Number Nine Unveils Revolutionary Multimedia Accelerator: 9FX Media574

Strategic Insights -

Number Nine, a leading provider of high-performance PC display solutions, has introduced a groundbreaking multimedia accelerator, the 9FX Media574. This innovative board integrates advanced graphics, video, and audio functionality into a single add-in board, reducing the cost and complexity of building a full-function multimedia system. The 9FX Media574 is designed to cater to the burgeoning market of multimedia users, both in the home and business, as well as the emerging market of desktop videoconferencing users.

Key Takeaways:

  • The 9FX Media574 is a revolutionary multimedia accelerator that consolidates high-performance graphics, video, and audio functionality onto a single add-in board for PCs.
  • The board utilizes Brooktree Corp.'s MediaStreamTM chipset, which integrates disparate data types into "packets" stored in graphics memory, reducing memory, bandwidth, and quality problems.
  • The 9FX Media574 achieves unprecedented multimedia performance, supporting graphics resolutions up to 1024x768 at 256 colors and true-color video playback at full-screen resolutions in only one megabyte of memory.
  • The board enables new creative capabilities in multimedia, such as high-performance video-over-graphics overlays (Chroma-keying or "Blue-screening") for entertainment titles, games, and high-quality image rendering.
  • The 9FX Media574 allows PCs to input and output full-fidelity, all-digital sound directly to and from popular consumer audio devices, such as digital audio tape (DAT) and CD players.
  • The board also enables mainstream, off-the-shelf PCs to play high-quality MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) music using WaveStreamTM software from Brooktree.
  • The 9FX Media574 is available in various configurations with either 1- or 2-megabytes of VRAM graphics memory installed and is anticipated to ship in the third quarter of 1995 in models for the PCI and VL bus.
  • Number Nine plans to offer a variety of configurations to accommodate the needs of different users, including models without the audio feature for users who already have 16-bit sound installed on their system.
  • Greg McHale, vice president, marketing and consumer sales of Number Nine, stated that the new 9FX Media574 is the first in a new generation of true multimedia accelerators, enabling users to build high-performance multimedia systems from the ground up with fully integrated media at the chip level.

Statistics:

  • The 9FX Media574 supports graphics resolutions up to 1024x768 at 256 colors and true-color video playback at full-screen resolutions in only one megabyte of memory.
  • The board achieves over double the performance compared to other architectures (MediaStones 95, Providenza & Boekelheide, Inc.).
  • The 9FX Media574 is available in various configurations with either 1- or 2-megabytes of VRAM graphics memory installed.
  • The board will support resolutions up to 1280 x 1024 x 256, up to 1024 x 768 x 65,000 colors, or up to 800 x 600 at 16.8 million colors with refresh rates up to 75 Hz at each resolution.
  • Number Nine is the fourth-largest manufacturer of graphics and video accelerator boards for the PC and the number one supplier of high-end VRAM graphics accelerators (according to International Data Corp.).
  • Number Nine is the 44th fastest growing high-tech manufacturer in the world (according to World Trade Magazine).

Sources:

  • [Number Nine Visual Technology Corporation press release - date not mentioned]
  • [MediaStones 95, Providenza & Boekelheide, Inc. - date not mentioned]
  • [International Data Corp. - date not mentioned]
  • [World Trade Magazine - date not mentioned]