If you need a way to output large amounts of streaming media to multiple formats and multiple data rates, Media 100 has just introduced a product that may be of interest: Cleaner XL. Working in tandem with a parallel stream processing engine called CrystalICE, Cleaner XL works up to five times faster than Cleaner 5, according to Media 100.
CrystalICE itself is comprised of both hardware and software. It’s a card that sports four programmable broadband signal processors from Equator Technologies that each calculate 30 billion operations per second.
Cleaner XL accelerates commonly used filters like scaling, cropping, deinterlacing, color adjustment and intelecine. And because it’s built on Cleaner 5, Cleaner XL sports the same user interface. Users can control every aspect of the streaming process if they want to by accessing the program’s advanced settings feature, or can use a settings wizard to simplify the process.
Of course, Cleaner XL sports support for all major streaming formats — QuickTime, MP3, RealSystem, Windows Media, MPEG-1 and MPEG-2. Users can also incorporate interactive events in their streaming media content through support for EventStream, including chapter lists, hot spots, and URL flips.
CleanerXL is expected to be released this summer, and will carry a price of US$5,995. That price includes CrystalICE.