4/12/99
BILL FERSTER’S VIDEOGRAPHICS NEWSWIRE
ISSUE 99-10
ABOUT THIS NEWSWIRE
Bill Ferster’s VideoGraphics NewsWire is published weekly and summarizes the important events in the convergent worlds of multimedia, video, animation, chips, mass storage and computers.
Please feel free to forward this NewsWire to someone who might appreciate an item, or heaven forbid, might want to subscribe to it. Please refrain, however, from continually mailing it to others on a regular basis. You can visit my website for more information, as well as read and search past issues of this NewsWire, at http://www.stagetools.com/bill.
Business
---> New Press Release Delivery System
PR company Wall Street Communications (http://www.wallstcom.com) has offered an innovative way for companies to issue press releases to news organizations and other interested parties. WallStWire.Com is a new service that allows people to subscribe to news releases distributed email about companies their interested in to. For example, registering your email address at (http://www.wallstcom.com/stagetools/) While insure that people interested in StageTools will be sent press releases as they are issued.
---> Lightworks Sold by Tektronix
Rumor has it that Mark Pound, the former head of Lightworks Canada, has purchased the recently closed down of Lightworks division from Tektronix (http://www.tek.com), following their AvStar deal with Avid. I can only assume that he paid less than the $70M+ Tektronix originally overpaid for the company in 1994.
---> DVD Sales Market Data
The DVD Report (http://www.dvdreport.com) estimated the sell-in rate for DVD players in US has more than doubled this past year. Tape-based VCRs still out sell DVD players by an order of magnitude, with over 2.4M sold compared to 234,000 DVD players.
---> Autodesk Has Record Quarter
Leading PC CAD maker Autodesk (http://www.autodesk.com) earned record $25M on sales of $189M. This compares favorably to last year's sales of $182M.
3D TECHNOLOGY
---> NVIDIA to Add Lighting and Transformation Support
Leading 3D-chip maker NVIDIA (http://www.nvidia.com) has announced it will add the ability to perform lighting and 3D-transformation geometry within its next generation of 3D render chips. This follows on the heels of competitor 3Dlabs' own "Gamma" geometry chip. These functions are traditionally processor intensive, and will benefit greatly by being performed at the chip level.
---> Matrox Announces New 3D chip
Leading graphics board vendor Matrox (http://www.matrox.com) announced a new high-performance 3D-render chip. The "G400 MAX" boasts fill rates faster than 333M pixels/sec. Features include Dual head display, environment mapped bump mapping, full AGP texturing, anisotropic filtering, 32-bit rendering, support for 32MB of memory and a 32-bit Z-buffer.
---> NVIDIA to Support the DTV Decoder Chip
NVIDIA (http://www.nvidia.com) announced support for TeraLogic's (http://www.teralogic-inc.com) new single chip DTV "Janus" decoder. The union will provide 2D/3D graphics for all 18 DTV formats of the emerging HDTV specification.
MPEG / DVD
---> DVD licensing program Coalition
Philips Electronics (http://www.licensing.philips.com), Sony and Pioneer have created a patent licensing program for DVD makers. Ten companies contributed patents to the program, which makes it easier for makers to manufacture DVD and DVDROM-based equipment. The terms include a $10K initial fee and 3.5% percent royalty.
---> ATI licenses Ligos' MPEG encoding software
Leading graphics chip and board maker ATI (http://www.atitech.com) has licensed Ligos Technology's (http://www.ligos.com) "GoMotion" real-time MPEG 2 software-based encoding technology for inclusion with their cards.
---> Fujitsu Makes Low-cost and MPEG 2 Decoder Chip
Fujitsu (http://www.fujitsu-ede.com) introduced in the new low-cost MPEG 2 decoder chip. The new " MB87L2250" decoder uses a 2.5 frame architecture allowing B-frames stored internally and not in external memory, requiring only 16M-bit of SDRAM.
---> Lucent Announces HDTV encoder
Lucent Technologies (www.lucent.com/ldv) announced a new single chip HDTV encoder for their VideoStar line of encoders. The "HDTV-100" is a low-cost HDTV encoder with audio on a single board.
BROADCAST / POST PRODUCTION
---> Avid Intros HDTV Systems
Leading nonlinear maker Avid Technology (http://www.avid.com) took the first step into HDTV with the introduction of its 24P technology. They propose a solution that will provide a seamless multi-standard authoring system encompassing HD and traditional 601 formats, sharing metadata about the production and editorial process. Avid also announced a number of patents regarding nonlinear 24P technology.
---> Sony shows 24 Frame Segmented System
Sony Broadcast (http://www.sony.com) introduced their new 24 frame segmented HD post production technology. It is proposed as a means for transferring 24 frames per second film products via telecine to various video formats without requiring additional telecine transfers.
Each video line (up to 1125) is separated into discrete data streams, making it easy for systems to scan convert between the various formats. Sony will debut a telecine, editor, and switcher and VTR that supports the new "24sF" standard.
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CYA DISCLAIMER: The preceding NewsWire represents my best efforts to gather the facts and the offering of my opinions. Although I try to describe the world as it appears me, I make no representations as to the accuracy of the reports within, which are gleaned from press releases, print and online magazines and the Inquisit Information Service.
