Sonic Solutions(R) (Nasdaq: SNIC), the leader in digital media software, today announced the release of Scenarist(R) BD 4.5, a major upgrade to the world's leading professional Blu-ray Disc creation solution. The new version features expanded capabilities for the creation of BD-J titles, which fuse Java-programmed applications to enable the integration of high-definition audio and video with advanced interactivity. Numerous workflow enhancements were added to speed title creation, and the software package also includes Sonic's new Scenarist Safeguard(TM) tool for setting security parameters on BD-J content. Scenarist BD 4.5 began shipping at the start of April and is on show at Sonic's Booth (SL8020) at NAB, running April 14 through the 17 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

"Our customers need to increase productivity and throughput efficiency if they are to participate profitably in the BD authoring market," said Chris Neely, vice president of development for Sonic's Professional Products Group. "The Scenarist BD upgrade directly addresses this need, delivering fast and powerful tools for BD production. With an all-new BD-J creation environment and new capabilities such as BD+ content protection and security signing, Scenarist offers our customers all the necessary features to further develop their BD business and to push BD titles in new and exciting directions."

The BD-J enhancements in Scenarist BD 4.5 include a new BD-J project creation wizard, a new user interface supporting drag-and-drop application creation, the Scenarist Safeguard security tool, and all-new BD-J tutorials. Scenarist BD 4.5 also enables enhanced workflow design for faster project completion, comprehensive BD+ content protection support, and distributed multiplexing.

"As the Blu-ray Disc format gathers momentum, production efficiency becomes an increasingly vital component of our BD workflow," said William Roe, general manager, icandy interactive. "The new version of Scenarist offers major workflow advantages that will enable us to complete titles faster and more efficiently than ever before, allowing us to increase throughput and provide a competitive service for our clients."

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