FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Digigami Ships MegaPEG Pro HD 3.0: Delivers HD Video to Desktop and HD-DVD

San Diego, CA - May 30, 2005 · Digigami today announced it is now shipping MegaPEG.X Pro HD 3.0 for Macintosh, featuring both improved standard definition "SD" and superb high-definition "HD" MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 encoding. The new encoder, which features a built-in "videophile" MPEG decoder for transcoding from MPEG-2 (DVD, HDTV, DVB, HDV) sources, provides a missing piece to the high-definition puzzle: how to deliver high-definition content to existing Macintosh and PC computer desktops.
High Definition MPEG-1 Playback is Already Ubiquitous
"MPEG-1, also known as ISO-11172, is the de-facto High-Definition Desktop video delivery standard" said Digigami CTO, 清岡家元. "Ratified as an international standard in the early 90s, MPEG-1 supports frame sizes up to 4000x4000 pixels, and frame rates up to 60 fps, well beyond the current HDTV 1920x1080 maximum. Because of the computational simplicity of the MPEG-1 decompression codec, we have found that MPEG-1 VBR at 1280x720x24p, plays well on older models of Macintosh (early G4 systems) and Windows (Pentium 3) computers. Because MPEG-1 decoding is a standard feature of both the Macintosh and Windows operating systems, the delivery of high-definition MPEG-1 content is free of the chicken-and-egg problem which plague newer codecs like MPEG-4 (including H.264) and WindowsMedia 9 - the need for a download-and-install before content can be viewed. By combining MPEG-1 with variable bitrate (VBR) encoding, both High-Definition picture quality and reduced media file sizes/bandwidth can be realized. In our own tests, we're finding that 1280x720px24fps can be encoded at 3-5 Mbs average bitrate, with high-action peaks in the 12-15 Mbs range - only slightly higher than standard definition DVD and well within the streaming capability of 100MB switched ethernet."
With a large installed base of HD MPEG-1 decoders already blanketing the planet, content-creators can immediately begin delivering HD content originated on 35mm film, Prosumer HDV and Professional DVCPRO formats, and edited in Final Cut Pro HD and iMovie HD. Broadband network, CD-ROM and DVD-ROM drives can easily keep up with the HD MPEG-1 VBR data rates, which means that you can deliver a HD MPEG-1 movie wherever you are currently delivering QuickTime and WindowsMedia content: over the internet, corporate intranet, as bonus materials on CD-extra and DVD-ROM and DVD video discs. Macintosh and PC computer desktops.
Digigami Customers Find MPEG-1 Ready for HD Quality and Delivery
"Your product is very good. The MPEG-1 encoder is superb. We have tried many. Compresion Master, Heuris, Compressor, and many others. Yours is the best. MPEG-2 Encoder is one of the best (from our experience), better than DVD Studio, and better than Compresion Master, Heuris MPEG Power Professional is the only rival in MPEG-2 encoding. We have encoded for Universal Expo, JAPAN, Spain Pavillon, 16 synced movies through dedicated hardware (ADTEC Soloist), projected in 3 by 1.5 meters screens each of the 16th movies. Very critical test. Every thing is OK.

Also we are doing HD (720p) MPEG-1 Video running (without any software installation) in a normal DVD. We are quite excited with the new possibilities of MPEG-1.
Thanks for doing good products.

Oscar Olarte Ruiz
Multimedia Resources S.L.
General Martinez Campos 15 bajo
Madrid, Spain 28010
www.multimedia-resources.com


Digigami MegaPEG.X Pro is consistently sought out by video professionals who are unable to solve key production problems with other encoding solutions, and by those seeking high-quality and extremely low bitrate encoding.
Improved Encoding Quality and Compression Speed
"Our new encoder achieves even higher quality and lower bitrates than our previous encoder," continued Digigami CTO, 清岡家元. "An improved application of optical-flow in conjunction with advanced motion-detection means the quality goes up and the encoding times go down. With the improved speed, we've added a new Mastering quality setting for quality which exceeds other encoders, albeit at the cost of a lengthy encoding time. In addition, we've completely revamped our preset encoding templates, which means finding the 'sweet-spot' settings for a particular project is even easier."

Digigami MegaPEG.X Pro HD product page: http://www.digigami.com/megapeg/
Demo versions of Digigami Pro video applications: http://www.digigami.com/download/

Pricing and Availability
The new 3.0 version of Digigami "MegaPEG.X Pro HD" is available now in two configurations, starting at $239.76 USD.

Product NameProduct DescriptionPrice
MegaPEG.X Pro HD 3.0Standard and High-Definition MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 encoder optimized for Velocity Engine.$299.70 USD
MegaPEG.X Pro HD QT 3.0QuickTime Exporter plug-in for Standard and High-Definition MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 encoding from Final Cut Pro HD.$239.76 USD

Site licenses, educational and volume discounts are available.

About Digigami...
Digigami is a privately held company headquartered in the greater Los Angeles area. Digigami was founded in 1994 and released its first MPEG-1/MPEG-2 encoder, MegaPEG, in 1996 along with an early Netscape plug-in that plays streaming video in MPEG, AVI, QuickTime formats. For the past 10 years, Digigami has been continuously improving its MPEG video compression technology; MPressionist HDTV, MegaPEG HDTV and MoviesForMyPod are the most recent Digigami products.

For details and pricing information on all Digigami products, please visit our Web site at http://www.digigami.com/.

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Digigami product names are trademarks of Digigami, Inc. Apple, Final Cut Pro, DVD Studio Pro and Velocity Engine are the trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc. Sony, Playstation, and PSP are trademarks of Sony. Altivec is a trademark of Freescale Semiconductor Inc. MPEG is the colloquial acronym for the international video compression standard created by the Motion Pictures Experts Group aka ISO/IEC-11172 (MPEG-1) and ISO/IEC 13818 (MPEG-2).