Stretch Inc. Announces Support for H.264 Scalable Video Codec

March 10, 2008

SUNNYVALE , Calif., March 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Stretch Inc., the pioneer and leader in software configurable processors, today announced support of the Scalable Video CODEC (SVC) extension to the popular H.264 video compression standard. Commonly referred to as H.264 SVC, this emerging standard enables access to video footage irrespective of network bandwidth or decoding capability of the client device and allows active management of video storage, dramatically reducing system costs.

"The power of our software configurable processors enables Stretch to be the first to demonstrate this groundbreaking technology," said Craig Lytle , CEO of Stretch. "Any Stretch-based solution can be in-the-field upgraded to H.264 SVC, further proving the benefit of using programmable solutions in video surveillance systems."

The dramatic rise in usage of video surveillance coupled with adoption of network-based surveillance solutions has created the demand for the ability to view surveillance footage "anywhere, anytime". Yet the varying bandwidth of connections, and the differing viewing capabilities, from security centers to cell phones, has required a complex mix of different video encoding standards, resolutions, frame rates, and quality levels. H.264 SVC solves this complexity issue by creating a single encoded video stream that can be "scaled" to support varying levels of resolutions, frame rates, and quality. This allows the video to adapt to differing bandwidth and viewing capabilities throughout a networked system without resorting to expensive transcoding solutions.

Albert Wang , chief technical officer at Stretch commented, "The Stretch implementation of H.264 SVC allows us, from a single source, to easily derive multiple streams of different frame rates and resolutions, and to send the streams to conventional H.264 decoding devices. This capability allows Stretch-based installations to embrace a multitude of conventional surveillance decoders as well as mobile devices such as PDAs and even cell phones."

H.264 SVC's unique "layered" approach to video scaling allows recorded video to be reduced in size and quality over time, but preserving a baseline of video information. In this way, storage requirements can be reduced for older video and more recent video footage can be maintained at a higher level of quality -- important for evidentiary records of recent events. In this way, overall storage costs can be reduced.

The Stretch H.264 SVC implementation is applicable to both IP Cameras and Digital Video Recorders (DVRs), and will be integrated as part of its Intelligent Encoder suite of video and audio codecs, which currently supports MJPEG, MPEG4, and H.264.

Stretch will demonstrate the capabilities of H.264 SVC in booth #4136 at the ISC West trade show in Las Vegas in April 2008 .

About Stretch

Stretch Inc. is delivering a family of software configurable processors, the first to embed programmable logic within the processor. Using familiar C/C++ programming tools, system developers automatically configure Stretch's off-the-shelf processors to achieve extraordinary performance, easy and rapid development, significant cost savings, and flexibility to address diverse markets and changing application needs. Stretch devices are used in video processing, machine vision, and wireless applications worldwide. For more information, visit http://www.stretchinc.com.

Stretch, the Stretch logo and Extending the Possibilities are registered trademarks of Stretch Inc. Media Contacts: Leslie-Ann Campbell Patrick Corcoran Stretch Inc. Cain Communications 408 543 2754 360-314-4732 [email protected] [email protected]

SOURCE Stretch Inc.

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