AfterDawn: News

Minerva Expands its Technology Commitment to DVD Development

(Company Press Release)



MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 9, 1999--Minerva Systems, Inc., the leading provider of high-quality MPEG digital video publishing systems, announced it has completed the purchase of the DVD disc building technology of its best-selling Minerva Impression authoring software from Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.

The purchase of the Samsung DVD engine gives Minerva complete control over its award-winning DVD product line.

``Samsung has been a dedicated partner who enabled us to provide our customers with a revolutionary DVD solution,'' said Ian Locke, director of Software Business Development at Minerva. ``Owning the technology will now give us greater flexibility and independence to expand our DVD product offering.''

The Samsung DVD engine is an integral part of the Minerva Impression authoring environment. It creates the multiplexed video objects (VOB files) and all the navigation data that is required for DVD title playback in commercial set-top DVD players. Direct control of the Samsung DVD multiplexing technology will allow the development of more sophisticated features for the production of interactive video-rich media and to provide DVD output capabilities to other Minerva products.

``We see this investment as an opportunity to create tools customized for all levels of the DVD authoring market,'' explained Ian Locke. ``It will allow us to create tools for the high-end DVD market as well as for the emerging entry level desktop DVD authors. We have already sold over 50,000 copies of Minerva Impression authoring software and this purchase demonstrates our commitment to the technology.''

Minerva Impression for DVD has been available since December 1998 starting at $9,995. Pinnacle Systems bundles Minerva Impression with its new line of DV and MPEG editing systems. For sales information, contact Minerva Systems at 650/940-1383 or 800/806-9594 or via e-mail at info@minervasys.com


Written by: Jari Ketola @ 10 Aug 1999 1:07