DVD in Europe.....................................
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CLEAN SLATE FOR EUROPE
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It's easy to forget that DVD has already launched in Europe, albeit half-heartedly. A few DVD-Video players are knocking around, if you know where to get them, and DVD-ROM has been in production quietly for several months now.
The interminable delays in DVD-Video's official European launch might be unwelcome, but at least they give the European industry an opportunity to learn from the mistakes of its American and Japanese counterparts and start with a clean slate. Representatives from the US and Japan were out in force at Versailles to pass on their wisdom.
Amid the customary hype and barely-concealed ill-feeling among opposing DVD camps, the conference produced a number of gems. For example Bob Freedman, vp and group manager at Crest National, gave delegates some concrete information on the cost of authoring DVD-Video titles.
"The cost can really vary," said Freedman. "It depends on what you do and how you want to do it." For example, DVD-5 (single layer, single side) discs and DVD-10 (double sided) cost 4-7 times to author as an equivalent CD, he said. DVD-9 (double layer, single sided) discs cost 7-10 times as much. For a top-of-the-line feature film, Freedman estimated a cost of $20,000-$25,000. For a DVD-10 disc, this would increase to $40,000-45,000. He said these prices come down if you drop subtitling and other features.
Dr Mark Waldrep, president of AIX and Pacific Coast Soundworks, showed how successful titles could be put together at far lower cost. In our last issue, we reported on his enthusiasm for augmenting linear DVD-Video discs with interactive features. He has been responsible for several DVD-Video releases of cult films from the Troma stable, including Toxic Avenger. "The trick is to create lots of extra stuff," he said. "Interactivity is what sets this apart from VHS."
Waldrep's titles are examples of what he and others confusingly called 'hybrids' - DVD-Video discs featuring extra material that can only be accessed through a DVD-ROM drive. He a keen proponent of this dual-platform approach. "The falling together of these things is where we've got to be focused," he said. Played on a DVD-ROM equipped PC, Toxic Avenger and the other Troma titles link directly into the Troma Web site - where you can buy other titles in the range. And, reports Waldrep, they don't cost the earth to produce. "We have produced more than 45 titles, none of which has cost more than $10,000," said Waldrep. "And they are competitively priced." The costs are kept down partly because the titles contain bog-standard audio, not expensive surround sound - Waldrep pointed out that surround sound would be irrelevant to a DVD owner "in a trailer park in Tulsa."
The dual-platform approach makes a lot of sense. Think about it: DVD drive sales - Video or ROM - will be small in the first year or two. DVD-Video offers a lot of interactivity, and many DVD-ROM drives will come shipped with MPEG-2 video cards. It is our belief that the safest route, if you're creating DVD-Video material, is to maximise potential sales by creating titles that appeal both to the home and PC markets.
Compatibility headaches
However, others say it is unwise to jump into hybrid disc development unaware of the current problems. David Guenette, erstwhile editor of eMedia Professional (before he resigned - more next issue), said that MPEG-2 on DVD-ROM currently means limited interactivity, and potential incompatibility problems. Guenette believed that the inclusion of MPEG-2 cards with DVD-ROM drives was symptomatic of the "chronic industry confusion between DVD-ROM and DVD-Video." His question was: "why publish an MPEG-2 DVD-ROM at all - what's wrong with MPEG-1?"
The answer, of course, is, that if you want to produce a hybrid title that will run on a DVD-Video player, then you must conform to the DVD-Video specifications - and that means producing an MPEG-2 title (or produce a VideoCD, but there are no cast-iron guarantees that it will play on all DVD-Video players). But Guenette has a point. The big multimedia opportunity is in the repacking of exisiting multi-CD-ROM titles using MPEG-1 video, which will run faster on DVD-equipped PCs.
Linsday Holman of Panasonic OWL showed an extension for Macromedia Director which OWL had developed. It allows developers to use Director structures to create DVD-Video/ DVD-ROM content. He demostrated Multicom's Warren Miller's Ski World - a dual platform title authored in Director. On a DVD-Video player, the title delivers full-screen playback and allows for limited interactivity (buttons, choice of several camera angles, subtitles and languages). On a DVD-ROM, extra information gives mouse-based interaction and access to a searchable database.
Our advice: the safest route is to produce a dual-platform title, if you're planning to use MPEG-2 video. Otherwise, stick to MPEG-1 and take advantage of the high capacity and smooth playback afforded by DVD-ROM equipped PCs.
European hotch-potch
Despite the fact that Europe has one DVD standard, the economies of scale promised by a single-disc, multi-language approach, in most cases will not be realised.
Bob Auger from London-based DVD encoders Electric Switch pointed out some of the pitfalls. He said that already, a lack of European titles had led to grey imports - NTSC discs and players from North America and Japan. The best way to combat a future influx of titles would be to author discs specifically with European viewers in mind.
But the problems stretch beyond simple cultural differences and the need for sympathetic design. Europe is a copyright and classification minefield. The Brits go a bundle on violence, but sex is a definite no-go area. The German censors, on the other hand, are tolerant of between-the-sheets action, but bloodshed is frowned upon. The more liberal Netherlands market will want films uncut, in their entirety. Release a feature film for the whole of Europe with the rude and violent bits cut out, and no-one will want to buy it.
What's the solution? The Internet opens up new possibilities that will render censorship attempts futile. Consider this: an entrepreneur buys the rights for a Dutch DVD release and then offers discs, uncut, for sale on a Web site hosted in the Netherlands. Discs are then mailed to buyers across the continent. It's difficult, if not impossible, to police and could become a threat to UK publishers.
On the record
Takao Ihashi of Sony looked forward to an extra high capacity recordable DVD which could store five hours of TV in MPEG-2 format, or 1.2 hours of HDTV. He postulated a 12Gb single side, 515nm laser to do the job. They may disagree on the specifics but he, other Forum members and the majority of the DVD industry, are certain that some form of DVD will form the basis of the next-generation consumer recording device.
Industry commentator Dana Parker was alone in speakers in offering an opposing view. She argued against the orthodoxy that format wars were inherently bad. She has a point: if the opposing SD and MMCD camps had launched separate players, we would have seen high-density video discs in Europe this year, if not last. One standard would have prevailed.
The DVD-Video format was not designed for recording, she continued. Assets must be assembled in their entirety before encoding can begin: "Intensive authoring processes must take place "I conclude that tomorrow's VCR might not be DVD."
Parker pointed out that MPEG-1 would allow for 82 minutes of recording per Gb, where as MPEG-2, at an average bit rate of 5 Mbit/s, would give only 26 min/Gb. She said any DVD-recorder would not need to record using the current DVD format as long as it played DVD-Video discs. She then went on to say that she had heard that a CD-RW drive was in the offing that would read DVD discs.
Forget waiting three years for recordable DVD. We have capable technology now. Who will be the first with a multi-disc MPEG-1 video disc recorder (VDR) that records onto CD-RW media and plays DVD-Video discs?
Year 2001 DVD Market Projection
1. DVD-ROM / RAM drive @ $200 x 80m units = $16 billion
2. DVD-Video Player / Recorder @ $400 x 20m units = $8 billion
3. DVD Audio Player @ $200 x 20m units = $4 billion
4. Software @ $30 x 4bil. discs = $120 billion |
