Sonic now shipping eDVD 3 'web linking' solution

Sonic Solutions has announced the shipment of its highly anticipated eDVD 3 software, a new application for extending a DVD’s interactivity with computer bonus features that play back on a Macintosh or Windows PC.
eDVD bridges the gap between the personal computer and the DVD format by allowing producers to create links from a DVD to live Internet websites and on-disc files such as catalogues, brochures, user manuals, registration forms and high-resolution graphics. These links can be launched from a DVD menu button or triggered during video playback and are compatible with both Windows 98-XP and Apple OSX-based computers.
"Until now, computer-enabled extras on corporate DVD titles were either too hard to find, unreliable, or only useable on Windows XP by savvy users. eDVD changes all that,” said Andy Evans, managing director of The Pavement, a highly-respected London DVD creation facility. "eDVD 3 provides an excellent opportunity to enhance DVD projects with true cross-platform playability and links to the Internet that everyone can use. This represents an immense value for our customers."
Based on patented technology from InterActual, the leader in connected DVD and DVD-ROM bonus features for major studio DVDs, eDVD provides users with the same level of reliability that has been Hollywood-tested on over 500 million discs to date including titles such as Warner’s ‘Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone’, Disney’s ‘The Haunted Mansion’, and New Line’s ‘Lord of the Rings – the Two Towers’ Extended DVD Edition.
eDVD-enhanced titles offer the same playability on set-top DVD players as standard DVDs. To alert viewers about additional bonus features and web links available when watching the title on a PC, eDVD 3 includes video and still authoring assets that DVD producers can incorporate into their projects. In addition, eDVD 3 comes with packaging graphics that can be used to brand titles as web-enabled, as well as Sonic’s RecordNow industry-standard DVD and CD burning software, and a license to distribute the InterActual Player software on replicated discs.
"DVD-equipped PCs and broadband access to the Internet have become commonplace, and eDVD connects these technologies in an undeniably powerful way,” said Scott Epstein, eDVD product manager at Sonic Solutions. "Now, producers of business-to-business, special interest and event titles can create connected DVDs for their customers with the same enhanced feature technology that drives major Hollywood studio DVDs."
eDVD 3 is available through Sonic's worldwide network of value-added resellers at a U.S. suggested list price of $899.
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