(Feb. 10, 2004) -- MainConcept announced that it has released its H.264 Encoder Preview Version for Microsoft Windows. Although not yet optimized for speed, this free demo enables users to evaluate the quality of MainConcept’s newest codec. It is available as an end-user application and an SDK.
H.264 AVC (Advanced Video Coding) — also known as MPEG-4 Part 10 — is an exciting new video format which has the potential to replace several existing standards.

Features include:

• Efficient compression, requiring significantly lower bitrate than DV or MPEG-2 to achieve comparable quality;
• Suitability for many applications from mobile telephony to professional video; and
• Network friendliness including a network abstraction layer designed for effi cient transmission of header data.
“We are proud to release yet another high-quality codec,” said Markus Moenig, founder and CEO of MainConcept. “Following in the traditions of our Motion JPEG, DV, MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 products, our H.264 solution confi rms our position as the leader in codec technology.”
The end-user version of MainConcept’s H.264 Encoder Preview Version includes a friendly interface based on the current MPEG Encoder. It is available for download at http://www.mainconcept.com/h264_encoder.shtml. It also includes a DirectShow decoder, enabling H.264 files to be played in Windows Media Player and other DirectShow-compatible programs.
The SDK demo will show software developers how easy it is to implement MainConcept’s H.264 solution. It uses the same API as MainConcept’s popular MPEG-1/MPEG-2 SDK. The Preview Version is available by request to selected developers under NDA at http://developer.mainconcept.com/h264-sdk.html. The H.264 encoder and decoder are entirely MainConcept’s own codebase; every portion of the reference codec was rewritten for optimal quality.