MGI Ships First Software DVD-Video Player With DolbyÆ Headphone

Finally Users Can Experience Great Movies With Great Sound On Their PCs

16-May-00

MGI Software (TSE:MGI), a technical and market leader in digital video, announced MGI SoftDVD MAX with DolbyÆ Headphone. The product is the world's first DVD software for PCs to integrate Dolby Headphone technology, which delivers home theatre-like surround sound through any regular pair of headphones. MGI has collaborated with Dolby Laboratories and Lake Technology, the developers of the technology, to fully incorporate the capability into a new version of SoftDVD MAX, which is now available for purchase from the MGI Web site at http://www.dvdmax.com. ""Dolby Headphone is a totally new experience in headphone listening,"" said Roger Dressler, Director of Technology Strategy for Dolby. ""Using sophisticated room modeling techniques, the Dolby Headphone process transforms conventional audio into a believable three-dimensional reality that you can enjoy with any pair of headphones. The result is the natural, spacious sound you would experience from a stereo system or a 5.1-channel home theatre, using regular headphones."" ""Dolby Headphone will be incorporated into a variety of consumer electronic devices, but MGI is pleased to be the first to deliver this exciting technology for the personal computer,"" said Ihor Petelycky, General Manger, Digital Video, at MGI. ""Dolby Headphone is one of those 'must have' features for any desktop or laptop computer user who wants to experience the immersive Dolby Digital sound, which is part of almost every DVD movie available."" MGI SoftDVD MAX is a software DVD solution for consumers and PC manufacturers seeking an alternative to more expensive, dedicated hardware-based PC DVD players. It delivers high-quality, smooth, artifact free DVD movie playback on any Intel Pentium class computer or equivalent running at 450Mhz, with 32 MB RAM, and a compatible video card. The software will run with existing hardware-assisted DVD players on systems with less processing power; a full list of supported hardware and configuration recommendations are on the Web at www.dvdmax.com. MGI SoftDVD MAX with Dolby Headphone supports all the DVD regions in the world and is available online for purchase and download for $39.99 at http://www.dvdmax.com. Current SoftDVD MAX users can upgrade for only $19.99. About Dolby And Dolby Headphone Dolby Laboratories is the developer of signal processing systems used worldwide in applications that include motion-picture sound, consumer entertainment products and media, broadcasting, and music recording. Based in San Francisco, California with European headquarters in England, the privately held company also has offices in New York City, Los Angeles, California, Shanghai, and Tokyo. With Dolby Headphone, which was developed by Lake Technology and Dolby and is being licensed by Dolby to consumer electronics manufacturers, listeners can use regular headphones to enjoy surround sound experience from DVDs, as well as MiniDiscs, CDs and MP3 files, whether they are encoded in Dolby Surround, Dolby Digital, PCM, MLP-packed PCM, or MPEG. Applications for Dolby Headphone include digital cable and satellite set-top boxes, VCRs, conventional and digital TV receivers, game consoles, and A/V surround decoders and receivers. About MGI Software MGI (www.mgisoft.com) is a pioneer and established market leader in e-commerce imaging and digital video. Its early focus on delivering imaging and video technology to the mass market has led to an ever-growing network of partnerships with major consumer electronics manufacturers, computer hardware and software vendors, photo retailers, media companies, and e-businesses. The company's intellectual property spans many aspects of imaging and video, including content creation and editing, content encoding and decoding, Internet distribution systems, Web printing, and interactive viewing. As digital imaging and video become commonplace, it will be MGI technologies that are behind the scenes making it work. With headquarters in Richmond Hill, Ontario and Campbell, California, MGI employs over 250 people with offices in North America, Europe, Pacific Rim, and Japan. MGI is publicly traded on The Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol ""MGI"".

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