Media Vision (computer audio)
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| defunct | |
| Industry | computer audio industry, computer and video game industry |
| Founded | 1990 |
| Defunct | 1995 |
| Headquarters | Fremont, California, USA |
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Key people
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Paul Jain, CEO |
| Products | computer sound cards, computer video cards, computer multimedia kits, computer games |
Paul Jain, CEO
Russell Faust, COO
Steve Allan, CFO
Dan Gochnauer, VP of Engineering
Wayne Nakamura, Director of Manufacturing
Bryan J. Colvin, Director of Hardware Engineering
Tim Bratton, Director of Strategic Marketing
Jim Gifford, Director of Software Engineering
Doug Cody, Senior Software Engineer
Media Vision was an American electronics manufacturer of primarily computer sound cards and CD-ROM kits, operating from 1990 to approximately 1995 in Fremont, California. Media Vision was widely known for its Pro AudioSpectrum PC sound cards—which it often bundled with CD-ROM drives—and its spectacular growth and demise.
Media Vision was founded in May 1990 by Paul Jain and Tim Bratton. Early employees also included Russ Faust, Michael Humphries, Dan Gochnauer, Bryan Colvin and Doug Cody, all from Jain's prior company, Video-7. As Bratton recalls, he wrote the company's business plan while an engineer at National Semiconductor based on Jain's vision of evolving multimedia from VGA to audio and video. Jain raised substantial funding, based on a business plan on a single sheet of paper, from top VCs such as Brentwood, Nazem, 3i and others. Within its first two years of operation, Media Vision had become the second-largest producer of personal computer sound cards, providing strong competition to Creative Labs. It was the first company to offer a multimedia CD ROM kit (single-speed CD ROM drive from Sony and Media Vision sound card with an included CD Rom with games and a multimedia version of Compton's encyclopedia) at Fry's Electronics, the well known retailer, where manufacturers routinely tested sales of their new products. Media Vision's kits priced at US$1999 sold out within hours. All the larger computer companies such as Microsoft, Apple and others were the primary initial buyers according to Fry's Electronics.
In 1992, Media Vision was the first company to publish Microsoft Windows with Multimedia Extensions on CD-ROM; having beaten Microsoft to market with its own product, Bill Gates's assistant telephoned and ordered two copies. During the same year, the company acquired Pellucid, Inc., a computer graphics company, and began producing a line of high-performance video graphics cards for the PC. Media Vision became a publicly traded company in late 1992.
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