Sigma Designs debuts premium VLB graphics accelerator with RealMagic MPEG playback capabilities; RealMagic RAVE provides a single-card solution for high-performance accelerated graphics, TV-quality video and CD-quality MPEG audio playback

Business Wire, Nov 14, 1994

LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 14, 1994--Sigma Designs Inc. (NASDAQ:SIGM) the world's leading manufacturer of MPEG interactive multimedia products, Monday announced RealMagic RAVE, a VESA Local Bus (VLB) graphics accelerator with MPEG interactive full-screen, TV-quality video and CD-quality MPEG audio playback for personal computer systems.

Shipping in December 1994, RealMagic RAVE will carry a suggested retail price of $489. The new board will be debuted at the COMDEX Fall/1994 tradeshow in Las Vegas.

"We're very excited to be evolving the RealMagic product line to include a product which combines our breakthrough interactive MPEG capabilities with blazing fast graphics acceleration," said Greg Jones, vice president of marketing at Sigma Designs. "RealMagic RAVE demonstrates our focus toward providing a comprehensive product family that meets the requirements of a broad array of business and home PC users."

In addition to powerful acceleration for a wide range of graphic-intensive applications, RealMagic RAVE can play back up to 74 minutes of interactive, full-screen, full-motion video combined with CD-quality MPEG audio from a single CD-ROM. A new generation of RealMagic entertainment titles, educational software, music videos, and movies are now available. Other business applications for RealMagic include low-cost information kiosks, interactive training and video distribution over a network.

Hardware GUI Acceleration

The RealMagic RAVE controller works with a 486SX/25 or higher personal computer in any available VESA Local Bus slot that conforms to the VESA Local Bus specifications, version 2.0. RealMagic RAVE supports 1 or 2 MBs of DRAM and refresh rates of up to 75Hz. In addition, the board displays up to 16 million colors at 800 x 600 resolution, up to 64K colors at 1024 x 768 resolution, and 256 colors at 1280 x 1024 resolution.

Featuring the Trident TGUI9440AGi graphics acceleration chip, RealMagic RAVE offers hardware optimized BitBLT, line drawing, short stroke vector, rectangle fills, and text transfer. Other features include internal hardware cursor, color expansion modes, and 256 ROPs for 8-, 15- and 16-bit per pixel modes.

MPEG Interactive Playback

RealMagic RAVE displays 128,000 effective colors at resolutions up to 1280 x 1024 at 30 frames per second (fps) -- the same as today's home television. The RealMagic RAVE controller also provides 16-bit stereo, CD-quality MPEG sound simultaneously with video.

Based on the video and audio standard for compression, MPEG can achieve tremendous compression ratios, often as high as 200 to 1, which allows high-quality video and audio to be played directly from even a single-speed CD-ROM. RealMagic also ensures full compatibility with interactive MPEG games and other MPEG software titles.

Pricing, Warranty and Availability

RealMagic RAVE VLB will be available in December 1994 at major retailers nationwide for a suggested retail price of $489 for the 1MB configuration and $569 for the 2MB configuration. The board will be bundled with an MPEG preview version of Flash Traffic: City of Angels from Tsunami Media and a complete MPEG version of Ocean Life from Sumeria. An extended five-year warranty comes standard with the RealMagic RAVE controller.

The entire RealMagic product family will be demonstrated at Sigma Designs' booth no. M7414 in the Sands Expo during COMDEX Fall/1994.

Sigma Designs, headquartered in Fremont, Calif., is the world's leading manufacturer of MPEG-based multimedia products, including affordable MPEG video and audio decompression hardware and enhancements. All Sigma Designs products are sold worldwide through a network of dealers, distributors and original equipment manufacturers. For more information, call 800/845-8086, 510/770-0100, or fax 510/770-2641. -0-

Note to Editors: RealMagic and RealMagic RAVE are trademarks of Sigma Designs Inc. All other company or brand names are the property of their respective owners.

CONTACT: Sigma Designs Inc., Fremont

              Letty Dupuy, 510/770-2673
              Edelman PR Worldwide
              Tad C. Bixby, 415/968-4033