IBM encoder........................................
macweek.zdnet.com
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JULY 17, 1998
Argon encoder to take on DVD
By Christina Follmann (christina_follmann@macweek.com)
Wired Inc. said it intends to use its Argon real-time encoder to illuminate a path to multimedia and Digital Video Disc presentations.
The MPEG-2 DVD hardware and software package for Power Macs is due by the end of the month as part of a $4,999 bundle called Ginseng. Ginseng is primarily designed for DVD authoring and intranet video-on-demand transmissions, Wired said.
The hardware portion of Argon is a 7-inch PCI card that captures, encodes, and multiplexes video and audio in real time into MPEG or MPEG-2 streams, PCM (Pulse Code Modulation) audio, and constant bit rate and variable bit rate (VBR) formats. It will work at between 128 Kbps and 15 Mbps.
The board will have inputs for composite video, S-video and line-level audio, and it will come with expansion connectors for component and D1 video input as well as audio compression standards such as AC-3, Wired said.
The software component of Argon creates MPEG streams in real time. It also lets users preview encoded video and audio before recording, the company said.
The Ginseng bundle will include Wired's Mason 10 decoder board, available since 1996. A version for Windows is due in August, and a Linux version will arrive in November.
Wired's previous encoder card, Butanell, was more expensive than Argon and lacked some of its DVD features, such as PCM and VBR support. It also used a longer (12-inch) PCI card.
Wired Inc. of Mountain View, Calif., is at (650) 969-9300; fax (650) 969-0119; info@wiredinc.com; wiredinc.com.
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