MainConcept Announces JPEG2000 SDK For NAB2006; Codec SDK Includes Full DCI Compliance.

AACHEN, Germany -- MainConcept, a worldwide leader in codec technology, has announced the availability of its JPEG2000 SDK for NAB 2006. At the show in Las Vegas, the company will demonstrate this brand new SDK in action with its J2K Codec application for Windows.

The JPEG2000 standard provides a set of features that are important to many high-end and emerging applications in the digital imaging market by taking advantage of new technologies. JPEG2000 is ideal for many applications including digital cameras, pre-press, remote sensing, medical imaging, e-commerce and other key sectors. It addresses areas where current standards fail to produce the best quality and performance, and it and provides capabilities to markets that currently do not use compression.

DCI (Digital Cinema Initiative) adopted JPEG2000 for video encoding of motion pictures. Current movie distribution and presentation from movie rolls is expected to be replaced by digital projectors that will play high-resolution mj2 streams with superior image and sound quality.

The MainConcept J2K Codec features the fastest possible decoder, which utilizes Dual Core technology to allow real-time playback of HD streams. The encoder provides the best possible quality at the fastest possible speed.

JPEG 2000 Codec Main Features

--Supports RGB and YUV color spaces, alpha channel

--DirectShow filters for both Encoder and Decoder plus mj2 muxer/demuxer

--HT and multi-CPU ready

--Full DCI compliance (ISO/IEC15444-1 Profile-3 and Profile-4)

--Many encoding options (code-blocks, precints progression, DWT levels, quality layers, etc.)

--Exact control over final bit-rate, no recompression needed

--Additional decoder options to fine tune speed/quality ratio

"J2K is an emerging standard which is very important to MainConcept," said MainConcept founder and CEO Markus Moenig. "As a leader in codec technology, we recognized the immediate need for a market-leading J2K Codec. Our newly founded J2K team has been working for the past 18 months to provide the best possible codec solution. The first version of the codec reflects our devoted commitment to J2K and to the professional market in general."

MainConcept will also expand the JPEG2000 codec to run on Linux as well as on Intel-based Macs and on its Broadcast HDTV Encoder, the DSP Hardware solution "ProjectNext".

For further information, please visit our team at NAB2006, at booth SL 1227 or visit MainConcept's website at www.mainconcept.com.

About MainConcept

MainConcept is a worldwide leader in codec technologies for personal computers, set-top boxes, DSP and embedded solutions. The company offers SDKs which make it easy for developers to implement codecs and other multimedia features with minimal research and development. MainConcept technology is used in products from many leading companies.

MainConcept AG is headquartered in Aachen, Germany, where it was founded and has operated for 13 years. The U.S. subsidiary, MainConcept LLC, was established in 2001 in Beachwood, Ohio. In 2006 MainConcept Japan opened offices in Osaka and Hong Kong to serve clients in the Asia-Pacific region.

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