Apple Releases QuickTime 5 and QuickTime Streaming Server 3 Public Previews

Open, Industry Standard Streaming Technologies Feature New Web “Skip Protection” and Updated User Interfaces

QUICKTIME LIVE!, LOS ANGELES—October 10, 2000—At the second-annual QuickTime™ Live! conference today, Apple® released public previews of QuickTime 5 and QuickTime Streaming Server 3, the next generations of Apple’s industry-leading software for creating, streaming and playing high-quality audio and video over the Internet.

QuickTime 5’s many new innovations include an updated media player with a new QuickTime TV (QTV) network channel display and new audio controls; a new component downloader for adding plug-ins on the fly; and support for new web codecs including Macromedia Flash 4, Cubic VR and Shoutcast.

QuickTime 5, in combination with the new open-source QuickTime Streaming Server 3, offers “Skip Protection,” a collection of Apple-invented technologies that ensures a higher quality experience for watching and listening to Internet streams. “Skip Protection” protects against media “skipping,” or dropping frames, caused by the unpredictability of Internet transmissions.

“QuickTime is the standard for Internet audio and video and is being used to deliver the latest in Internet content to millions of surfers around the world,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “The new technologies in QuickTime 5 enable a new generation of web-based audio and video solutions delivered with greater reliability than ever before.”

In addition to the updated media player, the new “in-place” component downloader and Skip Protection, QuickTime 5 also features:
  • Hot Picks” guide highlighting cool, new QuickTime TV content;
  • support for Sorenson Video 3*;
  • easy developer support for delivering new user interfaces, or “skins”*;
  • an improved digital video codec for improved iMovie™ playback performance;and
  • real-time professional video editing support for professional applications such as Apple’s Final Cut Pro®.
Leading web developers whose technologies take advantage of the new component download feature include:
  • DDD, which takes existing video and encodes it in 3-D for viewing with 3-D glasses;
  • Pulse 3D, which provides playback of low-bandwidth 3D interactive animations;
  • BeHere, which delivers 360-degree streaming and on-demand video;
  • SealedMedia, which allows content developers to “seal” their media and set up digital rights
  • management (DRM) solutions for streaming live or on-demand content;
  • On2, which provides high-quality broadband video, encoding and playback; and
  • iPIX, which makes virtual reality software that provides dynamic imaging solutions for creating 360-degree spherical images and movies.

Availability

The public previews of QuickTime 5 for the Macintosh® and QuickTime Streaming Server 3 are available immediately for download from www.apple.com/quicktime and www.apple.com/quicktime/servers, respectively. The public preview of QuickTime 5 for Windows will be available by the end of the year. QuickTime 5 and QuickTime Streaming Server 3 will be available in early 2001.

* Features expected to be available with the release of QuickTime 5 in 2001.

Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Apple is committed to bringing the best personal computing experience to students, educators, creative professionals and consumers around the world through its innovative hardware, software and Internet offerings.

Press Contacts:
Vanessa Rios
Apple
(408) 974-0610
vrios@apple.com

Nicole Scott
Edelman Worldwide
(650) 968-4033 ext. 2764
nicole.scott@edelman.com

NOTE TO EDITORS: For additional information visit Apple's PR website (www.apple.com/pr/), or call Apple's Media Helpline at (408) 974-2042.

© 2000 Apple Computer, Inc All rights reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, iMovie, Macintosh and QuickTime are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Apple. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.