Sonic Solutions today revolutionized the market for streaming video applications with the introduction of Streaming DVD, a new technology that combines the interactivity of DVD-Video with the ability to broadcast video content over the Web. Built on industry standards such as DVD-Video, MPEG-2 video and MP3 audio, Streaming DVD enables anyone with a personal computer and a high-speed Internet connection to create and broadcast interactive video from their desktop.

“Until today, video on the Internet has consisted only of individual video clips or webcasts,” said Robert Doris, President and CEO of Sonic Solutions. “Streaming DVD changes all that, and brings interactivity to streaming media for the first time, providing a far more engaging experience. Combined with Sonic’s new PersonalBroadcast technology, DVDit! users can even set up their own personal DVD broadcast station.”

Streaming DVD makes it possible to create a video production that includes all of the interactivity of a standard DVD, yet is streamed over the Internet or a corporate intranet. Applications can include training and online courseware, product promotions, news and entertainment, and even home video production. Designed as an Internet extension to the popular DVD-Video standard, the ability to create Streaming DVD productions will be available as an optional format in all Sonic DVD authoring applications, giving users the ability to publish both for DVD-Video and the Internet using the same source content.

With Streaming DVD, the high-quality MPEG-2 video used in Hollywood-style DVD-Video releases is supplemented with video in low bit-rate formats designed for Internet applications. By using the same navigation as DVD-Video, Streaming DVD retains the interactive menus and multi-language capabilities of the consumer DVD format, but adds the ability to publish and immediately access video content over the Internet.

Sonic’s new Streaming DVD technology includes three key components: authoring, broadcasting and playback. Streaming DVD authoring will be incorporated in Sonic’s industry-leading line of DVD authoring applications, including Sonic DVD Creator, DVD Fusion and DVDit!. At the output stage of the DVD authoring process, users will have the ability to select Streaming DVD as an option in addition to DVD-Video. Streaming DVD productions can be streamed from standard Internet file servers, without the need for specialized video servers at the ISP. For high-quality playback, direct from the desktop, Sonic’s PersonalBroadcast technology turns Sonic DVDit! into a desktop broadcast server, so that anyone can begin publishing interactive video from their home. For playback, Streaming DVD-enabled players use standard DVD navigation commands and menu operations to deliver streamed productions just as if they were standard DVD-Video titles.