Digigami ships MegaPEG X Pro HD 3.0
Posted by Dennis Sellers 
May 31, 2005 at 7:02am
Digigami is shipping MegaPEG.X Pro HD 3.0 for Mac OS X. The update features improved standard definition “SD” and high-definition “HD” MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 encoding.
The new encoder, which features a built-in “videophile” MPEG decoder for transcoding from MPEG-2 (DVD, HDTV, DVB, HDV) sources, provides a missing piece to the high-definition puzzle: how to deliver high-definition content to existing Mac and PC computer desktops, according to the folks at Digigami.
“MPEG-1, also known as ISO-11172, is the de-facto High-Definition Desktop video delivery standard” says Digigami Chief Technical Officer Gen Kiyooka. “Ratified as an international standard in the early 90s, MPEG-1 supports frame sizes up to 4000×4000 pixels, and frame rates up to 60 fps, well beyond the current HDTV 1920×1080 maximum. Because of the computational simplicity of the MPEG-1 decompression codec, we have found that MPEG-1 VBR at 1280×720x24p, plays well on older models of Macintosh (early G4 systems) and Windows (Pentium 3) computers.”
He adds that because MPEG-1 decoding is a standard feature of both the Macintosh and Windows operating systems, the delivery of high-definition MPEG-1 content is free of the “chicken-and-egg problems” that plague newer codecs like MPEG-4 (including H.264) and Windows Media 9: the need for a download-and-install before content can be viewed.
“By combining MPEG-1 with variable bitrate (VBR) encoding, both high-definition picture quality and reduced media file sizes/bandwidth can be realized,” Kiyooka says. “In our own tests, we’re finding that 1280×720p x 24fps can be encoded at 3-5 Mbs average bitrate, with high-action peaks in the 12-15 Mbs range—only slightly higher than standard definition DVD and well within the streaming capability of 100MB switched Ethernet.”
Version 3.0 of Digigami “MegaPEG.X Pro HD” is available now in two configurations, starting at US$239.76.
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Dennis Sellers
Dennis has been a newspaper editor/reporter (seven years) and teacher (seven years). He has over 4,000 magazine, newspaper and online articles to his credit. He has also covered the Mac and tech industries for over a decade for such online publications as MacCentral, MacMinute and now MacsimumNews.
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