praps some of you are already aware of this...

[illadria]

Info from XBoxSolutions...

InterActual, a subsidiary of Sonic Solutions(R) and the leading provider of ROM and bonus feature technology for DVD, announced today that New Line Home Entertainment's The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Special Extended DVD Edition is shipping with an embedded virtual key that unlocks a special website filled with exclusive online features. Called DVDKey(TM), the technology from InterActual grants viewers access to content online when the DVD is placed in a PC and played back using an InterActual-compatible DVD player.

The exciting online bonus features unlocked with The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Special Extended DVD Edition include:

-- A Journal for the Ages -- Create your own journal, The Lord of the Rings style. Also includes personalized stationery, bookmarks, calendars, desktop images and more.

-- Constructing Middle Earth -- See and zoom in on the detailed plans for sets constructed for The Lord of the Rings movies. The plans are linked to video clips of the scenes that take place in these sets.

-- The Murals of Rivendell -- View the artwork that adorns the walls of Rivendell and read comments by their artist.

-- Saruman's Book -- Explore Saruman's book, and view comments by its artist/creator.

-- Character Palantir -- View graphically represented information about the characters and how they relate to each other. Includes video clips and printable portraits.

-- Cast and Crew Palantir -- Study the discography of the cast and crew and how they relate to each other. Uses an interactive Venn diagram format.

"Fans of Tolkien's work are sure to enjoy the additional depth and interactivity that these online features deliver," said Jean-Paul Leonard, creative director of Company Wide Shut and developer of the online features. "This release represents the culmination of the entire trilogy's online bonus content."

"InterActual's DVDKey allows for compelling bonus feature content that delivers the vision and detail that is expected of any derivative work based on The Lord of the Rings motion picture trilogy," said Gunthar Hartwig, program director and producer for InterActual. "Because viewers access these bonus features online, content can be updated and refreshed even after the DVD has been released."

InterActual-compatible players for Windows PCs include InterVideo WinDVD 6 with the InterActual Pack option, and the free InterActual Player included on the Extended Edition DVDs. WinDVD 6 users with the InterActual Pack can enjoy The Return of the King enhanced features in the WinDVD interface with no additional software installation required.

New Line Home Entertainment's The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Special Extended DVD Edition is available in stores now. The Extended Edition is also available in a three-title box set of The Lord of the Rings Extended Editions and in a special Collector's Gift Set.

[Desi Baggins]

All this sounds very cool, but I need it said in simple english...

Which disc goes into the PC?

What is an InterActual-compatible DVD player?

Does it run on it own or do you have to scroll through the disc's menu and select something?

[Magpie]

I think any disc will work.

You must have a dvd player on your computer (It was the best purchase I ever made. My website was done heavily by being able to watch the movies while on the computer.)

If you have a dvd player on your computer, insert the disc into it. If I remember right, doing this will call up a window that asks if you want to download the InterActual Player. (You don't... except... you need it so you must - wry smile). (If for some reason you don't get this prompt, I'm not sure what to do. I got the prompt and I was walked through the download and the installation.)

Once you have InterActual, anytime you insert the dvd into your computer, the program turns itself on. (Which is a pain if you don't want to use InterActual to watch the dvd... but I grumble). It will take you immediately to a 'page' of options including -play the movie -view online content -etc...

Clicking on 'view online content' will take you to the website. Each movie has it's own content. (Although some may have been taken down now.) The Two Towers got you free sheet music for Gollum's Song (a 5 or 6 dollar value). The regular edition ROTK lets you access 4 areas, but the extended edition lets you access the journal. (I just had both in the computer recently doing soundtrack work and I checked.)

Some one at TORn's message boards has captured the murals of Rivendell and made desktops out of them.
The desktops are here:
www.theonering.net/rumour_mill/rpg/viewer/main/41D0729F000D81D7.html
Here are the same pictures without the photoshop text
www.theonering.net/rumour_mill/rpg/viewer/main/41CAF07F000D7CF7.html
one of those links are broken and corrected in a later post (scroll down)
Also, if you scroll down, you can find some images made with the journal. I was very excited about this 'journal' since the help file refers to using them as desktop wallpaper... which means you could download them onto your computer. But, in fact, you can only print them. I looked at these pictures the day I got the EE (day of release). All the pictures of the fellowship (by Alan Lee) were 'cut' around their head pretty well except for a little halo around Sam's head. When I went back a few days later, they seemed to have replaced the pictures with square cut outs of the heads... which means you have some of the background left around the head and now you can't stack them together.. the background of one picture obscures the face of another. Legolas's rectangular picture has a colored line at the top left corner. I've had 11 weeks of basic photoshop training and I can do better than that!

So all you can do is print them out. I'm a miser about ink.. I don't want printouts... I want digital copies. I'm not happy.

Actually.. overall, I haven't been happy with the online digital content of any of the movies. They are flashy but with no real content.

Edit: Arevanye at TORn has just provided some more screen caps of the DVD content. One has to take multiple screen caps and piece them together. This is a lot of work to do. The results aren't great for these new ones since it's so difficult, but it will give you an idea of what's available if you can't access it yourself.
www.theonering.net/rumour_mill/rpg/viewer/main/41D1BC52000D8282.html

[Desi Baggins]

Thanx Magpie, you have been much help! I do have a DVD drive on my PC so I will have to check it out for myself.