Why Not?

DVD was not designed to interact with the internet.  Although DVD has been an incredibly popular format, it is easy to forget how ‘old’ it is.   Web connectivity never was part of the DVD Specification.  The blueprint to which all DVD players must follow was set in stone in 1995, and there is no real way to change that without breaking every DVD player that has come before it.

But what about products like Spruce Convergence, DVD@ccess and eDVD?

Three major industry players in DVD authoring have come up with products that attempted to offer web usability to DVD:

In August 1999 Spruce Technologies introduced a product called Spruce Convergence, an add-on for their Authoring Applications to add “full-duplex communication between DVD-based video and the Web, allowing web pages to be invoked directly by button clicks on the DVD title, as well as letting the internet browser control the DVD video.”  Spruce were later bought out by Apple, who went on to release it as DVD Studio Pro Version 2.

By 2002, Apple’s DVD Studio Pro 1.5 had a feature known as DVD@CCESS Web.  This functionality continued through later versions based on Apple’s aquisition of Spruce, but did not offer the same flexibility.   Like Spruce, this offered the ability to add a huperlink to a button on a DVD Page, but only if the disc was played back in Apple’s DVD Software.  This made the function inaccessible for PC users and therefore, arguably, the majority of corporate DVD creators.

At the same time, Hollywood also experimented with the concept of Web enabled DVDs, using InterActual’s PC Friendly Software.  A number high profile titles were produced over the years, including the early Harry Potter chapters and The Matrix.  Features included script viewers, storyboard comparisons, Image Galleries and QucktimeVR viewers.

Today, when viewing the InterActual website, it appears that no major titles have been announced since 2007.

Sonic Solutions, the company behind the Scenarist Professional DVD Authoring product, bought InterActual in 2004, and went on to release a number of versions of it’s eDVD software, which was designed to allow the easy addition of weblinks to DVD VIDEO discs.  Again, there was a requirement to install a compatible DVD software player on your PC or Mac, but at least the rationale was that more users would already have this installed as it had been used on so many high profile Hollywood titles.

Unfortunately, the InterActual player was never upgraded to support Windows Vista (and now Windows 7), and no option on the market dealt with the set-top box environment of the home.

So what are my options?

There are various other ways to direct your viewers to your web site:

1. Include your web address on the screen and it can be copied into a browser  on your laptop, PC or phone.  (It sounds old fashioned, it is old fashioned).  This is ideal if your web address is short or memorable.
2. Include a local web page on the DVD as ROM content.  This will not be accessible from a DVD player but PC users can find the file in the route of the disc and be re-directed from there.  This is not a retail solution as this method might be too complicated for ‘average’ users.
3. For some projects a two disc set featuring a CD Rom and a DVD would provide the solution.  The DVD for the high quality video files and the CDROM for any supporting documents including PDFs, links and Office documents for download.

How about Blu-ray?

Well, you can have Internet connected discs, marketed as “BD Live”, which when used in conjunction with an internet-connected “BD Live” compatible Blu-ray player will access online content…

But …This content is stored and distributed by the content owner, in the form of trailers and “BD-J” java applications.  This is NOT a web browser to link to any website you wish.  BD Live allows access to Blu-ray specific online content, and nothing more.

This means you can include your target URL to be copied down and typed into a browser, your PC must have a Blu-ray drive to acces BD-Live content or you can include a CD Rom in the package.

Adding an inspiring track to your training video, a cover version to your album release or a famous piece to your trade promotion can take your work to new levels.

Staff at 24-7dvd can advise you on every aspect of music licensing and help you get access to the music that you want.

How can I legally license music?

We work with PRS for music, the UK’s rights collection agency.  It exists to help businesses, individuals and community groups gain access to the music they want whilst fighting piracy and making sure that songwriters, composers and publishers are rightly rewarded.

For less than you might think you can get access to a well known piece of music for use on

• Educational Products
• Covermounts (free CDs supplied with magazines or newspapers)
• Promotional/ Premium products – supplied for marketing communications
• Trade Promotions
• Aerobics/ Exercise CDs

How much does it cost?

The cost of licensing the music depends on the duration of the music that you use and the number of copies you make.

For smaller organisations the Limited Manufacture Licence grants you permission to legally use music in your own CDs DVDs and other formats for as little as £5.00.

You can check that you are eligible before applying and then apply, have permission granted and pay on line.

Don’t worry – it’s easy!

If you need more information you can call PRS for Music on 020 7580 5544 or Check out their web site.

24-7dvd is a PRS approved manufacturer and we can answer any questions that you might have.

Insert CD in to iTunes
Right click on to the first track and select info.

This will then give you the possibility to fill in the track details. Please
repeat this for each individual track.

Once you are happy with your track labelling, select from the tool bar
“Advance” and then select submit CD Track names.

And thats it! Please give iTunes about 24h to add the data to their
database.

The system identifies the CD based on the length and order of the tracks.
This means if one song is ripped of the disc it will no longer recognise
that song from its database.