Data Translation introduces Broadway, First Practical MPEG video solution for the desktop; Broadway Eliminates Price/Performance Barriers to High-Quality Digital Video on Desktop PCs and the Internet.MARLBORO Marlboro or Marlborough (märl`bərō), city (1990 pop. 31,813), Middlesex co., E Mass.; settled on the site of a Native American village 1657, inc. as a city 1890. , Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 4, 1996--Data Translation Inc. (NASDAQ NASDAQ in full National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations U.S. market for over-the-counter securities. Established in 1971 by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), NASDAQ is an automated quotation system that reports on :DATX) today introduced the Broadway video capture and compression system, the first practical and cost-effective way to enliven World Wide Web pages, business presentations, CD-ROM CD-ROM: see compact disc. CD-ROM in full compact disc read-only memory Type of computer storage medium that is read optically (e.g., by a laser). and other media with full-motion, VHS-quality video. Broadway is a high-performance video capture/encoding system for Windows PCs that produces digital video and CD-quality stereo sound based on the MPEG-1 (Moving Picture Experts Group (compression, standard, algorithm, file format, body) Moving Picture Experts Group - (MPEG, ISO/IEC JTC1/SC29 WG11) An ISO committee that generates standards for digital video compression and audio. Also the name of their algorithms. ) standard. Priced at $995, Broadway's board and intuitive interface remove the price and performance barriers to producing high-quality video on the desktop. With Broadway, Web page designers now can include high-quality video clips on their Web sites to entertain, inform and capture attention. Broadway MPEG (Moving Pictures Experts Group) An ISO/ITU standard for compressing digital video. Pronounced "em-peg," it is the universal standard for digital terrestrial, cable and satellite TV, DVDs and digital video recorders (DVRs). video outperforms proprietary video compression schemes and provides platform independence because it is an international standard. Broadway also is a powerful tool for including full-motion, high-quality video in business presentations. In addition, CD-ROM producers can use Broadway to produce MPEG titles in less time and at a fraction of the cost of other MPEG encoding systems. "Broadway represents a price-performance breakthrough that is expected to open the market for MPEG video applications on the Web, on the desktop and eventually in the home," said Fred Molinari, president and CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. of Data Translation. "The explosive growth of the Web, the increasing availability of high-performance PCs, and a market hungry for a powerful full-motion video solution makes this the right time for Broadway. With more than 20 years of digital video experience, Data Translation is well-positioned to capture and extend its lead in this arena as we continue to bring innovative solutions to the market." Before Broadway, users' only options for MPEG video were hardware-based systems that cost $5,000 or more or inexpensive software-based systems that require a lengthy time to compress video (30 to 60 times real time). Broadway produces full-motion, VHS-quality video in much less time and at a significantly lower cost than other systems. It is a complete MPEG video solution consisting of a half-size PCI (1) (Payment Card Industry) See PCI DSS. (2) (Peripheral Component Interconnect) The most widely used I/O bus (peripheral bus). (Peripheral Component Interconnect See PCI. (hardware) Peripheral Component Interconnect - (PCI) A standard for connecting peripherals to a personal computer, designed by Intel and released around Autumn 1993. PCI is supported by most major manufacturers including Apple Computer. ), add-in card and an intuitive application for video capture, editing and compression. Broadway is bundled with MediaStudio VE 2.5 by Ulead for more sophisticated video editing and is fully compatible with other popular digital video editing software Video editing software is application software which handles the editing of video sequences on a computer. It usually includes the ability to import and export video, cut and paste sections of a video clip, and add special effects and transitions; and it sometimes includes the packages such as Adobe Premiere. Broadway makes it easy and affordable to create MPEG video for playback on MPEG-enabled PCs. Today, many PC vendors as well as graphics and video card vendors support such systems. In addition, Microsoft Windows 95 and Windows NT will support MPEG via the Microsoft bundled MPEG player. "The MPEG video market is poised for rapid growth in 1996 and Microsoft is committed to MPEG video support in Windows," said Steve Raney, Microsoft's Video Tool Evangelist. "We are pleased to see the emergence of an under-$1000, hardware-accelerated MPEG capture/encoder product via Data Translation's Broadway. We believe Broadway, combined with future Windows software MPEG playback, will enable more people than ever before to experience interactive computing with full visual realism." A ROBUST MPEG SOLUTION Broadway is a robust implementation of the MPEG-1 standard for digital video compression or encoding. Compression is needed for digital video because a single second of uncompressed video would occupy more than 27 megabytes of disk storage space. The MPEG-1 standard includes three levels of encoding -- intraframe (I), bi-directional (B) and predictive (P) -- to achieve the best results. However, some MPEG encoders only implement a subset of these methods. Broadway utilizes complete I, P, and B frame encoding to produce the best possible quality video in the smallest possible file size. This is especially important for Web page and CD applications where bandwidth is limited and short download times are a must and for presentations where disk size is limited. In addition, Broadway can capture video input in real time and encode a clip in just three times real time, compared to 30 times real time for other systems. Because Broadway is designed to be compatible with versions of MPEG still in development for digital television and videophone applications, it offers a long-term solution and investment protection. BROADWAY FEATURES Broadway can accept S-Video or composite input from a camcorder or VCR VCR: see videocassette recorder. VCR in full videocassette recorder Electromechanical device that records, stores on a videotape cassette, and plays back on a TV set recorded images and sound. and can deliver output via CD-ROM, over a local or wide area network, or to a local disk file. Broadway can also compress Video for Windows The name of Microsoft's first video playback implementation in Windows. Supporting the AVI movie format, Video for Windows (VfW) was installed separately in Windows 3.x, but was later built into Windows 95 and subsequent versions. (AVI) files to MPEG and produce either an editable form of MPEG (AVI) or fully compressed MPEG-1 video files. Under NTSC (National TV Standards Committee) The committee that developed the television standards for the U.S, which are also used in Canada, Japan, South Korea and several Central and South American countries. Both the committee and the standard are called "NTSC. , video output size is 352x240 pixels (SIF) or 176x120 (QSIF QSIF Quarter Source Input Format QSIF Quarter Standard Image Format QSIF Quarter Source Intermediate Format ). Broadway's digital video capabilities are based on C-Cube's proven MPEG encoding technology. Broadway requires an MPC (1) (Mobile PC) A handheld or laptop computer. See handheld computer, laptop computer and Ultra-Mobile PC. (2) (MultiPath Channel) See multipath. 3 compatible system, which includes a Pentium processor and PCI expansion slot, minimum 8 MB RAM, SVGA video, an audio card with capture capability, and Windows 95 or Windows NT. AVAILABILITY General availability for Broadway will be in May 1996 through Data Translation. Data Translation Inc., (NASDAQ:DATX) is a world leader in the design, manufacture and marketing of high performance digital video, multimedia, digital signal processing See DSP. Digital Signal Processing - (DSP) Computer manipulation of analog signals (commonly sound or image) which have been converted to digital form (sampled). and data acquisition hardware, software and systems. Founded in 1973 and headquartered in Marlborough, Mass., the company is at the forefront in the development of standards-based digital video editing and playback systems that offer significant price and performance advantages over competing products. Broadway product information is obtainable via the World Wide Web at http://www.b-way.com. -0- Broadway is a trademark of Data Translation Inc. All other products mentioned are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. CONTACT: Marsha Sanders or Rich Nagle/Kim Girard Data Translation LNS Communications 508/481-3700 x553 617/577-9777 msanders@datx.com rnagle@lnscom.com/ kgirard@lnscom.com |
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