ftp.cdrom.com/pub/cdrom//cdrom.tar/cdrom/photo_cd/background.txt

Text File | 1992-11-16 | 18KB | 338 lines

PHOTO CD APPLICATION BACKGROUNDER

A New Way to Share Special Moments:
The Kodak Photo CD System

  NEW YORK_In September 1990, Eastman Kodak Company announced a
technology to allow high-resolution 35 mm film images to be
stored on compact discs and then viewed on TV.
  The new Photo CD technology promised to help the so-called
back end of the photographic process catch up with advancements
in the front end. Although automatic 35 mm cameras and new film
formulations had combined during the 1980s to enable
photographers to take better pictures more easily, the process of
storing and retrieving the resulting photos remained decidedly
low-tech.
  Once pictures came back from the photofinisher, they got
tucked away in desk drawers and shoe boxes. If anybody wanted to
look at them, the pictures first had to be found and then sorted
anew for each viewing. (It is true that some people neatly filed
their pictures in photo albums. But even then it was hard for
more than one or two people to look at them simultaneously.)
  Enter the solution_the Kodak Photo CD system, a new technology
that makes looking at pictures as easy as watching TV. Photo CD
discs give people a new way to share their pictures__and to do a
lot more.
  Using a Photo CD player, consumers can zoom in on a favorite
portion of the photo, determine the display order of the photos,
skip a photo, pan from left to right, or tilt up and down. Best
of all, the Photo CD system makes it easy for people to store
their pictures and just as easy to find the ones they're looking
for.
  "In the consumer electronics arena, people don't buy
technology for technology's sake," said Stephen S. Stepnes,
general manager and vice president of CD Imaging at Kodak. "But
they will grab onto a new technology if it makes something they
do more convenient, easier, or more fun. The Kodak Photo CD
system does exactly that."
  Kodak developed the Photo CD system together with the
Netherlands-based electronics company Philips NV. Its technology
is, in many ways, similar to that behind audio compact discs. In
fact, a Photo CD disc looks like a gold-colored CD. The players
that consumers use to view their photos on television will play
audio CDs on their stereo systems_but with a brand new
capability.
  The first Kodak Photo CD players were delivered to consumers
on schedule in early August 1992. At a kick-off event at a
stereo-video store in San Diego, California, people lined up to
get their first look at the new technology.
  Stepnes said the early enthusiasm came as no surprise. "In
many ways, the Kodak Photo CD system promises to do for consumer
photography what audio CDs did for music. It's a new way to
enjoy an immensely popular form of entertainment."

Simple to Use
  Using the Kodak Photo CD system is easy. Consumers take
pictures just as they always have, using standard 35 mm cameras
and film. At the photofinisher, they have an additional option:
the film images can be transferred at full resolution to a Kodak
Photo CD Master disc.
  The Kodak Photo CD Master disc is a 120 mm platter that can
hold about 100 images, or four 24-exposure rolls of film. Kodak
Photo CD Master discs are nonerasable, so pictures cannot be
inadvertently lost (though Photo CD players are programmable and
can be set to skip over any unwanted pictures).
  Pictures stored on Kodak Photo CD Master discs are
high-resolution images. The discs offer image resolution that is
16 times as great as today's TV standards and four times the
standards currently being considered for HDTV.
  The Kodak Photo CD Master disc can also function as a "digital
negative," which means consumers can take the disc to their
photofinisher to have prints made.
  The disc's digital technology provides real benefits to
consumers. Pictures can be added, which allows the discs to be
used as "electronic photo albums." A single disc can contain the
favorite photographs of a baby's first year, a wedding, or other
special events.
  At the time Photo CD players were introduced, more than a
dozen photofinishers around the country had the ability to create
Kodak Photo CD Master discs. By the end of 1992, nearly 90
percent of all photofinishing drop-off points are expected to
offer film to Photo CD transfer services.
  Consumers display their pictures by inserting the disc into a
Photo CD player that they operate with a simple remote control.
The viewer can select specific images, program them to appear in
a particular order, rotate the image, or zoom in on part of it
for a close-up.
  Kodak is offering three Photo CD players during 1992, each of
which has state-of-the-art audio capability, in addition to a
unique set of picture-viewing features:
  ∙ One is a low-priced player with basic picture-viewing and
audio CD features. It allows the viewer to delete some pictures
from the playback sequence and to keep others. It can also
remember the changes, which eliminates the need to program a disc
each time it is viewed. An "autoplay" feature allows the player
to automatically sequence through selected images at intervals of
two seconds.
  ∙ A deluxe player offers a variety of more advanced viewing
options. Users can view close-ups of their images, selecting a
rectangular portion for magnification with the "2X tele" feature.
Another feature, "expanded favorite picture selection," provides
additional memory for recalling the individual picture edits and
viewing order selections of more discs.
  ∙ A third model offers all of the advanced features of the
deluxe version with the addition of a five-disc carousel. This
player also provides on-screen display of the selected image
number for easy indexing and fast photo identification.
  The first two players are available now. The multidisc unit
will be available in Fall 1992.

Beyond 35 mm: The Next Phase
  Consumers around the world shoot about 60 billion photographs
every year, 85 percent of which are on 35 mm film. That's why
the first phase of Kodak's Photo CD program focused on making 35
mm pictures widely available to consumers on Photo CD Master
discs.
  But the benefits of Photo CD technology are not limited to
amateur photography. The Kodak Image Pac file format, which
Kodak created to store high-resolution 35 mm photographic images,
was also designed to be adapted to a wide range of other imaging
needs. As the first Photo CD players are being delivered to
consumers, the company is moving to extend the Photo CD concept
to mainstream professional and commercial business users.
  Kodak has developed a new Photo CD format aimed at consumers
and has announced additional disc formats, products, and
applications that offer opportunities for professional
photographers, for those involved in a range of other commercial
enterprises, and for users of desktop computers.
  The formats and products demonstrate Kodak's long-range vision
for the technology, as well as the company's commitment to its
customers. All of the new disc formats are compatible with the
core Photo CD format.

Consumers
  The new consumer format is the Kodak Photo CD Portfolio disc,
which lets anyone with Photo CD images create special discs that
merge those images with text, graphics, and sound. A "programmed
access" capability built into the new format enables people to
create discs of subjects such as family trees, which allow the
viewer to look at pictures of any member of the family simply by
choosing the appropriate branch from an on-screen menu.
  In addition to discs produced at the photofinisher, it's also
expected that third-party publishers will use the Kodak Photo CD
Portfolio format to distribute prerecorded titles for education
or entertainment. Titles will include specialized collections in
areas such as art, sports, and nature.
  Kodak Photo CD Portfolio discs have a distinctive trade dress
to distinguish them from other discs, but they are fully
compatible with today's Photo CD players. When the new discs
become available in 1993, those who have already purchased
players will be able to play the discs.
  Features of Kodak Photo CD Portfolio discs are shared by the
original Photo CD format, now called Kodak Photo CD Master. The
major differences are that Kodak Photo CD Portfolio discs can
hold up to 800 TV-resolution images. In contrast, on Kodak Photo
CD Master discs all images are recorded in full photographic
resolution. Kodak Photo CD Master discs hold up to 100 images.
  Both formats have the ability to hold up to one hour of CD
audio-quality stereo sound or a combination of sound and images.
They also share the ability to use programmed access to give
consumers more viewing choices and to have text and graphics
combined with photos on the discs.

Professional Photographers
  The Kodak Pro Photo CD Master disc is designed for
professional photographers. The Kodak Pro Photo CD Master disc
carries its own trade dress but otherwise looks very much like
its consumer cousin.
  The key difference is the feature set built in to meet the
requirements of professional photographers. Kodak Pro Photo CD
Master discs store images from the larger film formats favored by
professionals, including 120, 70 mm, and 4 x 5-inch, as well as
35 mm.
  Because these larger film formats contain more image
information, Kodak Pro Photo CD Master image files are also
larger. Depending on the film format, the discs can hold from 25
to 100 images.
  To help control how a professional's images are used, the
Kodak Pro Photo CD Master format offers three security features:
a special identifier to indicate image ownership and copyright,
the ability to place a watermark (such as "PROOF") over an image,
and the ability to encrypt high-resolution images to impede
unauthorized use.
  Kodak Pro Photo CD Master discs will be available from
professional photo labs beginning in the spring of 1993.

Other Commercial Users
  By providing a low-cost way to store and distribute images in
digital form, Photo CD technology presents an almost limitless
potential for commercial applications in addition to professional
photography. To illustrate this potential, Kodak has announced
two new disc formats_the Kodak Photo CD Catalog and the Kodak
Photo CD Medical_targeted at applications from mail-order
retailing to health care, as well as an image library and
international image network to provide easy access to images for
any commercial user.
  The Kodak Photo CD Catalog is designed for organizations_such
as mail-order retailers, tourism associations, or art
galleries_that want to store large numbers of images on a disc
and distribute these images widely. As many as 6,000 images can
be stored at video resolution on Kodak Photo CD Catalog discs for
soft display on TV sets or computer monitors. (The images are of
lower resolution than standard Kodak Photo CD Master discs or
Kodak Pro Photo CD Master discs and can't be used to make
photo-quality prints.)
  The images can be combined with text and graphics and
organized into chapters and pages to resemble a traditional
catalog. People who play the discs on home Photo CD players will
see on-screen menus that lead them through the catalog's pages at
the touch of a remote control. Those who run Kodak Photo CD
Catalog discs on computers can also locate images with simple key
word searches, by using Kodak Browser software, which is
contained on each Kodak Photo CD Catalog.
  For medical applications, Kodak is developing another new
format that stores diagnostic images. Along with film-based
images like photographs, the Kodak Photo CD Medical format will
store digital diagnostic modalities_for example, computed
tomography (CT) scans and magnetic resonance images (MR)_on
compact disc, all at full resolution.
  Potential applications for the Kodak Photo CD Medical format
include training and education, distribution of patient files,
and long-term storage of diagnostic images. The discs will
comply with most medical industry standards for digital imaging.
  Along with its multiple disc formats, Kodak has developed new
products and services to give commercial users easy access to all
types of images stored on Photo CD discs.
  One is a product called the Kodak Professional Photo CD Image
Library, an automated disc library, or "jukebox," that holds as
many as 100 Photo CD discs. The library can store thousands or
hundreds of thousands of images, depending on the type of Photo
CD discs it contains. Users can rapidly search for and retrieve
any of these images by keying in requests at a desktop computer.
  Although the library will give individual customers easy
access to images internally, Kodak has also announced its intent
to create an imaging network that will use telephone lines to
link the distributors of images, such as stock photo houses, with
potential customers worldwide.
  The Kodak Picture Exchange is a new Kodak business that will
give users access to a huge database of images, just as networks
like CompuServe provide access to text and data. With a desktop
computer and a modem, users will be able to search the Kodak
Picture Exchange database and request hard copies of images
electronically. Kodak Picture Exchange will alert the image
providers immediately, allowing them to fulfill requests promptly
by air express. In the future, as the data-carrying capacity of
telephone lines expands, it will be possible to fulfill requests
directly over the telephone.
  In addition, Kodak has joined with more than a dozen
companies, universities, and organizations to cooperate on the
new commercial applications announced today. These cooperative
agreements include licensing the Kodak technology to some of the
biggest names in the computer, electronics, and photography
industries_including Apple, Adobe, Sony, and Fuji.
  "The number of potential commercial uses for Photo CD
technology is limited only by the imagination," Stepnes said.
"Although Kodak is already working on a large number of specific
applications, we expect that number to multiply rapidly as our
customers begin to work with the technology and understand its
potential."

Desktop Computer Users
  For consumers or commercial customers, Photo CD technology
provides a convenient new way to input high-resolution images
into desktop computing applications. Photo CD discs give people
a way to take their own photographic images and convert them
inexpensively into a digital format. The discs can be played in
Photo CD-compatible CD-ROM XA drives, which are widely available
and also relatively inexpensive.
  As a result, all types of computer users can take advantage of
the technology_from a consumer composing a family newsletter for
a holiday mailing, to an art director creating page layouts for a
commercial magazine. Kodak has developed a family of five
software products designed for all types of users.
   Two of the five provide easy search and retrieval of images
stored in databases; the remaining three allow users to work with
individual Photo CD images in different ways.
  The most basic of the two database software products is Kodak
Browser software, which is contained on all Kodak Photo CD
Catalog discs and which allows for easy search and retrieval of
images using key words. The second is Kodak Shoebox software,
which offers more powerful search and retrieval functions for
customers with large image databases.
  The other three software packages provide different levels of
image-editing capability to meet the needs of different users:
  ∙      Kodak Photo CD Access software__for casual users, is a
    low-cost tool that makes it easy to read and display Photo
    CD images and to import them into current applications (for
    example, Adobe PhotoShop or Aldus PhotoStyler software). It
    performs basic functions like cropping, zooming, and image
    rotation.
  ∙      Kodak PhotoEdge software__for business users who are
    beginning to work with Photo CD images. It provides the
    same functionality as Access software, with the additional
    ability to edit the overall appearance of images_such as
    sharpening the focus and adjusting color or contrast.
  ∙      Kodak Renaissance software__a page layout package for
    professional users and is newly equipped with Photo CD
    capability. The software allows text, graphics, and images
    to be merged into comprehensive layouts and gives the
    designer the ability to adjust those layouts easily to
    experiment with different ideas.
  All of the Kodak software packages employ user interfaces that
are designed to be simple and intuitive, making it easy to move
to more advanced software packages as needs change. They have
the same look and feel that characterizes applications running in
the Apple Macintosh or Windows 3.x environments, with icons and
pull-down menus to guide the user.
  Stepnes explained that the common look and feel of Kodak's
Photo CD software products reflect the vision behind the Kodak
Photo CD system.
  "Kodak developed Photo CD technology to give consumers an
exciting new way to enjoy their pictures, but we didn't stop
there," he said. "We developed the technology with future
applications in mind_so the players that consumers buy today will
provide them even greater functionality in the future.
  "Quite simply, the Photo CD system gives consumers and
commercial customers the best of two technologies," Stepnes
concluded. "It provides the convenience, low cost, and image
quality of traditional photography combined with the benefits of
digital technology_the ability to display, enhance, and transmit
images electronically."
                              ###

[Note: Kodak, Image Pac, Kodak Browser, Access, Shoebox, and
Renaissance are trademarks.]