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

To: David G.W. Ye who wrote (36232)	9/25/1998 11:56:00 PM
From: BillyG	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 50808

A few dots from the article............. 3.2 Ideal MPEG editing system The ideal low-cost MPEG editing system would be centered around a single (video processor) IC which is capable of performing all of the computationally intensive video processing tasks needed for a full-featured editing system: MPEG encode, dual stream MPEG decode, and digital video effects processing. To further reduce the system cost, the IC would also be able to capture audio (the days of silent movies having long ended, and audio subsystems are not free), interface directly with the now ubiquitous PCI bus (no glue logic), and use industry standard memory. <<SNIP>> 4.5 Publishing to digital video disc (DVD) and video compact disk (VCD) The first questions asked when buying a digital video editor will no longer be "What's the image quality?" or "What transitions and special effects are supported?" but rather, "Can I make a VCD with my CD-R (recordable) drive?" or "Can I make a DVD with my DVD-RAM drive?". For an MPEG-based digital video editor, the answer will be a resounding, 'yes.' With an MPEG hardware CODEC, the sophistication of the VCD or DVD authoring functions will depend on software; more advanced authoring products can be supported without adding extra hardware. A low-end system might offer only constant bit rate encoding for DVD, whereas a high-end system could offer one-pass or multi-pass variable bit rate encoding. Value could also be added by including software tools for sub-pictures and other ancillary streams on a DVD disk. <<SNIP>> Digital cameras are replacing analog cameras and in a few years an analog camera will be as difficult to find as a black and white TV is today. Along with the market's change to digital cameras is the change to a digital interface (between the camera and VTRs and editing systems) through the IEEE1394 (electrical) and DV (data) standards. In a few years, users (from consumers to studio professionals) will be able to connect cameras and computers together as easily as TVs are connected to analog cameras today. In addition to the establishment of standards, highly efficient large-scale integration semiconductors with the power of a supercomputer are being brought to market in economical packages at one-thousandth the cost of rack-mounted systems of just two years ago. Coupled with the miniaturization and cost reduction of the new super semiconductors is the amazing capacity increases and lower prices of hard disks. Even with efficient compression algorithms like MPEG-2, video editing uses a lot of disk space. However, due to the boom in personal computers, multi-gigabyte disks can be bought today for just a few hundred dollars. And, there is an additional cost savings from MPEG-2. Because of its efficient compression capabilities the bandwidth needed to pass video to a disk is reduced. That means conventional EDI disk interfaces can easily cope without the need for SCSI interfaces to the disk. <<SNIP>> 6.1 Architecture C-Cube Microsystems recently introduced its fourth generation video processor architecture, a single chip codec (encoder/decoder). The architecture provides for a programmable video processor/compression engine that uses a micro-SPARC RISC core and includes special hardware for video I/O, video compression pre-processing, motion estimation, motion compensation, DCTs, (Discrete Cosine Transforms - see glossary) IDCTs, (Inverse Discrete Cosine Transforms) variable length encoding and decoding, video scaling and compositing, and audio capture. It interfaces with 8 MB of SDRAM and includes a standard PCI interface and an inter-processor channel used for advanced standard definition MPEG-2 encoding and high-definition TV (HDTV) encoding using multiple processors. The architecture can be programmed to address any number of applications: broadcast, low-delay communication, and authoring. C-Cube's DVxpress product line implements the architecture to meet the unique requirements of non-linear editing applications. The product line includes single chip codecs for both prosumer and professional studio applications. Each DVxpress product is capable of performing all of the major editing functions: single stream encode, dual stream decode with alpha compositing and/or scaling, and audio capture. Achieving this level of integration means that an MPEG-2 4:2:2@ML-based non-linear digital editing system can be made for a PC with a PCI AIB that contains a single DVxpress chip, A/V I/O chips, and 8 MB of SDRAM. The same low-cost AIB can serve both consumer and professional markets, although truly high-end products might use two DVxpress chips and/or additional hardware. 6.2 Prosumer/Consumer systems Because a Dvxpress-powered editing AIB can be made with so few components, a product can be made that is affordable for prosumers (high-end consumers) and consumers. And, because of the high compression ratios obtainable with MPEG-2, an editing AIB can be added to a standard PC without the need for high-performance memory or a faster and larger hard drive.

To: David G.W. Ye who wrote (36232)	9/26/1998 10:25:00 AM
From: John Rieman	Respond to of 50808

Interactive DVD is the gamer's top choice...................... next-generation.com IDSA: Games Are Fastest Growing Entertainment In its second annual report on the state of games, the IDSA sees strong growth for the interactive entertainment industry, higher pentration of game consoles, and a bright future for DVD-ROM. September 24, 1998 According to the IDSA, the future of video games looks so good, it is now the fastest growing segment of the highly competitive entertainment industry. The IDSA report is based on proprietary research and consumer surveys, as well as in-depth interviews with top entertainment software CEOs and other experts. "Interactive entertainment is going through a dynamic period, powered by mass-market penetration and exploding new technology," said Douglas Lowenstein, president of the IDSA. "Video and PC games are becoming ubiquitous worldwide as the industry races ahead to keep up with growing demand from consumers of all ages and interests." Some of the key points in the report include: The industry is headed for another record-breaking year, with growth of more than 30 percent in the first half of 1998. This growth comes on top of 1997 growth of 38 percent over the previous year's PC and video game sales. International sales of entertainment software also are showing strong growth trends. For example, retail sales of software for video game consoles in the United Kingdom jumped 85 percent in 1997, and sales of all entertainment software in France jumped more than 40 percent in 1997. Household penetration of "next generation" game consoles will grow from six million in 1996 to an estimated 27-30 million in U.S. homes by year-end 1998. Household penetration of personal computers reached an all-time high in 1997, with 45 percent of U.S. homes having PCs. The availability of brand-name systems at lower prices has been a key factor in bringing computers into more lower- and middle-income homes, broadening the audience for entertainment software. Industry experts agree that online gaming will experience significant growth in the future thanks to technological advances such as high-speed cable modems and increasing consumer familiarity with online gaming. DVD-ROM is predicted to have the biggest impact on the way gamers receive software in the next two years, selected by 65 percent of CEO respondents over other interactive entertainment delivery systems such as high-speed telephone download (13 percent), cable delivery (9 percent of respondents), and set-top Internet box (4 percent). Interactive entertainment industry CEOs believe that consumers will continue getting the majority of the video and PC game software through traditional retail channels in the near future, rather than through online delivery or other retail options. The entertainment software industry directly employs almost 50,000 U.S. workers, many in highly skilled positions. Another 17,000 people are employed internationally. Piracy continues to steal revenue from game manufacturers and retailers. In 1997, packaged goods piracy accounted for more than $3.2 billion in lost revenue worldwide. Moreover, the growth of the Internet has triggered a serious and growing new piracy problem for the industry.