IBM has their own CSS....................................
biz.yahoo.com
Wednesday June 25 10:49 AM EDT
Company Press Release
IBM Announces New Descrambler Software
First To Offer Software To Work With Digital Video Chips
FISHKILL, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 25, 1997--IBM today announced new descrambler software which is designed to translate encrypted motion picture content on digital video disks (DVDs). IBM is the first company to offer the industry an integrated software/hardware solution, giving consumers an effective, affordable alternative to hardware-only technologies.
To complement its existing decoder chip technology, IBM has developed a software system designed to descramble copy-protected disk content for viewing on a PC. This extends the role of the PC in the DVD marketplace by giving users an attractively priced, highly effective solution -- adding benefits to the clarity of sound and picture that DVD provides.
IBM's MPEG-2 decoder chips are used for viewing material contained on digital video disks (or digital versatile disks, as they are also known). DVDs, which are just now entering the consumer marketplace, are similar to CD-ROMs but have greater storage capacity and allow for the viewing of digitized versions of full-length motion pictures.
IBM offers two MPEG-2 decoder chips designed for use in multimedia PCs and mobile systems. The chips decode, or decompress, large amounts of data so they can be viewed as digital video. The advantage of viewing MPEG-2-based digital video compared with traditional analog video is the richer, more colorful, higher resolution pictures, and clear multichannel digital audio. (MPEG stands for the Moving Pictures Experts Group, an industry association working on common standards for digital video and audio products.)
``Without the protection of scrambling, digitized movies would be susceptible to high-quality copying,'' said Nick King, general manager of I/O and storage product group, IBM Microelectronics. ``With this software and decoder chip technology, IBM is providing an affordable means of viewing motion pictures that are secured under a content scrambling system.''
To provide an economical solution for systems manufacturers, each video decoder can operate with as little as 1 megabyte of external dynamic random access memory (DRAM).
The descrambler software, as well as samples of the two digital video decoder chips called the MPEG-CD1M and MPEG-CD1V, are available now. A kit, which includes the descrambler software and the decoder chips, is priced at $27 in quantity.
IBM has been involved from the outset in the cross-industry discussions surrounding copy protection methods for digital motion pictures released on the DVD format. During 1996, these activities led to the definition of the Content Scrambling System (CSS), which is available through a license to both content owners and to the suppliers of either systems or components wishing to play back the copy-protected material.
EDITORS' NOTE: IBM news releases are available on the Internet, via the IBM Home Page at ibm.com IBM Microelectronics' Home Page is located at chips.ibm.com and the URL address for MPEG products is chips.ibm.com
(a) IBM Microelectronics is a trademark of International Business Machines Corporation. All other names or products are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.
Pricing is current as of June 25, 1997 and is subject to change without notice.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact:
IBM
Jim Keller
914/892-5480
bisons1@vnet.ibm.com |
