Full press release here:

http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/prnewswire/AQW05530012008-1.htm

I don't know what other professional authoring suites are out there, but clearly Sonic doesn't expect to lose many sales by dropping the HD DVD portion of their authoring tools.

This tool is being used by the HD-DVD studios according to comments at an HD-DVD promo event in Toronto last November.

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=73810&highlight=scenarist

"They had a commercial compressionist/DVD/HD/BD disc author there...

5) HD DVD and Blu-ray are completely different in terms of authoring. Basically the only major thing that can be shared is the encode, but the interactivity is programmed completely differently (as evidenced above), so it means that if a company is format neutral its authoring costs are nearly twice as much. For HD DVD they use a Sonic Scenarist solution, but for BD they're forced to also use more Sony produced software which is not user friendly. Testing is also harder on BD since there the same type of emulated HD DVD environment."

This tool is being used by the HD-DVD studios according to comments at an HD-DVD promo event in Toronto last November.

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=73810&highlight=scenarist

"They had a commercial compressionist/DVD/HD/BD disc author there...

5) HD DVD and Blu-ray are completely different in terms of authoring. Basically the only major thing that can be shared is the encode, but the interactivity is programmed completely differently (as evidenced above), so it means that if a company is format neutral its authoring costs are nearly twice as much. For HD DVD they use a Sonic Scenarist solution, but for BD they're forced to also use more Sony produced software which is not user friendly. Testing is also harder on BD since there the same type of emulated HD DVD environment."
My quote was not from a studio per se, but a 3rd party Canadian HD DVD/Blu-ray author.

P.S. I had posted this at AVS as well, here (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=12186383#post12186383).

From the PRNewswire Sonic press release from the link provided above, I do not see that Sonic Solutions is "dropping" HD DVD support and updates. A new focus on BD? Yes. Also seems to indicate no new sales by the use of the phrase: "conclude sales of its Scenarist(R) HD DVD authoring product line".

Sonic's Professional Products Group will maintain its high-end support services as part of its SonicCare(TM) program for HD DVD customers who elect not to participate in the special promotion program and will provide software update releases where appropriate in keeping with its standard practice.

I do not see that Sonic Solutions is "dropping" HD DVD support and updates.

From eMEDIA (http://www.emedialive.com/Articles/ReadArticle.aspx?ArticleID=13449):
the Professional Products Group will conclude sales of its Scenarist® HD DVD authoring product line.

It is sales they are dropping.

At least they're going to throw their current HD-DVD customers a "life line" to help them make good their transition from HD-DVD to Blu-ray.

To further enable the authoring community, Sonic will offer its Scenarist HD DVD customers a special promotion to exchange their authoring system(s) for a Scenarist BD system.

http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/prnewswire/AQW05530012008-1.htm

Also note the following:

To further enable the authoring community, Sonic will offer its Scenarist HD DVD customers a special promotion to exchange their authoring system(s) for a Scenarist BD system. Sonic's Professional Products Group will maintain its high-end support services as part of its SonicCare(TM) program for HD DVD customers who elect not to participate in the special promotion program and will provide software update releases where appropriate in keeping with its standard practice.

So they are concluding sales, offering some type of exchange program as incentive, but will continue some level of support for HD DVD customers who do not participate.

Brandon

I wonder if Ben and Amir are on vacation. They should have been here by now... ;)

Please everyone, do not respond to the ^^^^ post. It is nothing more than a tactic to get the thread deleted or locked

Is this what happened to the previous thread?

It's the second time a news thread I posted got deleted. :confused:

I'd be interested to know how widely this software is used, but of course all shops that have it will be able to keep using it. I wonder if they'll take the buyout for a portion of their seats, and just keep a couple of licenses?

I wonder if Ben and Amir are on vacation. They should have been here by now... ;)

But I see the other warring faction is here in hordes. :rolleyes:

P.S. Your comment was totally unnecessary.

I'm sure free muxer options will be available sometime in the near future to get a BD stream HD DVD compliant, assuming the encode is within HD DVD parameters.

But I see the other warring faction is here in hordes. :rolleyes:

P.S. Your comment was totally unnecessary.

I'm just surprised that the MS representatives haven't come in and given their two cents on the matter.

Do they know something we dont?


Why would they drop HD DVD if studios are using their software.

Do they know something we dont?


Why would they drop HD DVD if studios are using their software.

Notice how quiet things have been lately? Very little news? Toshiba players being discontinued at Circuit City, etc, and no new model announcements?

This thing has a giant whiff of "format war over" coming from it.

Maybe cuz toshiba is forking out millions for a superbowl ad...

This thing has a giant whiff of "format war over" coming from it.

Could be the calm before the storm that topples the Blu-Ray pine!

Why would they drop HD DVD if studios are using their software.

By the way, studios weren't using their software. Their software was a knockoff of other peoples software, including the authoring software used by the big studios.

thank you