QDesign
Announces i-Media Audio 2.0
Vancouver, Canada (April 7, 1997) - QDesign Corporation announces
the new release of its i-Media Audio MPEG-2 stereo compression software.
i-Media Audio is the industry's leading real-time, studio-quality MPEG
II audio encoding and decoding software to operate on standard multimedia
PC's without the need for proprietary MPEG hardware. Release 2.0 offers
faster compression performance, batch MPEG encoding capability, ¼ sampling
frequencies for very low bitrate Internet audio applications, support
for the Broadcast Wave file (BWF) format and an overall enhanced user
interface.
Batch processing capability facilitates greater efficiency in encoding
from .wav files to MPEG. The introduction of ¼ sample rates enables users
to trade-off audio bandwidth and audio resolution to enhance quality at
very low bitrates. The Broadcast Wave (BWF) file format supports the industry
standard for MPEG file format compatibility with other vendors' broadcast
systems.
With the new release of i-Media Audio, users have access to sampling frequencies
from 8kHz to 48kHz, bitrates from 8 kbits/s to 448 kbits/s, and the highest
performance MPEG fidelity sound in the industry. These features offer
the most complete range of compression levels available for MPEG-2 encoding
so that i-Media Audio users can optimize audio for archival, production,
distribution, and the Internet.
"The Internet is the newest and greatest medium for content creation and
distribution," states Richard J. Beaton, President of QDesign. "As users,
we are faced with bandwidth limitations which will not match demand in
the forseeable future, so it is important to optimize compression technology
to minimize quality tradeoffs. Introducing ¼ sampling frequencies allows
i-Media Audio to deliver perceptually superior MPEG audio over 28.8K modem
networks."
i-Media Audio MPEG Pro is a stand-alone 32-bit Windows 95/NT program that
is designed to work with the user's choice of MPC-compliant analog or
digital audio cards. i-Media Audio creates transparent CD-quality audio
at 6:1 and Internet-audio at compression levels beyond 60:1.
The i-Media Audio MPEG Pro application is distributed internationally
by Digidesign, a division of AVID Technology. An i-Media Audio Pro Tools
plug-in will be commercially available by mid-1997. QDesign continues
to license its i-Media Audio MPEG-2 software development kits to interested
OEMs.
A FREE demo version of i-Media Audio MPEG PRO is available for download
at QDesign's website, www.qdesign.com.
About QDesign
Based in Vancouver, Canada, QDesign Corporation develops state-of-the
art interactive multimedia technologies and applications for the broadcast
and new media industries. With world-class expertise in compression technologies,
digital signal processing and advanced communications, the company offers
a platform of products and technologies which allow content providers
to compress, archive and distribute multimedia via any private or public
transmission network, including the Internet and private Intranets. QDesign
is located on the Web at http://www.qdesign.com.
Contact:
QDesign Corporation
media@qdesign.com
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