Firms to launch MPEG-2 real-time encoder.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)

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US-based software company Equator and Moonlight Cordless, an Israeli tech company, have announced a full resolution and low-bitrate MPEG-2 real-time encoder, understood to be an advance on MPEG-4 technology, for Equator's broadband signal processor devices, reports internet.com

The software technology companies said that the solution provides superior video quality at a lower bitrate while complying with standards. Equator and Moonlight added that the solution is compatible across various video platforms, from PVRs to digital set-top boxes.

Internet.com reports that the standard of video resolution quality the programme provides has prompted the companies to market it as an alternative to fixed-function, hard-wired MPEG-2 codec solutions or even MPEG-4.

"We put our open programmable platform to its best use to deliver the best of both worlds - an MPEG-2 implementation that maintains full standards compliance and delivers dramatically lower bitrate and better picture quality," Equator head Avi Katz told the online publication.

Moonlight said that the D1 real-time MPEG-2 encoder supports bitrates ranging from 1Mbps-8 Mbps.

In addition, the encoder is understood to include continual DVD quality video encoding at sub-2 Mbps, DVD quality transcoding to sub-2 Mbps bitrate, Interlaced/Progressive output, Field/Frame prediction and Offline HDTV encoding. ((Distributed via M2 Communications Ltd - http://www.m2.com))