Reprinted from a Microsoft press release:
LAS VEGAS – April 8, 2002 – Today at NAB2002, the National Association of
Broadcasters convention, Microsoft Corp. announced that leading developers
of professional video and audio production hardware and software have
announced their intent to support the next version of the Microsoft
Windows Media technology, code-named “Corona,” in upcoming products.
This rapid and early support from some of the leading developers of video
acquisition, video production and high-resolution multichannel audio
authoring solutions demonstrates that Windows Media has come of age. It is
no longer just a format for efficient media distribution over the Internet:
The quality advances of Windows Media “Corona” are rapidly taking it
upstream in the production process to make it a format embraced by the
professional media-authoring community.
These developers are already working to integrate Windows Media “Corona”
audio and video technology, including the new Windows Media Audio
Professional and Windows Media Video codecs, into a wide range of hardware
and software solutions, which will assist video and audio professionals with
high-end media authoring, video production and Web-based distribution.
Professional video acquisition and production solutions supporting Windows
Media “Corona” that are being highlighted at NAB2002 include the following:
Accom Inc.’s WSD/HDX DDR will feature its UI-based tool that enables
one-button encode to Windows Media “Corona” software developers or hardware
developers.
Adobe Systems Inc. will preview Adobe Premiere and After Effects with new
Plug-ins offering support for both standard and high-definition Windows
Media “Corona” audio and video encoding support.
Avid Technology Inc. is demonstrating Avid DS | HD with export of “Corona’s”
high-definition Windows Media Video as part of its commitment to offer the
best format choices to its customers.
Discreet, a division of Autodesk Inc., will feature a preview of its
award-winning desktop encoding software Discreet cleaner with
high-definition encoding and playback of Windows Media “Corona.”
Drastic Technologies will feature its next-generation digital disk recorder
(DDR) that captures both SD and HD source content to native uncompressed
Windows Media. The DDR then functions as a VTR and a server, going beyond
what VTR and DDRs can do today, seamlessly integrating existing studio VTRs
into the underlying studio network infrastructure.
Thomson Broadcast Solutions, a Thomson multimedia business (Paris Euronext:
18453) (NYSE:TMS), will preview how its Grass Valley(tm) Aqua(tm) Internet
encoder will offer real-time capture and digitization of video from camera,
file, tape or physical media to Windows Media “Corona” Video.
Winnov will preview real-time capture and digitization of video from camera,
file, tape or physical media using XStreamEngine Broadcaster to Windows
Media “Corona” Video.
Professional audio production software and hardware solutions are including
built-in support for the upcoming Windows Media Audio Professional
technology in “Corona.” This is the first codec to enable Web-based delivery
of 6-channel surround sound with full-spectrum, full-resolution audio
(24-bit/96kHz sampling). These companies intend to support this breakthrough
technology and are demonstrating their early versions of this support at NAB
this week:
Creative Labs Inc. is demonstrating a preview of updated support in its
Sound Blaster Audigy 5.1 product to support the new Windows Media Audio
Professional codecs with 24 bit/96 KHz multichannel audio playback. It will
also be adding support for the new Sound Blaster Extigy external soundcard,
bringing the full 5.1 Windows Media experience to notebooks as well as
desktop PCs.
Echo Audio will preview its Echo 5.1, a professional-level capture and
playback PCI-based system supporting multichannel WMA Professional.
M-Audio/Midiman will preview how its The Delta 1010 PCI digital recording
system will support playback of WMA Professional Audio.
Steinberg Media Technologies AG, developers of software products for
professional musicians and producers in the music, video and film industry,
will preview its Steinberg Nuendo Windows Media Audio Professional Export
plug-in and demonstrate multichannel playback using Windows Media.
Syntrillium Software Corp.’s popular Cool Edit Pro 2.0 audio recording,
editing and mixing application will for the first time offer an easy and
affordable way to encode 5.1 audio channels to a single Windows Media Audio
stream at a variety of bit resolutions and sampling rates.
Building on the industry-leading Windows Media Audio and Video codecs,
Windows Media “Corona,” which was previewed in December 2001, introduces two
new professional-level audio and video codecs. The new Windows Media Audio
Professional is the first codec to enable Web-based delivery of 6-channel
surround sound with full-spectrum, full-resolution audio (24 bit/96 kHz
sampling). A new version of the Windows Media Video codec provides a 20
percent efficiency boost compared with the previous version and introduces
the ability to provide high-definition 720p video resolutions at file sizes
half that of today’s DVDs, for local playback on the PC. Windows Media
“Corona” technology will be available in beta later this summer.
