LAS VEGAS, April 19, 2004 — Today at NAB2004, Microsoft Corp. announced that Windows® XP and Windows Media®
9 Series are powering leading software and hardware solutions for the professional film, video and broadcast production community, and enabling real-time, end-to-end, high-definition (HD) video production on the desktop for the first time. Solutions from Adobe, BOXX Technologies Inc. and CineForm Inc. are now available for Windows XP, making desktop real-time, multistream, 10-bit high-definition serial digital interface (HD-SDI) video editing a reality. In addition, real-time Windows Media Video 9 Series HD (WMV HD) encoding is being demonstrated at the show, with both software-only and hardware-accelerated solutions.
“The HD revolution on the Windows XP PC desktop has now begun,” said Dave Fester, general manager of the Windows Digital Media Division at Microsoft. “For the first time, real-time multistream HD video-editing is now a reality on the Windows XP desktop with breakthrough new solutions from Adobe, BOXX Technologies and CineForm for professionals in video, film and broadcast production.”
“Powerful new real-time HD video editing solutions, including the latest technologies from BOXX and CineForm, based on Adobe Premiere Pro are helping to deliver unparalleled performance and dramatically lower costs for video production professionals,” said Bryan Lamkin, senior vice president of Digital Video and Digital Imaging for Adobe. “As part of this solution, Adobe is delivering a tightly integrated and innovative post-production platform relied upon by broadcast pros, filmmakers, and corporate and event videographers on the Windows XP desktop.”
HD-SDI Capture and Real-Time, Multistream, High-Definition Video Editing
Real-time, multistream, high-definition video editing has not previously been available for video professionals at low cost using 10-bit HD-SDI technology. Today’s announcement brings HD editing capability to the Windows XP desktop, with the following solutions:
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BOXX Technologies (Booth No. SL1755) is unveiling its newest integrated desktop HD editing system for Windows XP, HD [pro] RT. This breakthrough professional editing system features both CineForm’s Prospect HD and Adobe Premiere Pro, which together deliver real-time, 10-bit HD-SDI capture and the industry’s first software-based real-time, multistream editing and effects capability.
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Matrox Video Products Group is announcing Matrox HD , a new family of real-time 10-bit, multi-stream, HD editing products for broadcast and post-production. Designed for high-performance editing with Adobe Premiere Pro, Matrox HD provides real-time color correction, titling, speed changes, transitions and DVEs at up to 1080i and 1080p resolutions. The real-time Matrox HD technology also is available to OEMs and developers of NLE, CG, clipstore and video server systems.
In addition, HD-SDI I/O (input/output) cards from Bluefish and DeckLink are being demonstrated, featuring enhanced support for Windows XP-based desktops.
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Blackmagic Design is highlighting the use of its DeckLink HD line of 10-bit uncompressed video cards with Windows at Booth No. SL2472. The DeckLink product lines are among the world’s highest-quality video cards for the post-production and television broadcast industries, and the DeckLink HD is one of the world’s highest-quality uncompressed 10-bit PCI capture cards with standard definition and full HDTV support.
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Bluefish444 is demonstrating its 10-bit uncompressed SDHD-SDI H?D Fury video card with support for Adobe Premier Pro 1.5. The H?D Fury video card enables either SD-SDI or HD-SDI video editing via Adobe Premier Pro 1.5, which can then be exported to Windows Media 9 Series.
Real-Time Software and Hardware-Based WMV HD Encoding
Powerful PC processors now are able to encode WMV HD in real time for digital dailies or final delivery, using software only. Companies demonstrating WMV HD 720p encoding at NAB2004 include these:
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Digital Rapids is demonstrating real-time, software-based, WMV HD encoding with its multiformat HD capture card with extensive A/V preprocessing and the Stream Pro encoding application, which has numerous advanced capture/encode/management features. This demonstration is part of an HD dailies workflow via Sample Digital Inc.’s industry-leading Digital Dailies service. This new offering will complement the Digital Rapids-powered standard-definition Digital Dailies service presently operating throughout the United States, Canada, Europe and Australia.
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Intel Corp. is demonstrating the power of its Xeon processor MP -based servers, which deliver productivity, scalability, dependability, and excellent price and performance. The Intel NetBurst microarchitecture provides support for MP speeds of up to 3 GHz and offers a 400MHz system bus for outstanding throughput and scalability for multiprocessor platforms and multithreaded server applications.
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Inlet Technologies is demonstrating HD Workbench, a new application that streamlines professional encoding from AVI, MPEG-2 and other formats into high-quality, WMV HD content. Other features include batch-mode encoding, StreamRepair for reliable two-pass encoding, and controls for frame-accurate encoding from a file or tape. In addition, Inlet is showcasing its innovative hardware platform for encoding media from live HD-SDI sources or transcoding files into high-quality WMV HD.
The list of formats streamlined by HD Workbench, as listed in the preceding paragraph, has been corrected since original publication of this page.
Finally, a technology preview of a hardware-accelerated solution from Tarari also will be shown at NAB2004:
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Tarari Inc. is demonstrating acceleration technology that will significantly speed the encoding of WMV HD content. This technology, the result of collaboration between Tarari and Microsoft, will eventually enable creators, producers and broadcasters of WMV HD content to encode and deliver content in near-real time.
About Windows Media
Windows Media is the leading digital media platform, used by consumers, content providers, solution providers, software developers and corporations throughout the world. The Windows Media 9 Series platform includes Windows Media Player 9 Series; Windows Media Services 9 Series, the powerful streaming server feature in Windows Server 2003 for distributing content; Windows Media Encoder 9 Series for content creation; Windows Media Audio and Video 9 Series for the best-quality audio and video; Windows Media Digital Rights Management to help protect content; and the Windows Media Software Development Kit for software developers to develop digital media products and services. Windows Media Player, available in 26 languages, is now the leading media player. More information about Windows Media can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmedia/ .
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.
Microsoft, Windows, Windows Media and Windows Server are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.
The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.
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