Sonic And RAVISENT Debut World's First HDTV On A DVD Disc

New HDVDô Format Brings High-Definition Video And DVD Interactivity To The PC Desktop

18-Apr-00

Sonic Solutions, at last week's National Association of Broadcasters Convention (NAB) in Las Vegas, announced a technology partnership with RAVISENT Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: RVST) to bring high definition DVD to content developers and consumers for the first time. Called hDVD, the new format expands DVD beyond standard definition video to include any of the 18 ATSC video formats, including 1080i and 720p. RAVISENTís software-based high definition MPEG encoding and decoding technology will provide secure generation and display of the high definition content with an internet-enabled user interface, while Sonicís DVD Creator, DVD Fusion and DVDit! authoring applications will be extended to support the high-resolution video streams. ""hDVD represents a major breakthrough for studios looking to begin deploying high definition content today,"" said Christopher Kryzan, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Engineering at Sonic Solutions. ""Working with RAVISENT we have extended the DVD format to include the exceptional video quality of 1080i or 720p MPEG-2 HDTV content in our extensive line of authoring tools."" ""This jointly-developed technology will enable exciting new forms of entertainment for consumers,"" said Alan McCann, Senior Vice President and General Manager, RAVISENT Digital Media Division. ""And basing hDVD on existing industry standards protects the digital investments of content producers and offers tremendous new business opportunities for programming distributors."" About hDVD Authoring An extension to DVD, the most popular consumer format of all time, hDVD replaces standard definition video with one or more of the high definition MPEG-2 video formats specified by the Advanced Television Standards Committee (ATSC). With up to four times the resolution of standard DVD-Video titles, hDVD titles show off original film or video content with unprecedented realism. To take advantage of the higher-resolution and higher bit-rate video material, Sonic Solutions will extend the DVD multiplexing and formatting engine used in Sonic DVD Creator, DVD Fusion and DVDit! to accept and author High-Definition MPEG-2 video content. Sonic plans to ship hDVD-ready authoring systems in July 2000. About CineMasterÆ HDTV Based on RAVISENT's award-winning CineMaster MPEG-2 decoder technology, CineMaster HDTV incorporates newly-developed, advanced proprietary algorithms enabling the decoding and playback of all eighteen (18) digital television formats specified by the Advanced Television Standards Committee (ATSC), including all the high definition television (HDTV) formats. CineMaster HDTV also incorporates proprietary software technology for full transport de-multiplexing with enhanced stream management for audio/video pacing and buffer management. RAVISENT CineMaster products also include full support for CSS, Macrovision and other industry standard and proprietary digital rights management technologies designed to deliver a compelling consumer experience while protecting the valid interests of content rights holders. The eighteen ATSC formats were adopted in 1996 by the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) as the standards for digital television in the USA. A number of television stations throughout the US already broadcast digital broadcast signals. All FCC-licensed stations are required to completely convert to digital television broadcasting by 2006. About RAVISENT Technologies Inc. RAVISENT provides digital video, audio and Internet appliance technology to industry leading PC, Consumer Electronic and Internet Appliance OEMs, empowering them to deliver highly competitive, cost-effective products with a strong time-to-market advantage. RAVISENT software and intellectual property are contained in products from Compaq, Dell Computer, Gateway, Hewlett-Packard, Micron, Fujitsu, Quantex, Sony, Tottori-Sanyo, Vestel, Yamaha, ATI Technologies, C-Cube, ST Microelectronics, Telecom Italia, Met@box, Formenti, IPM, and Telecruz. Founded in 1994, RAVISENT is a global company, headquartered in Malvern, Pennsylvania, with offices in Silicon Valley, Seattle, Germany and Japan. More information about RAVISENT is available at www.ravisent.com. About Sonic Solutions Based in Marin County, California, Sonic Solutions (NASDAQ: SNIC) designs and manufactures DVD publishing and audio editing systems used by video, audio and multimedia professionals around the world. Sonic's product lines include DVD Creator, the leading system for producing DVD titles; DVD Fusion, the first DVD publishing system designed for non-linear video editors; DVDit!, the easiest way to publish on DVD and the first DVD publishing application for consumers; and SonicStudio HD, the leading digital audio workstation to prepare recorded sound for release on DVD and CD. Sonic is a leader in advancing DVD-Video and DVD-Audio technology and is a full voting-member of the DVD Forum, the standards-setting body for the DVD format.

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