Multimedia group, 44k.com, has just finished producing the first Irish digital video disk (DVD) for the Irish Museum Of Modern Art (IMMA).

The digital presentation of Gillian Warings's Turner Prize-winning video Sacha and Mum comprises a five-minute installation encoded from Beta tape and authored using Sonic Producer software distributed by Multimedia Solutions. IMMA chose DVD as the medium for projecting and displaying the video installation because it will hold eight hours of Beta quality video, or 33 hours of VHS video cassette. The disk is programmed to loop the five- minute video as soon as it is inserted into the player, circumventing the need to constantly rewind the tape which wears out tape heads and moving parts. 44k.com has plans to host virtual Internet channels where users can present their own shows and compile their own videos. DVD is predicted to eventually replace CD-ROMs, VHS video cassettes and laser discs.