Carl, no CUBE in blackbird, just more players trying to catch the wave.
Meanwhile, the famous Dr. LeGall has been making headlines at IBC;
Sunday 13th September
No squares at C-Cube
Didier J Le Gall, chief technical officer of C-Cube and DiviCom
Didier Le Gall from
C-Cube has been a busy man the past couple of days. The company has
made waves with its announcement of the DVxpress-MX - the industry's
first single-chip codec which allows interoperability between MPEG and
DV - and Le Gall is thrilled.
"We are very excited. This is a first in bridging DV format and MPEG
format and therefore it's the ideal tool for the professional industry," he
says.
Panasonic has already announced its support for the technology, but Le
Gall is keen to keep on friendly terms with other manufacturers too. "DV
and MPEG are bound to co-exist because they solve different problems.
And if you assume that the DV is DV50 and the MPEG2 is 4:2:2, the
conversion is essentially lossless. It becomes irrelevant whether you're
dealing with an MPEG or DV stream."
Le Gall says C-Cube is talking to pretty much anyone doing nonlinear
editing systems. "Some of them currently use the MPEG-only version of
the chip which we introduced at NAB, but my guess is that by next NAB
there'll be many products embodying this chip."
Avid has already endorsed the DVxpress-MX chip, and it could also be just
what a manufacturer like Fast has been holding out for to go into its
delayed blue nonlinear editing system.
And it's not just the new chip that's been keeping Le Gall on his toes. The
company's set-top box side of the business has just been appointed to
develop technology for next-generation DirecTV in the US and also for
British Digital Broadcasting in the UK.
In the latest development, C-Cube and DiviCom, a subsidiary of C-Cube,
have teamed up with Pioneer Electronics and Canal+ to create an
OpenCable compliant digital set-top box. Based on Canal+ technology, it
will allow advanced digital video and interactive television applications,
such as interactive programme guides. C-Cube will provide Pioneer with a
complete evaluation board including an integrated MPEG2 audio/video
decoder and a high-performance graphics system for the development of
the set-top box.
Le Gall sees the set-top box market as one of immense growth. "The goal
we work towards is keeping the cost constant while offering more
advanced graphics and interactive capabilities."
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