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Alliance to lay foundation for Enhanced DVDs

Edited by the Electronicstalk editorial team Sep 30, 2002

ANT and InterActual Technologies are working to deliver the underlying software that will power the playback of Enhanced DVDs in next-generation consumer electronics DVD players.

ANT and InterActual Technologies are working to deliver the underlying software that will power the playback of Enhanced DVDs in next-generation consumer electronics DVD players.

The two companies will develop an enhanced DVD solution that offers a cost-effective implementation to OEM and brand manufacturers, and is compatible with future DVD Forum standards.

Already a leading player in the STB market with technology deployments worldwide, ANT has been working with InterActual for over a year on research and development projects to pursue new levels of interactivity and Internet connectivity within DVD players.

ANT has licensed InterActual's proprietary Media Services software technology, and has developed an integration component that gives enables the ANT Fresco browser access to new enhanced DVD content, using InterActual technology.

ANT's proven browser and software architecture technology enables the rendering of enhanced HTML content and gives the consumer easy, intuitive access to the extended range of DVD features made available by the InterActual software.

InterActual Media Services enables innovative features such as enhanced menus, searchable video, and online features such as multiplayer challenges, group events, consumer polling, and updated commentaries, and links to related online web sites.

This marriage of technologies will enable Enhanced DVDs to be played from the comfort of the living room, viewed on the television set.

"We are thrilled to be working with InterActual in developing this ground breaking new product category, the Enhanced DVD player", said Simon Woodward, President and CEO of ANT.

"By integrating the InterActual DVD technology with ANT Fresco, we have extended the browser functionality but still kept memory and processor requirements to a minimum.

This means we will be able to offer OEMs and brand manufacturers a cost-effective implementation, able to deliver a compelling experience to the consumer".

"We are delighted to have ANT as one of our technology partners", said Todd Collart, President and CEO of InterActual.

"ANT's experience in the television and consumer electronics markets, combined with the highly reliable, platform-independent ANT Fresco browser makes ANT an ideal partner for InterActual.

Our mutual goal is to develop an enhanced DVD solution that not only offers compatibility with future DVD Forum standards, but also with new, innovative, online features that are constantly emerging from InterActual's customer base of movie studios and music labels", said Collart.