Microsoft Windows Media 9 Encoding Included In More Pro A/V Tools


Reprinted from a Microsoft press release:

Today at NAB2003, the National Association of Broadcasters convention, Microsoft Corp. showcased how the advanced compression of Windows Media 9 Series audio and video quality is now a key feature in the leading software and hardware tools for the professional broadcast community. Accom Inc., Adobe Systems Inc., Avid Technology Inc., Digidesign, Discreet, Drastic Technologies Ltd., Echo Digital Audio Corp., M-Audio/Midiman, Steinberg Media Technologies AG and Sonic Foundry Inc. are featuring professional video and multichannel audio production tools at the Microsoft booth (No. SL136). Offering standard-definition (SD) and high-definition (HD) video quality and 7.1 multichannel audio in one-third the bit rate of MPEG-2, this broad spectrum of video acquisition, video production and high-resolution multichannel audio post-production solutions underscores how Microsoft Windows Media 9 Series is now a key format for the professional authoring community. Each of these available solutions is featured at the Microsoft booth at NAB2003.

“The two most important goals for us in designing Windows Media 9 Series were to deliver a new level of professional quality and make it an easy platform that developers could harness for their own solutions,” said Amir Majidimehr, general manager of the Windows Digital Media Division at Microsoft. “To have this kind of support in shipping products less than three months following our final release speaks to how easy it is for developers to build on our platform and the value of our innovations for the professional community.”

Professional HD and SD video-editing tools supporting Windows Media 9 Series that are being highlighted at NAB2003 include these:

  • Adobe Systems will be demonstrating support for Windows Media 9 Series with the new Advanced Windows Media Plug-In for Adobe Premiere 6.5 in its corporate booth (No. SL2507). The plug-in enables import and export support for Microsoft Windows Media Audio and Video 9 Series, including high-resolution video up to 720 pixels.
  • Avid Technology’s AvidDS HD offers export support of Windows Media Video 9 high-definition video.
  • Discreet will feature its new cleaner XL for video preprocessing and encoding of Windows Media 9 Series audio and video content. It offers more than 180 professional presets and high-quality filters with total control over encoding parameters, allowing compression artists to fine-tune their media for highest-quality output.
  • Sonic Foundry will feature its new Vegas 4.0, which provides integrated real-time video and audio nonlinear editing of Windows Media Video and multichannel Windows Media Audio Professional (WMA Pro) with comprehensive features that allow mixing, compositing, color correction, titling, streaming media creation and surround sound production by multimedia professionals. It can be viewed at Booth No. SL1569.

    New HD digital disk recorders featured at NAB2003 that support the HD capabilities of Windows Media Video 9 include these:

  • Accom, in a joint effort with United Kingdom-based BEAM.TV, will demonstrate an end-to-end HD commercial approval and delivery solution using Windows Media Encoder 9 Series on its newest uncompressed HD digital disk recorder, WSD/HDi.
  • Drastic Technologies will demonstrate its new VVW series of digital disk recorders and servers providing both SD and HD Windows Media Video 9 support.

    The following new professional multichannel audio authoring solutions highlighted at NAB2003 have integrated the compression advantages of WMA Pro 7.1 channel capabilities as a key feature:

  • Digidesign, a division of Avid Technology offering specialized solutions for audio postproduction, is unveiling plans at NAB for the new Pro Tools Windows Media Encoder 9 Series, which allows Pro Tools users to import and export Windows Media Audio (WMA) files in the simple and familiar Pro Tools environment. Digidesign will show a sneak peek of the new functionality available in late 2003 at NAB during Pro Tools demos running on the Windows XP operating system in the Microsoft booth, No. SL136.
  • Steinberg – The Audio Group of Pinnacle Systems, one of the leading developers of software for professional musicians and music, video and film producers, will feature support for WMA Pro in Steinberg’s flagship product, Nuendo 2.0. Designed with input from some of the biggest names in the audio industry, Nuendo 2.0 is built upon the most-advanced technologies available today to meet the needs of professionals in all facets of audio production: composition, film, broadcast, music, postproduction, surround sound, game sound and multimedia. (Booth No. SU5003)
  • Echo Digital Audio will demonstrate its complete line of professional audio recording systems as well as its new family of super-high-fidelity audio record and playback adapters for laptop/notebook computers, which offer complete support for the full-spectrum, full resolution audio capabilities of Windows Media 9 series.
  • M-Audio/Midiman will demonstrate its Delta 1010 PCI digital recording system support playback of WMA Pro Audio.
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