MainConcept
Encyclopedia
MainConcept GmbH is a software company developing video
/audio codec
s and also applications and plug-ins related to video/audio encoding.
, Germany
and a board member of the MPEG Industry Forum
. The Russian video codec company Elecard
was part of the company between April 2005 and August 2006. Since November 2007 MainConcept is a wholly owned subsidiary of DivX, Inc.
(which is currently being acquired by Sonic Solutions
).
The company is specializing in video codecs since 1995 with a focus to standards, e.g. H.264/AVC
, MPEG, AVC-Intra
etc.
In 2001 MainConcept delivered the first MPEG-1/2
Codec and in 2004 the first H.264/MPEG-4 AVC
was delivered.
In August 2007, Adobe Systems
licensed the H.264 and AAC technology developed by MainConcept for integration into its Adobe Flash Player
software. In April 2010 MainConcept has signed a strategic collaboration agreement with AMD to accelerate digital video encode. In September 2010, the company launched MainConcept Reference 2.1 for Mac/Windows providing enhanced support for Mac OS 10.5/10.6, Apple iPad
, HTML5.
Video codec
A video codec is a device or software that enables video compression and/or decompression for digital video. The compression usually employs lossy data compression. Historically, video was stored as an analog signal on magnetic tape...
/audio codec
Audio codec
All codecs are devices or computer programs capable of coding or decoding a digital data stream or signal.The term audio codec has two meanings depending on the context:...
s and also applications and plug-ins related to video/audio encoding.
History
MainConcept is a video codec supplier founded 1993 in AachenAachen
Aachen has historically been a spa town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Aachen was a favoured residence of Charlemagne, and the place of coronation of the Kings of Germany. Geographically, Aachen is the westernmost town of Germany, located along its borders with Belgium and the Netherlands, ...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
and a board member of the MPEG Industry Forum
MPEG Industry Forum
The MPEG Industry Forum is a non-profit consortium dedicated to "further the adoption of MPEG Standards, by establishing them as well accepted and widely used standards among creators of content, developers, manufacturers, providers of services, and end users."The group is involved in many tasks,...
. The Russian video codec company Elecard
Elecard
Elecard is a technology company that provides software products for video and audio encoding, decoding, processing, receiving and transmission....
was part of the company between April 2005 and August 2006. Since November 2007 MainConcept is a wholly owned subsidiary of DivX, Inc.
DivX, Inc.
DivX, Inc. , based in San Diego, California, now part of Sonic Solutions, a division of Rovi, was the corporation behind the MPEG-4 Part 2-based codec, DivX. The company's codec has been downloaded over 240 million times since January 2003...
(which is currently being acquired by Sonic Solutions
Sonic Solutions
Sonic Solutions, acquired by Rovi Corporation in 2010, was a computer software company headquartered in Novato, California. In addition to having a number of offices in the U.S., the company also maintained offices in Europe and Asia.-History:...
).
The company is specializing in video codecs since 1995 with a focus to standards, e.g. H.264/AVC
H.264/MPEG-4 AVC
H.264/MPEG-4 Part 10 or AVC is a standard for video compression, and is currently one of the most commonly used formats for the recording, compression, and distribution of high definition video...
, MPEG, AVC-Intra
AVC-Intra
AVC-Intra is a type of video coding developed by Panasonic that is fully compliant with the H.264/MPEG-4 AVC standard and additionally follows the SMPTE RP 2027-2007 recommended practice specification....
etc.
In 2001 MainConcept delivered the first MPEG-1/2
MPEG-1
MPEG-1 is a standard for lossy compression of video and audio. It is designed to compress VHS-quality raw digital video and CD audio down to 1.5 Mbit/s without excessive quality loss, making video CDs, digital cable/satellite TV and digital audio broadcasting possible.Today, MPEG-1 has become...
Codec and in 2004 the first H.264/MPEG-4 AVC
H.264/MPEG-4 AVC
H.264/MPEG-4 Part 10 or AVC is a standard for video compression, and is currently one of the most commonly used formats for the recording, compression, and distribution of high definition video...
was delivered.
In August 2007, Adobe Systems
Adobe Systems
Adobe Systems Incorporated is an American computer software company founded in 1982 and headquartered in San Jose, California, United States...
licensed the H.264 and AAC technology developed by MainConcept for integration into its Adobe Flash Player
Adobe Flash Player
The Adobe Flash Player is software for viewing multimedia, Rich Internet Applications and streaming video and audio, on a computer web browser or on supported mobile devices. Flash Player runs SWF files that can be created by the Adobe Flash authoring tool, by Adobe Flex or by a number of other...
software. In April 2010 MainConcept has signed a strategic collaboration agreement with AMD to accelerate digital video encode. In September 2010, the company launched MainConcept Reference 2.1 for Mac/Windows providing enhanced support for Mac OS 10.5/10.6, Apple iPad
IPad
The iPad is a line of tablet computers designed, developed and marketed by Apple Inc., primarily as a platform for audio-visual media including books, periodicals, movies, music, games, and web content. The iPad was introduced on January 27, 2010 by Apple's then-CEO Steve Jobs. Its size and...
, HTML5.
Subsidiaries
- PleasantonPleasanton, CaliforniaPleasanton is a city in Alameda County, California, incorporated in 1894. It is a suburb in the San Francisco Bay Area located about east of Oakland, and west of Livermore. The population was 70,285 at the 2010 census. In 2005 and 2007, Pleasanton was ranked the wealthiest middle-sized city in...
(USA), 4 employees - OsakaOsakais a city in the Kansai region of Japan's main island of Honshu, a designated city under the Local Autonomy Law, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and also the biggest part of Keihanshin area, which is represented by three major cities of Japan, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe...
(JapanJapanJapan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
), 7 employees - TomskTomskTomsk is a city and the administrative center of Tomsk Oblast, Russia, located on the Tom River. One of the oldest towns in Siberia, Tomsk celebrated its 400th anniversary in 2004...
(RussiaRussiaRussia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
), 52 employees
IP licensing / SDK products
| MPEG -1/2 | VC-3 | Reference SDK |
| H.264/AVC | JPEG2000 | Dolby Digital Consumer |
| Flash | Motion JPEG | Dolby Digital Pro SDK |
| MPEG-4 Part2/H.263 | Converter & Scaler | Dolby Digital Plus Pro SDK |
| DivX | Network Streaming | Scalable Video Coding |
| DV/DVCPRO 25 | Audio SDK | ShowCase |
| DV/DVCPRO 25/50 | AAC | MCE Encoder |
| DVCPRO HC |
Application & Plug-In products
| Reference Transcoding | Decoder Packs Windows | Analyzing |
|---|---|---|
| Reference Blu-Ray Codec Bundle | MPEG-2 | Analyzer TS |
| Reference H.264/AVC Broadcast / H.264/AVC | H.264/AVC | |
| Reference H.264/AVC Pro | H.264/AVC Broadcast / AVC Intra | |
| Reference VC-1 Pro | MPEG-4/H.263 | |
| Reference MPEG-2 | DVCPRO HD | |
| Reference DVCPRO HD | JPEG2000 | |
| Reference JPEG2000 | ||
| Reference Dolby Digital Plus Pro | ||
| Reference Dolby Digital Pro | ||
| Reference MPEG4 | ||
| Reference MVC Beta |
| Plug-Ins for Adobe | Plug-Ins for Sony |
|---|---|
| Plug-In for Adobe Flash Media Encoder - AAC Encoder | Plug-In for Sony ClipBrowser - Conversion Pack #1 |
| Plug-In for Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 - MPEG Pro HD4 H.264/AVC & MPEG | Plug-In for Sony ClipBrowser - Conversion Pack #2 |
| Plug-In for Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 - MPEG Pro HD4 - XDCAM Plug-In for Adobe | Plug-In for Ziris Screen Cutter - AVC Encoder |
| Plug-In for Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 - MPEG Pro HD4 - DVCPRO Plug-In | |
| Plug-In for Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 - MPEG Pro HD4 - AVC-Intra Plug-In | Plug-Ins for Apple |
| Plug-In for Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 - MPEG Pro HD4 - Broadcast Suite Plug-In | Movie Export Professional for Final Cut Pro |
| Plug-In for Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 - Codec Suite 5.0 Professional | Movie Export Broadcast for Final Cut Pro |
| Plug-In for Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 - Codec Suite 5.0 Broadcast | |
| Plug-In for Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 - Codec Suite 5.0 Dolby Digital Pro |
Supported Formats
| PSP PlayStation Portable The is a handheld game console manufactured and marketed by Sony Corporation Development of the console was announced during E3 2003, and it was unveiled on , 2004, at a Sony press conference before E3 2004... |
VCD VCD VCD is a three-letter abbreviation with multiple meanings, as described below:* VCD Athletic, semi-professional football team* Video CD* Voice command device* Value change dump * Vocal cord dysfunction* Visual Communication and Design... |
Panasonic P2 DVCPRO P2 (storage media) P2 is a professional digital recording solid-state memory storage media format introduced by Panasonic in 2004, and especially tailored to electronic news-gathering applications. It features tapeless recording of DV, DVCPRO, DVCPRO25, DVCPRO50, DVCPRO-HD, or AVC-Intra streams on a solid-state... |
|
| iPod IPod iPod is a line of portable media players created and marketed by Apple Inc. The product line-up currently consists of the hard drive-based iPod Classic, the touchscreen iPod Touch, the compact iPod Nano, and the ultra-compact iPod Shuffle... |
DV DV DV is a format for the digital recording and playing back of digital video. The DV codec was launched in 1995 with joint efforts of leading producers of video camcorders.... |
Panasonic P2 AVC-Intra AVC-Intra AVC-Intra is a type of video coding developed by Panasonic that is fully compliant with the H.264/MPEG-4 AVC standard and additionally follows the SMPTE RP 2027-2007 recommended practice specification.... |
|
| 3GP 3GP 3GP is a multimedia container format defined by the Third Generation Partnership Project for 3G UMTS multimedia services. It is used on 3G mobile phones but can also be played on some 2G and 4G phones.... |
DV AVI | AVCHD AVCHD AVCHD is a file-based format for the digital recording and playback of high-definition video.... |
|
| Flash | DVCAM | JPEG 2000 JPEG 2000 JPEG 2000 is an image compression standard and coding system. It was created by the Joint Photographic Experts Group committee in 2000 with the intention of superseding their original discrete cosine transform-based JPEG standard with a newly designed, wavelet-based method... |
|
| Blu-Ray Blu-ray Disc Blu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs... |
XDCAM IMX | Digital TV Digital television Digital television is the transmission of audio and video by digital signals, in contrast to the analog signals used by analog TV... |
|
| DVD DVD A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions.... |
XDCAM EX | HDV HDV HDV is a format for recording of high-definition video on DV cassette tape. The format was originally developed by JVC and supported by Sony, Canon and Sharp... |
|
| SVCD | XDCAM HD |
Awards
- 2007, 2008 and 2009 - the Moscow State UniversityMoscow State UniversityLomonosov Moscow State University , previously known as Lomonosov University or MSU , is the largest university in Russia. Founded in 1755, it also claims to be one of the oldest university in Russia and to have the tallest educational building in the world. Its current rector is Viktor Sadovnichiy...
ranked MainConcept's H.264 codec first in its annual H.264-codec comparison.