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Sorenson Media Announces Immediate Availability of Sorenson SqueezeHD XCEL Accelerator Platform for Real-Time MPEG-2 High Definition Encoding (25/7/2006)

Resolution-Independent, 100 Percent Software-Programmable Platform Enables Maximum Flexibility and Smooth Upgrade Path to Future Advanced High Definition Video Standards

Sorenson Media(R), the global leader in video compression technology, today announced the immediate availability of Sorenson SqueezeHD XCEL(TM), a new PCI-X accelerator platform/plug-in board based on innovative, fully software-definable technology.

The Sorenson SqueezeHD XCEL encoding solution is a PC plug-in board that dramatically accelerates key processor-intensive encoding tasks such as motion estimation and image transforms. Using four highly parallel processors that total more than 16,000 parallel computing elements, Sorenson SqueezeHD XCEL can encode MPEG-2 1920x1080 content at 30 frames per second on a properly configured system. Lower resolutions can achieve faster than real-time performance.

"We developed Sorenson SqueezeHD XCEL to empower our customers to quickly encode significant quantities of high definition content, while enjoying the industry-standard quality and simplicity of Sorenson Squeeze," said Matt Cupal, president of Sorenson Media. "The resulting solution combines blazing-fast encoding speed, quality and ease of use to meet the needs of the most demanding video professionals."

Sorenson SqueezeHD XCEL hardware accelerates all the MPEG-2 encoding options found in Sorenson Squeeze, including resolutions (SD & HD) up to 1920 x 1080, and works effectively alongside video capture cards from multiple vendors to provide effective capture and encoding in a single system. Sorenson SqueezeHD XCEL is fully software programmable, and contains a built-in roadmap to other HD formats as they become available. For example, planned future Sorenson SqueezeHD XCEL codecs include H.264/AVC, JPEG-2000 and Windows Media/VC1.

Sorenson SqueezeHD XCEL also includes all of the features of Sorenson Squeeze PowerPack. Retailing at $599, this solution includes features such as batch mode encoding, multiple format support, Web video output, watch folders, command line control and more.

Pricing and Availability

Sorenson SqueezeHD XCEL is available by contacting Sorenson Media at 801.313.8150 or through a variety of dealers. The base starting price is $11,995.

www.sorensonmedia.com

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