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

To: let who wrote (34490)	7/20/1998 9:52:00 AM
From: J Fieb	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50808

Optivision VSTOR(TM) 100 Series MPEG Video Encoder Selected by Leading Digital Video Disk (DVD) Producer for Beatles Movie Project Optivision's High-Resolution VS-150 System Dramatically Improves Productivity And Provides Tremendous Cost Savings for Stimulus PALO ALTO, Calif., July 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Optivision(TM), Inc., experts in the management of digital video content distribution, today announced Optivision's VS-150 MPEG system has been selected by Stimulus, a top producer of DVDs and video-on-demand solutions. Stimulus, based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, is a leading producer of digital video and has worldwide rights to approximately 12,700 feature film titles. Stimulus was recently awarded an opportunity to produce Beatles movies on DVD for a major client. It was a challenging project, involving digitizing archival footage and requiring extra care to preserve the images during the encoding process. Stimulus needed a top quality, cost effective MPEG 2 digital video encoding solution to do the job. Optivision's high-resolution VS-150 system was ideal for Stimulus' application, with the ability to accept the selected video from any source; compress it as an MPEG 2 video stream for realtime capture and storage; and output movie-quality video on a variety of networks. ''The Beatles project required better encoding techniques than we'd used in the past. This was the beginning of what we hoped would be a large contract, so we did our homework and test-benchmarked every encoder solution on the market today. Optivision's VS-150 system won hands-down with an unbelievable level of quality,'' said Bill Dever, executive vice president of Stimulus. ''A lot of encoders require video to pass through three times to achieve movie-quality. With their adaptive field frame technology, Optivision only required one pass, and the quality was superior.'' The VS-150 system features intelligent Constant Bit Rate, which allows Stimulus to capture and encode video at a constant bit rate with a single encode process; achieving better quality over most Variable Bit Rate encoders. With top quality, one-pass encoding, Stimulus has reduced what was once a six hour encoding process to only two hours -- a dramatic improvement in productivity and labor costs. ''Optivision really thought this product through for an online production unit model. It produces a good stable image, and it's a clean process,'' Dever said. ''You can save all the time you want, but if you're not putting out a high quality product [like Optivision], you're wasting your time.'' In addition to saving time in the encoding process, the Optivision VS-150 system makes it easy for Stimulus to encode movie-quality video at their production lab in Calgary and send the file over the network to the sales office in Boca Raton, Florida. This results in tremendous time and cost savings over sending videos via express mail, especially now that Stimulus is up to 12,700 films and counting. The Optivision high-resolution VS-150 system offers movie-quality video transport and is available today as a component of a complete network video solution. Optivision was listed in CUBE's PR on the DVexpert, c-cube.com But I'm not sure about this product. John R.?

To: let who wrote (34490)	7/20/1998 9:53:00 AM
From: BillyG	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50808

U.S. investors optimistic about Chinese economy............... nikkeibp.asiabiztech.com U.S. Investors Optimistic About Chinese Economy, Survey Says July 20, 1998 (BEIJING) -- A recent survey conducted by the American Chamber of Commerce in China indicated that despite Asia's recession, most U.S. investors in China are optimistic about the Chinese economy. Among the 162 business people responding to the survey, more than 60 percent said that problems in other parts of Asia will not hinder their investments in China, and 33 percent plan to promote their businesses in the country to counter the crisis. The survey, following a similar one conducted last December, raised four questions for chamber members on their business operations in China in the coming year. It showed that U.S. investors see no change for their business prospects in China, with 61 percent expressing confidence. Nearly 90 percent said they intend to expand their business in China within three to five years, while 80 percent plan to hire more Chinese employees. The problems encountered in China by the respondents include limits on their business scope, lack of transparency in laws and regulations, difficulties in employing local personnel, and high tariffs and taxes. Related story: U.S. Investors Optimistic About China's Future, Survey Says (Xinhua News Agency)