C-Cube Message Board - Msg: 2214787

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Technology Stocks : C-Cube

CUBE 36.64

-0.5%

Dec 5 9:30 AM EST

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To: DiViT who wrote (22660)	9/17/1997 9:13:00 PM
From: John Rieman	of 50808

The secret of interactive VCD, MPEG1.9, and variable bit rate encoding. The China Video Disc. Maybe this is what Mr. Woo was thinking about when he was predicting a fall off in VCD sales after next year............................................... ijumpstart.com Interactive VCD But the biggest story of all is the next generation player. Details are scant and shrouded in secrecy but we know that Apple, Microsoft and Philips are all vying for the prize of being first with an interactive VCD player. The next generation has been dubbed China Video Disk (CVD). Some details can be revealed. For example the quality issue can be resolved by a move up from MPEG-1 towards MPEG-2. Some have dubbed this MPEG-1.9. The White Book specification was written on the assumption of a 1x drive. That situation has changed and VCD players already have a 4x mechanism. The Chinese TV set has a 400 line resolution but the VCD player only delivers 250 lines, so clearly there is room for improvement. The problem is that VCD is based on a 650 Mb CD-ROM format. Double the data on the disc and you halve the play time. Clearly this is not acceptable. Move up from 650 Mb and you lose backwards compatibility, plus you strain the technical resources of the back-street replicators. The solution may lie with variable bit-rate encoding. This is a feature of MPEG-2 but not in the MPEG-1 specification. But there is no reason why it could not be. Variable bit-rate encoding would dramatically increase the play time of a 650 Mb disc by using little space to decode scenes which had little movement. The next generation player will add access to games, Internet browsing and interactivity. The addition of a wireless keyboard could transform the VCD into a powerful instrument for education and social engineering. The beauty is that the device could be used in schools and the child could then take the disc away to do homework. The ever-present piracy problem is a powerful deterrent for western publishers. They see the glass as half empty. We see it as half full. Already Time Warner is believed to be secretly pre-releasing Video CD blockbuster titles in China at $5. That is the way to beat the pirates, rather than chopping off their heads. When the Chinese government realises what is happening it will want alliances with western publishers. That is the time to start getting excited. And it may be closer than you think. Watch this space.

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