IBM Corp’s Personal Software Products division has introduced Ultimedia Video IN/2, enabling users of IBM’s OS/2 version 2.1 to capture images and create digital video clips in IBM’s Ultimotion and Intel Corp’s Indeo formats. Video IN/2 complements the integrated multimedia capabilities of OS/2, which include advanced synchronisation and streaming capabilities and the ability to play Ultimotion and Indeo video clips. Both real-time and off-line capture and compression are supported by Video IN, which can be used in conjunction with applications including Ultimedia Builder/2, a multimedia presentation package; Ultimedia Perfect Image/2 image editing software and Ultimedia Workplace/2, a multimedia management tool. Video IN/2 captures Audio Video Interleaf files in both the Ultimotion and Indeo compression formats. Ultimotion offers software-only digital video, including options such as full-motion video or full screen VGA resolution. Video IN/2 includes compressors for Ultimotion and Indeo, a Video Recorder application, a Software Motion Video Media Control Device and an Audio Video Interleaf file utility. Both real-time and asymmetric (off-line) compression support are provided. Video IN/2 enables users to create Ultimotion video with choice of resolution from 640 by 480 (full screen VGA) to 160 by 120 and offers a choice of frame rates for Ultimotion, including a maximum of 30 frames per second full-motion video at resolutions of up to 320 by 240. OS/2’s synchronisation and streaming support ensures video and accompanying audio are synchronised at playback. Ultimotion offers processor scalability: the same file can run on a 16MHz 80386SX machine and up, scaling image size and automatically adjusting frame rates to match the available processing power. It also offers advanced compression technology to enable creation of low-bandwidth video clips for networked or CD-ROM applications: a 160 by 120 video clip running at 12 frames per second can run at data rates down to 49K-bytes per second. Video, such as a 320 by 240 pixel video clip running at 15 frames a second, can also be created running at traditional CD-ROM data rates of 150K-bytes per second. Video IN/2 supports the IBM Video Capture Adaptor/A among others. Some Pioneer laser disk players are also supported for asymmetric capture. Ultimedia Video IN/2 will be out in mid-December at $200.
