Sigma Designs PR below. BTW, Sigma up on sudden increased volume the last two sessions; there's a wild rumor (mind you it is completely unsubstantiated) on Yahoo board that Intel will integrate Sigma's MPEG-2 chipset onto Celeron processor.
nt.excite.com
Sigma Designs Announces REALmagic Ventura Plus Reference Design for PC Manufacturers; Foundation for Entertainment PC for the Living Room
Current quotes (delayed 20 mins.) SIGM 2 19/32 11/32 (15.28%)
LAS VEGAS (BUSINESS WIRE) - Sigma Designs, Inc. (NASDAQ:SIGM), the company that provides DVD upgrade kit developers with the "REALmagic" they need for high-quality DVD and MPEG-2 playback, announced today the release of a reference design based on Ventura Plus, a DVD/MPEG-2 PCI card specifically designed for PC OEMs.
With Ventura Plus, PC OEMs have a fully integrated solution with everything they need to add REALmagic-quality DVD/MPEG-2 capabilities to their systems. Ventura Plus-enhanced PCs become full-featured DVD players with all of the spectacular digital video and Dolby(R) Digital Surround Sound capabilities of the DVD format and MPEG-2 interactive titles.
REALmagic Ventura Plus is a second-generation DVD/MPEG-2 playback card based on Sigma's REALmagic EM8220 DVD decoder silicon. Designed for easy integration, Ventura Plus is a compact 6" x 3.3" card that supports Microsoft(R) Windows(R) 95, 98, NT 4.0, and WDM and is compatible with all DVD-ROM and DVD-RAM drives.
Featuring leading-edge digital overlay technology, Ventura Plus also supports all of the leading digital multimedia interfaces, including ATI, Intel's i740, nVidia, and 3Dfx chipsets.
Sigma's full, rich decoding produces full-screen images that are always clear, clean, and crisp without burdening the CPU. With a full-screen NTSC/PAL TV output, users can play high-quality video on any standard TV set.
Labway Corporation, a leading provider of PC audio and digital video-related cards, was the first to sign up to OEM Ventura Plus. Labway is a global provider that caters to first-tier computer manufacturers.
Complete DVD Playback Software Included
The Ventura Plus DVD/MPEG-2 card includes Sigma Designs' DVD-Station software, a full-featured application that incorporates all of the DVD navigation and playback control features found in stand-alone consumer DVD players. DVD-Station has simple, VCR-like control buttons for choosing a video title, or track; starting playback; pausing, and stopping.
Users can seek forward and backward with variable speed visual search, slow motion, next and previous chapter track, search and title selection.
DVD-Station also integrates DVD Navigation features such as on-screen interactive menus and sub-picture controls. DVD Control includes support for wide-screen, letterbox, and pan & scan viewing aspect ratios, along with the selection of multiple camera angles. Users can select from up to eight language sound tracks and 32 subtitle settings.
REALmagic Ventura Plus supports DVD-video playback of encrypted movie titles and plays SVCD, VCD and MPEG-1 and -2 interactive titles with fully resizable video windows ranging from thumbnail to full-frame 1280x1024 or higher, depending on the graphics controller resolution.
The card's digital audio decoding supports Dolby Digital, MPEG-2, and PCM 48 kHz and 96 kHz, 16-bit, 20-bit, and 24-bit audio playback. To support the latest home theater quality, an optional digital audio output is available via an S/PDIF connector.
System Requirements
The REALmagic Ventura Plus reference design requires a PC with an Intel Pentium 133 MHz or higher CPU, 16 MB RAM, a PCI 2.1-compliant expansion slot, and Microsoft Windows 95. Other requirements include a video graphics controller with VPM-compatible digital video input multimedia connector, 2 MB video RAM (4 MB recommended), digital YUV 4:2:2 video overlay support for 720x480 MPEG-2 frame, and an integrated video scalar with linear X-Y scaling. A Sound Blaster 16 or compatible sound card is also required.
About Sigma Designs
Sigma Designs 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. Today, Sigma is a driving force in the advancement of the MPEG technology that is used in most multimedia PCs on the market today.
Sigma Designs' products, marketed under the REALmagic trade name, include affordable MPEG decoding hardware used in PCs, notebook computers, and networked video applications. Sigma products are sold to PC OEMs and card makers worldwide. For additional information, call 800/845-8086 or 510/770-0100, fax 510/770-2640 or visit Sigma's web site at sigmadesigns.com.
Note to Editors and Analysts: For additional information, photographs and interviews, please contact Andy Marken, marken@cerf.net or 408/986-0100
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.
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