ASTARTE Announces DVD@ccess

ASTARTE GmbH today announced their new DVD@ccessô technology (pronounced ""DVD access"") which will be incorporated in their DVDirectorô and DVDExportô authoring systems beginning in February.DVD@ccess allows DVD authors to embed URL links in a standard DVD-Video title; links that work on any computer-based DVD player (Mac or Windows).Using the DVD@ccess feature, a DVD-Video title can jump to a web page to show the viewer the most current information, or link directly to an online ordering page, or any other URL.Unlike other web link systems that require the use of special player software, the DVD@ccess links work with existing player applications with no modification. Links can be attached to menus, buttons, tracks, markers or scripts. This means that at any point in your title you can specify a URL to be launched.The link information is embedded in the DVD data (technically in the .IFO files) so it can be interpreted by the DVD@ccess software during playback. DVD@ccess uses DVD-Video-compliant commands so titles will be fully compatible with all set-top players. (The web links are simply ignored when played on non-computer systems.)ASTARTE provides a freely distributable installer application (Mac and Windows versions) which can be included on any DVD disc. The application installs system software which enables any DVD player to read and interpret the DVD@ccess links in a DVD-Video disc.With DVD@ccess, ASTARTE extends the reach of DVD-Video titles all the way to the internet.About ASTARTE GmbHASTARTE GmbH is a privately held company, formed in 1992. The company, based in Karlsruhe, Germany, develops and distributes software for DVD authoring and multimedia production. ASTARTEís products include DVDirectorô and DVDirector Proô, the professional authoring suites for DVD-Video; DVDelightô, a simple tool for easy creation of linear DVD-Video titles; DVDExportô, a Macromedia Director Xtra which allows producers to author DVD-Video titles using Director; M.Pack, a software-based MPEG-2 encoder, and A.Pack, a Dolby Digital professional AC-3 encoding system.

For further information, contact Mike Evangelist, ASTARTE USA at 651 653 6247, E-mail: mike.evangelist@astarteusa.com, Internet: http://www.astarte.de/dvd.