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Indeo® Video Interactive Version 3.2

Question: What is the difference between Indeo® video Release 3.2 and Indeo® video interactive (Release 4.1)?
Indeo video interactive is the latest release of Indeo technology. At a given data rate, it yields better image quality than Release 3.2. In fact, it often produces better image quality at lower data rates. It is optimized for playback on Pentium® processor-based systems.

Indeo video interactive also includes a wide variety of features to support developers of interactive multimedia applications. See the section entitled "Answers for Application Developers and Video Producers" for details on these features.

Release 3.2 is an older release of Indeo video, designed for Intel486™ processor­based systems, although it still provides good quality on Pentium processor-based systems.


Question: What computers and operating systems can use Indeo technology?
A video file compressed with the Indeo video Release 3.2 codec can play back on any system that supports QuickTime* for Windows* or QuickTime for Macintosh*. Videos compressed with the Indeo video interactive codec can play on systems that support Video for Windows* only. Video clips compressed with the Indeo video codec in the .AVI format can play back in Video for Windows (Windows* 95 and Windows* 3.x); and video clips compressed with the Indeo video codec in the .MOV format can play back in QuickTime. (See the section entitled "Cross-platform Development Questions" for information on utilities that can convert between these two formats.) In order for a computer to play video compressed with a given codec, that codec must be installed on the computer.


Question: What is the minimum supported system for playing video files compressed with Indeo® video Release 3.2?
The minimum supported system for Indeo video Release 3.2 is an Intel486 SX-25 microprocessor-based PC running Windows* 3.1 with 4 MB of RAM and a VGA monitor capable of displaying at least 256 simultaneous colors (8­bit color mode). Faster microprocessors can improve image quality and allow you to play files back smoothly that have larger frame sizes.


Question: What is the recommended system for playing video files compressed with Indeo video Release 3.2?
The recommended system for Indeo video Release 3.2 is a Pentium processor-based PC, 75 MHz or faster, running Windows* 95 with Direct Draw* graphics support or Windows 3.x with DCI* graphics support, 16 MB of RAM, and a VGA monitor capable of displaying at least 65,536 simultaneous colors (16­bit color mode).


Question: What are the differences between Indeo video interactive and Indeo video Release 3.2?
The main differences are higher quality video, processor scalability, and new features designed for interactive multimedia applications.

Indeo video interactive software uses a completely new compression algorithm, including advantageous features such as bidirectional prediction, to yield better image quality than Release 3.2, comparable to software MPEG. Indeo video interactive also encodes data at lower rates than Release 3.2, so more video of a given quality can fit onto a CD­ROM.

Indeo video interactive also allows image quality to scale according to the processor power available.

Finally, Indeo video interactive supports the development of interactive multimedia applications with features unavailable in Release 3.2. You can specify that portions of a video frame be rendered as transparent, or that only a portion of the frame be decoded. Users can change the brightness, contrast, and saturation of video files during playback. Key frames can be placed wherever they are needed, at arbitrary intervals. And video files can be protected from unauthorized access.


Question: What is the Intel Smart Video Recorder III and what does it do?
The Intel Smart Video Recorder III (ISVR III) is a video capture board offered by Intel. It is capable of one-step capture and compression of Indeo® video Release 3.2 video data with a resolution of 320 by 240 at thirty frames per second on a Pentium processor-based system. The ISVR III can also capture video in a nearly lossless format called Indeo video Raw for later off-line compression using either Indeo video interactive or Indeo video Release 3.2. The ISVR III can accept composite or S­video inputs from any NTSC or PAL analog video source.


Question: How can I create a palette file from the Indeo® video palette?
You don't need to. The document Using Palettes With Indeo Video describes how to use the Indeo video palette when Indeo video is incorporated into an application, including source code examples. The three palettes associated with Indeo video are available to be downloaded as .PAL files:



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