DVD Hybrids

An overview of the market challenges facing DVD-Video and DVD-ROM developers, and how you can use Microsoft's WebDVD technology to take advantage of those challenges.

Over the past few years, the term Hybrid DVD has come to mean different things to different people. Hybrid DVD was originally defined at the IMA/SPA DVD-ROM Technical Working Group meetings as DVD discs that include Internet connectivity. Webster's Dictionary defines a hybrid as "something that has two different types of components performing essentially the same function." Thus, a Hybrid DVD is a DVD title that includes components that let it work on more than one DVD platform. The most common Hybrid DVD is the one that works on standard DVD-Video players as well as on personal computers with DVD-ROM drives. Two examples of popular Hybrid DVD titles are Lost in Space and Earthlight Special Edition.

Lost in Space is one of the best-selling DVD-Video titles. It's a dual-layer DVD-Video disc with a number of special features that are only accessible from a DVD-ROM-enabled personal computer. These special features include a full copy of the original movie screenplay, several interactive games, and hyperlinks to various Web and e-commerce sites related to the movie. The DVD-ROM portions of Lost in Space were developed using a product called PC Friendly from Interactual Technologies (www.interactual.com). Lost in Space provides unique components for both DVD-Video players and DVD-ROM-enabled personal computers, so it qualifies as a Hybrid DVD.

Earthlight Special Edition is a DVD-Video title that includes 85 minutes of high-quality video content shot from the space shuttle. Three additional components make this DVD-Video title unique. Earthlight Special Edition includes a Windows screensaver developed using standard MCI calls, a separate screensaver developed using DirectShow calls, and a new Internet-based product from AIX Entertainment called Spinware Connect (http://www.spinware.net/) that lets end users unlock additional screensaver still images stored on the DVD disc. Early sales results for Earthlight Special Edition indicate that almost half of the customers to date are DVD-ROM owners.

While 1998 was not the breakout year for DVD-ROM, it was a successful year for hardware sales. By the end of 1998, almost every personal computer manufacturer offered DVD-ROM as a standard feature on their high-end multimedia systems, and as an option on their midrange systems. Using a conservative estimate, approximately five million DVD-ROM-enabled personal computers were sold in 1998, compared to only 500,000 DVD-Video players sold in the same period.

Unfortunately, sales of DVD-ROM titles during 1998 were disappointing. By the end of 1998, there were less than 20 commercially available DVD-ROM titles. Most DVD-ROM system owners were purchasing DVD-Video rather than DVD-ROM titles for playback on their computers. The primary reasons for the disappointing DVD-ROM title sales were the lack of a critical mass of compelling titles, as well as almost no dedicated retail shelf space for the few DVD-ROM titles that were available.

There's an interesting dichotomy forming in the DVD world today. The majority of DVD titles available are DVD-Video titles, yet DVD-ROM playback systems outnumber DVD-Video systems by more than 10 to one. This divergence between the type of DVD titles and the type of DVD playback systems will only get wider during 1999. It's likely that another 2000 DVD-Video titles will be brought to market during 1999, while less than 200 DVD-ROM titles will be available before the end of the year. Conversely, most market research studies indicate that over 20 million DVD-ROM systems will be sold in 1999, compared to about two million DVD-Video players.

The significant disparity between the consumer-preferred DVD playback platform (DVD-ROM) and the industry-preferred DVD publishing format (DVD-Video) creates an interesting business opportunity for title developers over the next several years. DVD titles that offer unique features for both DVD-Video players and DVD-ROM systems should be able to attract a much wider segment of DVD consumers than a traditional DVD-Video or DVD-ROM title. In short, Hybrid DVD titles should have significant market penetration over the next several years, due to the disparity between the number of consumer DVD-ROM systems and the number of available DVD-ROM titles.

Hollywood studios have recognized this market opportunity and are bringing several new Hybrid DVD titles to market. New Line Home Video released Blade, a new Hybrid DVD title that also uses PC Friendly software. Warner Brothers announced a Hybrid DVD title that will tie in with one of their television series-the last episode of the season available only on a Hybrid DVD disc. Other studios are looking at innovative ways to offer their content to the rapidly growing numbers of consumers who own DVD-ROM systems.

Perhaps the most exciting new technology available to Hybrid DVD title developers is Microsoft's WebDVD, which was announced at the recent Intel/Microsoft DVD PlugFest in Milpitas, CA. WebDVD is currently in beta testing, but it should be available for developers by the time you read this. WebDVD is a collection of low-level tools and techniques developers can use to publish standard Web pages that can play back high-quality video, audio, and graphics stored on a DVD-Video disc. The host WebDVD pages can reside on an Internet-based Web server, or locally on the DVD disc in the consumer's DVD-ROM drive.

The potential benefits of WebDVD are tremendous. DVD title developers can take standard DVD-Video titles and add a significant amount of new material that can only be accessed using a DVD-ROM-enabled personal computer. Providing additional content or features that can be accessed only via a DVD-ROM computer lets content owners offer added value to the segment of the DVD market that uses personal computers as their primary DVD playback systems.

WebDVD titles can also take advantage of the rapid update and e-commerce capabilities of the Internet. Microsoft released a preliminary WebDVD Software Developers Kit (SDK) that can be obtained by signing a nondisclosure agreement with Microsoft. Developers who are interested in obtaining a copy of the WebDVD SDK should email DVD@microsoft.com.

The heart of WebDVD is a new Microsoft Windows Media Player Control. The Windows Media Player control exposes DVD-Video-specific interfaces, methods, events, and properties to the Microsoft DirectShow Application Programming Interface (API). As an ActiveX control, the new Windows Media Player can be used as a component in a Web page. The chart below shows how the Windows Media Player control makes the DVD-Video methods, properties, and events available to Web page developers.

For those who are familiar with DVD-Video title development, it's obvious that Microsoft implemented the full set of features defined in Annex J of the DVD-Video Specification in the new Windows Media Player control. What this means is that the Windows Media Player can correctly play back any title published in the DVD-Video format and can present that content within the context of a standard Web page.

The new version of the Windows Media Player control will be included with version 5.0 of Internet Explorer and will also be available as a plug-in for Netscape Navigator versions 3.0 and 4.0.

The new Windows Media Player control will make the task of developing Hybrid DVD discs much simpler for most title developers, but there are a few unresolved issues that Microsoft must address. The most significant is the incompatibility of the Windows Media Player control with programming languages such as Visual Basic or C++. Currently the DVD features of the Windows Media Player can't be accessed from either of these programming languages. It may take six months or more for Microsoft to correct this deficiency.

Hybrid DVD title developers also must be aware that accessing the full set of DVD features in the Windows Media Player control will require the consumer to have a Windows 98 or Windows 2000 system with Internet Explorer 5.0 installed. It's unlikely that Windows 95 users will be able to use all the Windows Media Player control features that will work on Windows 98. Finally, Microsoft must release a version of Internet Explorer 5.0 and the Windows Media Player control for the Mac OS before true cross-platform Hybrid DVD titles can be developed using the WebDVD tools. I should point out that none of the other Hybrid DVD tools offer true cross-platform support at this time.

Despite unresolved issues, Microsoft's WebDVD and Windows Media Player Control are destined to be incorporated into many future Hybrid DVD titles. Perhaps the most compelling argument in favor of using WebDVD is that it's free. All of the other tools available to Hybrid DVD title developers currently require either a one-time license fee or some form of royalty payment.

Ralph LaBarge, an award-winning independent DVD-Video and DVD-ROM title producer, has completed more than 100 DVD projects to date. He's chairman of the SPA DVD-ROM Technical Working Group, and can be reached via email at rlabarge@worldnet.att.net.

DVD-Video Properties	DVD-Video Methods	DVD-Video Events
Angles Available Audio Streams Available Buttons Available Button Select And Activate CC Active Color Key Current Angle Current Button Current CCService Current Chapter Current Disc Side Current Domain Current Subpicture Stream Current Time Current Title Current Volume Frames Per Second Root Subpicture On Subpicture Streams Available Titles Available Total Title Time Unique ID Volumes Available	Backward Scan Button Activate Chapter Play Chapter Play Auto Stop Chapter Search Forward Scan Get All GPRMs Get All SPRMs Get Audio Language Get Number Of Chapters Get Subpicture Language Left Button Select Lower Button Select Subpicture Stream Menu Call Next PGC Search Prev PGC Search Resume From Menu Right Button Select Still Off Time Play Time Search Title Play Top PGC Search UOP Valid Upper Button Select	Angle Change Angles Available Audio Stream Change Current Audio Stream Button Change Chapter Auto Stop Chapter Start Current Time Domain Change Error No FP PGC Playback Rate Change Playback Stopped Still On Change Title Change Valid UOPS Change Warning