Complete Hardware/Software System Makes DVD Creation Easy, Affordable

MILPITAS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 13, 1999-- Panasonic Industrial Company and Pinnacle Systems, Inc. announced today that Pinnacle Systems' new DVD1000 video editing and DVD authoring solution for Windows® NT environments is fully compatible with the Panasonic LF-D101 DVD-RAM drive.

By adding the Panasonic rewritable DVD drive to the DVD1000 package, businesses and professional digital video artists will have a complete, affordable solution for creating, editing, authoring and distributing DVD videos. Applications that can benefit from the high-quality video, audio and multi-track features of DVD range from training, entertainment, and educational videos to corporate product demonstrations.

In developing the DVD1000, Pinnacle Systems assembled the leading DVD software and hardware products and carried out extensive testing on their performance, compatibility and compliance with industry standards. The result is a turnkey DVD production solution capable of real-time processing of titles and transitions that can be easily ouput to the Panasonic DVD-RAM drive.

The DVD1000 provides more than 300 real-time effects and achieves hardware performance with an unparalleled software bundle, including Adobe® Premiere® RT 5.1, Pinnacle Systems' TitleDeko titling software, Pixelan Video SpiceRack software effects and Sonic Foundry's ACID Music® software. Also included is Minerva's Impression DVD authoring software.

"We included the products that professional content developers would select if they were assembling their own components," said Ajay Chopra, vice president of the desktop group at Pinnacle Systems.

"We recommend adding the standards-compliant Panasonic DVD-RAM drive because it outperforms other rewritable DVD drives on the market. Video files are huge, even with MPEG-2 compression, so the higher performance that the Panasonic's DVD-RAM drive provides will be important to our DVD1000 customers as well as our DC1000 video editing system customers."

With the DVD1000, digital video and audio can be captured via a DV/1394 connection. A video is captured (digitized) as an industry-standard AVI file and is stored as IPPP GOP format data, alongside PCM format audio. Files are encoded using the DVD1000's MPEG-2 system which is based on the 4:2:2 Main Profile at Main Level (MP@ML) MPEG-2 standard which was specifically designed for video editing.

Its unique design allows users to edit MPEG-2 videos frame-by-frame -- even within compressed groups of pictures. Once the assets of the title have been finalized, they can be output to a DVD-RAM disc by utilizing the feature-rich authoring tools that are included with the Pinnacle Systems DVD 1000.

By combining the DVD1000 with the Panasonic DVD-RAM drive, completed videos can be stored on 2.6GB (single-sided) or 5.2GB (double-sided) removable, rewritable discs at transfer rates of up to 10.5Mbps. The drive's 2MB buffer ensures that movie frames won't be dropped, even when other tasks are run in the background.

A single disc can store 150 minutes of high-quality MPEG-2 video, or more than 8 hours of AC3 audio; and, unlike tape, DVD titles won't deteriorate over time. Widely available for about $.008/MB, DVD-RAM discs provide more than 100,000 write/rewrite cycles.

"DVD-RAM provides enhanced editing capabilities that simplify the editing process," explained Jeff Saake, Group General Manager, Panasonic Industrial Co., Computer Technology Group. "Because DVD-RAM is a physically addressed medium, DVD1000 users can move to specific segments of the disc to edit their work. Data can be written to any location on the disc and small sections of data can be rewritten without stressing the error correction codes."

Businesses and videographers who purchase the versatile Panasonic DVD-RAM drive for use with the Pinnacle DVD1000 system can also use the drive to read from discs currently accepted by CD-ROM, CD Audio, CD-R, CD-RW and video CD drives, as well as DVD video, DVD-ROM and DVD-R drives. Panasonic, the first to deliver DVD-RAM drives and media, was also the first to offer a DVD-ROM drive that reads DVD-RAM media.

Prices, Availability

The Panasonic LF-D101 DVD-RAM drive is available as an internal drive with a SCSI-2 interface. OEMs can purchase the drive from Panasonic Industrial Company. Panasonic Document Imaging Company (PDIC) is also marketing Panasonic brand DVD-RAM drives for an MSRP of $799. DVD-RAM media, which is marketed under the Panasonic brand name, is also available from several other leading manufacturers.

The removable double-sided 5.2GB disc has an MSRP of $39.95. The 2.6GB single-sided media has an MSRP of $24.95 and is sold with a removable cartridge for playback on the latest 5X DVD-ROM drives.

The DVD1000 will be available this summer through resellers, distributors, direct sales and OEM's worldwide at a special introductory retail price of $6,995 through the end of June--a savings of $2,000 over the standard MSRP. Pinnacle Systems also offers an optional IEEE 1394 DV (FireWire) I/O module for real time DV/MPEG-2 transcoding when using DV camcorders.

Corporate Profiles

Since 1986, Pinnacle Systems' broadcast, desktop, and consumer products have provided video professionals and consumers the sophisticated tools needed to create dazzling video programs faster and more affordably than ever before. In addition to its corporate headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., Pinnacle Systems has ten sales and marketing, and research and development offices worldwide. Pinnacle Systems may be reached at 650/526-1600 or on the World Wide Web at www.pinnaclesys.com .

The Panasonic DVD-RAM OEM drive is manufactured by Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., one of the world's leading producers of CD-ROM and DVD-ROM drives and other digital electronic products. The drives are marketed by the company's principal North American subsidiary, Matsushita Electric Corp. of America. For more information on the Panasonic DVD-RAM drive and media, contact Panasonic Industrial Company, 1600 McCandless Drive, Milpitas, CA 95035; 408/945-5600, FAX 408/262-4214, E-mail [email protected]. Or,visit the company's Web site at www.panasonic.com/oemdvd-ram. In Canada, contact Panasonic Canada, 5770 Ambler Drive, Mississauga, Ontario L4W 2T3, Canada; 905/238-2254, FAX 905/238-2414, E-mail [email protected].

Pinnacle Systems, Inc. is not a part or in any way legally affiliated with Panasonic Industrial Company. Panasonic Industrial Company assumes no responsibility for the performance of or customer satisfaction with Pinnacle Systems products. All company and/or product names are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective manufacturers. Features, pricing, availability and specifications are subject to change without notice.

Contact:

     Marken Communications for Panasonic Andy Marken, 408/986-0100
[email protected]