The Infodisc Group announced that it has launched Infopictures GmbH, a service to support content owners who do not have the personnel, equipment or know-how to release their material on DVD and Blu-ray Disc (BD).

For more information visit: www.infodisc.eu

Unedited press release follows:

Infopictures – a further step of the Infodisc group to a media allrounder

Renchen, 11. März 2010 – Infodisc’s success story began with the simple disc. Starting as a packaging company in Renchen, Germany, the company has developed into an extensive media business and now offers a brand new service.

The newly founded Infopictures GmbH expands the service portfolio of the Infodisc group by supporting licensees to publish DVD and Blu-ray products.

Infodisc Technology GmbH was the first independent replicator to invest in the Blu-ray format in 2007 and has since then developed into one of the leading independent replicators world-wide.

Managing Director Michael Gutowski about his corporate philosophy: “From the beginning, we have met the challenge of changing market and customer requirements by offering a complete and diverse range of services. Customers expect an all-embracing service-package, and we are constantly working to provide that in a fast and competent way.”

Consequently, replication and packaging was expanded by setting up Infomedia Multi Media Services GmbH in April 2008, which offers services like authoring, encoding, mastering or dubbing. Major and independent labels can make use of these and other services such as conceptual design or editorial, thereby outsourcing labour-intensive and costly procedures.

Now, the “Info” family is growing even further: The newly founded Infopictures GmbH addresses all kinds of content owners. Michael Gutowski: “After 10 years of experience with Infodisc, we founded a new branch in late 2009 to offer a new service to licensees, staying true to our motto:

You have the content – we do the rest.

This includes all services of the Infodisc group, up to the point of a DVD or Blu-ray release.”

The concept appeals to all publishers and licensees. It is of special interest for licensees who own suitable content but do not have the necessary personnel, equipment or know-how to release them.

The service of Infopictures is also interesting for major publishers with an extensive catalogue. They always hold licenses that are not released for various reasons and are mostly sublicensed. Infopictures offers to take care of these titles.

Companies that hold licenses but do not commercialize them themselves can delegate all organizational tasks necessary for a release to Infopictures and concentrate on their core strenghts.

Finally, Infopictures offers to test archived titles for their marketability in order to generate new sales for promising titles.

The financing model is attractive to all parties. Michael Gutowski points out: “Our concept is interesting for all licensees because the financial risk is shared between both parties. The transparency of our costs will of course be guaranteed. The finished product will either be delivered back to the content owner if he wants to release it himself, or we offer to take over sales and marketing for him. We are flexible enough to find a suitable solution for every title.”

The comprehensive service is accompanied by a technical innovation developed by Infodisc: COPY-TO-GO provides a number of device-optimized files of a movie, which can be transferred directly to mobile devices like PlayStationPortable, iPhone or Blackberry. The product is also extendable to all other devices like cell phones or applications like Windows Media Player. As the resolution and the format are already optimized to the specific handheld, the installation is smooth and easy and requires only a few steps. COPY-TO-GO is available as a stand-alone product or as a hybrid disc, which contains both the movie in DVD standard definition as well as the optimized files for the transfer to mobile devices. As a stand-alone product, COPY-TO-GO can be marketed as a single product or as a bonus disc attached to DVD or Blu-ray releases. If requested by the content owner, COPY-TO-GO can be equipped with various copy protection solutions.

With these new services, the “Info” group takes another step towards becoming a Full Service Provider. From development via license administration, product management and authoring to production and release all operational sequences are intra-corporate. In conclusion, Michael Gutowski says, “Service will always be our primary concern.

And what comes next? We will constantly continue to optimize our services. Especially with respect to digital distribution we see a huge potential. Be curious and watch out for further information in April.”

The Infodisc Group, consisting of Infopictures, Infomedia Multi Media Services and Infodisc Technology, is one of the leading service providers for optical storage media worldwide. The Infodisc Group offers a one-stop solution including license evaluation, project management, authoring, replication, printing, packaging and distribution with the focus on the high definition format Blu-ray. The Infodisc Group is audited and certified by all relevant organisations of the industry.