TECHNICOLOR PLANT PLANNING TURN TO DVDS.Byline: Dave McNary Daily News Staff Writer Technicolor will spend at least $8.5 million on equipment for its Camarillo plant to manufacture digital video discs, allowing it to produce more than 5 million discs a year. The company, a specialist in processing movies and videotape duplication, will start production midsummer in all formats for DVD DVD: see digital versatile disc. DVD in full digital video disc or digital versatile disc Type of optical disc. The DVD represents the second generation of compact-disc (CD) technology. , which offers seven times the capacity of a CD-ROM CD-ROM: see compact disc. CD-ROM in full compact disc read-only memory Type of computer storage medium that is read optically (e.g., by a laser). and image quality equal to a laserdisc An earlier optical disc used for full-motion video and interactive training. It was introduced in the late 1970s and became obsolete in the 1990s. Videodisc systems based on a stylus were introduced (see CED), but only the optical-based LaserDisc survived, although never very popular. . DVD players from Toshiba and Pioneer have gone on sale in recent months with prices starting at $600, and the first batch of DVD software hit store shelves Tuesday. Technicolor, a unit of London-based Carlton Communications, already produces CD-ROMs and videocassettes at the plant, vacated in the early 1990s by wheelchair producer Everest and Jennings when it moved its headquarters to Missouri. Technicolor plans a slight increase in the current work force of 1,000 when it begins producing DVDs. Technicolor will use the services of Hollywood-based Complete Post, also owned by Carlton, for premanufacturing work such as digitizing the film print, color correction Altering the colors in an image in order to print or display it properly or for special effects. Depending on the application, color correction can be a significant problem if the resulting image must be approved or a purchase is made because of color choice. and encoding search capabilities along with multiple formats. The plant will press discs for both the video and the DVD-ROM DVD-ROM: see digital versatile disc. A read-only DVD disc used to permanently store data files. DVD-ROM discs are widely used to distribute large software applications that exceed the capacity of a CD-ROM disc. format for use with home computer systems. Technicolor executives had no comment on a Daily Variety report that Carlton was part of a consortium looking to invest in New Line Cinema, widely expected to be sold by entertainment giant Time Warner Inc. The report also said Carlton was moving toward a purchase of British-based Rank Film Distributors. Either move would give Carlton access to film libraries that could be digitized for release on DVD. DVD players and software are being sold in the Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. region and six other markets - Chicago, Dallas, New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of , San Francisco, Seattle and Washington D.C. The format offers top-quality sound and video, a choice of wide-screen or TV dimensions, search-and-scan capabilities and no rewinding. The first DVD titles have come from Warner Bros BROS Brothers BROS Benefits and Retirement Operations Section (King County, Washington) BROS Barnes and Richmond Operatic Society (London, UK) . as part of a marketing alliance with Toshiba, a major shareholder in Time Warner, and include ``Batman Forever'' and ``Twister.'' Warner is also issuing releases under the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and New Line labels, while Sony and PolyGram plan to release DVD titles later this spring. Universal has said it is committed to the format but has no releases yet planned, but Disney, 20th Century Fox and Paramount have not yet endorsed it. Analysts believe the holdouts are waiting to see how the initial DVD business performs and may be worried about piracy protections and a loss in the booming home video business, which Disney dominates. DVD advocates believe the format will likely receive a boost later this year as personal computer makers begin including DVD drives in new PCs. |
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