Sonic
Solutions Brings First Direct-to-DVD™ Solution to Consumers
with HP
Marin County, California (August 20, 2001) - Sonic Solutions
(NASDAQ:SNIC)
announced today that a proprietary version of Sonic's MyDVD™
application will be bundled on Hewlett-Packard Company's newly
introduced HP DVD-writer dvd100i drive. Co-branded as HP MyDVD
Video by Sonic, the new software provides customers with a complete
solution for recording, editing and sharing personal video content
when using DVD+RW and CD-R/RW media.
"HP has worked with Sonic to bring the first DVD+RW recording
solution to consumers," said John Spofford, Vice-president
and General Manager of HP Personal Storage Solutions. "Whether
archiving older tapes or sharing videos with family and friends,
HP DVD-writers and HP MyDVD Video by Sonic allow consumers to
create personalized digital video memories on DVD+RW discs."
HP MyDVD Video by Sonic is the first application that allows
consumers to transform custom home videos into interactive DVDs
by burning videos directly from a camcorder or VCR to the HP
DVD-writer.1 The process is simple and fast: connect
a camcorder or VCR to a PC and hit the "Record to DVD"
button in the application's wizard. The software then automatically
converts the video and audio into the correct DVD format in
real-time, adds menus and navigation, and records to a DVD+RW
disc viewable on many DVD players and PCs with a DVD-ROM drive.
Projects can also be recorded to CD-R/RW media and played back
on most multimedia PCs. HP MyDVD Video by Sonic enables users
to re-edit recorded discs by changing menus and adding or deleting
videos. This feature makes it easy and convenient to archive
a video library onto DVD and re-edit the discs later.
"When we began working with HP on a solution for their
DVD-writer, our goal was to create an entirely new application
- home DVD publishing," said Bob Doris, President of Sonic
Solutions. "When using HP MyDVD Video by Sonic with HP
DVD-writers, recording to DVD is incredibly fast and easy. Consumers
can also make DVDs which can be modified later, taking full
advantage of this dynamic new medium."
Using HP MyDVD Video by Sonic
HP MyDVD Video by Sonic is built on Sonic's Hollywood-standard
DVD formatting engine - the same technology used to produce
tens of millions of consumer DVD-Video titles. Building on this
standard ensures that DVDs produced with the application, in
conjunction with the DVD+RW format, are playable on the widest
range of consumer DVD players. HP MyDVD Video by Sonic provides
three ways for consumers to create their own professional-looking
DVD titles:
Direct-to-DVD™
The first solution for recording directly to the DVD+RW format,
HP MyDVD Video by Sonic software with HP DVD-writers allows
video from a camcorder or VCR to be converted to a DVD+RW disc
in a single step. In this mode, the user connects a camcorder
or VCR to the PC and the application automatically converts
the video and audio into DVD-compatible formats, creates menus
and buttons for each video clip, and burns to the HP DVD-writer.
DVD Authoring
In authoring mode, interactive DVDs can be created by dragging
and dropping different types of multimedia elements into a DVD
project - video from camcorders, video files on hard disk in
AVI, MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 formats, audio and graphics data. HP
MyDVD Video by Sonic includes a built-in, faster-than-real-time2
transcoder that automatically converts all incoming video formats
into those compatible with DVD players, freeing the user from
the headaches of determining DVD file compatibility.
HP MyDVD Video by Sonic includes a wide range of professionally
designed styles - menu backgrounds, buttons and other features
that add polish to projects. Chapter points can be added to
any video, automatically or manually on-the-fly as video is
being recorded. This means that DVD titles created with HP MyDVD
Video by Sonic include all of the navigation, buttons and menus
automatically, yielding professional quality results for the
home user.
DVD Editing™
HP MyDVD Video by Sonic is the latest of several applications
to incorporate Sonic AuthorScript®, which makes it possible
to move DVD projects from one authoring application to another.
HP MyDVD Video by Sonic incorporates a new technology called
DVD editing, making it the first application that records video
directly to DVD+RW and makes rewritable DVDs that can easily
be re-edited directly to disc.
About DVD+RW
Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE: HWP),
MCC/Verbatim, Philips Electronics (NYSE: PHG),
Ricoh Company Ltd., Sony Corporation and Yamaha Corporation,
the developers, promoters and leaders in CD-R and CD-RW technology,
are developing the next generation of optical storage technology
with the DVD+RW format. The companies promote the universally
compatible, rewritable DVD format that enables true convergence
between personal computing and consumer electronics products.
DVD+RW discs written on a DVD+RW recorder can be read and played
on the vast majority of existing and future DVD-Video players
and DVD-ROM drives. Dell Computer Corp. and Thomson Multimedia
(NYSE: TMS),
manufacturer of RCA entertainment products, recently joined
the companies to actively support and promote DVD+RW. More than
25 additional companies have formally pledged support for DVD+R
and DVD+RW technology.
About Sonic Solutions (NASDAQ: SNIC)
Based in Marin County, California, Sonic (http://www.sonic.com)
is the leading manufacturer of solutions for DVD publishing.
Sonic MyDVD (http://www.mydvd3.sonic.com)
is the first DVD authoring application for consumers, making
it easy to capture "your life on DVD™" Sonic
DVDit!® (http://www.dvdit.com)
is the first application for DVD authoring targeted at videographers
and corporate video producers, and is bundled with major video
editing, capture, encoding and media production systems. Sonic
DVD Creator®, Sonic Scenarist®, Sonic ReelDVD™
and Sonic DVD Fusion® are the most widely-used systems for
professional DVD publishing, and are installed worldwide at
major studios, post production facilities and in corporate marketing
departments. SonicStudio® HD is the leading digital workstation
for preparing audio for release on CD and is the first for creating
content for the new DVD-Audio format.
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1 May require video capture hardware for download
of analog video to a PC.
2 Based on performance tests conducted at Sonic
Solutions on a single-processor Pentium IV system running
at 1.5GHz, on a 1 minute, full-frame, 30fps NTSC video file
in AVI format.
© 2001 Sonic, Sonic Solutions, the Sonic logo, cDVD, Direct-to-DVD,
DVD Editing, MyDVD, ReelDVD and "Your Life on DVD."
are trademarks and AuthorScript and DVDit!, Sonic DVD Fusion,
Sonic DVD Creator, Scenarist and SonicStudio are registered
trademarks of Sonic Solutions. All other company or product
names are trademarks of their respective owners. Specifications,
pricing and availability are subject to change without notice.
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