Hidden Extras on Your DVD Movies
Think you're done with your DVD movie when the credits crawl by? Put your PC's DVD-ROM drive to work, and the fun may not be over. We point you to ten movies with great entertainment, exclusively for your PC.

Michael S. Lasky
Thursday, May 01, 2003

Like to try your hand at reworking a scene from Shrek or an Austin Powers movie using your own voice? Or how about remixing a Motown song track the way you want to hear it? With some of the DVD movies on our list, you can be your own director.

Given the incredible popularity of DVD movies, it's surprising that many viewers have yet to discover the rich bounty of features that can only be accessed on your PC. Run selected DVDs on your PC and you may find games, movie-theme calendars, posters, greeting cards, exclusive Web links, and unique features that let you create your own versions of movie scenes or new mixes of music tracks.

How can you tell if a particular DVD movie has DVD-ROM content? Often, the liner notes on the back of the disc package will tell you--and they'll indicate the type of material. In many cases you will see an InterActual Player or a PCFriendly icon on the package (more on this below). If you're buying a DVD movie on the Web, scroll through the product description or release notes to see if it offers DVD-ROM extras. Amazon.com, for example, includes DVD-ROM features in its product descriptions.

Most of this extra content is viewed using software known as an interactive viewer or player, also included on the disc. InterActual Player 2.0 is usually installed automatically when you insert a DVD with extra material into your DVD-ROM drive. All the DVD movies we looked at, except Ice Age, used this player. (On discs released before fall 2002, InterActual's player was called PCFriendly. You can uninstall PCFriendly and use the new player for older discs, as well.)

Lights, Camera...

When the InterActual Player 2.0 installation process begins, be sure to read each window that pop ups before clicking OK. The program will try to install itself as the default DVD player on your PC. If you have no preference, just accept the choice offered. But if you would rather maintain the player you currently use, be sure to click the Settings tab of the Configuration window that opens during the install process. Choose the Browse button located above the Default DVD Player entry field, and make your preferred selection.

InterActual Player 2.0's default installation also gives the company the right to view your activity on the Web. To turn this off, select the Privacy tab and uncheck the two boxes that appear in the window (click the screenshots here to see the accompanying text). Click OK.

Once you load the player, the special content menu will appear on the playback screen. If you choose one of the Web links (found on all discs with DVD-ROM material), make sure you are online or your modem is ready to dial, if you have a dial-up connection. For those with DSL, cable, or T-1 connections, a separate, movie-theme browser window will appear.

Obviously, DVD-ROM features--like the movies themselves--are not all worth the time. With some discs, after you load the viewing software, all you get is a generic Web link to the movie studio's Web site. On other discs, all the content is on the studio's Web site, but you need the disc to access the exclusive pages.

Here are ten of our favorite DVD-ROM movie extras. We pass no judgment on the films--you can find myriad reviews of the movies elsewhere. This list contains some of the most interesting, compelling, or unique extra features viewable only on a PC. Unless stated otherwise, these features are not available for Macs.

Spider-Man

1. Spider-Man (Columbia-Tristar Home Video, $28) comes on two discs, both crammed with extra features. On Disc 1, you can watch comic strip frames side by side with the corresponding scene in the movie. The Record Your Own Commentary feature is a fun way to insert your voice into the movie, but you can't save the results to play after you leave the program. Too bad.

The second disc starts off with an Activision Spider-Man game with two levels. Three exclusive Marvel dotComics offer animated versions of Spider-Man adventures not available elsewhere. Scroll and zoom in on each "page," or click a character for his or her bio file. You also get a downloadable screen saver and additional software to turn Windows Media, RealAudio, or Winamp players into jukeboxes with a Spider-Man skin.

Standing in the Shadows of Motown

2. The legendary Funk Brothers--the studio musicians who accompanied every major Motown hit from the Supremes, Four Tops, Temptations, Miracles, Marvin Gaye, and many more--inspired Standing in the Shadows of Motown (Artisan Home Entertainment, $23), which won a Grammy for best movie soundtrack. The two-disc DVD set certainly captures all the hummable tunes from the 1960s and 1970s.

Plus, it's the first to feature the entire movie in an alternate high-definition video and audio format that plays only on a PC using Microsoft's Windows Media Player. Additional software must be downloaded from the Web to play this DVD-ROM version of the film. The DVD provides the necessary links.

Other enjoyable extras include a virtual recording studio that allows you to record and mix lots of different variations of Motown tracks. For example, you can add more bass, more percussion, forward horns, or background piano. You can also save different versions on your hard drive and listen to them later. The software for this feature is included on Disc 2.

Shrek

3. The Academy Award-winning animated film Shrek (Dreamworks, $27) sports two discs chock-full of extras. Dubbing your voice in sync with the characters in a dozen scenes is habit-forming fun. The process is mastered with the included Revoice Studio software, which uses a karaoke-like approach. You can flex your artistic abilities with the paint-by-numbers Learn to Draw Shrek, which lets you recolor and style Shrek.

More than a dozen other games and activities are also included on Disc 1. Most of them are engaging for kids and adults alike. Shrek Pinball is particularly amusing, for instance. But some of the features are lame: Pin the Tale on the Donkey involves printing out pages and pasting them together to make a poster-size donkey.

Ice Age

4. Despite its name, Ice Age (Fox Home Video, $30) is a warm-hearted animated feature. Packaged on two discs, it's the only movie with DVD-ROM materials that load automatically on both PCs and Macs, without the need to install any other software. Nice touch.

On Disc 1 you'll find eight interactive games, as well as printable calendars, posters, and other activities. Sid Shreds, a 3D freestyle snowboarding game, comes complete with a variety of courses, tricks, and obstacles, and it's completely addictive. (Disc 2 does not offer any PC-related features.) Ideal for kids and adults, Ice Age's DVD-ROM features keep you entertained long after viewing the movie.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

5. Like the first Harry Potter DVD (see Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone), Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Warner Home Video, $30) is a two-disc set. It features a wealth of extras that should appeal to all ages. We like how you can control the disc features with your voice (a microphone is required, of course). You call out commands signaling where you want to go next on the disc. You can also instruct your PC to play more than a dozen puzzles.

Some of the puzzles (also called sliders) are deceptive. They involve putting nine squares into the right order--a task much harder than it looks. You'll also find Potter screen savers and other engaging DVD-ROM exclusives, such as the interactive Hogwarts timeline with mini pop-up videos from both Harry Potter films.

Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron

6. Here's a chance to try your hand at creating animation. A scene from Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (Universal Home Video, $27) is deconstructed so you can direct it your way: You can choose the background, characters, music, sound effects, even your own animation (microphone required).

You'll also find 15 interactive games aimed at kids, such as Wild West Word Wrangle, a Wheel of Fortune-style game in which you select letters to figure out a mystery word, and Hillside Glide, an arcade game in which you use the arrow keys to keep Spirit from hitting obstacles as he slides down a steep hill. On top of that, you get the ability to create posters, invitation cards, and more, all packed on a single disc.

A Hard Day's Night

7. Now a classic, the Beatles black-and-white A Hard Day's Night (Miramax, $30) has been restored and loaded with tons of extra features on two discs. Surprisingly, the second supplemental feature disc is not the one with the DVD-ROM material. For those goodies, you need to load the first disc (with the feature film) into your DVD-ROM drive.

A clever screenplay viewer lets you read along while the movie plays in a smaller window. You can choose two drafts of the screenplay--one with the Beatles' handwritten notes, or a final draft. A Beatles scrapbook lets you view behind-the-scenes photos and other candid images, along with comments from the Fab Four.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

8. The movie and the book are popular with both kids and adults, but this two-disc version of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Warner Home Video, $27) would especially appeal to pre-teens. DVD-ROM extras include the ability to be sorted to a Hogwarts' house by the Sorting Hat, a Harry Potter-theme screen saver, a spot to register for Owl e-mails, a program to create Wizard trading cards, and exclusive Web link features.

Marring some of the fun is the complicated puzzle you need to unlock to view the extras. (Hint: The key is available at DVD Review.)

Austin Powers in Goldmember

9. Record your voice as one of many characters in ten different scenes from Austin Powers in Goldmember (New Line Home Video, $27) using Revoice Studio software, and save the scenes on your hard drive to play later. This recording option is the real highlight of the package. (Yeah, baby!)

The other features are a little disappointing. The rest of the DVD-ROM content is limited to a Web link that takes you to some downloads, trivia, and silliness--but there's nothing there that you can't get by just logging on to the Austin Powers site itself.

Lord of the Rings Special Extended Edition

10. The Fellowship of the Ring, the first of the three Lord of the Rings films, takes up four discs on Lord of the Rings Special Extended Edition (New Line Home Video, $40). You'll find the extended version of the film on the first two discs and the supplemental materials on the other two. Put any of the discs in your PC, and you will be transported to an exclusive part of LordoftheRings.net, not otherwise accessible.

The "exclusive material" is limited to promotional screen savers, e-cards, and Windows wallpaper--along with a link to a site to buy Lord of the Rings merchandise. The interactive portion of this site, which requires Shockwave and a broadband connection, offers to load add-ons to Shockwave to allow you to print screens. Nice, but no big deal.