On2 Showcases Full-length Film Encoded in VP4

On2 Technologies (www.on2.com) is offering the public a chance to check out the quality of its latest generation video compression technology, VP4. The company has encoded a horror film from 1983, Sleepaway Camp (written and directed by Robert Hiltzik) and is posting the entire feature length film on the On2 Web site.

The movie is 84 minutes long and has been encoded at 220, 330 and 440 kbps.

In a statement, On2 President and CEO Douglas McIntyre indicated that On2 was trying to prove that VP4 is a viable solution for video on demand even in its current beta release.

"We are confident that VP4 will become the new standard in video compression for film studios and others looking to encode video for the Internet and set-top arenas,'' McIntyre continued. "I would invite viewers to look at the movie and compare it to trailers run full-screen at the highest data rates at sites like Hollywood.com. This movie can be viewed anywhere in the United States from our server farms. The bandwidth cost to stream the movie is only $1,'' he added.

On2 also announced on Tuesday that Sega Corporation had shipped 80,416 Saturn and DreamCast games containing On2's TrueMotion video software in the fourth quarter of 2000.

"On2's video compression technology has had a long affiliation with the video game market,'' said McIntyre in a statement. "Sega's continued use of On2 demonstrates the quality and reliability of our products, particularly in the interactive game industry.''