User:Waltklap/sandbox

Stan Cornyn Addition

Stan also envisioned “The Whole Megillah.” As a result, Stan's people at Warner New Media (WNM) built a Megillah Project demonstration system, which was widely viewed within Warner Communications, and resulted in patent 5161034. This patent was later linked to Time Warner’s DVD work. WNM also published several interactive multimedia Compact Discs, such as “How Computers Work” and “Desert Storm.”

Megillah System

Starting in 1988, the Megillah System, also knows as "The Whole Megillah," was Warner New Media’s and Time Warner Interactive’s demonstration system for showcasing a future media player for distributing new entertainment products like movies, television, multimedia, games and other interactive products. Features from this system became part of the DVD (Digital Video Disc). Additionally, at least one patent resulting from the project helped protect the movie and television studios from paying more royalties a patent holding company which claimed the DVD infringed on their patents.

History

After Warner New Media (WNM) brainstorming sessions run by Stan Cornyn, Al McPherson, George Lydecker, Michael Case and Walt Klappert, work began in earnest with a visit to Pioneer Electronics in Japan in 1988 which resulted in a system which would provide alternative subtitling to an advanced Laserdisc player using a Japanese NEC (Nippon Electric Company) Computer with an expansion card which enabled closed captioning over video. The Laserdisc player was already capable of doing secondary audio programming. So, this system could play back a movie in multiple languages in audio as well as in subtitles. The Laserdisc also contained audio descriptions for the visually impaired.

The WNM team then turned to adding alternative simultaneous video capability. They replaced the Japanese computer with an American IBM personal computer clone and added video cards. They programmed the cards to grab alternate video from multiple videos which were interlaced with one another. This meant when videos from two cameras were delivered as interlaced video, the Megillah system could select which of the videos you watched at any moment. This worked well for two cameras covering a Basketball game for example. Later, videos from four cameras at a Fleetwood Mac a rock concert were interlaced, and this also made a good demonstration of alternative videos. Remarkably, the ability to switch between alternative video became one of the DVD’s (Digital Video Disc) capabilities. In DVD Video this feature is called "angles."

A Megillah demonstration also included an interactive media program about the rock band Fleetwood Mac, a multimedia program of menus, slides, video and audio where a user of the system could make choices from the menus and the Laserdisc player would hop from place to place on the disc to allow an exploration of the discs contents. Walt Klappert, who became the lead technical person on the project by 1990, invented a way of embedding the branching information on the Laserdisc for the Megillah System. United States Patent number 5161034 covers this invention. The invention was important later as one of several examples of prior art when Warner Bros. and other studios were defending themselves again outside patent holders.

Also, many meetings occurred between Warner New Media and Warren Lieberfarb’s group at Warner Home Video (WHV), especially with Lewis Ostrover and Chris Cookson from the Warner Bros. Studio. These were brainstorm session to make sure Megillah features ended up in the DVD standard. WHV worked primarily with Toshiba in this effort, but also worked with the other major companies who brought the DVD to market.

Megillah was a somewhat secret project for years, but it was shown frequently at Warner New Media’s, and later Time Warner Interactive’s, offices in Burbank, California. The system eventually got built into a road box about 5-foot long, 2-foot wide and 3.5-foot tall on wheels so it could travel anywhere. In addition to company meetings in the continental United States, Megillah was also shown in an Executive conference in Hawaii and another one in Acapulco, Mexico. Eventually, Time Warner President Steven Jay Ross got a personal demonstration, and Mister Ross invented Director and Producer Steven Spielberg to see the system. Mister Spielberg was amused to see one of his movies “Innerspace” was featured in the demonstration.

Eventually, Time Warner Interactive made a copy of the Megillah system and installed it for the opening of the Warner Bros. Studio store on 5th Avenue in New York City. Warner New Media became known as Time Warner Interactive after the merger between Time Incorporated and Warner Communication completed.