Special to SIGGRAPH, Chicago, July 27,1992 -- MediaShare Corporation, a new
company developing real-life applications for multimedia computing, today
introduced key components in making multimedia more widely used.

It announced two multi-purpose boards for MS-DOS computers that integrate
the many sources required for networked digital multimedia.

One is the first U.S. commercial solution to play video on a color display
on portable computers.

Each board includes video display drivers, Ethernet drivers and interfaces,
digital audio and video interfaces, and audio recording and play-back
capabilities, all under the control of Intel 960 RISC processors. They
operate under Windows 3.1 and MS-DOS.

"Multimedia is the hottest subject in the computer business, but few
companies have produced the practical products that bring multimedia
closer to business applications," said Jack Johnson, vice president,
research and development. "Our charter is to produce real applications of
multimedia, notably product information systems, but we discovered that
some vital pieces of the technology puzzle were missing. We decided to
develop some of these pieces and offer them to the industry. These boards
are the first pieces we'll offer."

Video Capabilities 

The video on the boards is compatible with Intel's DS2 Action Media digital
video, and will play files created with Intel's RTV 2.0 and PLV video
compression products. They support video capture. Their maximum resolution
is 1024 X 768, and they can support two video windows at 320 X 240 and 160
X 120. They will overlay DVI frames on the VGA/XGA output, with the VGA
from a feature connector on a separate VGA/XGA board. Each board supports
32,000 colors for standard color screen laptops.

Audio Capabilities 

The boards provide audio recording at rates consistent with Microsoft
MultiMedia audio format (WAV). They record from unamplified microphones.

They have four audio output channels with software-controlled level and
mixing. They can also support eight independent and simultaneous tone
generators or waveform playback at 20 Hz to 15 Khz.

The audio outputs are amplified, hence suitable for conventional headsets.
Volume is under computer control. Audio input and output are standard
1/8-inch connectors.

Networking 

The boards contain standard 10BaseT Ethernet interfaces with Novell
compatibility. They can send and receive audio and video concurrently with
data packets, and allow video packets to be directed to onboard RAM to
receive and play video packets with little impact on the CPU and ISA bus.

MediaShare offers two boards, the Samba board, with an internal SuperVGA
adapter for standard monitors, and the Mambo board for flat color liquid
crystal display (LCD) panels. The Samba is suitable for all standard
AT-bus (ISA) computers, the Mambo for portables containing a standard ISA
slot.

The Samba board for standard monitors has a suggested list price of $1895,
and the Mambo LCD board, $1495. Both will be available July 1,1992.

MediaShare Corporation was formed in 1990 to develop interactive multimedia
technology to improve human and corporate performance. In the process,
MediaShare has assembled experts in twelve areas of software and hardware
technology needed to produce practical multimedia applications. It is
currently perfecting those technologies while developing end applications
for its chosen markets and leading corporations.

MediaShare
2035 Corte del Nogal, Suite 200, Carlsbad, CA 92009
619-931-7171

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