NuCORE Chip Set First to Deliver 3-CCD Color Quality to 1-CCD Cameras at 50 Megapixels Per Second; Enables First True Hybrid Digital Still/Video Cameras

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 26, 2000--The industry's first chipset that delivers 3-CCD color quality to 1-CCD cameras at 50 megapixels per second has been introduced by NuCORE Technology, Inc. The two chips are the NDX-1250(TM) analog front-end and the SiP1250(TM) Smart Image Processor (SiP(TM)). No other combination of chips comes close to NuCORE's 50 megapixel-per-second image processing with 12-bit resolution.

Both chips employ sophisticated, proprietary algorithms to deliver visually superior image quality, high resolution and wide dynamic range with just a single CMOS sensor or CCD (charged coupled device -- the sensor that captures the picture). NuCORE's chipset is ideal for high-end consumer applications as well as professional applications, which typically require three separate signal processing chains for Red (R), Green (G) and Blue (B) to attain this level of image quality. Through its patented NDX(TM) process, it amplifies R, G and B separately even though the three signal processing chains are minimized to one, reducing overall cost, size and power consumption.

This chipset lets designers build a hybrid camera -- a single consumer device that can be used as a high-quality still camera and a high-quality video camera. It has never before been possible to build one camera that can acquire, enhance, compress, display and store 4-megapixel silver-halide-quality, digital still images continuously at a rate of 12 per second ("paparazzi-like") and 1.3-million-pixel video at 30 frames per second with 12-bit accuracy.

"Having one camera that can serve both functions has been regarded as the `holy grail' of digital photography," stated NuCORE CEO Joe Raffa. "It's what digital camera makers have been trying to build, unsuccessfully. Either they build a still camera that takes a few seconds of low-resolution motion, or a motion camera that takes poor quality stills that are unsuitable for photo printing. No other chip maker has been able to give them a solution that can do both, until now."

"We are very happy with the performance of these new chips in areas such as image quality, dynamic range and resolution at 30 frames per second. With NuCORE Technology, we will able to offer a 12-bit solution in our camcorder, providing four times the image quality of our current offering," said Keizo Kohno, Chief Engineer, System R&D center, Professional Products, Systems and Network sector, Victor Company of Japan, Ltd. (JVC).

Additionally, NuCORE designed this chipset to minimize the power requirements to enable the design of smaller, lighter cameras. Initial tests prove that NuCORE's two-chip solution provides 3x to 5x the battery life of all other solutions.

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