Although it hasn’t exactly been a secret, Microsoft has formally announced HD Photo, a new file format aimed at digital photographers and high-end image manipulation which claims to offer higher image quality and better compression than existing image formats, while adding features for advanced image editing programs.
Tag Archive: Amir Majidimehr
Microsoft Announces New PlayReady DRM
The digital entertainment world is abuzz with news about DRM—what with Steve Jobs arguing the music industry should consider dropping DRM entirely, and the movie business facing a growing problem with AACS cracks. So, naturally, software giant Microsoft has stepped boldly into the fray…with yet another DRM technology dubbed PlayReady, this time aiming to satisfy the needs of the growing mobile content industry and tap into the revenue streams represented by the growing over-the-air wireless media market.
Blu-Ray Spec Adds Microsoft’s VC-1 Codec
“We’ve been committed to adding advanced codecs to enrich the Blu-ray Disc format,” said Blu-ray Disc spokesperson Maureen Weber, general manager of HP’s Optical Storage Solutions Business. “We want to offer content providers a variety of compression codecs to suit their various needs. With the addition of Microsoft’s VC-1, we extend that option in a package that makes Blu-ray Disc’s capacity advantage even more substantial while still delivering the picture quality that consumers demand from high-definition technology.”
Microsoft Announces New Version Of DRM
From Microsoft’s press release:
Microsoft’s next generation of Windows Media DRM technology will make new scenarios possible, such as protecting, delivering and playing subscription-based or on-demand digital music and video. These scenarios span Windows-based PCs and devices, including portable audio devices, Portable Media Centers, cellular phones and personal digital assistants (PDAs) such as Windows Mobile-based Pocket PCs and Smartphones, and networked devices connected within the home, including those that connect over a wireless network.
The promise of how this DRM technology enables these new scenarios has already attracted support from the following companies:
Pioneer intros WMA 9 compatible amplifier
Today at the 2003 Combined Exhibition of Advanced Technologies (CEATEC) show, Microsoft Corp. and Pioneer Corp. announced a new top-of-the-line AV amplifier model that supports Microsoft® WindowsMedia® Audio 9 Professional for the delivery of multichannel surround sound. The new amplifier model, VSA-AX10Ai-N, also uses Pioneer’s Advanced Multichannel Acoustic Calibration system, whichallows sound adjustments at the same professional level as the monitoring methods of recording studios. The unit is scheduled to be available in Japan in December 2003 and in North America as thereceiver model VSX-59TXi in January 2004.
Pioneer’s VSA-AX10Ai-N can play back music files encoded with Windows Media Audio 9 Professional from a Windows®-based PC using the Sony/Philips Digital Interface (S/PDIF). The S/PDIF is an audio transfer file format interface for audio bitstreams that enables the delivery of digital audio from one device to another without the need to convert to analog; it is transferred as a digital compressed format and is decoded by the AV amplifier, therefore maintaining maximum quality. Microsoft has proposed to IEC-TC100 that Windows Media Audio 9 Professional be considered as a format for inclusion in the IEC61937 (S/PDIF) Standard.
Micrsoft and Panasonic to support highMAT
Microsoft Corp. and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd. (Panasonic) today announced they are expanding the HighMAT specifications to support all major writable DVD media formats (DVD-RAM and other recordable DVD formats) for exchanging digital audio, pictures and video files between personal computers and consumer electronics devices in addition to CDs. The companies plan to support the new technology for DVDs in their respective product lines. HighMAT stands for High-performance Media Access Technology, which Microsoft and Panasonic jointly developed to make organizing and accessing photos, music and video on storage media such as CDs and DVDs easier and faster on a wide range of consumer devices.
In addition, Roxio Inc., maker of the award-winning software CD/DVD burning product Easy CD & DVD Creator® for Windows, and Creative, a worldwide leader in digital entertainment solutions for PC users, today announced their intent to support HighMAT in future products. To date, 14 companies spanning content creation software publishers, consumer device manufacturers and integrated circuit (IC) vendors have already announced their intent to support HighMAT in their products.
First mobile DTV demonstrated
This groundbreaking technical demonstration highlights a potential solution to the challenge TV broadcasters face today – they cannot reach out to customers who are on the move. It will illustrate, using an over-the-air broadcast from a Sinclair Broadcast Group TV station to a van driving the streets of Las Vegas, how the latest transmission technology together with the state-of-the-art audio and video compression of Windows Media 9 Series can offer new opportunities for broadcasters, enabling them to reach mobile viewers through digital television (DTV).
Using transmission technology developed by LINX Electronics, broadcasting superior mobile DTV is now possible through 6MHz channels using single-carrier VSB (Vestigial SideBand). Operating in a half-rate mode for rugged transmission, the LINX Mobile transmission system provides an available payload of 9 Mbps. (LINX Mobile is akin to the ATSC 8VSB technology used in DTV in the United States today.)
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