Acorn Replay DIY 

Embargo Release Date 20th January 1993 

Acorn Replay movies can now be created by Acorn Archimedes users directly 
from camcorder or videotape, thanks to a collaborative development between 
Acorn and third party developers. 

(Replay is an innovative full motion video system which allows Acorn 
Archimedes computers to display movies at up to 25 frames per second without 
additional hardware. Audio is fully synchronised and movies can contain 
several soundtracks for use in a variety of teaching situations.) 

Until now, those wishing to create Replay movie files have had to send their 
raw video to a professional compression service provider who would supply a 
turnkey compression service to their customers. 

Now, Acorn Replay DIY capture cards have been produced - notably by Irlam 
Instruments - which plug in to the back of either an Acorn A5000 or A540 
computer. These expansion cards capture the video input in real time into a 
24-bit colour form and then compress the resulting data. 

Typically the raw video takes up some 37 MBytes per minute which is then 
compressed to under 5MB per minute in the final Replay file. As a result of 
the reduced data processing bandwidth, Acorn Replay is ideally suited to 
running directly from CD ROM. Audio can also be captured simultaneously by 
these DIY cards, which compress this data by 50%. 

Acorn's Technical Director, Malcolm Bird said "The low cost of these 
devices, coupled with their ease of use, means that this approach is ideally 
suited to the development of resource materials and for the production of 
specialised movies for individual educational establishments. 

"A growing number of CD ROMS and applications packages already provide a 
wealth of Replay video clips; these DIY cards will now permit anyone to add 
their own clips to this existing resource for use in their own particular 
applications." 

Malcolm Bird continued "We would expect developers who are creating CD ROMS 
for distribution still to consider professional capture services, but these 
new cards offer cost effective Replay capture to many other users. 

"Several schools have already taken advantage of CD ROM technology to store 
large multimedia databases which they have made.  Acorn Replay DIY will 
provide yet another resource of data which can be tailored to individual 
requirements." 

Further information from: 

Stewart Palmer  Jim Irlam                 
Acorn Computers Irlam Instruments       
 0223 254308    0895 811401     

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