Week of Aug 3 1998   Aug 7 Maybe battling Microsoft is good for traffic.... RealNetworks, Inc says that 3.5 million consumers downloaded the RealPlayer in the month of July (all versions including the recently released RealPlayer G2) -- doubling the number of RealPlayer downloads from the same period last year. They claim this puts the total number of RealPlayer registered users to more than 28 million. <www.real.com>   Ulead has released COOL 3D 2.0, a 3D text tool that creates still and animated titles for Web sites and multimedia projects. Ulead COOL 3D 2.0 offers four new special effects: Fire, Board, Explode and Twist, as well as features for animation control and individual control over multiple objects. New to Ulead COOL 3D 2.0 is the ability to import Windows Metafile (WMF) files and manipulate multiple letters and graphics individually. Users can control the movement and appearance of each object by adding keyframes to a new timeline. This means each letter in a title can be designed to appear differently and be animated along different paths, with separate designs applied to surfaces and bevels. Also included is Ulead GIF Animator 1.5, and a library of 25 specialty fonts, 500 impressive textures and 5000 Web objects and GIF animations. Ulead COOL 3D is available for $39.95 via electronic download from all major online software distributors or $49.95 as a boxed product. A 15-day trial version is available at their website. <www.ulead.com>   TreeView Xtra is a new cross-platform Asset Xtra for Macromedia Director that displays items in one sprite channel in a visual treeview resembling Window's Explorer. A beta version is available for testing (they say they need beta testers.) TreeView lets you: Control look and feel of Scrollbars (use your own graphics from the cast) Create and view thousands of nodes. Change node properties such as colors, fonts & etc. Each node can have custom icons (use your own graphics from the cast) Show your data and/or graphics in an easy to understand tree view. Group related items under one parent Parent nodes can be expanded/contracted as needed. This Beta version only allows 10 nodes to be created, other than that it is fully functional. The shipping version of the Xtra will allow thousands. Send bug reports to: Jerry Hamby <tvx@vdex.com> <www.vdex.com/treeview>   At the Microsoft Sitebuilder network there is a short overview of Chromeffects. Chromeffects Windows technology is built on top of DirectX version 6.0 (available in Windows 98 Service Pack 1). Using the DirectX multimedia services, it allows Web developers to create streamlined, high-fidelity 2-D and 3-D animations using XML and scripting. The Chromeffects software development kit (SDK) is scheduled to be available for download by August 17. Chromeffects will include a built-in authoring tool and a library of transitions, textures, interactive element, and effects designed for adding Chromeffects animations to Web pages. The SDK will feature examples, third-party effects and add-ins. Documentation included with the SDK uses the technology so that developers can see the 3-D concepts and effects that are being explained. <www.microsoft.com web article "Animate the Easy Way with Microsoft Chromeffects">   Aug 6 The miro Video DC30 saga continues. Tech support suggested that it was a memory conflict. The System does report a memory conflict with a PCI to PCI bridge. I tried changing the memory allocated to the DC30 to another memory location as miro tech support suggested. That removed the conflict (in the System control panel) but when the machine is restarted the miro software can't find the board. Sent another message to tech support...   The DVD player/tuner saga continues too. It turns out that the TV Tuner was a third party device (not ordered from Dell as I had originally thought.) Using a cable which had a "passthrough" plug has allowed the tuner and DVD player to be connected. The tuner works fine, and the DVD works too, but the image is shaky.   E4 (Elecede Technologies, Inc.) is now shipping the CoolDVD Mac SCSI DVD-ROM Upgrade Kit at an estimated price of $479. The internal CoolDVD Mac SCSI DVD-ROM Upgrade Kit gives Mac users the ability to play CD, CD-R, CD-RW, CD-Audio, MPEG 2 video and DVD discs up to 17GB with 20X CD and 2.3X DVD performance. The kit makes use of Adaptes UDF Volume Access software which allows versions of Mac OS prior to Mac OS 8.1 to read DVD-ROM discs. The CoolDVD Mac SCSI DVD-ROM Upgrade Kit includes an internal SCSI DVD-ROM drive, PCI MPEG 2 decoder card and Navigation software and requires Mac OS 7.6x or newer, PCI 2.1, PowerPC 603 120MHz or faster, 16MB RAM and 2MB of hard disk space. <www.e4.com>   Digimarc has released the Digimarc Batch Embedder, a stand-alone tool for Windows and Macintosh that automates the task of producing Digimarc-enhanced images for Web publishing. Features include: Batch processing with optional, integrated JPEG compression Automatic processing to achieve best embedding results, based on user's parameters (intensity, compression, and desired durability) Inspection mode to allow visual examination and fine- tuning of Digimarc-enhanced images Automatic generation of image or transaction IDs to uniquely identify collection Price is $79.95 and a demonstration is available at their website. <www.digimarc.com>   MacWorld has a comparison of CyberStudio 3 and Dreamweaver 1.2. CyberStudio won, but Dreamweaver was close behind. <www.macworld.com review "CyberStudio 3, Dreamweaver 1.2">   Aug 5 I'm currently trying to get a miro Video DC30 plus to work in a PC. Though the card seems to be working, when used with Adobe Premiere there are fatal exception error crashes every few minutes. It's reliable, but not predictable; I might be able to work for a couple of minutes, or ten minutes, but no more than that. So far I've tried updating drivers, and tech support said to delete the Premiere prefs file, but that didn't fix the problem. I'll be writing more on this as the story unfolds. If anyone has any ideas - email me! <mmurie@m2w.net>   A friend just bought a new Dell 400MHz system with the DVD drive option. It's kind of fun watching a DVD movie playing on a 21 inch computer monitor. We watched the Apollo 13 movie which is encoded in the widescreen enhanced format. The movie played fine letterboxed, but we were unable to find a way to tell the player that we wanted to watch it in pan & scan mode (which is an option you can set in most DVD standalone players.) Also, if you order a TV tuner as well you may have a problem if neither the MPEG card or the TV tuner have a pass through connector because they both have to be connected to the graphics card. That means you'd have to manually unplug and reconnect the devices (which doesn't seem like a practical solution.) My friend is now looking at his options; he has to find another TV tuner or an MPEG card with a pass through (the Creative Labs DVD player's MPEG card has a pass through I'm told.)   If you bought a Miro digiizing card that included a full version of Adobe Premiere 4.2 after March 23, 1998 (and probably any other video product that came with the full version of Premier 4.2) then you are eligible for a free upgrade to Premiere 5.0; though you have to pay shipping. To get the upgrade, send a copy of the dated sales receipt, plus product serial number, product platform, ship to address, phone number and visa/mc number to fax: 716 447-7303 Note: You can't order this upgrade through the Adobe website (it only accepts the $199 upgrade.) <www.adobe.com>   Pinnacle Systems has announced ReelTime NITRO, a sub $10,000 real-time, dual-stream, non-linear editing system with both 2D and 3D special effects. Adobes' Premiere will be the first video-editing tool bundled with the product. ReelTime NITRO offers data rates over 13 MBps on each stream and provides real-time 2D and 3D transitions, as well as real-time chroma, luma, linear keying, and titling. Component, composite, and Y/C analog input/output interfaces are standard. Optional interfaces include CCIR 601 serial digital, and DV/1394. For a limited time, ReelTime NITRO customers who register their product will receive a free copy of the company's Deko character generator Adobe Premiere plug-in. Pricing starts at $8,995 (US/Asia) <www.pinnaclesys.com web page "ReelTime homepage">   COPYRIGHT The Digital Millennium Copyright Act was approved by a House voice vote yesterday. The act was passed by the Senate in May. <www.news.com news report "Congress clears copyright act">   Aug 4 Truevision is now shipping the BRAVADO DV2000, a hardware and software editing solution the DV video format. BRAVADO DV2000 is available for WIndows 95 (NT available soom) and has a suggested retail price of $999. It's being aunched with a special introductory price of $499 (which includes a copy of Premiere 5.0 and MotoDV technology and SoftDV codec from Radius.). <www.truevision.com>   Ulead Systems has announced Ulead FX Razor 1.0, a set of five graphics utlities: ArtTexture.Plugin: generates kaleidoscope-like patterns and swirls for backgrounds and fills. Outputs stills or image sequences to GIF Animation. FantasyWarp.Plugin: design warped, twisting patterns from images or selections. Outputs stills of images sequences for the Web. Type.Plugin: choose from 14 customizable effects like fire, snow, neon, emboss and more and enhance the edges of images, selections and text. Particle.Plugin: add "natural" effects like rain, snow, smoke, snow and more to scenes, using "wireframe mode" to reposition and resize elements. COOL 3D 1.0: transforms any TrueType font into a 3D object for on-screen design, animation via drag-and-drop presets. Outputs stills or animated GIF files. Ulead FX Razor 1.0 sells for $89.95, and is available now for online purchase (electronic download only) <www.ulead.com>   Ulead has also announced the release of Photo Express 2.0, a consumer image editing solution for Windows 98, Windows 95 and Windows NT 4.0. The latest edition includes Internet photo sharing features, and management of stored photos. <www.ulead.com web page "Photo Express">   PHOTO Kodak will be updating the firmware for the DC 260 "soon." The update will, amongst other things, reduce power up time (2-3 seconds), improve USB connectivity, enhance long-time exposure mode, and better control lens retraction when shutting off the camera or reviewing photos. <www.kodak.com>   PHOTO Publish's website contains a Digital Camera Buyers Guide, which is more of an overview of where the "state-of-the-art" is with the mid-high end digital cameras such as the Kodak DCS 520 and Minoltat RD-175. <www.publish.com Buyers Guide "Digital Cameras">   Aug 3 Sonic Solutions will integrate Adaptec's Toast DVD software application into all Sonic DesktopDVD systems. DesktopDVD will now include integrated DVD-R support, cross-platform DVD-ROM publishing and expanded DVD-Video/DVD-ROM hybrid support. As part of their agreement, Adaptec has worked closely with Sonic to define the DVD-R and DVD-ROM requirements necessary for professional DVD production. <www.sonic.com press release "DVD-ROM Support to the Desktop">   PHOTO Polaroid has a new consumer digital camera, the PDC 640, which has a suggested retail price of $299. Features include 640 x 480 resolution, an optical viewfinder and a LCD monitor, built-in flash and self-timer, and storage capacity of up to 64 images (24 in VGA resolution). <www.polaroid.com press release "New Polaroid PDC 640 Digital Camera">   Sony Electronics has announced several new video cameras, including the digital camcorder DCR-TRV900 which can save still images to a floppy disk with a supplied floppy disk adapter connected through the camcorder's Type II PC card slot image capture. It will be available with a suggested retail price of $2,699 (MSRP). Features, include: A three-CCD chip camera system floppy disk adapter 12X optical and 48X digital zoom Optical Steadyshot for image stabilization IEEE 1394 interface Analog inputs PCM Digital Stereo Audio with 12 or 16 bit audio modes 3 1Ú2" LCD (180K pixels) Still images are saved in 640 X 480 (VGA) image size with 24-bit true color. <www.sel.sony.com/ press release "Sony Introduces Digital Handycam Camcorder With Still Image Capture To A Floppy Disk" press release in Japanese with photo "DCR-TRV900">   Sony Electronics DCR-PC1 compact Digital Handycam camcorder includes a Carl Zeiss lens block, dimensions of 2" (W) x 4 2/3" (H) x 3 23" (D), and weighs less than one pound (.92 lb). Features include: 10X optical to 120X digital zoom, 1Ú4" 680K pixel CCD imager, image stabilization, IEEE 1394 interface, stereo sound with audio dub capability, an index titler, 14-picture effects and more. The DCR-PC1 will be available in September with an MSRP of $2,199. <www.sel.sony.com/ press release "Sony Announces Compact Digital Video Handycam">   Sony Electronics Ruvi is a pocket-sized camcorder, similar in size and shape to a small still camera. The Ruvi (CCD-CR1) stores up to 30 minutes of Hi8XR quality video and monaural audio on an internal cartridge. The Ruvi has a battery life of one hour on two AA batteries and 90 minutes with the supplied rechargeable Infolithium battery (model NP-F10). The Ruvi can capture still images on tape with up to five seconds of audio per image and has a 3X optical zoom. The 2.5-inch LCD screen is a passive LCD technology with a reflective layer. The unit is 4 7/8" (W) x 2 5/8" (H) x 1" 3/4 (D) in size and weighs one pound. Ruvi will be available at retail stores in October with an MSRP of $799. <www.sel.sony.com/ press release "Sony Announces World's Smallest Camcorder">       Get QuickTime 3.0 ImageReady beta Cosmo VRML plug-in | Multimedia Workshop | Industry News | Online Reference | Contact Us | Find | Copyright 1998 by Multimedia Workshop. All rights reserved Send news or comments to : news@m2w.net All trademarks, service marks, and graphical logos appearing on this website are the property of their respective owners, and are used for identification purposes only. No endorsement of Multimedia Workshop by the trademark owners is intended or implied.