EMediaLive.com

A couple of weeks ago, I was lucky enough to experience Walt Disney’s 50th Anniversary Platinum Edition Sleeping Beauty Blu-ray Disc, which will debut in September. My daughters, on the other hand have moved into the Hannah Montana/Jonas Brothers stage of life, and are waiting eagerly for the Best of Both Worlds 3D concert film to debut from Disney in August. I’ve written so much about the manufacturing of Blu-ray, but really, up to now, had taken very little time to think about actually authoring these discs, and whether or not the challenges are extreme for studios making the transition from high-end DVD authoring.

Richard Diercks, president, The Richard Diercks Co., who has already authored numerous projects says, the format offers a lot of features, and tools are being created and improved every day. He suspects that “we’re going to go through what we did early on in DVD. Once Wal-Mart starts its national push, companies with tools are going to pop up all over the place, then many will disappear.” Experience is key when looking for a company to author a tile. Diercks recommends researching a company’s experience and even perhaps finding out what authoring tools they are using. “Time constraints and budget are perhaps the biggest pitfalls to getting out a title. You don’t want mistakes." All of the sources we interviewed echoed these sentiments.

To begin to understand Blu-ray Disc authoring, it’s crucial to understand the difference between the two modes that exist for BD players: HDMV and BD-J. In BD-J mode a majority of BD’s advanced features become available, including BD-Live, which requires the use of the player’s network connection, explains Simon James, senior marketing manager, Sonic Solutions professional products group. This adds significantly more complexity on the authoring end, and Java knowledge that didn't come into play in the DVD authoring world.

BD-Jive
“BD-J, and Java in general, requires an understanding of object oriented programming,” says Brian Rowe, manager of operations, Sony DADC Digital Works Americas. “This has presented a challenge to some authoring houses that are more used to ‘what you see is what you get’-type authoring software packages that allow drag-and-drop assembly of features. Most of the DVD authoring software packages are like this,” he says.

The model for BD-J is much more capable, which means that some of the players have been challenged in how they play back BD content. From the beginning, all players played BD-J, but there wasn’t much content. The BD-J specification is based on three or four layers of specifications that it has adopted from set-top cable and satellite boxes that are prevalent in Europe. The problem is that there may be three different ways to accomplish the same function, and not all of the players implemented it the same way.

The other problem is that there are not a lot of Java programmers available to work on these titles, which means companies like Technicolor that want to cultivate BD-J development have had to come up with templates that allow authors to create BD titles with BD-J features with a minimum of time-intensive Java programming. A lot of the prototypes for DVDs and even Blu-ray discs are done in Flash or they are done in After Effects; the idea was to develop a framework that presented a Flash or After Effects-like look. The framework the company developed is called BD-JIVE (Java Interactive Visual Environment or Java Interpretative Visual Environment) The complexity is that every player’s implementation of BD-J is different, and there are many players available in the marketplace. Technicolor came up with a JIVE player which is optimized for animating timelines and menus for the different players.

BD-Live
Why all the fuss about BD-Live, and what is it exactly? “The easiest way to get your head around BD-Live is to start thinking of content as either ‘on-disc’ or on-line,’" says Sonic's James. "BD-live enables facilities to merge both media sources into a seamless experience for the consumer." So many possibilities exist for BD-Live. For example, extra video/audio menus can be downloaded, as can subtitles and games. Exclusive web content can also be accessed. “From the consumer’s perspective," James continues, "it should be a seamless experience so they don’t know what’s on-disc and what’s online. Our customers demand the ability to do everything the format is capable of, so we deliver on that promise with Scenarist.” Scenarist has a drag-and-drop BD-J design environment. Additionally, Sonic is also planning more extensive BD-J/BD-Live development, he says.

“Blu-ray encoding can vary greatly depending on the compression needs and the mix of HD and SD elements," says Sony's Rowe. "There are so many codecs available to encode the various audio and video streams. Now, multiply this by two in cases where two layers of graphics over video in real time can be called for. Contrast this with the single video codec, and the fewer choices for audio that are used for DVD.” Rowe gives the example of video overlays in pop-up menus, video composites used in transitions, multiple commentary and feature streams, and streams being downloaded from a BD-Live server.

BD-Live and Menu Design
Blu-ray menu design can initially follow the same processes as DVD design to begin with in terms of the way that the information is organized, “but it often spirals into channels of ‘what ifs’ for various areas that have potential for deeper user immersion,” says Rowe. Consideration must be given to time and budget constraints that can limit the scope of implementation to affect a given level of interactivity.

If combined with BD-Live content, design considerations must account for many of the same issues that complicated computer software applications, such as network availability, network handshaking, latency, and the design of dialogs that make the user experience seamless with the overall application being played from the disc, according to Rowe. “To avoid these issues, we have established systems for prototyping communication and testing functionality of titles prior to release.”

3D
That brings me to 3D. Two Technicolor Creative Services VPs--vice president for DVD Bob Michaels and vice president of technology Chuck Null--took a few minutes to explain what 3D technology means for Blu-ray authoring. “Blu-ray is just another delivery channel,” they say.

However, several different technologies exist for 3D, including polarized (used for Digital Cinema), anaglyph, and multiplexed 3D. The biggest issue facing authoring companies is knowing what type of glasses the studio will attribute, then they will know what type of encoding to process and put on the disc, says Null. The method of 3D doesn’t change the encoder type, but rather how image enhancements are applied.

After It’s All Said And Done
After all is said and done, Blu-ray titles that are BD-Live-capable and/or 3D are truly an entertaining experience and if the given the chance, I truly believe this format can keep the physical format around for a long time. The key word is “chance.” With titles like Sleeping Beauty and Best of Both Worlds hitting the market, I’m betting kids will push their parents to give the format a try!

Debbie Galante Block (debgalante at aol.com) is a freelance writer based in Mahopac, N.Y.

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The Authoritative Blu-ray Disc (BD) FAQ: Updates

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MCE Ships Fastest, Most Versatile Internal Blu-ray Recordable Drive for Mac

MCE Technologies, LLC (MCE) today announced it has begun shipment of the fastest and most versatile Blu- ray recordable drive available for the Mac. The MCE 6X Blu-ray Recordable Drive is capable of recording to Blu-ray media at up to 6X, to DVD±R media at up to 16X, to CD-R media at up to 40X, can read HD DVD-ROM media, and is LightScribe compatible. Natively compatible with Mac OS 10.5.2 or later the drive can record data to Blu-Ray, DVD, and CD media directly from the Finder with no additional software required. Professional Blu-ray movies, playable on set-top Blu-ray players and the Sony Playstation 3, can be created with the MCE 6X Blu- ray Recordable Drive using Adobe Premier Pro CS3’s Encore program in conjunction with either Adobe Premier Pro CS3 or Apple’s Final Cut Pro editing software and basic Blu-ray movies can be created using optional Roxio Toast 9 Titanium and Toast 9 HD/BD Plug-in. The drive is user-installable and designed for Mac Pro and Power Mac systems.

Software is also included allowing the playback of both Blu-ray and HD DVD movies using the MCE 6X Blu-ray Recordable Drive and a Mac Pro running Boot Camp with Windows XP or later installed. The MCE 6X Blu- ray Recordable Drive for Mac Pro and Power Mac starts at $499.00 and is available for immediate shipment.

"The 6X Blu-ray Recordable Drive is the most advanced superdrive we’ve ever shipped and can record to over twelve different types of media," stated Arnold Ramirez, president of MCE. "The drive is the fastest Blu-ray recorder on the market, a very fast DVD and CD recorder, can playback HD movies, and can create DVD and CD labels using LightScribe technology."

Fitted with a blue front tray-bumper to distinguish it from ordinary optical drives, the MCE 6X Blu-ray Recordable Drive ships with all jumpers and settings pre-configured for the Mac Pro and Power Mac G5. The drive can record to 25GB single-layer write-once Blu-ray BD-R media at 6X (27MB/sec), to 50GB dual-layer write-once Blu-ray BD-R media at 4X (18MB/sec), and to 25GB and 50GB rewritable BD-RE discs at up to 2X (9MB/sec). It is also fully compatible with all DVD and CD recordable media on the market today and can record to standard DVD±R media at up to 16X (22MB/sec) speed, to DVD±R DL (Double/Dual Layer) media at up to 4X speed, to DVD+RW at up to 8X speed, to DVD-RW at up to 6X, to DVD-RAM at up to 5X speed, to CD-R at up to 40X (6MB/sec), and to CD-RW at up to 24X speed.

The MCE 6X Blu-ray Recordable Drive for Mac Pro and Power Mac includes an installation manual, software for playback of Blu-ray and HD DVD movies in Boot Camp, and a 25GB BD-RE rewriteable disc for $499.00, with optional Toast 9 Titanium with HD/BD Plug-in for $599.00, or with Adobe Premier Pro CS3 with Encore for $1,295.00. More information may be found on the MCE website.

www.mcetech.com

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The MPAA Approves DreamStream's Anti-Piracy Technology

The Motion Picture Association of America has approved the use of DreamStream's secure online file streaming system as a solution to curb digital piracy. "We are very excited to have the MPAA stand behind our technology," said Ulf Diebel, chief development officer for DreamStream. "The MPAA understands the need to be proactive - rather than reactive -- in addressing the chokehold that piracy has on the motion picture industry. Their recommendation is not something that Hollywood will take lightly."

On June 27, 2008, Krishnan Rajagopalan, the MPAA's vice president of digital media technologies, announced the MPAA's intent to recommend DreamStream's file streaming technology to the major motion picture studios. The MPAA reports that the major motion picture studios lose more than $6 billion every year because of piracy alone.

"DreamStream has developed a very unique technology that is extremely important in our industry, because of copyright infringement," said Michael Jay Solomon, founder of Solomon Entertainment Enterprises. "It will allow the content providers to recoup the billions of dollars that they are losing right now."

Solomon, a veteran of the entertainment industry, co-founded Telepictures Corp., and is the former president of both Lorimar Telepictures Corp. and Warner Bros. Television International.

Laura Tunberg, MGM's former vice president of intellectual property enforcement, first introduced the MPAA to DreamStream's system in March of 2008. Since that time, the MPAA has reviewed the technology and found it to be a viable means for securing digital content, Solomon said.

"We are very excited about our breakthrough technology. For the first time, digital content can be distributed without fear of piracy. By making it possible for studios and other copyright holders to secure their content, we can make it impossible for movies to be digitally pirated," said Diebel. "DreamStream can restore property rights to their owners and restore the commercial success of music and video recordings with a solution that benefits both producers and consumers."

In recent years, online media distribution systems, such as Apple's iTunes, have continually fallen prey to digital piracy. DreamStream claims to have the solution to this dilemma. "The existing systems are broken," said Diebel. "If studios and artists want to confront the problem of piracy they must embrace a comprehensive restructuring of their distribution methods."

The MPAA was attracted to DreamStream's system because it differs from existing products and services in several ways. Most noteworthy, DreamStream's system operates via online streaming and not file downloads. As such, purchased content cannot be stored on users' hard disks, which eliminates the possibility of copying or redistributing the digital files.

Because the content does not have to be downloaded, DreamStream's technology is able to transmit media files at such higher qualities than are currently being offered by DreamStream's competitors. With only a 4 Mbps Internet connection, DreamStream's system is able to provide consumers with HD quality content.

Unique to DreamStream's technology is the instant availability of the digital content offered. While most media systems require download or processing delays, DreamStream's system is able to offer its users instant access to digital content.

DreamStream's technology also features encryption that greatly exceeds current standards. While existing online media distribution systems are typically secured using only 128 bit encryptions, DreamStream touts a full 20-round, 2048 bit encryption, which is the strongest in the industry. To date, DreamStream is the only company to offer the protection of military grade encryption in the online delivery of streaming media.

DreamStream's unpublished encryption has never been compromised by hackers or digital pirates. "To win the war on piracy, the studios need DreamStream's military grade capabilities," said Diebel.

DreamStream's file streaming system is one of the many uses for the company's encryption technologies. DreamStream's encryption can be imbedded into any online or computer-based system. DreamStream is currently developing a secured, low-cost, high-definition disc-based system to rival Sony's Blu-ray technology. For more information on DreamStream, visit http://www.dreamstream.info.

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Blue Ray Technologies Opening Largest Indie BD Mastering Facility, First with Rewritable Disc

Blue Ray Technologies, America's first indie Blu-ray disc manufacturing plant, is now becoming the largest indie Blue-ray disc mastering facility in the U.S., according to BRT founder and chairman Erick Hansen.

It will also be the only indie that can handle rewritable disc mastering and will provide pre-mastering as well, all complex yet necessary components to creating Blu-ray discs that show what true 1080p hi-def is capable of, rather than just putting upgraded DVD content on a Blu-ray disc as some do. The consumers will come to expect this, it is one of the steps that make BDs eye-popping and a clear step up from DVDs.

The process will allow for advanced encoding, authoring and menu design and will apply to games, movies and any other digital content that can be put on BD. As for the rewritable discs, they are especially useful to computer users as well as publishers and corporate users who want a shorter run that does not require large manufacturing plants.

The new BRT mastering design is also more cost-effective than even the current DVD mastering process by reducing the number of steps involved and can eventually help lead to BDs in the price range of DVDs.

"We are building the world's largest indie Blu-ray mastering and pre-mastering facility. In addition, we are the only indie American company that can make a rewriting stamper," said Hansen. "We have more experience at this than any other indie on the planet. The discs will be mastered, encoded and delivered right."

Since larger capacity optical discs require the pit to be smaller on the disc, current DVD mastering technology was not compatible for use in next generation optical discs.

Blue Ray Technologies is planning to open multiple Blu-Ray disc production facilities across the U.S, starting with a facility near Hollywood to be close to the indie and major studios that have now all adopted Blu-ray.

The new facilities are designed to be capable of handling the next generation of movie and game discs, Blue-ray 2.0, which gives an interactive web dimension to the consumer, and offer up to "five layers of entertainment," according to Hansen, whose Hollywood move puts him closer to the studios he has worked with for years. The Spokane, WA facility is running and will have a hard opening in the upcoming weeks. Hansen has also been in negotiations with the major studios through an affiliated company for downloadable high definition content over the Internet. While being a pioneer in DVD and now championing Blu-ray discs, Hansen also believes in delivering the best in movie and game content in whatever form the consumer wants it.

www.blueraytechnologies.com

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ONKYO to Ship Blu-ray Disc Player In Late 2008

ONKYO Corporation has announced that it will release its first Blu-ray Disc Player for the international market in late 2008. This player is designed to partner with Onkyo’s high-definition A/V receivers equipped with full HDMI processing of 1080p video and decoding of Dolby® TrueHD and DTS-HD™ Master Audio surround sound formats.

Onkyo was among the first home theater manufacturers to offer full audio and video processing capabilities for HD formats such as Blu-ray Disc. The company’s A/V receivers deliver a complete high-definition experience with onboard decoding of Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio codecs. The release of this Blu-ray Disc player will be timely given that the second-generation of high-definition-capable Onkyo A/V receivers is now available. Product details and pricing will be announced prior to delivery.

www.onkyo.co.jp

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arvato digital services Certified by Blu-ray Disc Association

arvato digital services, a global provider of integrated service packages in the IT/high-tech, games, video and audio sectors, today announced it has been granted official certification by the Blu-ray Disc Association. The certificate confirms that the media service provider satisfies all conditions for mass market production of high quality Blu-ray Discs.

Following the installation of the organization’s first Blu-ray Disc production lines in Weaverville, NC in the USA, as well as in Gütersloh, Germany, arvato digital services has consistently expanded production capacities for the popular next-generation format.

“Renowned clients from the entertainment industry have already chosen arvato digital services as their partner for Blu-ray Disc products,” said Hans-Peter Hülskötter, CEO of arvato digital services“We have already responded to the extremely positive start by investing in new lines and we are looking forward to a successful season.”

The certificate of the Blu-ray Disc Association provides documentary proof that the new technology has been successfully implemented and that the processes for BD 25 and BD 50 are running smoothly, whilst maintaining the highest standards of quality.

The Blu-ray Disc was introduced in 2002 by a group of leading companies in the consumer electronics, music, computer and software industries. Blu-ray discs are written and read by a blue laser with a wavelength of 405 nm, shorter than that used with DVDs. What makes the Blu-ray Disc unique is its high-density storage capacity of 25 gigabytes per layer and side, which enables data volumes of 50 gigabytes in a dual-layer process. arvato digital services, as an innovative media replicator, offers both formats.

www.arvatodigitalservices.com

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MoSys Demonstrates Blu-Ray Solution for Home Entertainment Applications

MoSys, Inc. (Nasdaq: MOSY), the leading provider of high-density embedded memory and mixed-signal Intellectual Property (IP) solutions, today announced that it recently demonstrated its All Format Front End Blu-Ray System-On-Chip IP in Silicon, to potential customers.

The MoSys design, manufactured in a 130nm process technology, was recently demonstrated on a reference platform to playback BD-ROM Title with AACS Content Protection. It is now available as a single chip IP for integration into a Back End Video and Display Processor, and can directly interface with a laser Power Driver IC, thus lowering the electrical bill of materials for next generation DVD platforms. The MoSys solution is the first in the industry to support all next-generation Blue-Laser and current Red-Laser DVD formats in a single, integrated design for multi-format DVD players and recorders, game consoles, PCs, advanced Set-Top boxes, and digital video recorders. Support for Blu-Laser formats at 8x read speed and 5x write speed include BD and CHDVD, while Red Laser formats include DVD-ROM, DVD-R/-RW, DVD+R/+RW, all with both single layer and dual layer media. Also included is support for Infrared Laser formats such as CD-ROM, and CD-R/RW. By providing comprehensive mixed-signal functionality and all-format support in a single IP, system designers can minimize cost, improve integration, and optimize performance. Customers can further improve upon such benefits with MoSys Roadmap products for Blu-Ray players, and recorders, on 55nm and 40nm process nodes, with factory tuned firmware support for different Optical Pickup Units (OPU).

Len Perham, MoSys' President, Chief Executive Officer said, "Our customers are starting to innovate using MoSys analog and mixed-signal capability, which enables new and exciting consumer applications. We are pleased to announce that our complex Blu-Ray IP worked the first time in silicon, and we are currently showcasing our technology to key customers."

www.mosys.com

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Xlnt Idea, Inc announces Distribution Agreement with D and H Distributing

XLNT Idea Inc., a leading US Based Manufacturer of DVD and CD Automated Robotic Direct to Disc Printing and Publishing Systems, announced today it has partnered with D&H Distributing as its exclusive national distributor. D&H Distributing will offer XLNT Idea Systems and Consumables to its customer base of VARs and dealers, providing just-in-time inventory, support sales, and customer service. All XLNT Idea product SKU’s will be available through D&H, including any and all new products to be released by XLNT Idea.

Chuck Alcon Jr., XLNT Idea’s Director of Sales and Marketing, explained, “Our new partnership with D&H will allow XLNT Idea to dramatically expand our channel reach and provide access to our DVD/CD creation solutions to a wide range of VARs and dealers. As the popularity of our systems continues to grow in the marketplace due to our value proposition, VARs and dealers will enjoy immediate access to our solutions through D&H, and will be able to more readily satisfy their customer’s needs and requirements. We’re pleased to be able to take this step in our company’s growth and expansion.”

www.dandh.com
www.xlntidea.com

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CyberLink PowerDVD and PowerDirector Support ATI Radeon HD 4800 Graphics Series from AMD

CyberLink Corp. (5203.TW), innovative solution provider for the connected digital lifestyle, announced today its award-winning movie playback software PowerDVD, and video editing software PowerDirector are optimized for ATI Radeon™ HD 4800 series graphics from AMD (NYSE: AMD), to fully support HD video playback and deliver leading-edge HD transcoding performance.

CyberLink PowerDVD supports HD video formats like AVCHD, MPEG-4 AVC (H.264), and Blu-ray Discs, and is fully compatible with HDMI connectors, delivering a true HD movie experience on the PC. With optimization for the ATI Radeon HD 4800 series incorporating UVD 2 technology, CyberLink PowerDVD ensures quality Blu-ray Disc playback with support for multiple “picture-in-picture” (PiP) video streams.

CyberLink PowerDirector supports end-to-end HD video editing, from capturing video to production, in AVCHD, MPEG-2 HD and WMV-HD formats. Optimized for the ATI Radeon HD 4800 series, featuring Accelerated Video Transcoding (AVT) core technology, CyberLink PowerDirector is the first video application for consumers to take advantage of General Purpose Computation on Graphics Processor Unit (GPGPU), supporting GPU accelerated HD video transcoding for up to four HD videos simultaneously, and upgrades the HD video experience on consumer PCs to a new level of performance.

“Amazing video performance with ATI Avivo™ HD is a vital element for AMD to provide ATI Radeon HD 4800 series customers with The Ultimate Visual Experience™,” said Matt Skynner, vice president of marketing, Graphics Products Group, AMD. “With the support of CyberLink, we’re able to utilize the ATI Radeon HD 4800 second generation Unified Video Decoder (UVD 2) to accelerate and enable Blu-ray™ dual stream picture-in-picture video playback which frees the CPU for other tasks. We’re pleased to continue our long-standing relationship with CyberLink to deliver these exciting video capabilities to ATI Radeon customers.”

“CyberLink is happy to work with AMD to offer industry-leading applications for HD video playback and video transcoding, with both PowerDVD and PowerDirector optimized for the latest ATI Radeon HD 4800 Graphics Series,“ said Alice H. Chang, CEO of CyberLink. “PowerDVD and PowerDirector are the leading applications optimized for general purpose computation on graphics processing units to provide The Ultimate Experience for high-definition video on the PC.”

Product Availability
CyberLink PowerDVD with support for UVD 2 Technology on ATI Radeon HD 4800 series graphics cards is already available online. Existing PowerDVD 8 users can update their software for free. Please visit the CyberLink website for more information.

CyberLink PowerDirector with support for Accelerated Video Transcoding (AVT) Technology on ATI Radeon HD 4800 series graphics cards will be available in Q3 2008.

More information about CyberLink's complete range of software is available at www.cyberlink.com.

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SINGULUS Redefines Strategy for the Recordable

SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES (SINGULUS), the world market leader for the manufacturing of optical storage media, is unveiling its new STREAMLINE III production plant for the manufacturing of recordable DVDs. The first machines of the new version have already been sold. SINGULUS is building the new machine in China at the subsidiary SINGULUS MANUFACTURING GUANGZHOU (SMG). The STREAMLINE III replication line is based on the tried-and-tested SPACELINE II module. Further modules as well as the EMOULD injection molding machine are being assembled and commissioned in China. The new STREAMLINE III replication line has been designed specifically for DVD R, with a cycle time of < 2.5 s. The system can, however, also be used for manufacturing CDRs.

Stefan A. Baustert, CEO of SINGULUS, commented: "The main market for these lines is China. By being able to capitalize on the cost advantages of a local assembly location, we are able to compete with Chinese manufacturers on price and can keep increasing our market shares. Our market share for optical disc machines in the Chinese market is currently an amazing 60 %. We have set ourselves this same target for the new STREAMLINE III."

www.singulus.nl

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