Vweb Showcases ''The Connected Digital Home'' Applications based on its MPEG-1, 2 & 4 Audio/Video/System Encoder, Decoder, CODEC & Transcoder Chips at CES 2005

Business Wire, Jan 5, 2005

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Vweb, a leading provider of MPEG video compression and broadband video networking technologies, today announces a series of "Connected Digital Home" applications with its partners and customers, based on its VW2010, VW2005 and VW2002 devices at the CES 2005 in Las Vegas. The VW2010 is the world's first MPEG-1, 2 & 4 Audio/Video/System CODEC and Transcoder chip. The VW2005 is an MPEG-1, 2 & 4 Audio/Video/System Encoder chip, while the VW2002 is an MPEG-1, 2 & 4 Audio/Video/System Decoder chip. Vweb will also introduce the new VW4010 and VW6010 families of chips that support additional compression standards such as H.264 and VC1 in SD/HD resolutions.

Vweb's patented MPEG technology enables the best video quality and compression efficiency for all storage- and transmission bandwidth- related applications. Vweb's innovative MPEG-2 to MPEG-4 transcoding and transrating technologies enable broadband and wireless networking for end-to-end video distribution across all networks.

Together with its customers and partners, Vweb will participate in CES 2005 with private demo suites at the Polo Towers in Las Vegas. The main theme of Vweb's CES 2005 is "The Connected Digital Home." Vweb will have four demonstration suites, including IP Set-top Box, Digital Surveillance, Digital Home and Multimedia PC.

Vweb has committed significant effort to provide customers with reference designs to improve time-to-market. At CES 2005, a strong line of reference designs will be demonstrated including the AVM49R Home Gateway/Network PVR Reference Design with Toshiba and SkipJam Inc., the WiFi-TV(TM) Wireless Audio/Video Transmitter and Receiver Reference Design with TaifaTech Inc., the dHOME(TM) Multiport Multimedia Router Reference Design with Micrel Semiconductor Inc., an IP Camera Reference Design with iPAC, an MPEG-1, 2 & 4 AV Capture Card Reference Design for Media Center PC, and the Explorer(TM) Development Platform for embedded consumer and digital surveillance applications.

Vweb will also showcase innovative real-customer products based on Vweb's technology at CES 2005, including the MPEG-2 & 4 StreamCruiser(TM) IP Set-top box from Sumitomo Electric Networks, Inc. for NTT's "OCN Theater" video distribution service; the MPEG-1, 2 & 4 AV Capture miniPCI Card from iPAC for multimedia notebook PC and IP camera applications; the MPEG-1, 2 & 4 AV Capture and Transcoding PCI Cards from NEXX Inc. for content creation, management and distribution; an MPEG-4 based karaoke system for karaoke bars; the Wireless Projector from Awind for office and home use, and the Multi-Channel Digital Video Recorder for surveillance applications from Coretech and Thakral Technology, Inc.

AVM49R Home Gateway/Network PVR Reference Design

Vweb partnered with Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc., to design the AVM49R, based on the state-of-the-art 64-bit 333MHz TX4938 Toshiba MIPS CPU with dual Ethernet MACs. The AVM49R has a Toshiba GoKU IDE/USB Controller on-board, which makes it ideal for home gateway/network PVR and IPSTB applications. The SkipJam iMedia(TM) middleware is capable of network media streaming, PC media access, and PVR functions with Electronic Program Guide. Vweb's MPEG-4 codec technology provides 100% reduction in hard-drive storage space versus MPEG-2 for PVR applications.

WiFi-TV(TM) Wireless Audio/Video Transmitter and Receiver Reference Design

Vweb partnered with Taifatech Inc. to create the WiFi-TV(TM) Reference Design. It is a turnkey solution based on Taifatech's innovative TF530 Multimedia Streaming Controller and Vweb's MPEG-1, 2 & 4 AV codec technology, which provides 100% reduction in network bandwidth versus MPEG-2. This is particularly important for bandwidth-limited wireless digital home networks. With the TF530 chip, the WiFi-TV(TM) offers the lowest latency and the most cost-effective wireless transmitter and receiver module reference design in the industry. The WiFi-TV(TM) is also an ideal solution for next-generation of audio/video wireless capture devices for multimedia laptop PC applications.

dHOME(TM) Multiports Multimedia Router Reference Design

Vweb partnered with Micrel Semiconductor, Inc. to design the dHOME(TM), which is based on Micrel's Centaur KS8695 multiport system-on-a-chip Router PCI Controller. The dHOME(TM) Reference Design leverages Vweb's MPEG-1, 2 & 4 AV encoder/decoder/codec/transcoding technologies to offer the best compression efficiency and video quality for digital home applications. It comes with Micrel's XceleRouter(TM) acceleration hardware with proven turnkey router software from Micrel, including NAT, firewall, MAC address cloning, TCP/IP stack, DHCP and uPnP(TM).

Explorer(TM) Development Platform for Embedded Consumer and Industrial Applications

The Vweb Explorer(TM) Development Platform is based on Vweb's VW2010 MPEG-1, 2 & 4 and H.263 AV codec with a Toshiba TX4938 CPU and a Silicon Motion SM501 VGA Display Controller. The state-of-the-art 333MHz TX4938 CPU enables fast, high-performance web browser, OSD and PVR applications. The Silicon Motion SM501 VGA Display Controller together with Vweb's VW2010 H.263 video and G.7XX speech audio codec technologies provide an ideal platform for multimedia PC and info appliance applications such as IP audio/video terminals. It has elaborate audio and video interfaces for both consumer and digital surveillance applications.