MPV PROVIDES STANDARD PLAYLIST SPECIFICATION
FOR PC/CE DIGITAL CONVERGENCE

OSTA Developing New Specifications to Enhance Compatibility
Between PCs and Consumer Electronics Products

Music Demo | Photo Demo

LAS VEGAS, Nev. — January 7, 2004 — Today, the Optical Storage Technology Association (OSTA) announced the development of a MPV™ (MusicPhotoVideo) CE Playlist Specification specifically aimed at improved compatibility of digital media content between PCs and consumer electronics (CE) products. A MPV playlist is a control file format that allows easy navigation and improved playback of large collections of personal music, photos, and video files in a standard format for use on PCs, DVD players and recorders, digital cameras, and other CE products.
Consumers Enjoy an Improved Playback Experience

CDs, DVDs, and flash memory cards containing MPV playlists are recognized quickly by any MPV-compliant CE device, such as a DVD player. The consumer can organize and navigate through large collections of content easily, and the device can tell the user what content is designed to play on the device, and what content is incompatible with the device. Photos and videos can be combined with music in a presentation slideshow and displayed on a TV, providing a compelling user sharing experience.

Companies Enjoy Added Value at No Cost
PC and CE companies creating applications or playback devices will benefit from the free specification and developer tools. MPV takes up very little memory (typically 50K or less of compressed object code) on a CE device such as a digital camera or a digital audio player, and it is very easy for a developer to add MPV playlist functionality using developer kits, including one available as open source code.

OSTA’s MPV Provides Standard Playlist Specification for PC/CE Digital Convergence Page 2
MPV CE Playlist Specification, Validation Tools, and Logo License Program
The MPV CE Playlist specification is being developed by OSTA member companies. Software Architects, Inc., a Seattle-based software development company, is developing validation test tools and software developer kits to make it easy for manufacturers to create compliant products and ensure consistent and reliable playback on MPV-enabled products. Successful implementations that pass the validation tests may complete the Logo License process and have access to the MPV trademarks and logo. It is expected that the MPV CE Playlist Specification, validation test tools, and logo license program will be available later this year.
Leading Companies Announce MPV-enabled Products

HP, Samsung Electronics LTD, and Olympus Corporation have announced MPV-enabled products. Nikon Corporation has endorsed the adoption of MPV in future digital camera products to be released this year. HP ImageZone imaging and printing software –which is included in many HP Pavilion PCs and HP Photosmart imaging and printing devices – supports MPV and provides seamless integration for taking, viewing, editing, printing, and storing digital photos. Samsung recently announced their commitment to use MPV technology to improve the interoperability of many of their digital imaging and consumer electronics products. Samsung will demonstrate a prototype MPV-enabled DVD player in their booth at CES 2004. Also in the Samsung booth, Olympus will provide a prototype MPV-enabled digital camera to demonstrate MPV-based interoperability. Along with these companies, many other companies are in active development using the MPV specifications for a variety of multimedia applications.
MPV Adds Value to Digital Music Collections

At the December 2003 OSTA meetings, the board ratified adoption of the MPV Music Profile. MPV provides a standard playlist format for recognition and navigation through large collections of digital music content. MPV provides playlist functionality independent from music file formats, meaning MPV can be used by developers to support any music file format. The MPV Music Profile specification and press release can be found at http://www.osta.org/mpv.
-more-

About MPV
MPV (MusicPhotoVideo), which provides multimedia playlists and access to their associated metadata, is an open specification that makes easier the representation, exchange, processing and playback of collections of digital media content, including music, still images, stills with audio, still sequences, video clips, and audio clips. The MPV specification is being developed in phases, and results in “Profiles.” The MPV Core specification, as well as Basic and Presentation profiles, are already ratified and available at http://www.osta.org/mpv. In 2003, a group of leading PC and consumer electronics manufacturers announced support for MPV, along with their intentions to incorporate the open and royalty-free specification into their products. The first MPV creation applications and players were released in the fall of 2003.

About the Optical Storage Technology Association (OSTA)
The Optical Storage Technology Association (OSTA) was incorporated as an international trade association in 1992 to promote the use of recordable optical technologies and products. The organization's membership includes optical product manufacturers and resellers from three continents, representing more than 85 percent of worldwide writable optical product shipments. They work to shape the future of the industry through regular meetings of DVD Compatibility, Commercial Storage Applications (CSA), Marketing, MultiRead, Planning and UDF committees. Interested companies worldwide are invited to join the organization and participate in its programs by contacting an OSTA representative at (408) 253-3695, by fax at (408) 253-9938, or by addressing its Web site at http://www.osta.org.

# # #