These days, consumers have come to expect that mass-market DVDs will contain a plethora of extras--not just additional video footage, but also computer-readable DVD-ROM features such as games and screen savers. But the coolest content is Web-enabled material that combines the best of both worlds: high-quality video playing from the local DVD, plus more interactive and dynamically updated current content accessed over the Web.

The de facto technology used for such Web-enabled content is InterActual Player, which has been shipped on over a thousand major DVD titles (http://player.interactual.com). You can identify these discs by the InterActual logo (previously PC Friendly) on the back cover. InterActual provides the major studios with a full-service package, including the technology, design and testing services, and end-user support.

But what about smaller productions that don't justify licensing the entire InterActual technology and service?

Sonic Solutions acquired InterActual in February 2004, and then shipped the technology in September 2004 as eDVD 3, a standalone tool that provides a convenient approach to add Web links or on-disc PDFs and graphics files to DVDs (www.sonic.com/products/edvd). Although the eDVD application is available only on Windows XP, the resulting disc can be played back with the InterActual Player on both Windows and Mac OS X.

Macintosh support has been consistently requested by the studios and users, but it only became possible when Apple opened up the DVD playback API as of OS X 10.3. In addition, the Apple DVD Player can't be embedded in another application (as is done with Internet Explorer and DirectX under Windows), which limits the ability to create an integrated interface.

Using Sonic eDVD's list of all of the chapters in your DVD< you can set links for each of them to an external URL, or a local PDF or image file stored on the DVD-ROM sector of the disc. You also can specify whether the linked element appears in the same or a new window and control the window's attributes.

EDVD is a simple tool that you apply after authoring a DVD. Save the production as a DVD volume on hard disk (i.e., in a VIDEO_TS folder), and use eDVD to asso-ciate Web, PDF, or graphics links with chapter points defined in the DVD. EDVD then builds a directory of auxiliary files with the link metadata, which you add as additional DVD-ROM data when you burn the final disc. As a result, eDVD should be compatible with almost all authoring tools (Sonic provides an official list on its Web site), and you can burn the disc with any appropriate DVD-Video burning tool that accepts additional ROM data.

Viewing the disc with the additional external links requires using the included InterActual Player. The disc files therefore include an AutoRun installer and Player for Windows and an IAPlayer.dmg file for manually installing the Mac version of the InterActual Player. The InterActual playback technology also has been included in InterVideo WinDVD 5, and I hope will be licensed to other players in the future.

The eDVD interface includes a tool bar, a built-in player for previewing the DVD content, a status area, and a listing of all of the titles and chapters in the disc. This list can be long, and as the DVD author, it's your responsibility to know which chapter numbers in which titles you want to modify. You can check the status display during preview, but it would be more helpful if eDVD could associate the chapter list with the previewed content.

You also need to design your production with these external links in mind. Note that eDVD doesn't hook DVD navigation links (i.e., links from menus or end actions)--it actually hooks destinations or, more accurately, it hooks chapter points in the video clips, which may or may not be link targets in the DVD navigation (technically, a Part of Title, not just a Cell).

The eDVD application is implemented in Flash (version 7.0 or higher is required), and runs only on Windows XP. It's not particularly snappy or sexy with its sluggish dropdown menus and full-window redraws. But eDVD serves its purpose by providing basic capabilities from the underlying InterActual engine. InterActual is improving the interface for an upcoming update in order to provide better support for manag-ing the referenced files in projects.

With eDVD, you can pop up an external link at any chapter point during playback, or you can make a menu button pop up a link by associating it with a DVD chapter that you have hooked. Sonic provides sample still-image and video bumpers that you can use for this purpose, so when the disc is viewed on a standard player (without external links), the bumper serves as a stand-in to explain how the disc could be viewed on a computer.

Each link can be the URL of an external Web site, or a local PDF or image file that is copied to the destination disc. (The current version of eDVD doesn't support linking to Web content stored locally on the disc.) You also can specify whether the linked content appears in a new window, reuses an existing window, or replaces the DVD content.

DVDs with embedded links inserted by eDVD must be played in the InterActual Player (shown here) in order to activate and view the links, which can reference external Web sites, or to PDF and graphics files stored in the DVD-ROM section of the disc.

When the external content is displayed, you can have the DVD continue playing or pause playback while the viewer reviews the auxiliary information.

EDVD also provides a preferences dialog to control the position, size, and controls displayed for the external browser window (only with Windows). However, InterActual has confirmed DirectX problems with pausing and stopping timed stills with some authoring programs, and recommends replacing them with video clips if you need to pause the DVD playback.

Another alternative for cross-platform DVD productions is to use Macromedia Director MX 2004 to author multimedia productions that now can include DVD playback ($1,199; www.macromedia.com/director).

Instead, eDVD 3 offers a much simpler approach to author a DVD as usual and then augment it with basic external links.

Purchasing the Sonic eDVD product includes a license to replicate and distribute up to 20,000 copies of each enhanced title. Titles with broader distribution require additional license and support fees. A 10-day, 10-run trial version is available for downloading on the Sonic Web site.

Sonic eDVD 3 is a straightforward tool for a specific need: augmenting DVDs with links to Web, PDF, and graphics files. It exposes basic functionality from the InterActual engine to pop up auxiliary information as the disc is played. A DVD authoring approach like this makes great sense for applications such as marketing materials or training exercises that need a cross-platform approach to combine video content with additional data.

Up to 20,000 units per project on unlimited projects: Free with eDVD purchase
20,001 - 50,000 units: $500/project
50,001 - 100,000 units: $1,000/project
100,001 - Unlimited: $2,000/project
Lifetime unlimited license: $5,000 for unlimited distribution on unlimited projects

To summarize: Step up from $500 to no more then $2,000 per project, or lifetime unlimited license for $5,000.