Marin Digital, a leading digital media development and production company based in San Rafael, California, is using DVDMaestro(TM), the flagship web-enabled DVD authoring system from Spruce Technologies, as the foundation for its DVD-only service bureau.

The combination of Spruce's exclusive Convergence(TM) WebDVD toolkit and DVDonCD(TM) technology is helping Marin win new clients among corporate customers that had been previously slow to adopt DVD for presentations and corporate communications.

"Spruce's Convergence and DVDonCD tools have actually proven to be a way to unlock some corporate clients that have been slow to accept DVD," said Marin Digital President Chris Armbrust. "DVDonCD lets us introduce them to the quality and depth of the work we can do using DVD while delivering the project on the CD-ROM format that they are already equipped to run. Linking these titles to the web using Spruce Convergence then opens their eyes to a whole world of possibilities. It gives me a very competitive way of selling against Video CD and at the same time leading this client base to adopting DVD."

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In a recent nationwide survey, members of the class of 2000 were polled to determine their preferred graduation gifts. Parents of soon-to-be-grads might be surprised to learn that traditional graduation gifts such as pens, watches, and clocks no longer hold the same appeal they once did. Instead, the class of 2000 showed the heavy influence technology has played in their lives by expressing an overwhelming preference for high-tech devices such as DVD players, Palmcorders and digital cameras.

    Top 10 Graduation Gifts for class of 2000
    1. Trip to Europe                   6. Digital palmcorder
    2. Computer                         7. Digital camera
    3. Airline tickets                  8. Stereo
    4. TV                               9. Hotel stay
    5. DVD player                      10. One year gym membership

    Worst 10 Graduation Gifts for class of 2000
    1. (Worst) Paper Weight             6. Photo album
    2. Pen                              7. Picture frame
    3. Tie clip                         8. Food basket
    4. Money clip                       9. Daily planner
    5. Desk clock                      10. Flowers

Other popular items included PalmPilots, gift certificates, mobile phones, and pre-paid Internet service. When asked about their ultimate graduation gift if money were no object, almost 40% of respondents chose a new car.

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The final chapter in the $300 million box office franchise sensation that reinvigorated the suspense-thriller genre and introduced a new generation to a clever combination of horror and cutting-edge humor, ``Scream 3'' makes its bone-chilling video rental and DVD debut on July 4 from Dimension Home Video.

The VHS format will be available in Spanish subtitles and as an added bonus will feature the music video ``What If'' by Creed. In ``Scream 3,'' critically acclaimed filmmaker Wes Craven (``Music of the Heart,'' ``Scream'' and ``Scream 2'') brings back his principal cast of popular characters from ``Scream'' 1 & 2, including David Arquette, Neve Campbell (TV's ``Party of Five''), Courteney Cox Arquette and Liev Schreiber (``A Walk on the Moon'').

The film also introduces a new cast of characters portrayed by Parker Posey (``House of Yes''), Jenny McCarthy (``Diamonds''), Patrick Dempsey (``Can't Buy Me Love'') and Scott Foley (TV's ``Felicity''), who makes his motion picture debut.

The ``Scream 3'' DVD will be priced at $29.99 (S.R.P.) and showcase behind the scenes bonus footage from all three ``Scream'' films. The special features will include outtakes, deleted scenes with commentary tracks from Wes Craven and the crew, an alternative ending, theatrical trailers, Creed's music video ``What If,'' as well as cast and crew bios. A special ``Scream'' Trilogy Box Set will be available on Sept. 26 featuring a fourth bonus DVD-ROM disc.

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GEAR Software, Inc. joined Panasonic Industrial Company today in announcing that GEAR Pro DVD(tm) v2.0 supports Panasonic's DVD-RAM drive. By combining the products in a Windows® 9X/NT environment, DVD game title and video content developers can use a single, rewriteable DVD disc for testing, review, pre-production and archiving of digital audio, video or game titles. The 5.2GB DVD-RAM media provides about eight times the capacity of a CD-R/RW disc for a storage cost of only $.008/MB.

The new version of GEAR Pro DVD incorporates the Optical Storage Technology Association's (OSTA's) recently announced Universal Disc Format (UDF) and MultiRead2 specification support. The specifications ensure that all CD and DVD drives that conform with the standard will read 2.6GB DVD-RAM rewriteable media. When used with Panasonic's DVD-RAM drives, the software allows users to create hybrid ISO 9660/UDF discs that are backward-compatible with the ISO 9660 standard. As a result, game titles and video content developed with GEAR Pro DVD v2.0 can ultimately be produced on lower-capacity CD or high-capacity DVD media and played back on all MultiRead2-compliant drives.

``In addition to being able to produce their own DVDs, DVD-RAM users will be able to create, edit and modify DVD materials in real-time before producing the final disc,'' noted Jeff Saake, Group General Manager of Panasonic Industrial Company's Computer Technologies Group. ``By incorporating MultiRead2 support in GEAR Pro DVD, GEAR is delivering a product that will protect consumers from compatibility issues and eliminate confusion. The OSTA standard support they have added ensures media interchangeability of recorded media.''

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Released This Week: Cradle Will Rock

As labor strikes break out throughout the country during the 1930s, the art and theater world of New York City is a growing cultural revolution. Nelson Rockefeller (John Cusack) commissions Mexican artist Diego Rivera (Ruben Blades) to paint the lobby of Rockefeller Center, while Italian propagandist Margherita Sarfatti (Susan Sarandon) gives Da Vincis to millionaires who help fund the Mussolini war effort.

An alcoholic ventriloquist (Bill Murray) tries to rid his vaudeville troupe of communists, while a 22-year-old Orson Welles (Hank Azaria) defies a court order and performs his controversial musical "Cradle Will Rock."

"Cradle Will Rock" is rated "R" and has a running time of 132 minutes.

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Hoping to overturn a preliminary injunction order barring publication of DeCSS software on dozens of websites, the Electronic Frontier Foundation appealed the order to the California Sixth Appellate Court Monday. DeCSS is a controversial program that breaks through the DVD's encrypted code, and is at the center of a long-standing battle between the motion picture industry and a group of hackers who say they're not doing anything wrong.

The EFF says the injunction interferes with free speech.

"The trial court simply ignored the defendant's First Amendment right to publish DeCSS on his website," David Greene, EFF executive director, said in a statement. "The court's injunction is a prior restraint on free expression, one of the most severe civil penalties in our legal system. Even a momentary deprivation of the right to speak or publish causes serious and irreparable harm, far more grave than any monetary loss."

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MGI Software, a technical and market leader in digital video, today announced MGI SoftDVD MAX with Dolby Headphone. The product is the world's first DVD software for PCs to integrate Dolby Headphone technology, which delivers home theater-like surround sound through any regular pair of headphones. MGI has collaborated with Dolby Laboratories and Lake Technology, the developers of the technology, to fully incorporate the capability into a new version of SoftDVD MAX, which is now available for purchase from the MGI Web site at http://www.dvdmax.com.

``Dolby Headphone is a totally new experience in headphone listening,'' said Roger Dressler, Director of Technology Strategy for Dolby. ``Using sophisticated room modeling techniques, the Dolby Headphone process transforms conventional audio into a believable 3-dimensional reality that you can enjoy with any pair of headphones. The result is the natural, spacious sound you would experience from a stereo system or a 5.1-channel home theater, using regular headphones.''

``Dolby Headphone will be incorporated into a variety of consumer electronic devices, but MGI is pleased to be the first to deliver this exciting technology for the personal computer,'' said Ihor Petelycky, General Manager, Digital Video, at MGI. ``Dolby Headphone is one of those 'must have' features for any desktop or laptop computer user who wants to experience the immersive Dolby Digital sound, which is part of almost every DVD movie available.''

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Matsushita Electric Industrial Co Ltd said on Monday it will launch its first recordable DVD player in Japan in June, mounting a challenge to rival Pioneer Corp and possibly setting off a DVD ``format war''.

Matsushita, whose brands include Panasonic, National, and Technics, said its unit will use a 4.7 gigabyte Digital Versatile Disc-Random Access Memory (DVD-RAM) disk and sell at 250,000 yen ($2,300) -- the same price as Pioneer's DVD-RW player.

Pioneer's DVD-RW player was the world's first recordable DVD machine, but it uses a different format which has also been adopted by Sharp Corp and Kenwood Corp .

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Warner Home Video and Sony Europe jointly announced European First Quarter 2000 hardware sales for the DVD-Video market.

Sony Europe estimates that DVD hardware units shipped to dealers in the First Quarter 2000 exceeded 425,000 units, a 310% increase over First Quarter 1999's 105,000 units. Figures for the comparable time period in the U.S. one year earlier were 411,000 units in First Quarter 1999, a 287% increase over First Quarter 1998's 106,000 units.

According to Sony Europe, actual DVD shipments to the trade for the years 1998, 1999 and 2000 will aggregate 5,840,000 million players. During the first three years after their respective launches VCR sales totaled 855,000 and CD player sales were 1,120,000. Thus, the DVD in a comparable time frame is performing approximately seven times higher than the VCR and five times higher than CD, making it the fastest growing new packaged media format launch in history.

"DVD-Video has become the 'must-have' consumer electronic product in Europe," said Domingo Jaumandreu, Vice President Sony Home Network Company Europe. "Building on the success from last year in many countries, and with this year's high-visibility campaign from Sony and Warner, we expect to accelerate DVD-Video's penetration significantly in Europe."

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Released This Week: The World Is Not Enough

When the suave Agent 007 (Pierce Brosnan) is assigned to protect a beautiful oil heiress (Sophie Marceau), he is catapulted into a passionate, adrenaline-charged adventure that pits him against one of his most deadly adversaries: Renard (Robert Carlyle), a ruthless anarchist whose total imperviousness to pain makes him a virtually unstoppable enemy.

The unrelenting suspense, breathtaking action and sly wit never let up in this explosively entertaining thriller.

"The World is Not Enough" is rated "PG-13" and has a running time of 128 minutes.

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Panasonic Disc Services Corp., a unit of Japan's Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd. , said on Friday its output of DVD discs will more than double to more than 14 million a month by year end.

The company, citing strong retail demand for DVDs, announced plans to boost output at six factories in North America, Europe and Japan from the current monthly level of 6 million discs.

``The popularity of the DVD format is growing at a staggering rate,'' Bob Pfannkuch, president of Panasonic Disc Services, said in a statement.

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Private Media Group Inc., worldwide leader in premium-quality adult entertainment products, services and Internet content, is pleased to announce that its DVD sales have increased substantially from the first quarter 1999 to the first quarter 2000. Additionally, the Company's DVD sales have increased by 68% from the fourth quarter 1999 to the first quarter 2000.

For the first quarter of 1999, when the DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) was a relatively new technological format for viewing movies, sales of the Company's DVD titles amounted to $6,138, which contrasts dramatically with that for the same period in year 2000 when sales amounted to $950,540. Indeed, revenue from DVD sales in the first quarter 2000 alone almost equals the total DVD sales revenue of $1 million for the whole fiscal year 1999.

With the DVD rapidly becoming the movie format of choice in the global consumer marketplace, the Company has penetrated this market at an early stage and currently has 40 DVD titles on the market. In addition to releasing new titles benefiting from enhanced camera technology for the filming of movies for the DVD format, the Company possesses a major competitive advantage in being able to select best-selling movies from its 35 year back catalogue for release into the marketplace as individual titles or to choose specific scenes for thematic compilation titles.

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Express.com , the leading online entertainment destination for movies, music and games, has received the No. 1 ranking for transacting in the Movies category of Forrester Research's PowerRankings(TM).

In addition to its No. 1 score for transacting, beating out Amazon.com, Reel.com , buy.com, CDnow and BigStar, Express.com received high marks for its product selection, delivery options, ability to process returns and DVD reviews. Forrester's PowerRankings combine consumer survey data with unbiased shopping tests to provide objective rankings of the leading e-commerce sites.

The PowerRankings transacting category measures the performance when purchasing products online. The Forrester analysis assessed the depth of information given to help consumers make an informed choice as well as the tools on the site to facilitate transactions. The transacting category measures the Web site's payment options, speed of checkout and inventory status tools.

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Look for a special edition of the bitersweet drama Steel Magnolias, as well as new comedies from Columbia Tristar Home Video later this summer with the release of a George Carlin disc and the recent theatrical release Drowning Mona.

Steel Magnolias Special Edition hits DVD on July 25. The disc will feature commentary by Director Herbert Ross, 9 Deleted Scenes, an exclusive documentary "In Full Bloom - Remembering `Steel Magnolias,'" an original featurette, isolated music score, theatrical trailers and bios/production notes. The movie will be presented in digitally-mastered Dolby Surround Stereo audio and Anamorphic widescreen video. Language tracks will include English, Spanish and Portuguese, with English, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Korean and Thai subtitles.

Two George Carlin specials, "Jammin' In New York" and "Doin' It Again," will be available on one DVD July 18. The specials will be presented in Dolby Surround stereo sounds and full screen video. The disc will also include English and Spanish subtitles.

Drowning Mona, starring Bette Midler and Danny Devito, will hit DVD on July 25, featuring audio commentary by Director Nick Gomez, deleted scenes with optional commentary and bios of Gomez, DeVito, Midler and co-stars Jamie Lee Curtis, Neve Campbell and Casey Affleck. The movie will be presented in both full screen and 16X9-enhanced widescreen, with Dolby 2 Channel English and French language tracks. English, Spanish and French subtitles will also be included.

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For the first time ever play the home version of the original Hologram coin-operated arcade game on your computer or DVD movie player!

Selling over $18,000,000.00 in its arcade debut, Hologram Time Traveler remains the first and only coin-operated arcade game to deliver a real 3D hologram experience. To maintain the hologram feel, Digital Leisure has included 3D glasses with it's CD-ROM, DVD-ROM and DVD movie player versions. A 2D version is available on the same disc that may be played without the 3D glasses.

Created by Rick Dyer, the co-creator of Dragon's Lair and Space Ace, Hologram Time Traveler features a cast of Hollywood actors and digitally mastered special effects. And with such a wide range of scenes included, Hologram Time Traveler will never be the same game twice.

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Our Thank-You of the week goes out to Ronnie and Earl for: This Week's Picks.

Do you have a favorite DVD Movie you would like to see posted here? Drop me an e-mail and we will get it posted.

Independence Day: Special Edition

We've always believed we weren't alone. On July 4th, we'll wish we were.

One of the biggest box office hits of all time delivers the ultimate encounter when mysterious and powerful aliens launch an all out invasion against the human race. The spectacle begins when massive spaceships appear in Earth's skies. But wonder turns to terror as the ships blast destructive beams of fire down on cities all over the planet. Now the world's only hope lies with a determined band of survirors, uniting for one last strike against the invaders - before it's the end of mankind. .

Includes a Multi-Story Option: select Original Theatrical Release or Special Edition Release with 10 Minutes of Added Footage.

"Independence Day: Special Edition " is rated "PG-13" and has a running time of 153 minutes.

Billy Jack

He's a warrior, a mystic and a martyr, capturing the heart and soul of a generation. Embodying all of this and more Billy Jack quickly became one of the most unorthodox and magnetic movie heroes of all time.

Tom Laughlin charismatically plays the title character, a half-breed Native American and ex-Green Beret returning to live in solitude on an Arizona reservation. He is drawn to the progressive Freedom School - and the idealistic woman (Delores Taylor) who runs it. But when tensions flare between the students and narrow-minded local bigots, Billy Jack becomes the school's protector. Once again, violence finds him.

First released with little fanfare and dismissed by most critics, the film's gut honesty struck a chord with audiences, who later made it a box-office giant - and a landmark film of its era.

"Billy Jack" is rated "PG" and has a running time of 114 minutes.

Broken Arrow

Two military pilots (Travolta and Slater) engage in a no-holds-barred battle against time and each other in a race to recover two stolen nuclear warheads.

When a B-3 Stealth Bomber crashes in the Utah desert during a top-secret test run, the military quickly moves in to retrieve its two "broken arrows." But the situation spins wildly out of control after one of the pilots reveals the crash to be part of an incredible nuclear extortion plot.

"Broken Arrow" is rated "R" and has a running time of 108 minutes.

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Warner Home Video (WHV) turns up the heat with an exciting selection of top-rated films in its June DVD roster. Featuring The Green Mile, which received four Academy Award® nominations including Best Picture, June's line-up delivers everything from miracles to murder plots ... vampires to twisters trackers. From the classic hit movies and their sequels, Lethal Weapon and Shaft, to an up-close look at American teens in Liberty Heights, and the suspense of Interview with the Vampire and Twister, WHV presents an action-packed month of entertainment.

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A heated copyright dispute between the movie industry and a lone Web publisher is reaching a boiling point.

A New York-based publisher is accused of posting a program that cracks security on DVDs. Lawyers on both sides have been taking jabs at one another in a legal battle that pits claims of digital copyright protections against constitutionally protected free speech.

Today the players will be in court again. This time, attorneys defending the publisher, Eric Corley, are asking the judge to punish the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) for not producing critical witnesses quickly enough.

The association, meanwhile, has filed a request to disqualify Corley's attorney, Martin Garbus of New York, on the grounds that he once represented Time Warner in another case. Time Warner is the lead plaintiff in this matter.

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Gearing up for the biggest consumer product launch of the decade, Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. announced today its plans for the North American release of the PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system. The PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system is designed to bring together games, music and movies, and will redefine the entertainment lifestyle, eventually serving as a network platform in the broadband era.

The PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system is scheduled to launch in North America on October 26, 2000 with an unprecedented initial launch shipment of one million units, followed by an additional two million units through March 31, 2001. Supporting both the audio CD and DVD-Video formats, the PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system leads the fusion of interactive entertainment with music and video. The new system supports the existing PlayStation software catalog of more than 800 titles now on the market, bridging the generation of the two systems while protecting consumers' investment in their PlayStation software libraries.

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VM Labs, a leader in interactive video entertainment, today announced an agreement with DVD International, one of the industry's leading independent DVD suppliers, for DVD International to distribute NUON(TM)-enhanced interactive DVD game software titles beginning later this year.

``DVD International's extensive knowledge of and experience with DVD distribution channels will be of great benefit to VM Labs and retailers,'' said Bill Rehbock, vice president of third party development, VM Labs. ``This deal paves the way for retailers to receive and more easily procure and market NUON-enhanced DVD game software titles.''

DVD International will distribute the previously announced initial titles. The NUON-enhanced technology provides the speed and power to transform a DVD player into an interactive fun-center. The first group of titles includes Merlin Racing (a 3D go-kart racing game developed by Miracle Design); Eclipse Software Design's Iron Soldier (a first person strategy game); Freefall 3050 A.D. (a futuristic law enforcement game developed by Total Arkade Software); Cyan's graphic adventure Myst, which will be ported from the PC platform; Fungus Amungus' A-Maze, a classic board game; and Tempest 3000, a game that is part of a new deal with Hasbro.

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VM Labs today announced an agreement with Planetweb to develop and distribute Internet software for NUON(TM)-enhanced digital video products. The NUON expansion modem kit that is expected to be launched in the fourth quarter this year will come bundled with Planetweb's Internet software enabling consumers an enhanced online and offline experience. Future NUON models are also envisioned with a built-in modem that would have the software packed in with the player.

Planetweb's software will be Internet service provider (ISP) agnostic, allowing consumers to use existing services to access the Internet. However, should the consumer not have an established ISP, one will be provided with the NUON expansion modem kit.

``NUON is leading the way for the connected DVD Player,'' said Richard Miller, CEO of VM Labs. ``Planetweb's expertise in web-enabling consumer electronics products made them our obvious top choice for the job.''

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VM Labs today announced the signing of a multi-title agreement as part of a strategic initiative to bring Hasbro Interactive game properties to VM Labs' NUON(TM) platform. The deal re-affirms Hasbro's support for the NUON platform. The agreement also marks both companies' commitment to bringing games to mainstream audiences.

``We believe new audiences will be attracted to electronic gaming through the NUON-enhanced DVD players,'' said John Hurlbut, general manager, Hasbro Interactive, ``and Hasbro's properties are ones that are easy to pick-up and familiar to play. The appeal of NUON to the non-traditional video gamer fits well with our all-family strategy, and our alliance with VM Labs allows us to bring our interactive products to a broader audience than ever before.''

Hasbro and VM Labs are developing a number of NUON titles from Hasbro's stable of well-known properties, the first of which will be the classic arcade game Tempest and two board game favorites' The Game of Life and Monopoly. These first titles are expected to ship this year, with additional Hasbro titles to be made available on the NUON platform in future.

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Released This Week: The X Files Season One: Gift Pack

Now you can own the entire first season of The X Files. All 24 classic episodes from the first season of this award–winning show are available for the first time in this exclusive collector’s edition. Don’t miss the opportunity to see how the phenomenon all began back on September 10, 1993.

This seven-disc set includes deleted footage, special effects shots, some of your favorite scenes dubbed in languages from around the world, and episode listings for the show’s entire seven seasons.

Additional bonus features from Season One include:

• An 11-minute documentary on the making of Season One
• 12 interviews with Chris Carter on his favorite episodes from Season One: Pilot, Deep Throat, Squeeze, Conduit, Ice, Fallen Angel, Eve, Beyond The Sea, E.B.E., Darkness Falls, Tooms and The Erlenmeyer Flask
• 11 behind-the-truth spots from F/X
• 47 promotional television spots
• DVD-ROM game: Roots Of Conspiracy (PC only)