Home viewing gets smarter with DVD

By Keith Newman

Digital video disk (DVD) the new home entertainment format tipped to overtake the video cassette, will soon offer much more than enhanced sound-and-picture quality.

Film and television post-production houses are beginning to use new features, including multiple camera angles, interactivity and "clever motion menus".

In the United States about 65 per cent of computers now have DVD drives and by the end of the year it is expected all new PCs will have them.

Sami Asfour, international vice-president of US-based Minerva Systems, a leader in video publishing and distribution systems, said DVD movies would increasingly include multiple angles, on-screen controls and directors' cuts. The technology would also enable smaller development houses more easily to create titles for interactive training and promotional material.

The ability to have different aspect ratios for different types of TVs has been widely available since the arrival of DVDs, which can be recorded on both sides.

However, new software provides for multiple endings to a movie, using up to nine different camera angles and "clever motion menus" to help viewers navigate through a movie. LA Confidential and Small Soldiers were examples of movies with extra features.

At present only 10 per cent of DVD titles have multiple angles in them.

"The adult industry thought it had good use for multiple angles but realised while you could have nine different angles they needed to have nine film crews. They didn't have the budget. We see it more being used in sports and filming operations for remote tele-medicine," Mr Asfour said.

There was demand, he said, for easy-to-use packages which were able to combine video, audio and multimedia authoring. Professional authoring packages had come down from $US30,000 to $US10,000 and a slew of simpler, less expensive product is due to hit the market from July this year for the hobbyist or small business.

Minerva (www.minervasys.com) recently released its Impression product which automates much of the authoring process from a new graphical interface, incorporating the "timeline metaphor" used in the video editing market. Its competitors include Sonic Solutions and Digital Vision.

"Previously you needed to be a computer programmer to author a DVD," said Mr Asfour.

He said delays in obtaining a cross-industry agreement for PAL-based DVD titles had slowed the introduction of DVD technology here.

The Hollywood companies behind the technology, now working together as the DVD Forum, had to agree to the zoning because of their policy of timed release of films.

He said the move had been bad for New Zealand, Australia and South America because there were few region-four DVD titles available compared with the US region one.

However, if there had not been zones in place, he said post production houses and facilities in Australia and New Zealand would be out of business.

In Australia there were four production houses involved in DVD, all using Minerva product. Local CD production plants Software Images and Stebbing Studios could both upgraded to DVD capabilities but were waiting for the market to settle before investing in equipment.