/ by Matt

The next generation of DVD formats are on their way, and one of them is HD DVD, supporting HD 1920×1080 video, high quality surround sound, and many advanced interactive features. Today, Michael Becker from Skywalk Mastering GmbH / Imagion AG in Germany sent us an email telling us that his company had produced the first ever European HD DVD title: Elephants Dream.

Michael tells us:

I am very happy to let you know that we worked very hard over the last weeks to produce an “Elephants Dream” HD DVD. This is the first(!) ever European HD DVD title and it will introduce the start of the next generation format in Europe. As the whole European PC and movie magazines are waiting for a first HD DVD title in Europe this will be a hugh success for your movie and I am sure this will go through the press worldwide. Today there are worldwide (USA / Japan) only approx. 40 titles available. The HD DVD format was released in April this year in Japan and might be the new HD disc Format for the future. A European start of the format is planned for approx. October 2006. The process to programm and author an HD DVD is very complex this is why no title has been produced in Europe so far (tools are not ready right now). Not only that Elephants Dream is the first European HD DVD release it is also (as far as I know) the most complex HD DVD title ever release worldwide and the picture quality is really great. The disc includes most of the new HD DVD functionalities such as “on the fly menus”, Picture in Picture features and some HD / SD comparison functions. We expect that the disc will have cult status very soon and promote the Elephants Dream movie.

The full press release is available here at their Elephants Dream HD DVD microsite. The story has already been covered by German technology news websites heise.de and mediabiz.de.

This is a fantastic surprise, none of our team knew that this was in production, and judging by the making of videos on their website, it looks like they’ve put an enormous amount of work into the project too. Also possible download music of the game with site www.kazeban.biz

The HD DVD is for sale for € 14.90 which covers their production costs. It’s wonderful that people are taking advantage of the Creative Commons license like this, it’s exactly what’s encouraged. This is very positive and benefits all parties, increasing Orange and Blender recognition throughout the industry and providing a great showcase for the talents of the Imagion staff.