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2004 18 October 2004 Combined IPTV Solution Supports MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 Decoding at a Reasonable Cost SALTAIRE, England - Pace Micro Technology (pic.l), the world's largest dedicated developer of digital set-top box technology, is working with Equator Technologies, Inc., a leading provider of high-performance, programmable and power-efficient system-on-a-chip (SoC) processors for video streaming and image processing applications, and Dicas, the leading provider of MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 (AVC) software codecs, to develop a new IP based set top box for operators implementing AVC audio visual services. The Pace DB680, will provide access to a full range of digital TV services such as pay-per-view, video-on-demand and streaming applications. "Many operators are keen to implement services based on the recent AVC standard. The quickest route to market is with high performance field programmable set-top boxes coupled with software decoding, which can be upgraded easily in the field as the standard evolves," says David Gillies, Director of Technology at Pace Micro Technology. "In the development of our DB680 platform, Pace is leveraging Equator's extensive experience in programmable devices coupled with the highly optimised AVC decoding software from Dicas to deliver digital solutions at a realistic cost of investment." "Pace is one of the largest global set top box companies, supporting operators on a range of delivery platforms - cable, satellite, terrestrial and digital broadband media (IPTV)," says John O'Donnell, co-founder and CTO of Equator Technologies. "Pace has recognised that Equator's BSP-15 processor, optimized from the outset for video processing, is the ideal solution for a quick time to market at a reasonable cost. We are excited to support Pace and Dicas in evolving the DB680 AVC solution to market." Sebastian Moeritz, CEO of Dicas says: "We are delighted to work with market leaders such as Pace and Equator in integrating our AVC decoding software into this product. We believe the soft codec approach offers a rapid time to market with flexibility as the standard evolves, and consider the Dicas AVC decoder to be the most sophisticated available in the world today." The DB680 is derived from Pace's common hardware platform, which can support multiple software architectures. It is targeted at network operators looking to rollout real AVC services quickly, without paying a large price premium for the programmable approach while maintaining the option of upgrading as the standard evolves. The DB680 is part of Pace's Digital Broadband Media (DBM) range that is already being used by telcos and broadband IP operators to launch advanced television and multimedia services over existing telecommunications networks. The Equator BSP-15 chip is a cost-effective, high performance, fully C/C++ programmable processor developed specifically for digital media applications. Unlike a conventional processor or DSP, the BSP-15 processor is a complete system-on-a-chip (SoC) device for video-centric applications in consumer electronics, security and surveillance, video-conferencing, and digital imaging. BSP-15 processors are capable of running video and image processing algorithms, as well as operating systems, network stacks, middleware, virtual machines for Java and Internet browsers, meeting all the system software needs of today's media applications without an additional microprocessor. With its rich set of on-chip I/O, the BSP-15 video-centric SoC eliminates the need for external components, reducing overall system cost. Equator and software partners provide the widest range of codecs supporting standard and high-definition video with multi-codec, low-bit rate compression technology, making the BSP0-15 SoC the processing platform of choice for multi-format video over IP. The Dicas MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 decoder software is a high-performance MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 software component, extremely error resilient, easy to integrate and compliant with the MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 Main Profile, Level 3.It is part of the full Dicas software set for MPEG-4 AVC/H.264, components of which include encoder/decoder software which is also available for Windows, Linux, Sun Solaris, OS X and other specific platforms. About the Pace DB680 The DB680 is a fully optimised IP-based set-top box that offers outstanding performance and value for money and is primarily targeted at operators looking to enter new IPTV markets. The DB680 supports MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4/AVC (MPEG-4 AVC/H.264) coding, and can be used to deliver services that include multichannel TV, true and near video-on-demand, advanced graphics and games, email, enhanced Internet browser services and karaoke-on-demand. The DB680 is fully interoperable with all other products in Pace's Digital Broadband Media set-top box range. Contacts Pace Micro Technology _________________________________
9 September 2004 Campbell, USA / Berlin, Germany / Amsterdam, The Netherlands – Equator Technologies, Inc., a leading provider of high-performance, programmable and power-efficient system-on-a-chip (SoC) processors for video streaming and image processing applications, and dicas, a leading MPEG video coding solutions specialist, are partnering to combine and offer their expertise to the multimedia industry. At IBC 2004, the dicas MPEG-4/H.264 decoder will be demonstrated on the Equator BSP-15 processor. The Equator BSP-15 video-centric SoC delivers the highest video quality at the lowest bitrate within a 100% C/C++ programmable and cost-effective SoC device. "dicas has delivered excellent coding solutions for many years to a broad spectrum of industries. It is great to have the dicas solution on our BSP-15 platform,”, said John O'Donnell, co-founder and CTO of Equator Technologies, Inc. “This solution is very timely as MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 is deployment-bound in high volume consumer products such as IP STB”. "Co-operating with Equator for us means to be able to deliver our interoperable technology on a state-of-the-art programmable SOC platform, which is available in the market today and, equally important, very cost-effective. We are committed to continuously optimise our solutions for the BSP-15 processor,"added Sebastian Moeritz, CEO of dicas. Both companies are members of the MPEG Industry Forum and are exhbiting at the IBC presence of MPEGIF in Hall 4, booth 239. Equator is also present in Hall 11, booth 124. IBC 2004 will take place from 10 to 14 September 2004 in the RAI Exhibition and Congress Centre, Amsterdam. _________________________________
7 September 2004 Berlin, Germany/Amsterdam, The Netherlands – dicas, the German MPEG specialist, is heading to IBC 2004 this week to demonstrate new MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 encoding and decoding solutions. -- Catering especially to the set-top box industry, dicas will demonstrate its mpegable MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 decoder running on the Equator BSP-15, the high-performance, programmable system-on-chip processor for video and image processing applications. -- Providing a new concept called "AVC out of the Box" dicas will show an MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 real-time encoding (D1 resolution) solution on a dual-processor platform; -- dicas will launch mpegable Studio, its brand-new and unique professional encoding platform for PC featuring MPEG-2, MPEG-4, 3GPP and MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 compliant video and MPEG-4 AAC and AMR audio encoding with sophisticated profile and work flow management, watch folders and many other features. This Client-Server-Teamwork Application is specifically designed for cross-media exploitation and digital media asset management. dicas is a co-exhibitor at the IBC presence of the MPEG Industry Forum in Hall 4, booth 239. IBC 2004 will take place from 10 to 14 September 2004 in the RAI Exhibition and Congress Centre, Amsterdam. _________________________________
27 August 2004 London, United Kingdom / Berlin, Germany – NATIV, the broadcast business consultancy, today announced its newly forged partnership with dicas, an industry leader in standardised video compression technologies such as MPEG-2 and MPEG-4. By partnering, they become the first to offer next generation, standards-based video management solutions to broadcasters and network operators alike. The emergence of new video compression technologies based on MPEG-4 offer new business opportunities, including broadcasting across multiple platforms (e.g. wireless and broadband). MPEG-4 technology, and particularly the recently released MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 standard, provides improved compression, thus enabling cheaper storage and transmission, more channels, better picture quality and delivery over lower bandwidth networks. Up until now, one of the challenges within the broadcast industry has been the lack of ability to integrate the latest standardised video compression technologies into existing software infrastructures. This partnership was formed to address this situation. With their combined expertise in advanced video compression, asset management, digital rights management and systems integration, the partnership between NATIV and dicas will have a radical impact on the operational efficiency and bottom-line of broadcasters and other video-based content providers. Jon Folland, managing director of NATIV comments: “This is a major and very exciting step forward in helping the industry to realise the benefits offered by using advanced video compression technologies. We are delighted to have an agreement in place with dicas, as we can now be the first to integrate best-of-breed MPEG technology into any platform, any medium and any channel, as part of a larger system. It makes us a catalyst for the convergence of broadcast and broadband, and allows us to put these new technologies to work now.” Sebastian Moeritz, CEO of dicas, adds: “This is an extremely valuable partnership as NATIV is one of the few specialists with a deep understanding of both broadband and broadcast business and technology issues. Together we can deliver new integration solutions for the MPEG-4 video compression standard, while also assuring the asset management and digital rights management needs of clients. This puts us in a unique position in the market.” _________________________________
9 August 2004 Berlin, Germany – dicas has released a MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 compliant component as new feature for its mpegable DS Suite, the popular SDK for Windows platforms. mpegable DS Suite is the first set of DirectShow filters worldwide that offers support for MPEG-4, 3GPP and MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 (Baseline Profile) compliant encoding and decoding within the MS Windows environment. No matter if the development of a media asset management system, a video editing software, a security/surveillance application, mobile video software or alike are required, mpegable DS Suite and its components offer the easiest and quickest way to implement the respective encoding/decoding functionalities (incl. writing standard MP4/3GP files). All of the high performance components of mpegable DS Suite can be licensed separately, or as a bundle, under specifically tailored licensing schemes following the principle of maximum flexibility, transparency and mutuality. _________________________________
22 June 2004 German MPEG-Specialist releases free MPEG-4/H.264 video codec Berlin, Germany – dicas, the MPEG-4 specialist software developer, today announced the release of mpegable AVC. This first version of mpegable AVC provides next generation video compression quality to all applications supporting Video for Windows (VfW) like VirtualDub, FlaskMPEG and many more. Being based on the latest MPEG-standard known as MPEG-4 AVC/H.264, mpegable AVC outperforms other codecs in terms of coding efficiency. Typical applications for mpegable AVC are in the consumer PC sector where videos need to be stored on CD or DVD, or to be sent over the Internet. mpegable AVC, which is easily installed, is perfectly suited where videos should be made available from websites for download. Users can watch videos created with mpegable AVC in the media player of their choice. This software codec provides full video encoding and video decoding functionalities and writes the video data into an AVI file. Microsoft’s Windows Media Player, for example, or any other player capable of reading AVI files, can be used for the playback. mpegable AVC is available free of charge for immediate download on www.mpegable.com. _________________________________
15 June 2004 Berlin, Germany - dicas has launched the completely updated version 2.1 of its most popular used MPEG-4/3GPP SDK for Windows platforms, mpegable DS Suite. mpegable DS Suite contains high performance components for MPEG-4 and 3GPP compliant encoding and decoding within the MS Windows environment. mpegable DS Suite is a set of DirectShow filters used by video software applications. It provides video encoding and decoding functionality for MPEG-4 and H.263 as well as for AAC and AMR audio data including reading and writing standard MP4/3GP files. mpegable DS suite offers the quickest and easiest way for developers to integrate these functionalities into their products. _________________________________
10 May 2004 Berlin, Germany - dicas, the German video coding expert, has licensed its mpegable DS Suite to Pinnacle Systems GmbH. Through utilising mpegable DS Suite, Pinnacle, the leading vendor of video editing solutions in the consumer market, will be able to add the increasingly popular MPEG-4 format to its products. mpegable DS Suite contains high performance components for MPEG-4 compliant encoding and decoding of audio/video data within the MS Windows environment. It also includes the functionalities required for reading and writing ISO standard MP4 as well as MPEG-4 AVI files, which can be decoded and played-back by respective DVD players. Berlin, Deutschland - Die dicas GmbH, der deutsche Spezialist für Videocodierung, lizenziert ihre MPEG-4 Komponenten "mpegable DS" an die Pinnacle Systems GmbH. Mit Hilfe der mpegable DS Software Suite kann Pinnacle, der führende Anbieter von Videoschnitt Lösungen für den Consumer Bereich, zukünftig seine Produkte um das immer populärer werdende MPEG-4 Format erweitern.mpegable DS ist eine Set von DirectShow Filtern, die Tools zur Encodierung von Audio und Videodaten umfassen und die Erstellung ISO kompatiblen MP4 Files sowie von MPEG-4 AVI Dateien erlauben, wie sie geeignete DVD Playern abspielen können. _________________________________
2 March 2004 Berlin, Germany - dicas is pleased to announce its participation in the EU-funded project "4S - Smart Chips for Smart Surroundings". Also participating are ASICentrum s.r.o., ATMEL Corporation, CTIT/The University of Twente, Inter-University Micro-Electronics Centre, Harman/Becker Automotive Systems GmbH, PACT XPP Technologies AG, Thales Communications, Twente Institute for Wireless and Mobile Communications B.V. and University of Karlsruhe. 4S will realise flexible and reconfigurable building blocks to pave the way for new consumer devices and applications like digital information broadcasting, ambient intelligence devices and 3G/4G multimedia terminals. More information about the 4S project are available from www.smart-chips.org. _________________________________
25 February 2004 Berlin, Germany - dicas has introduced 2-pass encoding capabilities into its core video codec, which is utilised as base for the whole family of MPEG-4 and 3GPP software tools by dicas. mpegable Video SDK, the most powerful MPEG-4 and H.263 library available today, for MPEG-4 and 3GPP compliant video encoding and decoding, will feature 2-pass encoding from now on. dicas' 2-pass encoding is a highly sophisticated and detailed approach to significantly improve the picture quality by applying new methods to the decision processes and overall encoding behaviour. |
