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BBS in a Box - Macintosh - Volume VII (BBS in a Box) (January 1993).iso
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RasterOps Introduces MoviePak
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1992-10-29
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RasterOps Introduces MoviePak
Copyright 1992 RasterOps Corporation
For Immediate Release
Contacts:
Carrie Coppe
RasterOps Corporation
(408) 562-4200
Karen Oppenheim
Cunningham Communication, Inc.
(408) 982-0400
RasterOps MoviePak™ Revolutionizes QuickTime Movie-making
Daughterboard Incorporates JPEG Compression/Decompression for
Full-motion, Full-screen, Real-time Video
SANTA CLARA, Calif., September 15, 1992 — RasterOps Corporation (NASDAQ:
ROPS) today introduced MoviePak — a daughterboard that advances the market for
digital video by bringing real-time, full-screen, full-motion, video
capabilities to the Apple Macintosh for the first time. It addresses the needs
of a broad range of existing and potential QuickTime users — from business
presentation professionals to video/multimedia producers — providing them with
a low-cost, high-quality means of producing digital video.
A daughterboard that snaps onto RasterOps video/display adapters, MoviePak
features real-time JPEG compression/decompression. This modular approach
provides customers with the flexibility to add CD-quality sound, enhance video
input/output and/or add larger monitors. The MoviePak daughterboard protects
users’ investments because it enables them to migrate to more sophisticated
digital video systems without having to replace existing video hardware.
“Through QuickTime, Apple has provided a great foundation for desktop video.
MoviePak builds on that base to make QuickTime movie-making bigger, better and
faster,” said Kieth Sorenson, president and CEO of RasterOps. “RasterOps’
technology changes the profile of desktop video by enabling thousands of people
— post-production professionals, healthcare specialists, professors, you and
your boss — to create, edit and “print to tape” digital movies on their
Macintoshes.”
“From the start, RasterOps and Apple have worked closely together to advanc
the success of QuickTime,” said Doug Camplejohn, QuickTime product manager for
Apple Computer, Inc. “RasterOps clearly shares Apple’s vision in making
QuickTime a part of everybody’s daily lives.”
Compression
At the heart of RasterOps’ MoviePak is LSI Logic’s JPEG chipset, which
operates at full-motion video rates and achieves compression ratios ranging
from 2:1 (minimum compression for maximum image quality) to 160:1 (maximum
compression at low image quality). Its advanced technology integrates color
conversion for better color quality. The chipset provides lossy compression as
well as a lossless compression mode which guarantees that no digital data is
lost during compression. The combination of these capabilities optimizes video
quality and provides complete flexibility in meeting various compression needs.
“For MoviePak to play back movies at 30 frames per second, the same smooth
motion rate of NTSC video, we needed quality performance at both low and high
compression ratios,” said Scott Rawlings, RasterOps product manager.
“RasterOps chose the LSI Logic chipset because it supports our expectations for
producing high-quality color images. And, its performance will support
technology advances, such as faster buses and disk drives.”
Audio
Used in conjunction with RasterOps MediaTime board, featuring 16-bit digita
audio and 24-bit real-time digital video, MoviePak lets customers record
CD-quality sound directly to the hard disk, edit the recording and play it back
at full 16-bit fidelity directly from a Macintosh. In order to free the CPU
from excessive activity, a dedicated digital signal processor is included to
provide high-fidelity sound control and manipulation. MediaTime’s sound
control capabilities combined with MoviePak’s full-motion recording rates allow
customers to achieve extremely accurate voice synchronization.
Non-linear Capabilities
Taking advantage of Adobe System Inc.’s digital editing expertise, the
RasterOps MoviePak is bundled with Adobe Premiere™ 2.0 software. Premiere 2.0
provides complete functionality for both on-line and off-line editing and
offers features such as titling with PostScript fonts, rotoscoping, transition
effects, external device control and SMPTE time code for frame-accurate
editing.
With MoviePak’s non-linear or random access capabilities, customers can now
create edit decision lists (EDLs) by quickly advancing or reversing from one
frame of a movie to another with a simple mouse stroke. Previously, EDL
creation involved hours of chronologically searching through reels of movie
footage for specific sequences and noting the in and out points of each desired
sequence. MoviePak and Premiere 2.0 significantly increase off-line editing
productivity by eliminating those unnecessary hours and making EDL production
compatible with edit suites such as CMX, Grass Valley and Video F/X.
“Adobe Premiere customers have been waiting for full-screen, 30
frame-per-second functionality,” commented John Kunze, director of product
marketing for Adobe’s Application Products Division. “Now with MoviePak and
Adobe Premiere, you have an extremely productive video suite environment at a
very affordable price.”
Video Input/Output
Designed for the RasterOps 24STV, 24MxTV, 24XLTV and MediaTime video/displ
adapters, MoviePak supports composite, S-Video or RGB input connections in
NTSC, PAL or SECAM standards. Customers have the choice of playing back
full-screen, full-motion movies captured in real-time compression/decompression
from either RAM or hard disk. Using the RasterOps Video Expander, customers
can output QuickTime movies to videotape or a television monitor with RGB pass
through, S-video and/or composite video connections.
“We have used RasterOps’ products in the past and have found their products
lead the way in image quality,” noted Steve Michelson, president of Steve
Michelson Productions. “MoviePak lives up to our expectations of high-quality
imagery and even takes it further to save us time and money. With MoviePak, we
have a complete off-line editing suite which gives our staff and our clients
the ability to previsualize a project — clips, graphics, effects, transitions
and all.”
Media Grabber 2.1
Display and control of live video functions such as frame grabbing, sizing a
positioning, and other special effects are controlled through MoviePak’s
on-board software, MediaGrabber 2.1. The software also includes a video
plug-in to capture video directly into Adobe PhotoShop® for enhancement, a
control panel device for on-board display acceleration, and a monitor extension
file with up to 8x hardware pan and zoom (depending on the display/video
board), extended desktop and gamma selection.
MoviePak works with all of RasterOps’ video/display adapters which feature
window resizing, cropping and video control of hue, brightness, saturation and
contrast. MoviePak supports Adobe Premiere 2.0, DiVA VideoShop, Macromedia
Director, VideoLake VideoFusion, Passport Producer and all other QuickTime
applications. Minimum system requirements for MoviePak include: Macintosh O/S
System 7.0 or later, Macintosh II or Quadra computer with 32-bit addressing
capability, 4 megabytes of system memory (8 megabytes recommended) and a
RasterOps video/display adapter.
Pricing and Availability
For a limited time only, the RasterOps MoviePak will be bundled with Adobe
Premiere 2.0. for $1,999. MoviePak will include a three-year warranty and will
be available in October through RasterOps authorized dealers. For more
information, call 1-800-SAY-COLOR.
RasterOps Corporation designs, manufactures, markets and supports true color
photorealistic imaging systems for Apple® Macintosh® and Quadra® series
computers, IBM®-compatible and IBM Micro Channel computers and Sun
SPARCstations. The company also manufactures similar products on an OEM basis
for DEC®, Hewlett-Packard®, IBM and Sony® workstations. RasterOps’ products
are designed primarily for the graphic arts, creative services, publishing,
advertising and related industries.
— 30 —
All trademarks and registered trademarks are those of their respective holders.
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Press Releases
7 October 1992