San Jose - Streaming Media West ’99 - (December 7, 1999)- MediaSite, Inc., the technology leader in making video interactiveÔ , today introduced a new end-to-end solution for creating searchable video. MediaSite Publisher Suite 4.0 includes Publisher, Publisher Modules (Speech Index, Image Index, Highlights Index, Auto Index) and WebFinder. With MediaSite Publisher Suite, customers can automatically create, index, edit, manage and post searchable video. For users, the ability to sort through thousands of hours of video content and narrow a search to a specific point of interest provides a new dimension to accessing information over the Web.

"Broadcasters, multinational corporations, academic and government institutions possess valuable video assets that are dormant without the means to make them accessible, searchable and truly interactive to the market." said Howard Wactlar, company co-founder and chairman. "By making video both interactive and searchable, MediaSite provides organizations the ability to access these video assets and turn them into engaging content."

Ben Rotholtz, General Manager of Tools and Systems, RealNetworks, Inc. agrees, "This is an exciting time for businesses looking to leverage the Internet’s power and global reach. Publisher 4.0 from MediaSite makes video assets as easy to create and find as text and audio have become. RealNetworks applauds MediaSite’s latest innovations built on our leading standards-based RealSystem G2 media delivery system."

MediaSite Publisher 4.0
MediaSite Publisher 4.0 is an evolution from its earlier product, MediaSite LoggerÔ , the first technology that indexed and segmented digital video files. Publisher automates this functionality and includes the following features:

• Automated Posting and Distributed Deployment. Unique to Publisher is the flexibility of being able to deploy searchable video to multiple locations. If the index, video and database are hosted in multiple locations, either inside or outside the firewall, Publisher can deploy directly to these locations. Through the workflow management application, Publisher works across networks to streamline and automate the process of publishing the video indices to the designated location. This process enables a more time and cost efficient method of published searchable video.
  
• Editing capabilities to optimize segments for quality and accuracy. The editing feature of Publisher enables the modification of the indexed content and existing metadata. This function provides the ability to modify and re-segment frames and gives complete control over the way content is indexed before posting to the Web.
  
• Digitizing and encoding video while simultaneously indexing. Publisher will digitize and encode analog video to high quality formats or streaming media forms, while automatically constructing and annotating video into segments.

MediaSite Publisher Modules
MediaSite Publisher 4.0 Modules provide additional functionality that address specific needs of different video sources. The modules include: Highlights Index , Speech Index, Image Index, and Auto-Index.

• Auto-Index Module automatically designates start and end frames for each segment. This process enables organizations to develop searchable video with virtually no human interaction and is especially valuable to broadcasters..

• Highlights Index Module creates a summary or video short of a video clip. Using the Highlights index, users can view video segments in 10-20% of the time of the original segment.

• Image Index Module, used by medical, educational and stock footage providers, analyzes colors and hues of segments, enabling users to match similar video images to one another.

• .Speech Index Module uses advanced speech and language technology to generate a searchable transcript-like index. This module is useful for a broad range of video sources including TV programming and live events, particularly when closed captioning is not available.

WebFinder 4.0
MediaSite also announced significant enhancements to WebFinder 4.0. In conjunction with industry standard browsers, WebFinder allows users to navigate and search video on the Web using both images and natural language queries. Image matching allows users to search on thumbnail images. Once a video clip has been selected, WebFinder streams the video to the user’s browser using Real Networks or other media players. Additionally, a new browsing feature provides a hierarchy of content categories, complementing the existing navigational features for quicker access to searched video. WebFinder’s V-CommerceÔ (video e-commerce) capability gives users the ability to not only search and preview video, but also purchase video clips and tapes online.

About MediaSite
MediaSite Inc. is the technology leader in making video interactive™. Leading content providers increase their revenues and extend their brands by creating interactive video websites using MediaSite products and services. MediaSite offers a total, integrated solution through its Publisher Suite™ and services to deliver a flexible, automated approach for publishing searchable video on the Web. Users can navigate the video to search, browse and  summarize specific video segments and purchase video through MediaSite's V-commerceÔ (Video e-commerce) capability. Customers include Time Warner Cable (NY1), Warner Brothers, CBS Affiliates (WCBS, KDKA), Internet Broadcast Systems, US. Air Force, US Holocaust Museum, and HealthInfo among others. MediaSite solutions are based on patented ISLIP technologies – Integrated Speech, Language and Image Processing. For more information, visit www.mediasite.com.

MediaSite, the MediaSite System, MediaSite Logger, MediaSite LoggerPlus, MediaSite Builder, MediaSite BuilderPlus, MediaSite WebFinder, Full-Media Indexing, and "Unlocking the value of video" are trademarks of MediaSite. All other brands or product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.