Latest News From The Interactive Digital Media Association And The DVD Association
From The Editor: Make no mistake we are 100 percent behind DVD. We know it will succeed. But so far this years awards entries have proved one thing, so far it has not yet succeeded in the Sales, Marketing, Kiosks and Training world where most of our members work. After all if you worked in CD-I and VideoCD, digital video on a disc is nothing new. DVD-Video can do what VideoCD could do and do it better, but DVD-Video as yet can't do many of the things that CD-I has been doing for ten years. When will this change, when the new Interactive DVD Video players arrive, hopefully at this yearís summit. A Nuon enhanced DVD-Video player can and will do what CD-I does and do it better. VMLabs have a high level authoring tool available, so you don't even have to be a C+ programmer to make it work. There is at least one more DVD-Interactive player about to be launched and more on the way. That is why we have set up a working group to create best practices for Interactive DVD. That is another reason you should support the DVDA. Technical Director For The DVDA Jim Taylor [DVD Zealot for Widescreen ReviewÆ) has accepted the position of Technical Director of the DVDA. Jim will act as a liaison with the heads of each of the working groups and speak on behalf of the DVDA on technical matters. New Chapters: There is now an Australian chapter. Jeff Sunderland of DVD Technologies, e-mail jeffs@dvdtech.com.au, has offered to start work on a DVDA chapter for down under. Max Nguyen of DVD Master is starting a chapter in Orange County, CA. You can contact Max at max@dvdmaster.com Phone 714 962 4098 Fax 714 962 4198. If you have a suggestion regarding a local chapter in your area, or your country, please call. The Ninth Annual Awards For Excellence In Interactive Digital Media: It really is time to enter. Yes, the awards entries close on September 15. Enter now! These awards are open to all Plug & Play, interactive disc based technologies and provide a unique opportunity to compare the best that can be done by developers using many different platforms. As usual we expect a lot of entries on CD-I, VideoCD, M2 and of course we expect that this year we shall see many entries on DVD-Video and DVD-ROM. The Gold, Silver and Bronze trophies will be presented at the annual summit conference in Dallas, October 22-24. The entry forms are available on the Web at www.dvda.org, by e-mail at Paul_Holmes@dvda.org, or to obtain a fax copy, call 440 349 9661. The IDMA-DVDA Summit In Dallas: The 1999 Summit is shaping up to be another exciting event this year. Once again it will be the place were the 'Experts come, to become the experts."" We will see the first appearance of some new Interactive DVD players, have a whole day of DVD updates, organized by three of the top experts in the field of DVD. But don't forget if you are still creating CD-I, VCD, SVCD or M2 titles this is the place to be as well. All Friday afternoon is devoted just to these platforms. So if you want to know what's happening to the platform you are currently developing on, then it is important to be there. Saturday evening, delegates attend the Gala awards dinner, sponsored by Panasonic and free to all those registered. Sunday morning, specially invited experts will give us a glimpse into the future, beyond 2000. Then the session where everyone speaks, asks questions and becomes part of the Summit, the Town Meeting. During the whole three days, at the mini-expo you will be able to talk to the experts, try the latest authoring tools and get hands on experience with the new equipment. That's how you become an expert. Registration forms are on the Web site at www.dvda.org, available by e-mail at Paul_Holmes@dvda.org, or to obtain a fax copy, call 440 349 9661. VM Labs Licenses Spyglass Device Mosaic For NUON Interactive DVD Think of your favorite DVD movie on your television, in your family room. Now imagine with the click of a button on your DVD remote, being transferred to the Movie's own Web site. Creating interactive content has become this easy with VM Labs' next-generation NUON enhanced DVD technology. NUON technology transforms DVD-Video players into Interactive DVD players for, enhanced DVD movies, games, and many other applications such as Sales, Marketing, Kiosks and Training. With its embedded high-speed media processor, associated firmware and operating system, NUON provides a powerful platform to bring dynamic interactive features to your living room, the training room, or you companies Point of Sale Kiosk in the Mall. VM Labs has now added an easy-to-use browser to their package, a Spyglass Device Mosaic to allow Interactive DVD users to view content written in HTML. Now developers can create truly interactive DVD titles and Web-sites can deliver MPEG-2 video right into your family room, using a Web connected DVD title. Toshiba has already agreed to include NUON in future digital consumer products, and VM Labs predicts that during the year 2000, NUON will become a de-facto standard in DVD players worldwide. Technical Section: Digital Video Systems, Inc. have announced that its 10X DVD-ROM Drives will be available in sample quantities in late November, with delivery starting in December 1999. The new drive is compatible with DVD-Video, DVD-ROM, DVD-R, and virtually all CD formats including CD-ROM, CD-Audio, CD-R, CD-RW, Video CD, Multi-session Photo CD, or Photo CD. For more information on DVS' products, email to info@dvsystems.com, phone Bob Werbicki 650 564 9699 or visit: www.dvsystems.com. DVD-RAMÖ Today And Tomorrow: REALmagic Digital Video Recorder (DVR) is being featured at DVD-RAM...Today and Tomorrow, a briefing and industry update sponsored by Hitachi, Panasonic, and Toshiba. During the event, Sigma's DVR will play a key role in showing the versatility and functionality of DVD-RAM for low-cost, real-time DVD video production, editing, storage, and playback. Corporate publishing is moving to video as its favored medium. Educators and corporate in-house production staff want to put video on their web sites or distribute it to other people in their organization. But corporate marketing and training departments are cost-sensitive and need equipment that is easy to use. Paying $1,000 for a digital camera is typical; the camera creates images for use in data sheets and other marketing collateral. Now, Sigma's REALmagic DVR enables professionals to capture images, edit MPEG video, and publish DVD titles for less than $1,000. The demand for the functionality included in REALmagic DVR is growing at a rapid pace, not only in businesses and educational organizations, but also with home consumers. International Data Corporation predicts that as many as one million households will own a digital video recorder by 2000 - an aggressive forecast for a products that is only in its second year of existence. ""Our focus in developing REALmagic DVR has been on maximizing functionality and optimizing value in an easy-to-use package,"" said William K. Wong, Sigma's Vice President of Marketing. ""REALmagic DVR is as easy to install and use as our hallmark Hollywood Plus DVD decoder card. ""It can be used on any Pentium-class PC, including older 200 MHz systems frequently found in schools and businesses. Getting DVD encoding, editing, authoring, and DVD playback for less than $1,000 is quite a bargain."" REALmagic DVR supports any DVD-RAM or DVD-ROM drive (IDE or SCSI). REALmagic DVR will be available during the third quarter of this year and will be sold through OEMs and system integrators. A number of end-user upgrade kit producers are planning to release retail kits incorporating REALmagic DVR in time for the holidays. The kits will enable customers to upgrade their Windows 98/NT PCs to video and DVD production systems. For more information, contact Sigma Designs http://www.sigmadesigns.com ""Plug and Play"" is published by the Interactive Digital Media Association as a free service to our members and readers. The Editor is Paul Holmes and can be reached at Paul_Holmes@dvda.org 440 349 9661 If you know of anyone who would like to receive Plug & Play, free, just send an e-mail, to Paul_Holmes@dvda.org with ""Subscribe"" on the Subject line and the persons e-mail address, name and phone number. If for some reason you do not want any more copies of Plug & Play, just send an e-mail, to Paul_Holmes@dvda.org with ""Unsubscribe"" on the Subject line. 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