Front Porch Digital, the global leader in content storage management, is pleased to announce that it has developed a software-only player for MXF-wrapped JPEG 2000 video files. The player will be available at no cost and will operate in real time on a modern Windows® computer with quad core processors. Deploying the player, users will be able to view, confirm, index, and catalog MXF-wrapped JPEG 2000 files without the need to resort to proxy files.

SAMMA Systems, which two years ago introduced the first hardware-based, real-time MXF-wrapped JPEG 2000 encoder and decoder, was acquired by Front Porch Digital in 2008. “Today’s announcement represents Front Porch’s commitment to continuing to do pioneering work in enabling the use of lossless compression for storing high-value video content,” said Brian Campanotti, chief technology officer of Front Porch Digital. “JPEG 2000’s mathematically lossless compression capability can reduce storage costs by as much as 80 percent with no introduction of artifacts.”

“Organizations including the U.S. Library of Congress, the National Archives, and the University of Southern California have adopted MXF-wrapped JPEG 2000 for storing content using lossless compression,” said Jim Lindner, Front Porch senior vice president of strategic development. “However, because the basic JPEG 2000 specification does not allow incorporation of timecode and audio, we worked with industry groups and archival customers to develop a suitable MXF wrapping scheme that would include four channels of uncompressed audio and frame-accurate timecode along with the lossless compressed video. Making a low-cost player available means the standards-based format can be widely adopted.”

Front Porch Digital will continue to offer the hardware-based JPEG 2000 player for customers who desire SDI-based playback. The software-based solution will allow users immediate access to their archival quality files. The free player includes a simple graphical user interface displaying a video window and enabling play, stop, fast forward, rewind, still frame, and slow motion, as well as control by jog shuttle bar.