[Paul Moran]

NAB Demo to Include XBLUR Real-Time Four-Stream 50-Pixel Gaussian Blurs and HDX Technology Supporting HD/SD Editing


MARLBORO, Mass.--April 2, 2003--Media 100 Inc. (NASDAQ: MDEA), a leading provider of advanced media systems, today announced it will demonstrate 844/X Version 2.0 at NAB2003 (booth# SL2856), including support for XBLUR, the Company's new 844/X option for real-time four-stream 50-pixel Gaussian Blur effects, and HDX Technology ("HDX"), the Company's new 844/X technology for capturing, processing, and displaying in real time HD and SD formats on a single 844/X system. Version 2.0 and XBLUR are both anticipated to ship in May 2003; HDX Technology is planned to ship in the second half of 2003.
"These three major 844/X advancements expand the real-time editing and compositing capabilities of the system and demonstrate the extensibility designed into the underlying architecture," said John Molinari, president and chief executive officer of Media 100. "These product developments will deliver both significant value and a future upgrade path to our more than 190 844/X customers. More importantly, 844/X is now a robust finishing solution for the tens of thousands of editors looking to break from the dual-stream editing paradigm of the past."

Version 2.0

Version 2.0 for 844/X--The Finishing Release--is the most expansive software advancement of 844/X since first shipments began in April 2002. The Finishing Release expands 844/X on several fronts with new toolsets for color correction, unlimited-layer compositing, editing, and audio.

Version 2.0 Color Correction--The Finishing Release features a newly-engineered color correction toolset that delivers high precision and real-time speed enabling users to view and interactively adjust and match the color values of clips instantly and accurately. The new color correction capabilities include full control over master, shadows, mid-tones and highlights, including hue, saturation, contrast, gain, gamma, pedestal, and levels. A user-adjustable split-screen in the Viewer Window simplifies referencing and comparing two clips simultaneously to verify color matches and optimize settings.

Version 2.0 Matte Design And Rotoscoping--The Finishing Release significantly improves the content designer's ability to create static and animated mattes, and features a powerful new spline tool that lets users rotoscope and create sophisticated spline-based mattes. Other new matte design features include a "ruby" matte overlay, a circular gradient tool, and the ability to save and re-edit mattes.

Version 2.0 Motion Effects--New keyframable variable speed motion effects include support for slow motion, fast motion, strobe motion, and trail effects.

Version 2.0 Expanded Audio--Audio-for-video support has been enhanced in The Finishing Release to include support for stereo pairs, audio waveform display on the timeline, in-track breakpoint controls that enable rubber-band control over pan and gain, and support for digital audio scrub.

XBLUR

Supported by Version 2.0 and available as a separately-priced option for 844/X, XBLUR comprises real-time embedded software and a new, high-density BFX PCI card that add Gaussian Blurs to the compendium of concurrent real-time effects already supported by the system. Mathematically equivalent to a 50-pixel-diameter blur of Adobe After Effects, XBLUR enables 844/X users to design Gaussian Blurs on up to four 10-bit uncompressed video streams at once.
The power of XBLUR emanates from the Company's newly-engineered Hatalsky PEP ("Programmable Effects Processor") custom silicon. The BFX card, an integrated extension of the GenesisEngine, houses two Hatalsky PEP processors for 844/Xi and four for 844/Xe, permitting the XBLUR-equipped GenesisEngine to execute in real time high-quality Gaussian algorithms requiring up to 26 billion operations per second.

HDX Technology

HDX Technology provides affordable support for both HD and SD applications in a single 844/X system. HDX comprises new software and a high-density HDX PCI card that add 10-bit format conversion to the GenesisEngine with precision rivaling the industry's best standalone format converters. HDX supports 10-bit uncompressed input and output of all the HD and SD digital television formats defined by SMPTE 292M and SMPTE 259M. These include:

-- 1080p/30/29.97/25/24/23.976 (SMPTE 274M);

-- 1080i/30/29.97/25/24/23.976 (SMPTE 274M);

-- 720p/60/59.94/50/30/29.97/25/24/23.976 (SMPTE 296M);

-- 1035i/30/29.97 (SMPTE 260M);

-- 525/60 (NTSC - SMPTE 259M);

-- 625/50 (PAL - SMPTE 259M).

HDX Format Conversion

Real-time, broadcast-quality format conversion is a breakthrough of HDX for 844/X. Starting with 10-bit quantization, HDX employs high-precision digital signal processing throughout and utilizes sophisticated real-time algorithms to ensure superior picture quality:

-- Motion-Adaptive De-Interlacing with Edge Detection-- When
converting interlaced fields to progressive frames, HDX
incorporates real-time motion-adaptive de-interlacing with
edge detection to reduce temporal artifacts.

-- 3:2 Pulldown--To support 24P HD applications, HDX provides
real-time 3:2 pulldown processing that includes: input and
output support of the 23.976 and 24 frames-per-second formats;
automatic 3:2 pulldown detection; 3:2 insertion when
converting a 24P HD image to the 60 frames-per-second
progressive native format of the GenesisEngine; and
3:2-removal upon mastering out to 24P HD.

-- Aspect Ratio Conversion--With support for cropping, scaling,
and letterboxing all in real time, HDX lets 844/X users
convert between images of 16:9 and 4:3 aspect ratios.

Pricing and Availability

The Company expects first customer shipments of The Version 2.0 Finishing Release and XBLUR to begin in May 2003. XBLUR is priced at $US7,995 for 844/Xi and $US9,995 for 844/Xe. The Company expects to deliver HDX Technology in the second half of 2003 as an add-on option for 844/X customers for under $US15,000.
844/X systems are available now with prices starting at $US24,995 for Media 100 software and hardware. Complete system configurations, including a workstation and high-speed media storage, start at about $US40,000 and are available exclusively through authorized 844/X value-added resellers.
For more information, or to obtain a comprehensive list of authorized resellers, please call (800) 773-1770 or visit www.media100.com.

About Media 100

Media 100 develops award-winning advanced media systems for content design, enabling creative professionals to design highly evocative effects-intensive work on a personal computer. Creative artists and content design teams around the world use Media 100's Emmy Award-winning solutions. The Company is headquartered in Marlboro, Massachusetts. For more information, please visit www.media100.com.
Media 100 is a registered trademark and 844/X, XBLUR, HDX Technology, and GenesisEngine are trademarks of Media 100 Inc. All other products and brand names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

CONTACT: Media 100 Inc.
Media Contact:
Mike Savello, 508/263-5135
msavello@media100.com
or
Raz PR
Karen Raz, 310/450-1482
karen@razpr.com
or
KCSA Public Relations
Investor Relations Contact:
Evan Smith, 212/896-1251
esmith@kcsa.com

[arvid]

xblur is extra cash huh?