new peripheral device will be making its way into the corporate enterpris
e this fall when several vendors roll out external units that digitize and compress video in real time into MPEG 1 format. The device will help create and deliver video presentations to multiple users in an organization.
The MPEG video peripheral (MVP) is about the size of a small external modem. Users can connect a camcorder or VCR to a port on the MVP, which is connected to a PC via a parallel port. The MVP will ship with editing software that runs on the user's PC.
MVPs are designed to help prepare presentation or training videos for distribution via E-mail, intranets, and CD-ROM. The devices compress video data to a ratio of up to 200-to-1. The decompressed video plays back in full-screen mode at 30 frames per second.
Although PCI-based video compression boards are on the market, the external MVPs will offer several advantages, says Omid Rahmat, a senior analyst at PC Graphics Report, a newsletter in Tiburon, Calif. For one, users can share the same device simply by unplugging it from the back
of one PC and plugging it into another. MVPs can also be used by notebook PC users.
"Currently, laptop users have few options for video," Rahmat says. With an MVP, users can record meetings on the road or record inventory on a visit to a store, then deliver the video information to others in the organization. Another plus, says Rahmat, is that MVPs handle compression without taxing the PC's main processor.
Videonics Inc. in Campbell, Calif., will ship in September a $349 MVP called Python. Software will let users attach video files to E-mail or drag and drop them onto a Web page.
AverMedia Inc. of Fremont, Calif., will ship a $349 MVP called MPEG Wizard in September, and LA Vision Inc. of Hayward, Calif., plans to deliver a $299 MVP called Dazzel in late August. They'll be bundled with editing software.
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new peripheral device will be making its way into the corporate enterpris
e this fall when several vendors roll out external units that digitize and compress video in real time into MPEG 1 format. The device will help create and deliver video presentations to multiple users in an organization.
