Broadcast PC Package Now Available for Windows 95 Systems (9801)

MICRONAS INTERMETALL's MediaCVR gets TV Signals onto the PC

Hanover, Germany, March 21, 1998 - Manufacturers of PCs, graphics cards, video and TV tuner cards need wait no longer for Windows 98. At CeBIT'98, MICRONAS INTERMETALL, the leading European provider of advanced video and audio solutions, presented its new hardware and software package, ?MediaCVR? (pronounced ?mediaceiver?), for processing and visualizing TV signals on the PC.

Running on Windows 95, MediaCVR offers the full scope of functions of the future Windows 98 ?Broadcast PC? architecture. The TV signal components - video, audio and data - are processed synchronously and transparently. They are supplied to the PC via standard interfaces. The MediaCVR package also includes a convenient PC visualization software (viewer/browser).

The MediaCVR Package includes the following hardware and software components:

• PC board: available in a choice of ?TrueTV 98?, ?TrueVideo 97? or ?ProVideo 98?.
• Drivers for TV signal conditioning support the following output interfaces: Video for Windows (video), Direct Sound (audio), Teletext, WaveTop and Intercast (data).
• Visualization/control software: TV viewer, Teletext browser, audio control applet, and tuner control applet.

Three Hardware Platforms Available

Three different hardware solutions are available for a variety of applications. Each differs mainly in terms of quality of image processing and treatment of the audio data stream:

• ?TrueTV 98? includes the VPX 3225D Video Pixel Decoder, the MSP 3410D Multistandard Sound Processor and (optionally) the ASI 3560D Audio Stream Interface.
• ?TrueVideo 97? is a single-chip solution for video and data processing, comprising the VPX 3225D.
• ?ProVideo 98? is a video/data solution which meets the most stringent quality requirements in video processing. The board includes a video processor with a 4H comb filter (VPC 3215C).

The most comprehensive solution, the TrueTV 98 with audio stream interface, boasts a very special feature. For the first time, the same interface is used for both the video and audio data stream, improving the quality and synchronization of the audio signal component and saving separate wiring for the audio part, which allows for less complex and more cost-effective tuner card designs.

MICRONAS INTERMETALL offers reference designs for all three hardware platforms.

Adaptable, Upgradeable, and Free

Driver and visualization software have been designed for Windows 95 and are fully functional usingWindows 98. Specific drivers for Windows 98 will be available in the second quarter of 1998.
Both the hardware and the software can be modified to suit the specific needs of component manufacturers.

The MediaCVR Package is now available, free of charge, to users with the appropriate MICRONAS INTERMETALL ICs. The package includes reference design, documentation, and software.