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at $4,999, Wired Inc.'s MediaPress for Windows 95/98 is one of the cheapest real-time hardware MPEC-2/DVD encoders around, with good output quality that ultimately proved compatible with both of our test DVD authoring systems (Daikin Scenarist and Minerva Impression). However, the card doesn't support professional-quality input formats and lacks automation tools like machine control and batch encoding, as well as Windows NT compatibility. Though Wired has aggressive plans to add these features, MediaPress is currently best-suited for low-volume production for corporate or small multimedia developers.
MediaPress is a singleboard encoder based on the Sony MPEG-2 encoder, with S-Video and composite video and stereo audio inputs. On the Wintel platform, MediaPress currently only runs under Windows 95/98-a frustrating limitation given that most DVD authoring programs, including those from Daikin and Minerva, only support NT.
The system used in testing included Wired's MasonX MPEG-2 decoder, which can preview encoded MPEG-2 audio/video streams from the MediaPress after a short delay. This decode-while-encode combination lets users instantly preview adjustments made to the video, a helpful feature. However, MasonX won't display on your computer monitor, and requires a separate NTSC monitor.
software functionality: the hard truth
Like many Mac programs ported over to Windows, the MediaPress Application software bundled with the encoder is minimalist in nature. To encode, first establish a target file name; then choose to encode audio, video, or both in either multiplexed or standalone format. Since most DVD authoring programs work with separate audio/video files, we encoded in this fashion.
With MediaPress, users can encode in either MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 formats at data rates ranging from 768kbps to 15mbps, in thumbnail-sized resolutions of 48 x 32 to full MPEG-2 720 x 480. The board also supports halfheight D-1 (720 x 240) and Super Video CD (480 x 480] resolutions, but not square-pixel MPEG-1 [320 x 240 an important limitation for producers of MPEG-1 CDs.
On the audio front, you can encode in either MPEG (layer 1 or 2) or Linear PCM formats, at data rates ranging from 64 to 384KB/sec in either variable or constant bit rate. AC-3 audio is not supported, so if your authoring program doesn't provide AC-3 compression, you'll need a third-party encoder, which starts at around $695 for a software-only system. DVD authors...