EMediaLive.com: Eclipse Provides Free HD DVD Upgrade to Replication Facilities

In an effort to help their replication customers become familiar with the HD DVD glass mastering process, Eclipse Data Technologies announced today that it is offering free upgrades to customers using their formatters. The upgrade will allow their customers to master 3X DVD titles using the Eclipse ImageEncoder DVD glass mastering formatter.

In the year since the HD DVD launch, Eclipse has taken the lead in supplying encoders and premastering and QC software to replication facilities. Virtually all HD-ROM release titles have passed through Eclipse equipment. This experience allowed Eclipse to create and test a powerful set of tools for the HD DVD process.

"As interest for the 3X DVD format grows, we want to give our customers a low cost way to experiment and learn the process," stated Bob Edmonds, Eclipse's VP of Sales and Marketing. "We've learned a lot about the HD process over the past year and are ready to share this knowledge with our customers." The 3X DVD format offers a means of providing HD Video content on a red-laser media for broader drive compatibility. It uses the same UDF 2.5 file system and optional AACS copy-protection as HD DVD and the same physical format as DVD. Bringing the higher data rate of HD DVD to the conventional format allows 135 minutes of HD content to be placed on a DVD ROM, using AVC or VC-1 codecs. Eclipse's free upgrade announcement coincides with the release of a new EclipseSuite HD software version. The new version offers faster encryption and dozens of new HD analysis rules; bringing the number of HD-specific analysis rules to more than 200.

The new EclipseSuite HD software is being made available to Eclipse support customers in an HD-DVD Demo Kit. The kit includes a demo disc created by Scenarist Workgroup, Sonic's leading HD encoding and authoring solution. Eclipse and Sonic maintain a close relationship and have recently partnered to develop a powerful set of analysis rules for Eclipse's HD DVD analysis engine that will maximize disc compatibility.

"The need to discover content errors early in the process is stronger than ever. With the AACS copy protection process, lost time and cost from mistakes can be very painful" added Edmonds.

To qualify for the free encoder upgrade and demo kit, customers must have an active support agreement in place with Eclipse. Contact Eclipse Sales for additional information at sales@eclipsedata.com or 925-224-8880.