For additional information, visit the company's Web site at http://www.sigmadesigns.com.
Panasonic And Sigma Designs Demonstrate Affordable DVD Production/Broadcast-Quality Replay Capabilities At COMDEX
Sigma DesignsÆ, Inc. (Nasdaq: SIGM), a recognized leader in digital video solutions for corporate and education applications, and Panasonic Industrial Company (PIC), the leading provider of DVD-RAM drives and media, is demonstrating DVD video production capabilities with REALmagic DVRô (Digital Video Recorder) and playback with REALmagicÆ Hollywood Plusô-SCSI at COMDEX Fall '99 in Las Vegas. During the demonstration, Sigma products was highlighting the versatility and functionality of DVD-RAM for low-cost, real-time DVD video production, editing, storage, and playback. The Hollywood Plus-SCSI card is the ideal complement to today's high-performance, SCSI-based DVD-ROM and DVD-RAM drives. By combining the highest-quality DVD playback Hollywood Plus card with a SCSI host adapter, Sigma provides customers with an all-in-one DVD player and SCSI controller, in a highly-integrated design that uses a single PCI slot and a single IRQ. Corporate publishing is moving to video as its favored medium. Educators and corporate in-house production staff want to put video on their Web sites or distribute it to other people in their organization. Combining REALmagic DVR and Panasonic's rewriteable DVD-RAM drive enables professionals to capture MPEG video, edit it, and use it to publish DVD titles quickly, easily, and inexpensively. The demand for the functionality included in REALmagic DVR is growing at a rapid pace, not only in businesses and educational organizations but also with home consumers. The storage capacity of DVD-RAM drives and their rewriteable functionality pave the way for a new generation of interactive multimedia titles that will not only have amazing video quality and awesome sound but can also convey an immense amount of information. During the COMDEX demonstrations, DVD/MPEG-2 video was being captured from a Panasonic digital camcorder by the REALmagic DVR and edited on a PC. Then it was stored on a Panasonic DVD-RAM drive and played back. Playback of the DVD-RAM media on some of the next-generation DVD-ROM drives and DVD players that are currently available is also be demonstrated. DVR's real-time encoding/decoding quality is being demonstrated using professional-grade Panasonic studio TV monitors. For publishing true DVD titles, REALmagic DVR includes software from Vitec Multimedia for digital video editing and Sonic Solutions' (Nasdaq: SNIC) DVDit LE for DVD authoring. ""Our focus in developing REALmagic DVR has been maximizing functionality and optimizing value in an easy-to-use package,"" said William K. Wong, Sigma's Vice President of Marketing. ""REALmagic DVR is as easy to install and use as our hallmark Hollywood Plus DVD decoder card. It can be used on any Pentium-class PC, including older 233MHz systems frequently found in schools and businesses. Getting DVD encoding, editing, authoring, and DVD playback for less than $1,000 is quite a bargain."" REALmagic DVR supports any DVD-RAM or DVD-ROM drive (IDE or SCSI). ""We are excited about demonstrating our REALmagic DVR with Panasonic DVD-RAM drives,"" Wong added. ""Panasonic was one of the first companies to produce a high-performance rewriteable drive that is in full compliance with the DVD Forum's DVD-RAM specifications. Combining Panasonic's drive with our low-cost DVR makes digital video creation, archiving, and playback more affordable to everyone."" ""Similarly,"" he continued, ""we developed our REALmagic Hollywood Plus-SCSI combo card in response to customers requesting that we develop a card that would use only one PCI slot for two major functions. Hollywood Plus-SCSI is a natural fit with Panasonic's OEM DVD-RAM drive with its SCSI-2 interface."" About Panasonic Panasonic's OEM DVD-RAM drive is manufactured by Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (MEI) (NYSE/PCX: MC), one of the world's leading producers of CD-ROM and DVD-ROM drives and other digital electronic products. The drives are marketed by the company's principal North American subsidiary, Matsushita Electric Corp. of America. For more information on Panasonic's OEM DVD-RAM drive and media, contact Panasonic Industrial Company, 1600 McCandless Drive, Milpitas, California 95035; 408 945 5600, Fax 408 262 4214, E-mail berzind@panasonic.com Or, visit the company's Web site at www.panasonic.com/oemdvd-ram. For more information on Panasonic-branded DVD-RAM drives and media, contact Panasonic Document Imaging Company, Two Panasonic Way 7D-9, Secaucus, New Jersey 07030; 201 392 6355, www.panasonic.com/storage or E-mail truppim@panasonic.com In Canada, contact Panasonic Canada, Ambler Drive, Mississauga, Ontario L4W 2T3, Canada; 905 238 2254, Fax 905 238 2414, E-mail rkwong@panasonic.ca. About Sigma Designs Sigma Designs is an acknowledged leader in the fast-growing digital video market. Sigma specializes in digital video encoding/decoding for the PC DVD market, for video streaming over corporate Intranets and extranets, and for the emerging set-top box/information appliance market. Sigma is a driving force in advancement of digital video technology used in high-speed, high- bandwidth transmission for business, home, and education markets. Sigma Designs' products, marketed under the REALmagic trade name, are sold worldwide through a direct sales force, distributors, and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).