VideoLocus Introduces World’s First Real-Time H.264/MPEG-4 AVC Standard Definition Video Encoder

(WATERLOO, CANADA) - VideoLocus, a leading developer of nextgeneration video compression technologies and solutions, introduced theworld's first real-time standard definition video encoder and videoevaluation platform for H.264/MPEG-4 Advanced Video Coding (AVC), thenewest international video coding standard. Recently previewed at theJoint Video Team (JVT) meeting in Klagenfurt, Austria from July 22-26,the demonstration was so well received that viewing opportunities wereextended to meet the overall demand.

The VLP4000 Video Evaluation Platform, consists of a real-timeencoder, real-time decoder, and stream analysis tools, and wasdeveloped primarily for digital video professionals at major consumerelectronics companies, consumer IC manufacturers, video and televisionsystems manufacturers, video streaming and broadcast service providers,technical labs, and technical support organizations.

Organizations can use the VLP4000 Video Evaluation Platform to helpbring products to market faster, quickly identify and solve developmentissues, and improve the knowledge and productivity of their engineersand technicians. The platform also enables companies to evaluate thepromise of H.264/MPEG-4 AVC before making costly development ordeployment decisions.

"In my personal opinion, it is impressive to see a real-time SDencoder of H.264/MPEG-4 AVC so early," said Sherman (Xuemin) Chen,Senior Principal Scientist, Broadband Systems Engineering, Broadcom."The development tools showed in the demo are very useful forH.264/MPEG-4 AVC stream analysis and will certainly be useful in AVCproduct developments."

"The video evaluation platform developed by VideoLocus provides asignificant reduction in the risk associated with adopting theH.264/MPEG-4 AVC standard," said Kevin Oerton, Vice President ofMarketing and Business Development, VideoLocus. "This is the first timecontent providers, hardware and system manufacturers will be able toevaluate the performance and coding tools of H.264/MPEG-4 AVC inreal-time."

H.264/MPEG-4 AVC is quickly stealing the limelight away from MPEG-4Advanced Simple Profile (ASP), creating a sense of urgency forcompanies to deploy H.264/MPEG-4 AVC-based products. The new standardis being developed jointly by the ITU-T and ISO/IEC standardsorganizations and formal approval of the standard is expected to becomplete by the end of 2002. H.264/MPEG-4 AVC makes use of spatial,temporal, and psycho-visual redundancies to improve video codingefficiencies.

Video compression using H.264/MPEG-4 AVC generates video at bitrates that are typically two to four times lower than previous MPEG-2and MPEG-4 compression standards, at equivalent video quality levels.The H.264/MPEG-4 AVC standard has had several names over the course ofits development. It was initially known as ITU-T H.26L and is nowformally becoming Part 10 of the ISO/IEC MPEG-4 standard identified asISO/IEC 14496-10 AVC.

Video compression is a critical component of many multimediaapplications such as DVD, digital television broadcasting, satellitetelevision, Internet video streaming, video conferencing, videosecurity, and digital camcorders. In the final stages of its aggressiveworldwide standardization, it is widely expected that H.264/MPEG-4 AVCwill be the preferred standard for transmission of digital video overtoday's band-limited networks, and in a wide variety ofstorage-constrained applications.

VideoLocus has been working with the two leading standardsorganizations as part of the JVT, a working party developing the nextgeneration of video coding standards. The company has filed numerouspatents relating to H.264/MPEG-4 AVC and has contributed multiplecritical components to the standard.

A tutorial on the new H.264/MPEG-4 AVC standard and a white paperthat details the differences between the new standard and previousvideo standards such as MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 ASP can be found athttp://www.videolocus.com. For a demonstration of the VideoLocus mobiledemo platform, please contact VideoLocus at +1-519-725-9797 or viae-mail at sales@videolocus.com. Pricing and Availability

The VideoLocus VLP4000 Video Evaluation Platform will be shipping inSeptember 2002. Pricing information may be obtained by contactingVideoLocus at +1-519-725-9797 or via e-mail at sales@videolocus.com.Regular updates to the VLP4000 Video Evaluation Platform are scheduledthrough to the final release of H.264/MPEG-4 AVC to ensure compliancewith the evolving standard.

About VideoLocus Inc.

VideoLocus develops next generation video compression technologiesand solutions, with a specific emphasis on low bit rate, high quality,full resolution, and full frame rate applications. Founded in May 2001,VideoLocus is based in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. More information isavailable at http://www.videolocus.com.