This summer was busy for me, and all my CoolDVD info came the day I went to the MacWorld Expo. There, within the confines of Apple's crazy area and the confusion of Raphsody and MacOS 8, was a 6500/300 with none other than the CoolDVD card. It was running Warren Miller's Ski World, both on the monitor and on a 30-inch TV next to it. Prefectly clear, no choppiness, completely functional. Why didn't I bring my camera?
All I had as proof was a badly photocopied brochure, which I scanned for the box picture (left) and the new interface (right). It was staffed by Apple emloyees (not E4's), so they didn't provide much info.CoolDVD is still in development for Macintosh, but is coming along very well (a lot of the holdbacks are actually because of Apple's DVD drivers, which may only support IDE! Please email Apple and tell them to bring SCSI support back!). CoolDVD should be shipping with a DVD-ROM drive (undecided which one yet) for about $500, and the card is intended to use E4's "ShoeHorn Technology," which is one PCI card that can work in both PCs and Macs. E4's web site was redesigned this summer, but the CoolDVD page did not change.
E4, formerly known as Elecede Technologies Inc. has announced a new DVD kit that is fully compatible with both Windows 95 machines as well as MAC OS8. The kit that will be offered for $499 will include a PCI decoder board that will make MPEG and MPEG-2 video available. However E4 says they have not selected a drive manufacturer. The Kit also includes a companion board that includes a host of S-Video, audio & video outputs, and S/PDIF digital audio. The companion baord will block a slot that it doesn't actually use however the company says that users can opt to not use the board if they do not intend to connect it to other devices. Hardware based copy protection is provided by proprietary E4 software and an encryption chip from C-Cube Microsystems Inc. according to E4. CoolDVD will include a nifty peice of software to allow users navigate titles, choose among the 8 different languages as well selecting multiple viewing angles. DVD video will be displayed in a scalable window with support for as high as 720 by 480 pixel resolution in MPEG-2, according to the company.
At this point in the Mac's evolution, however, playing an MPEG-2-encoded DVD disc requires special hardware -- namely, an MPEG-2 PCI card. Thus, both Apple and Power Computing are in negotiations with E4, a small but aggressive startup company, to bundle E4's CoolDVD MPEG-2 card and software interface with their systems. Although no one from E4, Apple, or Power Computing was willing to comment on when actual products will be available or how much we'll pay for them, John Chan, E4's director of product marketing, is clear about his company's goal: "We want to own the market -- and we will." Given what we've seen of the CoolDVD's elegant interface and impressive performance, he may get his wish.
E4 is the first to market with a plug-and-play DVD add-in card that will support the full DVD specification, including MPEG I and MPEG II video, and Dolby AC-3 audio. Cool DVD features high-quality video with multiple language capability (8-track multilingual support), 32-track subtitle support, built-in encryption and other support functions. It has a fully integrated movie player/control interface for DVD applications including DVD-ROM and PCTV. Cool DVD is capable of delivering full frame rate, 30 frames per second S-VHS and composite video. This, in addition to its feature connector interface, allows CoolDVD to display full-motion, full-screen, ultra high-quality video on either the desktop or in the living room. It comes with a software package complete with Windows 95 or Mac OS (in 2Q97) drivers and a full-functionality player application.