Not just for movies: Company aims to put DVDs in business.

• Author: Brady, Sharon
• Position: Colorado Cutting Edge

JOE ZEIMENTZ IS FROM THE MID-west, where practicality sells and pretense generally doesn't. So the fact that Midwesterners are taking to DVDs is an important signal to the no-nonsense founder and president of Centered Solutions, a Denver-based DVD production company that is exploring new and pragmatic ways to tap the business potential of the DVD format.

"DVD is finally being used out there for things other than watching movies," Zeimentz says. "But most business people haven't seen it themselves. Once they see it, they say 'WOW!' The light goes on and they see that it really makes sense."

DVD, which was developed in the mid-1990s by Warner Bros., Sony Corp. and various other firms, stands for Digital Versatile Disc. It is similar to a CD-ROM but can store much more video, music, games, movies, text and PDF files.

DVDs provide clearer and sharper pictures than VHS tapes. And they're more profitable; companies often net 40 percent more on the sale of a DVD than a VHS tape.

Centered Solutions' job is to re-orient, educate and upgrade companies to use DVD instead of video for their business communications.

Says Zeimentz: "They have already spent the majority of their investment in the production costs of creating and shooting the videos. Once they have created the video, the cost of outputting the video to a DVD is fairly modest."

DVD players now retail for $99 to $150, Zeimentz says, and many people have them in their homes, so they understand how to use them. "If you have a VCR player in your office, there is no reason why you shouldn't have a DVD player in the...