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Lowers Price While Adding WebDVD and Other Tools

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 23, 1999--Spruce Technologies, Inc. today announced the immediate availability of DVDConductor(TM) Version 2.5.

The latest version of the award-winning mid-range DVD authoring system features a new lower price of $9,995 U.S. and valuable new capabilities including WebDVD integration.

``DVDConductor was built to meet the needs of the growing core of the DVD authoring market,'' says Brian Lane, DVDConductor Product Manager at Spruce.

``That means a solution that is easy-to-use, highly productive and feature-rich, yet one that also doesn't make the customer pay for capabilities they don't need. With Version 2.5 we've actually far exceeded our goals by adding important new tools that greatly increase the producer's creative and technical flexibility while simultaneously lowering the price.''

DVDConductor Version 2.5 is the only professional DVD authoring system in its class that lets producers integrate live, interactive Internet content and rich DVD media using Spruce Convergence(TM). Hybrid Web-DVD titles offer many exciting opportunities to producers for creating e-commerce, education, marketing and other titles.

Using Convergence tools, DVD creators can add Web connectivity to their titles without using any Web programming at all.

The new version also includes Spruce's unique DVDonCD(TM) tool, which lets authors create DVD titles that can be distributed on CD-ROM, enabling them to reach the broadest audience possible.

Together, Convergence and DVDonCD provide authors with a solution for delivering web-enriched DVD titles that can be distributed and replayed on the over 100 million PCs that are ready for high quality video playback and internet access.

Many existing DVDConductor features have been significantly enhanced and expanded as well. A new motion menu feature adds moving video within menu buttons for a sophisticated look normally reserved for high-end feature film titles. Users can now also grab still-frames from video content to easily and quickly create graphic menus.

The number of audio tracks has been increased from 2 to 8 and the number of subtitle tracks from 2 to 32. Other new features include multiple colors for subtitles, RealSync(TM) PCM/AC3 audio concatenation in the timeline, an expanded ability to handle up to 10,000 menus, a printable project log and support for Matrox DigiSuite DTV AVI/MPEG files, and many others.

DVDConductor has been designed to work with any MPEG encoder that provides standards-compliant DVD video and audio streams. For optimal performance, DVDConductor can be paired with the Spruce Technologies MPX-3000 MPEG-2/Dolby® Digital encoder. MPX-3000 provides premium audio and video quality and integrated control from any Spruce authoring system.

When paired with Spruce's DVDEncoderPack(TM) option, users gain forced I-frame, inverse telecine, segment re-encode and multipass VBR features.

DVDConductor is upgradeable in increments, based on the user's needs, up to the full feature set of Spruce's flagship DVDMaestro. In addition to the DVDEncoder Pack, the DVDPowerPack(TM) provides nine camera angles, eight audio streams, 32 subtitle streams, motion menus, and more. The DVDEntertainmentPack(TM) includes such features as CSS encryption, parental lock, Karaoke support, and more.

About Spruce Technologies, Inc.

Spruce Technologies develops and markets DVD authoring software and MPEG encoders for the corporate, new media, and entertainment markets. Based in San Jose, Spruce combines the best Silicon Valley software expertise with extensive DVD, MPEG and video postproduction knowledge.

For more information, contact Spruce at 408/861-2200. Additional information about Spruce is also available on the World Wide Web at: http://www.spruce-tech.com.

Note to Editors: Spruce Technologies, Inc., DVDMaestro, DVDStation, DVDConductor and DVDVirtuoso are trademarks of Spruce Technologies, Inc. Other company and product names are trademarks of their respective owners and may be registered in certain jurisdictions.

Contact:

     Spruce Technologies
     Evan Sirof, 718/225-9225 (For info & artwork)
     esirof@concentric.net