Productivity: ClearPhone boosts audio with QT 3

MacWeek, March 9, 1998 by Leander Kahney

Engineering Consulting last week launched the first videoconferencing

application to take advantage of a new high-fidelity voice

compressor-decompressor built into QuickTime 3.0.

Thanks to the PureVoice compressor-decompressor, or codec, included with

Apple's QuickTime 3.0 software, the new version of Engineering Consulting's

ClearPhone application now offers Internet telephony that rivals the quality

of regular telephones, the company said.

Version 4.3.2 of ClearPhone is available for $80 for the first license;

subsequent licenses are $70. Registered users of versions 3 to 4 can upgrade

free. A free, 30-day demo is available from Engineering Consulting's Web site.

Apple licensed the PureVoice codec from Qualcomm Inc. of San Diego. Qualcomm

said the codec is widely used in cellular phones and is well-suited to

streaming applications. It tolerates dropped data and delivers CD-quality

audio at high compression rates.

A beta version of Apple's QuickTime 3.0 is currently being tested. Users can

download a copy from Apple's Web site

(http://www.apple.com/quicktime/sw/index.html). The company said users must

have at least Version F7 of the QuickTime beta.

A new video codec built into QuickTime 3.0, developed by Sorenson Vision Inc.,

will be supported by future versions of ClearPhone, Engineering Consulting

said.

Engineering Consulting recommends a 100-MHz Power Mac or better, and a

28.8-Kbps or faster connection.

Engineering Consulting of Brea, Calif., can be reached at (714) 671-2009; fax

(714) 255-9984; radiobob@clearphone.com; http://www.clearphone.com.