"...Ritek today announced the formation of a new company division named Ritek Digital Studios that will specialize in multimedia software development. The new division will include three offices including a state-of-the-art DVD compression, encoding and authoring (CEA) facility in Glendale, Calif., for Hollywood movie and music studios. The other locations include Pennsylvania and Taiwan.

With a specialization in DVD-Video and DVD-Audio title development, Ritek Digital Studios is strategically positioned to support Ritek's core business of media manufacturing and distribution services for the worldwide market. Production will begin in the second quarter of 2001 at the California location. The facilities in Pennsylvania and Taiwan are both currently operational. In addition to managing Ritek Digital Studios, Seidel will work on the development of new products and services for the company; including Web-DVD, High Definition DVD and DataPlay. Ritek Digital Studios will specialize in studio services for the DVD-Video, DVD-Audio and DVD-ROM formats.

Services will include menu graphics and animation design, interactive software and Web-link development for the PC and Macintosh platforms, video standards conversion, video editing and compression, audio editing and encoding, subtitle formatting, authoring and specification/compatibility testing..."