Windows 98 holds the key to DVD-ROM..................................
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THE WHAT, WHY AND HOW OF DVD-ROM
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Until now the world of DVD publishing has been a place for people with very deep pockets. That situation is about to change. The arrival of Windows 98 promises a new era which opens up rich possibilities for DVD-ROM titles. We journeyed far and wide - to the SPA's DVD conference in California and to the disc replication show Replitech in Utrecht, the Netherlands ... to investigate.
Making DVD work on the PC
Our journey took us first to the SPA's DVD conference at the Newark/Fremont Hilton on 24-25 February. The conference was called DVD on the PC: Making it work for consumers. This was a slightly ambiguous title. It should have been called Making it work for developers, because that was what the conference was all about.Frankly, compared with the DVD-Video launch, the field of DVD-ROM is a pig's breakfast. The lack of consistent standards leaves no doubt on the need for this SPA initiative.
If all you want to do is port a movie to the DVD-ROM format then you simply comply with the DVD-Video 1.0 specification. This handles MPEG-2 video in files called.VOB (Video Objects). By writing a disc using.VOB files for MPEG-2 you can play it on a DVD-Video player; you can play it in exactly the same way on a PC. Similarly if you want to compress an existing CD-ROM title from five discs to one then the problems are not insurmountable. But to produce a compelling interactive DVD-ROM title then many problems need to be overcome.
MCI vs DirectShow
Anyone who has run a CD-ROM on a PC recently can hardly be unaware that many new CD-ROMs (especially those that use graphics intensively) look for a set of files called DirectX on the user's system and if it cannot find it will download them. DirectX is a suite of interface software that has been added to Windows 95. DirectShow is just one component in that suite. It is, however, a crucial element in understanding the future of interactive DVD-ROM.
DirectShow, formerly known as ActiveMovie, is a set of Application Program Interfaces (APIs) that allows title vendors to play back streamed audio and video files, including MPEG-1, AVI, MPEG-2 and.VOB (for DVD-Video). As with all API's, DirectShow includes an abstraction layer from the hardware that enables a title vendor to write a DVD title without worrying about the kind of computer hardware that will be running it. DirectShow is freely downloadable from the Microsoft site on the Web.
All well and good. The problem is that the full benefits of DirectShow will not be realised until the launch of Windows 98. The reason for this is that the present Windows 95 version of DirectShow does not support Windows Driver Model (WDM). The company claims this is because DirectShow has been designed to supplant the ageing Media Control Interface (MCI) on which programmmers must presently rely. MCI was not designed for MPEG-2, but can handle the.VOB files used in DVD-Video titles, albeit in a clunky fashion. On top of that, there is no formally agreed standard MCI command set for DVD-Video playback, although Intel and the SPA have produced a white paper that is probably the best guide for developers to follow. The incompatibility problems with VOB and MCI are well-documented by Ralph LaBarge at spa.org.
David Oblecz, senior procurement engineer for Compaq, spoke of MCI as an outdated 16-bit specification. "DirectShow is a true 32-bit solution," said Oblecz. "It should be the first choice.O Oblecz added that QuickTime 3.0 will be an excellent alternative, although it doesn't yet support MPEG-2. Unfortunately, developers who design titles that will play on non-Windows 98 PCs must use MCI, and Windows 98 will not support the standard. All is not lost, however: a number of companies are working on interpreters (command mappers) that will translate MCI commands into the DirectShow format.
"The big problem is getting from where we are today to where we want to be," said Oblecz. "Windows 95 applications will have to continue to use MCI plus a command mapper in the transition period to Win98. It is going to be a difficult 2-3 years."
One solution is OEM title bundling. This not only gets guaranteed revenue for title development in the early days before the installed base grows to commercially viable levels, but also gets round the incompatibility issue: titles bundled with DVD-ROM drives can be designed with specific playback systems in mind. However, a note of caution: bundling is going to be big but it is not a get-rich-quick solution. The reality of bundling is $4 a copy. But at 50,000 copies it gets you $200,000 - plus eyeballs and brand loyalty.
Low cost authoring
The release of Windows 98 is the key to low-cost DVD-ROM authoring. Windows 98 will have DirectShow built in and will support hardware adapters by making it easy for them to plug into the bottom layer of the WDM architecture with simple mini-drivers. The intended result is a stable publishing platform for DirectShow DVDs, so discs will work out of the box now, and continue to work for years to come, even though computers continue to change and improve. "That creates an opportunity for everyone involved in DVD, and should make 1998 a fresh start for computer multimedia and entertainment publishing," said Peter Biddle, Microsoft's DVD evangelist. The impression we got was that there will be continue to be high-end authoring systems costing $100,000 or more, serving the DVD-Video (and hybrid DVD-Video/DVD-ROM) market and using.VOB files. But Windows 98 will enable low-end authoring using MPEG-2 files using low-cost authoring tools. Indeed we got the impression that the Windows 98 DirectShow SDK allows simple authoring at no cost at all. Suffice to say that all the tool vendors are working frantically to build in DirectShow support.
"By adding DirectShow and DirectX programming and cool stuff you can create a much richer playback experience on the PC," said Biddle. The PC can combine entertainment-quality audio and video with interactive random access, 3D graphics overlays, Internet connectivity, and other computer capabilities. Biddle said third generation MPEG-2 would seamlessly blend MPEG-2 and 3D with the Web. That will only come with Windows 98, which will support authoring with MPEG-2 files. This format won't play on DVD-Video players, but neither does it require complex authoring processes. It makes it easy for developers and PC users to put an MPEG file straight from an encoder on their computers, or a DVD-ROM or DVD-RAM disc, and play it with simple DirectShow commands.
Software DVD
One of the major impediments to a mass market for MPEG-2 playback on PCs is the cost of the decoder card. While DVD-ROM drives are now available for less than $150, MPEG-2 decoders can add double that figure to the cost. This is a serious problem for PC manufacturers who are struggling to get machine costs down to mass market prices.
The good news is that the new generation of PCs is capable of MPEG-2 playback in software. David Oblecz of Compaq said that the need for DVD hardware decode was fast disappearing. Soft DVD becomes a viable option between 300 and 400 Mhz and the next generation of Pentium II machines will be 500 MHz with 128 Mb SD-RAM with Type 3 DVD drives. "Prices are falling through the floor," said Oblecz.
Oblecz claimed that the manufacturing cost of a DVD-ROM drive would cross the present cost of a CD-ROM drive in mid-99. This raised a few eyebrows among conference attendees, but is borne out by the news that earlier this month Creative Labs announced a bare-bones $149 DVD-ROM drive. "This spells the death of the CD-ROM drive," he said.
Nicholas Buc, product marketing engineer for Intel Architecture Europe, was also extolling the virtues of Software DVD at last week's Replitech show in Utrecht, The Netherlands. He told IM that there were already some PCs available with software DVD, including models from Tiny (UK), Vobis (Germany), Dell and Compaq (in the US at present, soon to launch in Europe). "The quality of the software solution is now completely equal to [that of] the hardware solution," said Buc. "Plus it's upgradeable and you can change the interface." He added that developing for software DVD was less of a risk from a compatibility point of view and that the price was very low, as there was no need for a decoder board. "The only barrier is the price of a drive," he said. Buc said that even multichannel sound decoding was possible, although he noted that no sound card manufacturer had yet produced cards with the right output connections.
We asked Buc whether decoding MPEG-2 video in software would tax processing power heavily. "On a Pentium II at 266 MHz we get really good quality and it takes 95 per cent of the processor," he replied. "There is headroom," said Buc. David Oblecz of Compaq had said at the SPA conference that a 'benchmark DVD PC' - a PII running at 333MHz will Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) at 64Mb RAM - could run Software DVD at 30fps using only 80 per cent of the processor.
On the software front, Buc noted two developers making headway. ODorling Kindersley and Access [maker of the golf game Links] are really fanatical about DVD," he said. "They really use the capacity of the medium. When we look at what the CD did to the PC platform, it brought a lot of new benefits to the user. It's the same with DVD." Buc is hugely enthusiastic about DK's upcoming Virtual World Atlas for DVD-ROM, and Intel has been heard to call it a 'killer app'. "It's really where you see all the power of DVD on the PC," said Buc. Intel is using the title as a showcase at launch events.
Buc is currently putting together plans to get the European DVD-ROM industry going. He intends to set up some events soon. Contact: Nicolas Buc, Intel, Munich; tel: +49 89 99 143 631; fax: +49 89 99 143 420; email: nicolas_buc@ccm.imu.intel.com.
DVD 5, 9, 10, 18: the numbers game
At the SPA conference John Town, vice president of R&D at Nimbus in Charlottesville, North Carolina, gave a masterly presentation on the difficult issues facing the DVD replicators. He reminded us that there were five variants of pre-recorded DVD discs:
DVD-5: capacity 4.7 Gb (1 side, 1 layer)DVD-9: capacity 8.5 Gb (1 side, 2 layers)DVD-10: capacity 9.4 Gb (2 sides, 1 layer)DVD-18: capacity 17 Gb (2 sides, 2 layers)
Most discs being produced today are DVD-5, but it is relatively easy to make DVD-10, since the data is written onto the other side of the disc. The problem is that you have to turn the disc over to read it. This is fine if you want one disc to carry a 2-hour film title with video in 4:3 format on one side and 16:9 (widescreen) on the other, but it is useless if you need more than 4.7Gb of capacity on one side - for example, to exploit DVD's multiple angle or multiple language facilities.
The Holy Grail for replicators is DVD-9, which gives you 8.5 Gb to play with on a single side. This allows four hours of studio quality MPEG-2 video on one side of the disc, without need to flip the disc over. It allows two separate programs or continuous play with a seamless jump from one layer to the next.
A few days later John Town was at Replitech again preaching the virtues of DVD-9. "I think the market is definitely targeting DVD-9," he said. Town also highlighted a potentially lucrative application of DVD-9 technology in a DVD-ROM environment. He suggested that publishers could bundle two [regular DVD-5] titles on one DVD-9 disc. One would be given away 'free' as part of an OEM deal, and the other could be unlocked using an encryption key. Publishers could then use the bundled title as a Trojan horse to generate "a potential $30 sale."
In other words DVD-9 is the future. Unfortunately, it is not the present because so few replicators have yet mastered the production process. John Town was candid about the difficulties Nimbus was facing in producing DVD-9. The biggest problem is sputtering an even layer of gold for the semi-reflective layer (which allows the second information layer to be read by the laser beam). Only Panasonic appears to be getting anything like satisfactory yields, said Town (although IM has since learned that Pioneer and Ritek (Taiwan) are also making DVD-9s in quantity). Panasonic's claimed success is not surprising because Panasonic "invented" dual-layer technology for DVD and first presented it in late 1995 during the "format war" to counter MMCD's 3M solution to dual-layer.
Graham Sharpless of Disctronics, speaking at Replitech, said that the technical jump from from DVD-5 to DVD-9 was equivalent to the jump from CD to DVD-5. That is why most manufacturers are starting with DVD-5 and DVD-10, then moving to DVD-9, as Disctronics is planning to do later in 1998.
However, Panasonic's California operation did things in reverse. It started with the hardest task - the first DVD manfactured at the company's Torrance plant was a DVD-9 - and worked backwards to DVD-5 and DVD-10. Panasonic's Harvey Mabry said at Replitech that the plant was currently producting 40 per cent DVD-9, and he expected that figure to rise to 50 per cent by "the end of this week" and to 60 per cent later in March. He added that he hoped for 90 per cent DVD-9 production by July.
Mabry agreed that yield was the key to mass production of DVD-9s. "We would like to get 90 per cent yields," he said. "We are barely, barely above 80 per cent yields." He admitted that his company was still losing money on each DVD-9 it makes. "We're still not making a disc at a profit," he said. "But we're confident that in time as volume increases, the cost will come down." Costs are likely to be further reduced, as the industry hopes to use silicon instead of gold, but the process is still in the developmental phase.
And what of DVD-18? Although the technology is feasible in the lab, Mabry and Town both doubt disc production will ever become economically feasible. "Forget it," was Mabry's comment.
Our sister company Knowledge Industry Publications Inc. (KIPI) has launched the second edition of its DVD Resources Directory. The directory contains and expanded listing of software, hardware and DVD services companies around the world. For more information contact Rossana Neve: tel: +1 914 328 9257 x3045; fax: +1 914 328 9093; email: rossana.neve@kipi.com.
IM analysis
These are just the highlight impressions from two busy events. Being at the SPA conference was like entering the inner sanctum of DVD, surrounded by the world's top experts in this arcane art. We came away with the firm impression that DVD is real and that DVD is about to happen in a very big way. The enormous enthusiasm for the format evidenced by Microsoft, Intel, Compaq and IBM was tangible proof that DVD is not going to go away. Our advice is to clamber on board the DVD-ROM bandwagon with Windows 98 as your guiding star.
DVD and the SPA
How did the SPA came to assume the mantle as guardian of DVD standards? Readers will recall the sudden demise of the Interactive Multimedia Association (IMA) in May 1997. Before it expired, chief executive Philip Dodds managed to hand over its DVD remit to the Software Publishers Association (SPA). The SPA also took over the IMA DVD Special Interest Group run by Geoff Tully. Thus was formed the SPA DVD-ROM Initiative, charged with the role of providing support for DVD-ROM developers by publishing recommended practices defining consistent base-level implementations. This initiative is being spearheaded by the SPA's marketing director Glenn Ochsenreiter, together with Geoff Tully, who continues to run the SPA DVD SIG. Ochsenreiter's main claim to fame was that he was responsible for the MPC standard as director of the Multimedia PC Marketing Council, before that too was absorbed into the SPA. Tully's other, less well-publicised interest in matters DVD stems from his involvement in the Divx 'pay-DVD' technology. Tully is a Divx co-patentee and is employed by the technology's owners Digital Video Express in Los Angeles. He is at present responsible for producing not one, but eleven, Divx titles for the Spring launch programme. As chairman of the DVD SIG, Tully is an almost impossible position, having to endure the uninformed slings and arrows from the anti-Divx brigade, many of whom are totally unaware of his Divx role.
In brief
Companies are beginning to add DVD decoding features to their graphics cards. ATI Technologies is now shipping Zoran's SoftDVD software-only DVD decoder/player with three of its Rage Pro Turbo graphics chip. The cards simply give the processor a helping hand. ATI and Zoran claim to have pioneered the combination of SoftDVD accelerated by motion compensation. Some board configurations will allow users to view DVD movies on their TV, using the PC instead of a DVD-Video player.
Online Inc. has just announced its new DVD Pro Fall Conference and Exhibition, to be held August 30-September 1, 1998 at Fess Parker's Doubletree Resort in Santa Barbara, California. More details will be available at: onlineinc.com.
It had to happen, but we didn't expect it to happen so soon. News has reached the IM newsdesk that the first pirated DVD has been discovered by the IFPI. It was a DVD-Video copy of Die Haed (sic) with a Vengeance, produced in Malaysia.
Sony has revealed plans to ship a portable DVD player called the DVD Discman (model PBD-V30) before the end of the year in the US. The company has yet to determine pricing. Unlike the $1,299 portable player Panasonic will introduce this spring, the Sony model doesn't have an LCD screen. Sony's hardware will be compatible with DVD-Video, CD, Video CD and CD-R media. Sony is also scheduled to ship a five-disc DVD carousel (DVP-C600D) with built-in AC-3 decoding in the late summer. |
