DVDComposerô Powered By C-Cube Encodes Titanic DVD, Daikin Authors Epic Film
C-Cube Microsystems (Nasdaq: CUBE), Daikin U.S. and Digital Ventures has announced that the James Cameron film, ""Titanic,"" scheduled for DVD release on August 31st, was produced using their DVD video encoding and authoring technology at Sunset Post, a leading Hollywood post production facility. DVDComposer, a Digital Ventures system powered by C-Cube MPEG-2 encoding silicon, was selected for the ""Titanic"" DVD project after a rigorous system evaluation by the film's producer Lightstorm Entertainment, its domestic distributor Paramount Pictures, and the THX group of Lucasfilm Ltd., a company that ensures excellence in film presentation quality for theatres and homes. The Titanic Encoding Challenge ""ëTitanicí has elements that pose unique challenges for anyone in DVD production, pushing the envelope of digital video compression and testing the industry's ability to apply high technology to a creative world,"" said Richard Mizer, President and CEO of Digital Ventures Diversified. C-Cube, the MPEG-2 encoding technology inside most of the industry's DVD authoring systems, has been used on hundreds of DVD titles. C-Cubeís technology takes the film and turns it into digital (MPEG-2. C-Cubeís MPEG-2 encoding technology was used to create the ""Titanic"" DVD. According to a C-Cube representative, there were lots of challenges in the Titanic DVD encoding project, none less than the extreme demands of Paramount and Lightstorm. They required perfection in the encoding process and we were the only solution that could compress the over-190 minute film onto a single DVD disc without visible artifacts. ""The film's wide ocean expanses and heavily detailed night shots are two of the most difficult elements to digitize - water and detailed dark imagery,"" added Mizer. ""Because of this complexity and the movieís great length, the ëTitanicí video stream was significantly larger than those of other films and nearly impossible to digitize onto a single disc without visible artifacts. By providing flexible control of the encoding process to address ëTitanicísí especially challenging changes in resolution, bandwidth and color depth we have earned this prestigious opportunity to encode this epic film."" ""C-Cube's MPEG-2 compression algorithms have been used worldwide to encode hundreds of movies,"" said Didier Le Gall, Chief Technical Officer for C-Cube, and patent holder of several MPEG compression schemes. ""Our engineers are pleased that our research and development in the area of MPEG compression is validated by successfully encoding ëTitanic.í"" Authoring Titanic - Project Of Epic Proportions Due to the sheer length of the film, ""Titanic"" was stored on two layers of a single DVD disc. Two separate versions of the dual-layer DVD disc were made, one for full screen and the other in the original theatrical aspect ratio. ""A dual-layer disc challenges the ability to communicate from one area of the disc to another for the purpose of interactivity and menuing,"" Mizer said. ""An additional challenge is in ensuring that the dual-layer disc will play smoothly on all the DVD players in the market. DVDComposer using Daikinís Scenarist DVD authoring software allowed complete interactivity as well as industry-wide compatibility."" ""Scenarist has been the DVD authoring tool used to produce an overwhelming majority of award-winning DVD titles,"" said Dr. Panos Nasiopoulos, Director of Marketing Communications for Daikin U.S. ""It is thrilling to have been a part of such a prestigious film coming to DVD. The introduction of the Titanic DVD marks a high point in DVD authoring since its production involved perfectionism in every aspect. We are very pleased that Scenarist's superior capabilities helped advance DVD to another level with the creation of such a cutting-edge DVD title."" About The System The system used for the project, Digital Venturesí DVDComposer, is powered by C-Cube encoding silicon, incorporates Scenarist2ô DVD authoring software from Daikin and runs on a Silicon Graphics workstation. About Digital Ventures Diversified Headquartered in Santa Clara, California, Digital Ventures is a provider of the technology that allows Hollywood to create MPEG masters for DVD (Digital Versatile Disc). The DVDComposer, which is powered by a C-Cube MPEG encoder and incorporates Daikin DVD authoring software, has been used to create such award-winning DVD titles as Lost in Space, Mission Impossible, Fargo, and now Titanic. Digital Ventures may be reached at 408 246 4949 or at www.dvdcomposer.com. About Daikin U.S. Comtec Laboratories Based in Novato, California, Daikin U.S. Comtec Laboratories is the center of operations for R&D, marketing and support for the worldwide distribution of the acclaimed series of DVD authoring and support tools, Scenarist, Scenarist EDK, DVD Informer and ROM Formatter. Daikin U.S. Comtec Laboratories is a subsidiary of Daikin Industries, Ltd. of Japan. The company may be reached at 415 893 7800 or at www.scenarist.com. About C-Cube Microsystems C-Cube Microsystems Inc. is the industry leader in the development and delivery of highly integrated digital video silicon and systems solutions. C-Cube delivers highly integrated digital video silicon and systems solutions for the communications and consumer electronics markets. C-Cube is headquartered in Milpitas, California. Its stock is traded on the Nasdaq under the symbol CUBE. C-Cube may be reached at 408 490 8000 or at www.c-cube.com.