This story is a bit old, but I don't know if anyone has addressed the possible competition between the two mpeg-2 companies now that SIGM has an encoder...
Sigma Designs Announces REALmagic DVR for DVD Recording and Playback on PCs
LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 21, 1999--Sigma Designs, Inc. (Nasdaq:SIGM - news), a recognized leader in digital video solutions for personal computers, today announced REALmagic Digital Video Recorder (DVR), a low-cost encoder and decoder card for creating and playing MPEG-2 DVD titles.
Sigma has established itself as a technology and quality leader in the hardware DVD/MPEG decoding market. With REALmagic DVR, users can record DVD-quality video captured from any video source. REALmagic DVR makes it possible to record, edit, author, and archive DVD-quality video on PCs. Recorded DVD video can then be played back, edited, and stored on DVD discs or PC hard disk drives for corporate use or for consumer applications at home.
Commercial content providers will take advantage of the full-function codec solution, creating master videos stored on DVD-RAM drives for subsequent distribution. Home consumers can use the encoder to create personal high-quality videos for sending with email messages or for storage on DVD discs and playback on a DVD player, on PC hard drives, or on CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, or DVD-RAM drives.
REALmagic DVR is an innovative approach to bringing DVD publishing to a broader base of DVD content providers. It can be used to create DVD titles for applications ranging from feature film releases to corporate and industrial titles. It also enables long-awaited consumer ''killer applications,'' including a digital VCR with timeshifting capability and video email.
''REALmagic DVR, with support for MPEG encoding, will enable content providers to develop DVD titles for use in corporations or in the home, using any video input source and any output storage medium,'' explained William K. Wong, Sigma Designs' vice president of marketing.
''REALmagic DVR will also accelerate convergence of the PC and TV by enabling PC users to record a TV show or movie, rewind to the beginning of the TV program or a movie while it is still being recorded, and instantly replay the footage. This interactive capability with the TV screen will dramatically enhance the TV watching experience by helping consumers personalize their TV/video viewing in a way that suits them,'' Wong noted.
''What makes it so appealing to the consumer is the ability to create a more informative and entertaining viewing experience.''
REALmagic DVR consists of the encoder chip and Sigma's award-winning MPEG-2 decoder silicon. Samples of REALmagic DVR will be available later in the second quarter, with volume production expected in the third quarter of 1999. REALmagic DVR will be sold through OEMs and system integrators. The suggested retail price for the codec card is $999.
About Sigma Designs
Sigma Designs is an acknowledged leader in the fast-growing multimedia market. Sigma entered the multimedia market in 1993 with products based on the MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) standard for compressing and decompressing digital audio and video signals. Sigma is a driving force in advancement of the MPEG technology used in most multimedia products on the market today.
Sigma Designs' products, marketed under the REALmagic trade name, include affordable MPEG/DVD video and audio decoding hardware used in consumer and commercial PC-based applications. Sigma products are sold worldwide through a direct sales force, distributors, and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). For more information, visit the company's web site at sigmadesigns.com.
Editors and Analysts: For further information, photographs and interviews, please contact Andy Marken, marken@cerf.net or 408/096-0100.
Note to Editors: REALmagic is a trademark, and Sigma Designs is a registered trademark of Sigma Designs. Other products and companies referred to herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. |
