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To: DiViT who wrote (29693)	2/23/1998 8:37:00 PM
From: John Rieman	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 50808

Billy here's more on that Sonic Solution's encoder. It's software! for $8,000, you can encode 1 minute of video in 30 to 40 minutes........... ijumpstart.com Uploads... <Picture><Picture><Picture> The days of makeshift DVD-ROM authoring may be coming to an end thanks to Sonic Solutions [SNIC]. Next month the company will ship the Sonic DVD Vobulator, a tool suite designed to help developers mix MPEG-2 and AC-3 streams and take advantage of the media's capabilities. For the past year content creators have had to jury-rig their DVD-Video authoring systems to bring together various data formats and bit rates-all in the name of interactivity. Now they'll get help from the Vobulator, a watered-down version of Sonic's DVD Producer DVD-Video system with a software MPEG-2 encoder and Video Object multiplexing capabilities. Sonic sought input from developers to build the Vobulator. None of them have gotten their hands on the final product, so it's too soon to say how easy it is to use. The system makes it possible to convert QuickTime or Avid [Avid] OMF files into variable-bit rate or constant bit-rate video. The system also converts audio files in AIFF format into AC-3. In March a Macintosh version will ship, and a Windows NT port is expected in the spring. Rather than include a pricey MPEG-2 encoder, Sonic opted for software and was able to keep the Vobulator's price at $8,000. Unlike the real-time encoding capabilities of $100,000-plus MPEG-2 encoders, the Vobulator takes between 30 and 40 minutes to encode one minute of video. It's not the best option for established developers churning out titles by the hundreds of thousand because they have the resources to out-source the hardware encoding portion of development. But the Vobulator makes sense for smaller companies getting used to the media, particularly for firms converting multi-disc CD-ROM titles to DVD-ROM, sans MPEG-2 video. The tool has another benefit. It lets developers port CD-ROM titles written to MCI to DirectShow, which will be supported in Windows 98. Until DVD volume picks up and drives hardware MPEG-2 encoder prices down, Sonic is unlikely to hear the call for better DVD-ROM tools. By pricing the Vobulator so businesses can afford it, the company may actually spur DVD-ROM publishing beyond entertainment into the business, CBT and prosumer markets. As title development grows, content creators can look forward to hardware MPEG-2 encoders that sell for a few thousand dollars. Until then, they'll have to out-source encoding, use the Sonic system or concoct their own authoring schemes. The Vobulator is far from perfect, but it's a beginning. If we're lucky, it will spur other manufacturers to pick up the torch and come out with a hardware-encoding tool suite at a reasonable price. With DVD-ROM titles expected to generate more than $550 million this year, surely the opportunity is there for a company willing to rise to the challenge and make a profit. Any takers?