Special to SIGGRAPH, Chicago, July 27,1992 -- MediaShare Corporation, a new company developing real-life applications for multimedia computing, today introduced key components in making multimedia more widely used. It announced two multi-purpose boards for MS-DOS computers that integrate the many sources required for networked digital multimedia. One is the first U.S. commercial solution to play video on a color display on portable computers. Each board includes video display drivers, Ethernet drivers and interfaces, digital audio and video interfaces, and audio recording and play-back capabilities, all under the control of Intel 960 RISC processors. They operate under Windows 3.1 and MS-DOS. "Multimedia is the hottest subject in the computer business, but few companies have produced the practical products that bring multimedia closer to business applications," said Jack Johnson, vice president, research and development. "Our charter is to produce real applications of multimedia, notably product information systems, but we discovered that some vital pieces of the technology puzzle were missing. We decided to develop some of these pieces and offer them to the industry. These boards are the first pieces we'll offer." Video Capabilities The video on the boards is compatible with Intel's DS2 Action Media digital video, and will play files created with Intel's RTV 2.0 and PLV video compression products. They support video capture. Their maximum resolution is 1024 X 768, and they can support two video windows at 320 X 240 and 160 X 120. They will overlay DVI frames on the VGA/XGA output, with the VGA from a feature connector on a separate VGA/XGA board. Each board supports 32,000 colors for standard color screen laptops. Audio Capabilities The boards provide audio recording at rates consistent with Microsoft MultiMedia audio format (WAV). They record from unamplified microphones. They have four audio output channels with software-controlled level and mixing. They can also support eight independent and simultaneous tone generators or waveform playback at 20 Hz to 15 Khz. The audio outputs are amplified, hence suitable for conventional headsets. Volume is under computer control. Audio input and output are standard 1/8-inch connectors. Networking The boards contain standard 10BaseT Ethernet interfaces with Novell compatibility. They can send and receive audio and video concurrently with data packets, and allow video packets to be directed to onboard RAM to receive and play video packets with little impact on the CPU and ISA bus. MediaShare offers two boards, the Samba board, with an internal SuperVGA adapter for standard monitors, and the Mambo board for flat color liquid crystal display (LCD) panels. The Samba is suitable for all standard AT-bus (ISA) computers, the Mambo for portables containing a standard ISA slot. The Samba board for standard monitors has a suggested list price of $1895, and the Mambo LCD board, $1495. Both will be available July 1,1992. MediaShare Corporation was formed in 1990 to develop interactive multimedia technology to improve human and corporate performance. In the process, MediaShare has assembled experts in twelve areas of software and hardware technology needed to produce practical multimedia applications. It is currently perfecting those technologies while developing end applications for its chosen markets and leading corporations. MediaShare 2035 Corte del Nogal, Suite 200, Carlsbad, CA 92009 619-931-7171 +---------------------------------------------------------------+ | From the America Online - New Product Information Services | +===============================================================+ | This information was processed from data provided by the | | above mentioned company. For additional details, contact the | | company at the address or telephone number indicated above. | | All submissions for this service should be addressed to | | BAKER ENTERPRISES, 20 Ferro Drive, Sewell, NJ 08080 U.S.A. | +---------------------------------------------------------------+