Media 100, a unit of Optibase, and a provider of advanced media systems, has announced that it is actively developing a native-HD implementation of its 844/X real-time editing-compositing system. Based on the 10-bit, real-time architecture of today's 844/X systems, 844/X HD will natively support all HD and SD formats and provide the same real-time, multi-stream performance and functionality with HD projects as today's SD version of 844/X, according to Media 100. 844/X HD is expected to be available in 2005.

844/X HD is the first 844/X system to utilize variable bit-rate compression of both HD and SD data and will include one of the first uncompressed-quality HD compression algorithms available in a digital video system. This will allow 844/X HD users to conserve disk storage space while maintaining images that are mathematically equivalent to 10-bit uncompressed quality.

844/X HD will be a new product incorporating new software and hardware currently in development. Existing 844/X customers will be able to upgrade to 844/X HD for a nominal fee.

www.media100.com