Spruce Technologies and DVD producer Phil Martino have teamed up to bring instant DVD authoring to NetAid, a musical event being held October 9 to raise public awareness of world poverty. The event is sponsored by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Cisco Systems.

NetAid will be simultaneously broadcast and netcast from three different stages — Giants Stadium in New Jersey, Wembley Stadium in London, and The Opera House in Geneva. Throughout the event, artists at all three venues will perform simultaneously. NetAid is expected to be one of the world’s most widely broadcast programs ever for social change.

Spruce has provided two DVDStation-MX authoring stations, complete with DVDMaestro authoring software and the new MPX-3000 MPEG video and audio encoding board. Using the Spruce systems, Martino and his team will undertake the daunting task of capturing and logging every song and performance from every camera position at all three venues during the 15-hour event. Each song will be individually tagged with an MTV-style identification. The team will then transform this material into playable DVD titles within 24 hours.

The DVDs produced by Martino’s team will be played the following day in a video juke box at the Cisco Systems booth at the Telecom 99 show (booth 7182) being held October 10-17 at the Palexpo Center in Geneva. A motion menu on the DVD will feature the three stages and a backstage area, enabling viewers to access any of the performances or songs immediately.

Performers at Net Aid include Bono, Bryan Ferry, Bush, Counting Crows, David Bowie, Sheryl Crow, Puff Daddy, Busta“ Rhymes, Mary J. Blige, Sting, and more. For more information about NetAid, visit www.netaid.org.