February 12, 2001

InterActual PCFriendly

Figure 1: PCFriendly (click figure to enlarge)

PCFriendly is an Enhanced DVD playback environment that enables users to control and display both traditional web pages and DVD Video titles. When played in a normal DVD-Video player, a PCFriendly DVD acts like a normal DVD-Video title: with video menus, multiple languages, subtitles, artist biographies, etc. When the same disc is placed into a personal computer system, a PCFriendly Video Browser automatically launches, using the additional power, connectivity and long-term storage capabilities of the computer platform. Games, interactive screenplays, updateable biographies and other features can be implemented on PCFriendly DVD titles. The primary features of PCFriendly include:

	Enhanced Multimedia Features. PCFriendly integrates graphics, animations and video clips with graphics and text from the Internet. Multimedia content on a DVD-Video title can be used in a variety of ways on a PC including as wallpaper, screen savers, etc.
	Virtual Theaters, Games, Chat Rooms. PCFriendly titles can include computer centric applications such as trivia, games, and screenplays. These applications are generally stored in the DVD-ROM zone of the disc, and can be written using traditional application development tools such as C++, HTML, Visual Basic, Director, etc.
	Original screenplay and storyboard artwork. PCFriendly titles can include scripts, links to the associated scenes, and playback controls to play the video and scroll the script at the same time.
	Hidden Video and Content. PCFriendly titles can be used as a "key" to unlock special areas of content when connected to the Internet. Some titles contain video segments that can only be played from a specific web page or live event.

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