Italy's First HD Authoring Facility Chooses Sonic Scenarist Workgroup

Sonic Solutions recently announced that leading Italian authoring house Arte Video has chosen Sonic's Scenarist Workgroup to enable its production of HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc (BD) titles.
Building on its premiere DVD creation service business, Arte Video joins a rapidly expanding list of European facilities retooling their state-of-the-art production facilities with Sonic's world-standard Scenarist and CineVision range of high definition compression and authoring systems.
"Sonic pioneered and refined the technology and workflow behind professional HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc through its High Definition Authoring Alliance. With its combined market leadership and hands-on support, Sonic is the ideal partner for our business growth and on-going investment in packaged media creation," said Giuseppe Tissino, Managing Director of Arte Video. "We are confident that with Scenarist's proven integrated workflow, we will be able to offer the advanced authoring services our customers demand."
Established over 14 years ago and a member of Univideo Italia since 2003, Arte Video has built a business based on providing customers with the latest innovations and technological advances for a wide range of services including authoring, compression, DVD and CD-ROM duplication, film shooting, and Web and multimedia production. Arte Video also offers advanced labs that provide expert knowledge and support to ensure that customer production schedules run efficiently. Arte Video is currently working on a range of HD projects for a variety of clients including Dolmen Home Video, one of the leading feature film distributors in Italy.
With Sonic Scenarist, Arte Video is able to go far beyond standard DVD-style authoring, taking full advantage of the advanced interactive capabilities that give high-definition format titles their unique appeal. These interactive capabilities include seamless menus over video, synchronized picture-in-picture bonus content, and built-in Internet connectivity. Encoding of Arte Video HD projects will utilize the comprehensive capabilities of Sonic CineVision, which sets new standards for control and workflow efficiency, giving compressionists significant capabilities such as highly-advanced segment parameter management, dual-format legalization control, and best-of-class image enhancement technologies including film grain management, filtering, and digital video optics controls from world-renown Digital Vision. Both Sonic Scenarist and Sonic CineVision developed based on direct feedback from members of Sonic's High Definition Authoring Alliance empower users to create HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc titles that leverage those formats compelling interactive possibilities and image quality, while providing the utmost in player compatibility.
"High-end facilities such as Arte Video require not only the latest authoring and compression products, but also the confidence that their investment is placed with a partner that has the knowledge and experience to help as their business grows and evolves," said Richard Linecar, Managing Director of Sonic's European Operations, Professional Products Group. "Sonic is the only company with a tradition of on-going investment and support in the professional content creation industry that spans over ten years and solutions that have been used to create billions of DVDs worldwide. We are excited that the cycle is renewing itself again with pioneers like Arte Video who will bring a compelling HD entertainment experience to the Italian market, powered by our Scenarist and CineVision systems."
Sonic will be demonstrating its BD and HD DVD solutions at IBC Stand 7.730.
(SP)