. With the addition of BD Reauthor, Scenarist-based authoring houses can offer their clients an efficient, streamlined process for revising previously completed BD titles, even without access to the original project files, elementary assets, or specialized archives.

DVD Logic BD Reauthor quickly and simply deconstructs any unencrypted BD volume and converts it into a Scenarist project while simultaneously running initial-level stream compatibility checks. The converted content can then be updated and navigation revised as desired within Scenarist to create a new title. BD Reauthor can also extract specific assets from a BD title for inclusion in other Scenarist projects, thereby allowing released BDs to serve as content archives. The ability to work directly with finished volumes that may not have been authored in Scenarist will offer Scenarist-based authoring facilities the flexibility to update and localize releases for new languages or specialized regional requirements.

"BD Reauthor overcomes the significant burden of maintaining accurate and accessible archives that can be reused and refreshed as required to meet clients' title development deadlines. We developed BD Reauthor with the goal of streamlining the access to client assets to make the process of change painless and efficient," said Oleg Omelchenko, President of DVDLogic. "Our partnership with Sonic's EDGe program uniquely enables us because it creates a seamless bond with the industry-leading authoring solution and connects us to a world-class support organization."

"Through Sonic's EDGe program, Sonic is powering the professional authoring community with key innovations to enhance the creation of first-of-kind entertainment on Blu-ray Disc," said Rolf Hartley, senior vice president and general manager of Sonic's Professional Products Group. "DVDLogic is a perfect example of vision and technology combining to optimize and remove the drudge work required to access assets previously utilized on finished BD titles. Now, content owners can quickly and efficiently direct the redeployment of their materials into revised and new BD titles and speed product to market faster than ever using Scenarist BD."

Sonic will be demonstrating all BD tools from Sonic EDGe members at the IBC convention, Hall 7, Stand 7.D11, September 12 to 16, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. For further information on the EDGe program please contact Sonic at edge@sonic.com.

http://www.sonic.com/about/edge.aspx

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Corel Announces VideoStudio Pro X2 and Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 Ultimate Edition

Corel Corporation (NASDAQ:CREL) (TSX:CRE), a leading developer of graphics, productivity and digital media software, today announced Corel® VideoStudio® Pro X2 and Corel® Paint Shop Pro® Photo X2 Ultimate. Corel’s significant upgrade of VideoStudio® Pro X2 provides consumers with a complete HD solution for video editing and authoring. Corel’s latest release of VideoStudio Pro X2 also includes the all-new Painting Creator to add creative flare to video projects, new sharing tools to upload videos directly to YouTube™ and mobile devices, as well as offering improved ease-of-use and performance enhancements. Featuring over $200 worth of free bonus items, Paint Shop Pro® Photo X2 Ultimate edition offers support for more than 250 raw camera formats and includes 150 new creative templates.

Available separately or together as part of the new Photo & Video Bundle, VideoStudio Pro X2 and Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 Ultimate offer users the widest selection of video and photo editing features ranging from automatic tools for quick fixes to precision controls for fine-tuning. Family memory keepers, hobbyists, and video and photo enthusiasts can more quickly organize, personalize and share their home movies and digital photos with family and friends using the latest formats.

“Capturing, enhancing and sharing life’s moments with family and friends has become increasingly important in today’s global society,” said Denise MacDonell, Senior Director of Product Management, Digital Media at Corel. “With VideoStudio Pro X2 and Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 Ultimate, family memory keepers and technology enthusiasts can more easily personalize and share their digital stories with family and friends – across town or across continents. With the learning and sharing tools included with Corel software, it is easy for users to strengthen ties and stay connected using popular networking sites such as Facebook®, My Space® and YouTube as they share their most important moments in more exciting, fun and memorable ways.”

New in VideoStudio Pro X2

The Most Complete HD Solution
Offering the most complete HD solution, VideoStudio Pro X2 lets users capture, edit, author and output video in all of the leading HD formats, including HDV™ (High-Definition Video), AVCHD™ (Advanced Video Codec High Definition), JVC™ HD camcorder (TOD) and BDMV.

New Blu-ray Import and Output – VideoStudio Pro X2 is among the first video editing and authoring software products to offer support for Blu-ray Disc® Movie Video (BDMV) import and output. Users can now import BDMV files directly from Blu-ray camcorders, making it easier to transfer files and get started with video-editing projects. Users can author HD video with motion menus and burn the video to Blu-ray Disc in single- or dual-layer format. Because compliant video is not re-rendered, users can enjoy shorter encoding times and excellent picture quality.
Enhanced Smart Proxy Editing – With Smart Proxy editing, users can edit HD content as easily as they edit standard definition – even on midrange PCs. By using lower-resolution files for editing and previewing a HD project, VideoStudio Pro X2 requires fewer system resources, which results in faster, smoother editing of HD video. In addition, the final output retains the full resolution of the original HD content. With a 300 percent speed increase, users can now render videos over lunch, rather than overnight.
New Custom H.264 HD Encoding – VideoStudio Pro X2 uses the H.264 codec, which provides rapid encoding with superior quality. Both 1440 × 1080 and 1920 × 1080 output frame sizes are supported.

More Options for Creativity and Sharing

New Painting Creator – With the all-new Painting Creator, users can paint, draw and write on their videos while recording their movements, providing users with new opportunities to personalize their video projects and showcase their creativity.
New Creative Content – VideoStudio Pro X2 includes new overlay objects, frames, Flash animations, and HD-quality menu templates to enhance every video production. The HD templates are designed to match the quality of any HD video.
New NewBlue® Film Effects – Users can now apply the distinctive look of film from the silent movie era. Included in VideoStudio Pro X2, this dynamic collection of five filters provides 81 presets that recreate the nostalgic effects produced by hand-cranked cameras, dirty projectors, and dusty film vaults.
New Mobile Device Support – VideoStudio Pro X2 users can now import video from and output video to the Apple® iPhone™ and iPod® Touch, making it easier for users to capture and share video projects on the latest mobile devices.
Enhanced Upload to YouTube – With the new, streamlined uploader, users can more quickly and easily upload video directly to YouTube. VideoStudio Pro X2 also offers several settings, such as the WMV, H.264, and FLV formats to ensure the best possible encoding quality.

Improved Performance Supports Enhanced User Experience

New Optimization for Intel® Quad-Core Technology – VideoStudio Pro X2 now supports Intel® quad-core technology, enhanced for both dual-core and quad-core CPUs. For users, this means faster response times and less time spent waiting for encoding which is especially useful when working with HD video.
New Resizable Interface – VideoStudio now enables users to resize any of the panels within the interface according to their preference, placing the focus exactly where the user wants it.
New Automatic Video Transition and Audio Crossfade – Users can now simply drag video clips so they overlap on the timeline, automatically creating a video transition and audio crossfade for the duration of the overlap. Users can also easily apply transitions in overlay tracks to create sophisticated picture-in-picture and montage effects.
New Auto Pan & Zoom Feature – Auto Pan & Zoom is now available to automatically detect the faces of subjects or objects in photos, eliminating the need to manually apply Pan & Zoom effects.
New Single Clip Trim Dialog Box – The new Single Clip Trim dialog box makes it easy to frame and accurately trim single clips. Users can access the dialog box by double clicking any clip in the Library, making it easier than ever to quickly trim clips.
Faster Rendering Times – While rendering a video production, users can now disable the preview window to maximize rendering resources and render the video more quickly.
Faster Encoding Performance for Transitions and MPEG-2 Files – VideoStudio Pro X2 ensures the fastest encoding at the highest possible quality. The MPEG Optimizer analyzes the bit rates of all clips on the timeline and suggests MPEG encoding settings that ensure the least re-rendering and re-encoding while maintaining the highest quality for a video project.

Users can also select a target size before encoding MPEGs. This feature is especially helpful to users who share their videos on Web sites that set limits on file size. In addition, when burning MPEGs to DVD, users can easily adjust the size setting to ensure that their files will fit on the DVD.

New in Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 Ultimate

More Creative Options Supported by the Latest Technology

Enhanced Camera Raw Support – Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 Ultimate now supports more than 250 raw camera formats, making it easier for users to edit photos taken with the most popular camera models.
New Creative Content Pack – The Creative Content Pack includes 150 brand-new, custom-made photo frames, patterns and Picture Tubes™ that enable scrapbookers and other creative users to express their creativity by personalizing their projects.
New Background Remover – An unwanted background image can ruin what would otherwise be a perfect photo. In three simple steps, the Background Remover isolates part of a background in an image and removes it, allowing the user to replace it with a complementary image. With the Background Remover, users can preserve image details that were once impossible to mask precisely by preserving fine, semi-transparent details such as strands of hair and wisps of smoke, as well as the detail that is found between larger objects, such as the sky seen between tree branches.
New Certified for Windows Vista® – Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 Ultimate is now fully certified for Windows Vista, the highest certification of support for that operating system, meeting compatibility standards for ease-of-use, better performance, and enhanced security.

Bonus Items

New Corel® Painter™ Photo Essentials 4 – Using the unique Auto-Painting palette, scrapbookers, family memory keepers and photo enthusiasts can now quickly and easily convert their favorite photos into digital paintings and drawings in as little as three clicks.
New PHOTORECOVERY® for Digital Media – Users can enjoy enhanced peace of mind knowing that they can recover images, movies and sound files from memory cards that have been reformatted in error. PHOTORECOVERY® LE is compatible with virtually all media card formats, including SD™, miniSD™, microSD™, CompactFlash® I and II, Memory Stick™, MMC, xD, SmartMedia® and Microdrive®.
New Flash Drive – A 2 GB USB Flash Drive makes it easier for users to backup and transfer photos, videos and other files from a PC. Includes plug-and-play compatibility with any PC.

Pricing and Availability
Corel’s VideoStudio Pro X2, Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 Ultimate and the Photo and Video Bundle are available starting today through www.corel.com and in the coming weeks through Corel’s global channel partners.

VideoStudio Pro X2 and Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 Ultimate are available separately for $99.99 SRP (US and Canada) each. The Photo & Video Bundle that includes both products is available for $149.99 SRP (US and Canada), a savings of $49.99.

Corel VideoStudio Pro X2 is available starting today in English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, and additional languages at later dates. Upgrades from VideoStudio 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 Standard and Plus versions to VideoStudio Pro X2 are available for $59.99 SRP (US and Canada).

Corel also offers VideoStudio X2 to import, edit and output AVCHD and standard-definition video. VideoStudio X2 is priced at $69.99 SRP (US and Canada).

Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 Ultimate is available starting today in English, German, French, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, and in additional languages at later dates. Registered users of Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 may purchase the Special Upgrade from Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 for $29.99 SRP (US and Canada).

To learn more about Corel’s digital media portfolio or to download free, fully-functional trial versions of Corel VideoStudio Pro X2 or Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 Ultimate, visit www.corel.com.

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Telestream Introduces Drive-in for Disc-Free DVD Storage on a Mac

Telestream, the provider of Flip4Mac Windows Media Components for QuickTime, today announced a new product for digital media enthusiasts. Drive-in™ is a first-of-its-kind software application that allows Mac users to create and store images of digital video discs (DVDs) on personal computer hard drives. Released Friday, September 5, Drive-in provides travelers and home theater enthusiasts with quick, easy access to personal DVD movie collections for playback on laptops, desktop computers and home entertainment systems. A Windows version is planned for future release.

Drive-in provides all the benefits of DVDs, however disc-free hard drive storage offers a number of advantages over conventional physical DVD storage. Drive-in provides a richer user experience, for browsing, searching and accessing movies. Plus, the risk of misplacing or damaging physical discs is eliminated. Home theater users can consolidate their movie libraries onto a single, secure location. For travelers, drive-in saves battery life by removing the need to search and spin an optical disc, enabling viewing of several movies on a single laptop battery.

"Any family that has a collection of DVDs is well aware of the hassles of losing and damaging personal DVD movie discs," said Dan Castles, CEO of Telestream. "Our goal with Drive-in is to preserve all the original content, while improving search, storage and retrieval. Drive-in provides a great playback experience on personal computers. It removes the hassles of the physical disc and allows users to store away their DVDs, so they are not lost or damaged."

Under license by the DVD CCA and DVD FLLC, Drive-in creates an image that is an exact duplicate of the information that is on the owner's original DVD disc, thus preserving original content protection. In addition, Drive-in locks the software to the owner's computer and locks the images to the software. Drive-in allows users to play movie images on computers that they own, but it does not allow users to share their images with others.

Drive-in also preserves the quality, navigation and special features of the original DVD. Additional helpful features include the ability to store thumbnails of cover art, names of actors, and movie descriptions which simplifies searching, browsing and selection of movies. Users can play Drive-in software using Apple's DVD Player or Front Row to further enhance the user experience.

For more than a year, tens of thousands of users have participated in the Drive-in public beta. Digital media enthusiast, Jeff Puritz, reports, "I have been looking for exactly this program for a long time. I have no interest in stealing video but want to keep some DVDs on my hard drive for travel."

In Dave Peterson's article, Building a Disc-Free DVD Library With Drive-in which appears on GadgetyTech.com, he says of Drive-in, "I like the idea of being able to load in all my DVDs for ease of access and still have all the features built into the disc. Picture quality of the video image is excellent, the same as if you were running it from the original disc, and all menu and special feature content is available as it would be on the disc."

Michael Driskill writes, "I've been storing DVDs left and right. The saved movies are just like the original; no loading problems, nice product."

Drive-in is now available in two versions; a single-seat and a multi-seat that enables users to image and playback DVDs on up to five computers in a household. The single-seat version is priced at $39, while the multi-seat version is $59. Drive-in is available for download and immediate online purchase at www.flip4mac.com.

A quick video user tutorial is also available at www.flip4mac.com.

More information about Telestream is available at www.telestream.net.

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MicroVision Development Releases SureThing CD/DVD Labeler v. 5.1

MicroVision Development, Inc. has released SureThing CD/DVD Labeler v. 5.1, an easy-to-use Windows application that lets you create beautiful, personalized CD and DVD labels. In addition to supporting all major label brands and direct-to-disc inkjet printers, the latest version provides enhanced usability and performance to the LightScribe market.

The new LightScribe WYSIWYG designer makes it easy to design labels that appear on screen exactly as they will be printed. LightScribe prints only shades of gray, blended into the background color of the disc. SureThing automatically converts color images, text, and backgrounds to the same shades of gray that LightScribe will use at print time. By taking the guesswork out of LightScribe label design, SureThing saves discs, money, and time.

SureThing can print discs on multiple LightScribe drives simultaneously. Whether your computer has two LightScribe drives or a tower full of them, SureThing detects which drives are available, and schedules each print job for you. Since LightScribe discs can take up to 20 minutes each to print, SureThing's multi-drive support saves time for businesses who need to print multiple discs.

Version 5.1 also includes new background images that were professionally designed for LightScribe technology. These high resolution backgrounds are optimized for all three LightScribe print modes to maximize performance and print quality.

SureThing has all of the features that you would expect in a high-end design program, offering almost limitless design variations. You can use your own fonts or the decorative fonts included with the program. It's simple to create circular text, 3-D effects, outlines, drop shadows, and other attractive text variations.

The program imports song titles, artist names, and album information directly from audio CDs, the Internet, iTunes and Windows Media Player. With one click, you can include this information in your disc design. You can even grab album art from iTunes, Windows Media Player and mp3 files (when available).

You can crop or rotate your images, reduce red eye, sharpen or lighten a photo, and colorize or posterize your images. Without being - or hiring - a graphic designer, you can create stunning images and print them on your discs and jewel cases.

Whether you're a professional designer, musician, or photographer who needs to present customers with distinctively labeled CDs and DVDs, a business person who needs to impress clients and prospects with professional-looking discs, or a home user who wants to wow friends and family with discs of photographs and memorabilia, SureThing CD/DVD Labeler has the tools that you need.

SureThing CD/DVD Labeler software v. 5.1 is available online for $24.95(US) for a single-user license. The Complete Package sells for $29.95, and includes a sampling of Super Vibrant Matte disc labels, a label applicator, and a CD containing more than 5,000 background images. You can download a 15-day trial version of the software from www.surething.com.

www.SureThing.com/LightScribeSoftware

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