LEAD Technologies Releases New Video Codec
Proprietary MCMP Wavelet Video Compression

Charlotte, NC (May 4, 2000) - LEAD Technologies, Inc., a LEADing provider of imaging developer toolkits worldwide, announced today that it is releasing a new Video Codec (Codec = COder-DECoder). LEAD's new Video Codec is a multimedia compression and decompression software filter, which registers into the Windows(TM) collection of multimedia drivers and then integrates with any application using DirectShow(TM) and Microsoft(R) Video for Windows. Existing video software, such as Windows Media (TM) Player and Ulead Media Studio(TM), can utilize this codec when playing, creating and editing industry standard MJPEG and/or LEAD's proprietary MCMP files. Developed by LEAD as an alternative to standard compression algorithms, MCMP delivers smaller file sizes and can maintain better image quality than MJPEG with the same or better image quality.

Rich Little, President of LEAD Technologies states, "Offering video compression based on LEAD's years of experience and expertise in imaging compression is a natural progression in our technical development. Our Video Codec offers a choice of two excellent forms of compression. The advantage of LEAD's Motion CMP compression is that users get unusually high frame rates and much smaller compression of their AVI files (even smaller than MJPEG) without a noticeable degradation in quality as compared to MJPEG. LEAD's motion JPEG compression and decompression has been optimized, making it faster than other MJPEG solutions. LEAD's MJPEG has the ability to read a wide range of JPEG "flavors", making it one of the most compatible codecs on the market."

Features of the LEAD Video Codec:

• Offers real-time software only compression and decompression of full motion video.
• Significantly reduces the size of standard AVI files.
• Hand optimized to take advantage of MMX, Pentium II and Pentium III specific instructions making the LEAD Codec faster than other MPJEG solutions.
• Offers a choice of MJPEG or MCMP compression
• Create, Edit, or playback your own MJPEG AVI or MCMP AVI files using your existing DirectShow/Video for Windows applications such as Ulead Media Studio.
• Support for a wide range of MJPEG options, giving you the most comprehensive MPJEG support on the market. (Interlaced/non-interlaced, Color JPEG 4:1:1, 4:2:2, 4:4:4, grayscale JPEG 4:0:0)
• Lossless JPEG support including 24-bit color and 8-bit grayscale.
• With the MCMP option you can compress color and grayscale AVI files to the smallest size possible and increase your data-rate/speed.
• Read existing MJPEG AVI files created by other codecs.
• Save MJPEG AVI files that can be loaded by other hardware/software MJPEG codecs.
• No extra hardware needed - significant cost savings

The LEAD Video Codec can be downloaded for free from LEAD Technologies' website at http://www.leadtools.com/video-codec.htm. An API version developer toolkit is also available for purchase for developers wishing to incorporate LEAD's Video Codec capabilities into their applications.

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About LEAD Technologies, Inc.
Founded in 1990, LEAD grew out of years of research headed by Moe Daher to find a comprehensive compression standard for digital images. LEAD is now the world-leading supplier of imaging development toolkits, providing technology of the future, today. LEAD brings to the market the most innovative and technically superior products that provide the greatest possible value for its customers. LEAD’s award winning imaging technology is chosen by Microsoft, Hewlett Packard, Intel, Boeing, Xerox and thousands of other companies for use in their high volume applications and internal systems.