5/17/99
BILL FERSTER’S VIDEOGRAPHICS NEWSWIRE
ISSUE 99-16
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
---> Study Says DTV Good for PC's -- Not TVs
The McLaughlin Consulting Group (http://www.mcgweb.com/reports/dtvopps.htm) released a market report that the coming digital-TV revolution will help spur video-enabled PCs before causing sales increase in DTV-capable TV sets. They claim it will be more cost effective for early adopters to upgrade their PCs with add-in cards than buy more costly DTV monitors.
BROADCAST / POST-PRODUCTION
---> Orad Merges with Imadgine Video Systems
Leading virtual set maker Orad (http://orad.com) will boost its US presence by merging with virtual electronic advertising system maker Imadgine Video Systems (http://www.imadgine.com). Orad's sensor-less solution to camera positioning in the virtual set world is becoming more and more popular among broadcasters.
3D TECHNOLOGY
---> OpenGL Takes Control of Setup
One of the more difficult issues in using OpenGL on the consumer level, getting the hardware setup, is being addressed by the OpenGL community. A group of developers have created an OpenGL installation program called "GLSetUp" (http://www.glsetup.com) to help ease the process further promote the use of OpenGL.
---> Motion Factory Supports Sega's DreamCast
Motion Factory (http://www.motion-factory.com) an innovative maker of object oriented behavior-scripting software for 3D digital actors said at E3 they will have a run-time engine available for the Sega DreamCast consumer gaming console. This is an important move for Motion Factory, who has been struggling with excellent technology, but limited gaming-industry buy-in.
---> E&S Release New 3D Render Cards
Leading simulation toolmaker Evans and Sutherland (http://www.es.com) announced a new high-end 3D-render accelerator card. The "E&S Tornado 3000" uses E&S's own REALimage 3000 chips and offers 5M polygons/sec and 100M Pixel fill rates.
---> IBM Breaks Another Hard Disk Record
IBM's (http://www.ibm.com) efforts in increasing the density of magnetic disk storage has been marked by a steady stream of breakthroughs. This new one will store 2.5GB per square inch of disk space. John Markoff of the NY Times commented that at this that, disk technology is out-pacing the already staggering pace of the semiconductor industry maxim of Moore's Law, and will be on the market in 2002.
---> Apple Ships Mac OpenGL Drivers
Apple (http://www.apple.com/opengl) came through on their promise of OpenGL support for the Macintosh by shipping the new drivers for software and hardware-assisted 3D rendering with the ATI chips found in many new Mac computers. OpenGL for Macintosh requires a PowerPC-based Mac with OS8.1 or later. An iMac or new Power Macintosh G3 is recommended.
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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.
