AfterDawn: Tech news

Pre-CeBIT Exclusive: Nero Digital MPEG-4 AV-codec, Nero ShowTime!

Written by Lasse Penttinen @ 10 Mar 2003 12:05 User comments (3)

Pre-CeBIT Exclusive: Nero Digital MPEG-4 AV-codec, Nero ShowTime! Ahead Software is about to drop the bomb at CeBIT. They will be expanding their product line even more to the DVD and video compression field.
New Nero products:

Nero Digital: The Digital is a new audio/video compression codec by Ahead Software. “The next standard in audio video compression - complete MPEG-4 solution encompassing ISO/14496-2/3 compatibility and state-of-the-art audio High Efficiency AAC in MPEG”.

Nero Digital will be a direct competitor to well known DivX codec and other similar products (like Xvid). According to our source inside Ahead, they have so far been very impressed in the codec’s performance. One strength of Nero Digital is that it will incorporate a high efficiency AAC audio compression built in.

"We're also really excited about the Nero Digital project, because there is no doubt the audio/video codec's will have immense appeal to people wanting high quality content (DVD movies etc) onto CDR (or using DVD/RW to put more than one movie on the same disc)".



Nero ShowTime: Ahead is also about to release a DVD player software. “Sharper pictures! Crisper sound! Get ready for the new digital experience ...it´s Nero ShowTime, the next generation software DVD player.”.

This is a very competitive niche that Ahead is entering, dominated by WinDVD and PowerDVD, but there is also some heat from NVIDIA (NvDVD) and others.

Software updates:

InCD 4.0: “…Drive Letter Application to Set the Standard Once Again This proprietary application was developed by Ahead's engineers to raise the bar on packet writing. Geared toward OEMs, InCD 4's auto-detect, hot-plugging and plug-n-play features make installation and use easier than for any previous packet writing.”

As CD-RW has replaced the floppy, packet writing has become a rather popular method for accessing the CD-RW medium. InCD holds a strong market share and is now upgraded to version 4.0.

Nero Vision Express 2.0: “...all-in-one DVD & (S)VCD video capturing, authoring and burning solution combining the Nero recording engine, our own MPEG technology and XP wizard-like easy-to-use in perfect harmony with Nero Express.”.

DVD-R authoring is a quickly growing market sector where Ahead has a strong position. The VisionExpress is now updated to 2.0

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3 user comments

111.3.2003 02:16

Isn´t it a bit funny, that at the same time while governments are passing new laws to prevent copying, we are handed better and more efficient programs to make our own back-up´s. Just a thought.

211.3.2003 07:01

I don't think this MPEG-4 package will come standard with Nero, but more likely a addon that must be purchased. One problem they will face is that Divx and Xvid can be obtained freely on the web, so they will need to come up with a good reason to get people to switch from Divx/Xvid to their codec. The only thing I see different with Nero's codec is that they use an MPEG-4 audio codec, unlike where Divx and Xvid typically rely on some legacy audio codec such as MP3 and in a few cases I've seen: 8-bit telephone quality wave!.

311.3.2003 09:25

OGG Vorbis audio is also heard in movies.

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