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Technology Stocks : C-Cube -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: John who wrote (24349)	10/24/1997 3:17:00 PM
From: John Rieman	Respond to of 50808

Compcore has been selling SoftPeg, Softpeg2, and now SoftDVD to almost all PC OEMs who sell to consumers. It's part of the package. You can play some low frame rates from the Web using it alone. If you want to play DVD at 24 fps, you will need to add a graphics board of some type, just for the needed acceleration. How much did/does Compcore/Zoran make from this? INTEL'S MMXr TECHNOLOGY SUPPORTED BY COMPCORE'S LATEST MPEG-2/AC-3 SOFTWARE Zoran Corporation today announced that its subsidiary, CompCore Multimedia, has released its SoftPEG-2 MPEG-2/AC-3 player for use with Intel's Pentium processor with MMXr technology which was introduced today. SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA - January 8, 1997 - SoftPEG-2 is CompCore's MPEG-2 video and Dolby Digital (AC-3) audio decoder software that generates very high quality video and audio playback on PCs equipped with Intel's MMX technology. The MPEG-2 decoder plays video content at a full 720 X 480 resolution. SoftPEG-2's Dolby Digital audio decoder produces four channel Prologic Surround Sound audio through standard two channel PC audio cards. CompCore's Dolby Digital decoder was the first software certified by Dolby Laboratories. Using SoftPEG-2, users can play MPEG-2 movies without specialized decoder chips or boards. At Comdex in November, Intel's President and CEO, Andy Grove, demonstrated CompCore's MPEG-2/AC-3 technology on a system playing the popular Time Warner movies, Twister and Space Jam. "Intel's Pentium processor with MMX technology, introduced today, accelerates video processing, using applications such as CompCore's MPEG-2 software ," said Mike Amar, vice president and general manager, Desktop Products Group, Intel Corp. "Used in conjunction with Intel's MMX technology, SoftPEG-2 will offer consumers exciting new entertainment applications on the PC without requiring specialized hardware." SoftPEG-2 is CompCore's follow-on to its extremely popular MPEG-1 software product called SoftPEG. SoftPEG runs on most of today's Pentium processor-based systems and has been licensed by fifty companies worldwide with an installed base of over 7 million units. SoftPEG-2 builds upon CompCore's successful track record in MPEG-1 software and MPEG-2 hardware technology. "CompCore has been working closely with Intel over the past year to provide the most efficient MPEG-2 video decoding capabilities in software," said George Haber, executive vice president of Zoran Corporation. "SoftPEG-2 will help enrich the PC users' video and audio entertainment experience and advance the introduction of DVD applications on the PC." SoftPEG-2 is available today to qualified OEM customers. SoftPEG-2 is also an integral component of CompCore's SoftDVD software, which will include DVD Navigation, a graphical user interface and copyright protection capabilities. SoftDVD is planned to be available late first quarter 1997. Zoran Corporation (NASDAQ:ZRAN) develops and markets integrated circuits and software for digital video and audio applications enabled by compression. CompCore Multimedia Inc., a leading provider of software and hardware cores for MPEG products, was formally acquired by Zoran Corporation on December 27, 1996. Zoran's product lines include JPEG codecs, MPEG video decoders, Dolby AC-3 and MPEG audio decoders and real-time DVD and Video CD software for the PC. The company's software is bundled by PC and graphic systems manufacturers for software-only or hardware assisted DVD ROM or Video CD playback software on the PC. Current applications for Zoran IC products include professional and consumer video editing systems, PC-based and stand-alone Video CD systems, DVD-ROM and stand-alone players, digital audio systems, and filmless digital cameras. Established in 1983, the company is headquartered in Santa Clara, California and has operations in Haifa, Israel. Zoran's technologies have been adopted by many of the world's largest manufacturers including Acer, ATI, AT&T, Avid Technology, Cirrus Logic, Diamond Multimedia, Dolby, FujiFilm, Fujitsu, Hitachi, IBM, Kenwood, Matrox, Matsushita, Miro Computer, NEC, Packard Bell, Pioneer, Samsung, Sony, Toshiba, Yamaha and many others. For more information about Zoran, call (408) 986-1314. # # # ------------------------------------------------------------------------ SoftPEG and SoftDVD are trademarks of Zoran Corporation Pentium is a registered trademark of Intel Corporation MMX is a trademark of Intel Corporation Dolby Digital is a registered trademark of Dolby Laboratories, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective companies.

To: John who wrote (24349)	10/24/1997 3:21:00 PM
From: DiViT	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 50808

"What you are missing here is that Dave believes (based on his posts) that there shouldn't be a SoftDVD" You need to reread my posts again. I never said there shouldn't be a SoftDVD. I'm not totally against SoftDVD. I'm against telling people they can make money on SoftDVD stocks on the basis of SoftDVD alone. I'm not totally against SoftDVD as a solution either. It has it's place. IMO: Very limited for now, but over the next 12-24 months it could be made better (if you buy a >300Mhz Pentium to go with it). What are the minimum system requirements for SoftDVD? Advertising: SoftDVD is free with your next $6000 computer.

To: John who wrote (24349)	10/24/1997 3:37:00 PM
From: BillyG	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 50808

As a marketer, I like to have options to sell people. However, Dave feels it neccessary to "talk down" to all those who are less knowledgable (technically speaking) intead of simply pointing out his opinions. I have never posted "condecending" messages to anyone on this thread regarding Cube's direction and focus. It sounds like a lot of people are being condescending today. It's natural on a day when the market is being conDESCENDING to us. O.K. Let's evaluate technology from the marketing standpoint. Consumer sees price and consumer sees performance. (The consumer really does see performance, because we're talking about video here.) For the moment, we'll ignore the performance of the computer system and focus only on the video performance. PC Price: low ($1000), mid ($2500), high ($5000). Video Performace with SoftDVD: low -- unwatchable mid -- still unwatchable, dropped frames and unsynchronized audio/video high -- watchable; some dropped frames Video Performance with hardware DVD: low -- watchable; no dropped frames mid -- watchable; no dropped frames high -- watchable; no dropped frames You're a marketing guy, so you know there's a huge installed base of PCs. SoftDVD won't run on any of these PCs, except for a very small percentage of recently purchased high end PCs. Hardware DVD is the only option. Creative PC-DVD for about $350. Beats the hell out of buying a new expensive PC, unless you need it for other applications. Now let's look at the system performance of the entire PC while playing DVDs. System performance with SoftDVD: low -- crashes PC mid -- plays unwatchable video; better not touch the keyboard high -- plays DVD with dropped frames; better not touch the keyboard System performance with hardware DVD: low -- multitasking mid -- multitasking high -- multitasking These are the options you have to sell to people. Tell us which systems will sell. I apologize to all the tech people -- sorry if this marketing stuff is over your head. BillyG