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Technology Stocks : Ampex Corporation (AEXCA) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: john adriaan kolenberg who wrote (6096)	3/8/1999 1:48:00 AM
From: Ed Perry	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 17679

Rainmaker/Philips press date is 3/3/99 and GI/Shaw date is 3/4/99 The closeness in dates is meaningful is this probably tight knit industry. Looks like it is time for coming out of the cabinet, so to speak. I expect more news, like that in today's NY Times front page business section. Since Ampex is involved in this directly as a partner or indirectly through their patent portfolio, this involvement may be propelling Ampex's need for an organized product branding effort. I am absolutely certain that Ed Bramson is not groping and has a very defined vision of where Ampex is going. In part is is being shaped and directed by the enormous forces and pressures of these gargantuan corporate inspired events evolving around him. One final note, since we are seeing press copy now in early March 99, the industry insiders would have known about this months ago. This may explain the accumulation pattern which appeared in AXC beginning last Oct 98. Ed Perry

To: john adriaan kolenberg who wrote (6096)	3/8/1999 8:52:00 AM
From: Glenn Perry	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 17679

From Rainmaker/Philips DataLab Announcement "DataLab will allow the motion picture studios to create a 'universal distribution master', which will be a digital representation of a film which, for future use, can be easily and cost effectively converted for distribution on any desired medium. Distribution mediums expected to benefit from this new technology are digital and hi-definition television, video-on-demand, DVD, the internet, as well as the imminent arrival of digital projectors, which will eliminate the traditional 35 millimetre motion picture projectors seen in almost 30,000 movie theatres across the continent." John- Good call on this one. I know Ballantyne of Omaha (NYSE:BTN) manufactures projection equipment and is looking to develop digital projectors. "Ballantyne of Omaha, Inc. (NYSE: BTN), a leading manufacturer of motion picture projection and entertainment lighting equipment, and Digital Projection International plc., a leading manufacturer of high brightness, high resolution digital projection products, today announced a strategic alliance whereby the two companies have agreed to collaborate on the development and distribution of digital projectors for the growing electronic entertainment marketplace." full press release: ballantyne-omaha.com "In addition to Philips, Rainmaker has enlisted developmental support for DataLab from a number of hardware manufacturers, including Panasonic, ARRI, Sony, Ciprico, Mountain Gate, Pandora, Digital Projection, Barco, and Ampex." Apparently it is very expensive to produce and distribute those large film reels. Ampex DST equipment is well-suited to handle the massive storage requirements required for digitizing film, especially at the quality and high resolution required for a digital (movie theatre) projector. By having a single 'universal distribution master' copy, the digital data can be manipulated to provide various formats required for different medium. For example, you would require one form for full-size theatre projection, yet another for HDTV 'pan & scan' (screen size too small to fit full-size 'cinemascope' aspect ratio), and perhaps a different form to manipulate for producing a DVD or even a conventional VCR tape. Someone out there knows more about this than myself (BAM, flickerful, Alan Cassaro, Dave Gardy?) - could someone amplify on the different forms a film goes through, from movie theatre projection to VCR tape, DVD disc, television, etc. Don't they modify the film to get it to fit on a television screen? Isn't it called 'pan and scan'?