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DVD Expert Referral Program Helps Meet Demand For Trained DVD Production Specialists
Sonic Solutions announced that it has launched the DVD Fusion Educational Program to assist media departments at accredited learning institutions to teach DVD production as well as develop DVD-based education and training materials. The goals of the program are twofold - 1) to serve the needs of educational institutions by offering them a means to teach concepts of professional DVD production and create DVD educational and entertainment content and 2) to serve the needs of commercial facilities by increasing the pool of trained DVD designers and producers. Under the DVD Fusion Educational Program, qualified institutions receive special introductory pricing on Sonic DVD Fusion as well as curriculum materials for teaching students about the DVD format and DVD production techniques. In addition, the program refers trained DVD students to the large group of companies that have added DVD production suites and that are seeking qualified DVD operators. DVD Fusion is designed to work with Avid Media 100 and QuickTime-based video editing systems so that universities can now allow their students to create, edit and author complete DVD projects. ""Through the DVD Fusion educational program, we're very pleased to be able to expose our students to the most innovative technologies,"" said Peggy O'Neill Jones, Chairwoman of the Technical Communications Department at the Metropolitan State College of Denver, the largest public undergraduate college in the U.S. ""As part of our Technical Communications Program, we will use DVD Fusion to help our students master DVD production techniques and for the first time enable them to create interactive film and video projects on DVD."" ""Sonic's DVD Fusion is the world's leading DVD production tool,"" said Sharon Sherman, Director of Metro State's US WEST Center for Business Success. ""By becoming proficient on this system, our students will have a greater potential for successful placement and careers in DVD."" ""DVD is an extremely powerful format for young videographers and filmmakers,"" said Mark Ely, Director of Product Marketing at Sonic Solutions. ""With the DVD Fusion Educational Program, students can for the first time release their video projects on a digital medium that is both cost-effective and very high-quality."" ""Each time a new format is released, someone eventually figures out how to create entirely new forms of content for entertainment and education,"" said Michael Bush, Associate Professor of French and Instructional Psychology and Technology and Chair of the DVD Special Interest Group at Brigham Young University in Provo Utah. ""Making DVD education available to our students will allow them to experiment with the format and one of them will undoubtedly create a project we wouldn't have imagined possible, such as a truly interactive movie or hybrid web and DVD-based content."" As part of its program, Sonic will provide participating educational institutions with curriculum materials that cover the DVD format, principles of video and audio encoding, and basic and advanced authoring. The courses will allow students to learn how to encode audio and video, as well as author complete DVD titles on state-of-the art systems that are used by most DVD professionals around the world. Students who complete the course will be included in Sonic's ""DVD Expert Referral Program,"" a means of introducing trained DVD specialists to the large number of Sonic DVD authoring facilities looking for qualified operators. ""One of our biggest challenges is to find responsible qualified trained operators for our DVD production suites,"" said Roger Sovis, Managing Director of New Media at GTN, a large post-production facility in Detroit. ""Sonic's DVD Fusion Educational Program will provide a welcome breeding ground for new operators who are trained on the leading technology."" About DVD Fusion Designed to integrate with Avid, Media 100 and QuickTime-based video editing tools, DVD Fusion is the first DVD publishing companion for non-linear video editors. Using technology from Sonic's industry-leading DVD Creator system, Sonic DVD Fusion allows digital transcoding of Avid, Media 100 and QuickTime projects into MPEG-2 video and Dolby Digital 5.1 audio. DVD Fusion provides extensive interactive DVD authoring and allows for direct recording to DVD-R. About Sonic Solutions Based in Marin County, California, Sonic Solutions designs and manufactures DVD publishing systems used by video, audio and multimedia professionals around the world to prepare music, video, film, graphics and entertainment software. Sonic DVD Creator is the leading system for producing content for the DVD format, and has been used to create thousands of DVD titles worldwide, for applications ranging from feature film releases to corporate and industrial titles. Designed from the ground up to integrate with Avid, Media 100 and QuickTime-based video editing tools, Sonic DVD Fusion is the first DVD publishing solution for non-linear video editors. Sonic DVDit! is the easiest way to publish on DVD and for the first time makes DVD production available to the consumer market. Sonic also offers SonicStudio HD, the leading digital audio workstation used by audio professionals to prepare recorded sound for release on DVD and CD, as well as for film and video soundtracks and broadcast. Sonic is a leader in advancing DVD-Video and DVD-Audio technology and is a full voting-member of the DVD Forum, the standards-setting body for the DVD format.