Dolby Laboratories Begins Licensing Dolby Digital EX

5-Nov-01

DolbyÆ Laboratories announced that Dolby Digital Surround EXô, the award-winning multichannel audio technology originally developed jointly by Lucasfilm THXÆ and Dolby for the cinema, is now available under the name Dolby Digital EXô for consumer electronics license from Dolby.This technology is available from Dolby Laboratories as Dolby Digital EX, under licensing agreements similar to those already in use for technologies including Dolby Digital, Dolby Pro Logic II and Dolby Headphone. Dolby's licensing program makes Dolby Digital EX available to a wider range of receivers, and expands the availability of the technology into entirely new product categories including DVD players, laptop and desktop computers, personal surround systems, and home-theatre-in-a-box systems.""This new licensing program is designed to make Dolby Digital EX, Dolby's most advanced cinema sound technology, available to an extremely broad and diverse range of consumer electronics products,"" said Brent Butterworth, Director of Consumer Technology Marketing, Dolby Laboratories. ""With more than 20 million DVD players and multimedia systems in U.S. homes, more and more DVD titles are pushing the envelope on delivering the maximum sound experience possible,"" said CE industry analyst Richard Doherty, Director of Research for the Envisioneering Group. ""Dolby Digital EX licensing is poised to ensure many DVD player designers will incorporate Dolby Digital EX playback in their newest models."" Dolby Digital EX (released in cinemas as Dolby Digital Surround EX), which adds a center rear surround channel to the 5.1-channel format, provides a new tool for delivering greater sonic realism and excitement to home theatre systems. Since the technology was introduced in May 1999 with the release of ""Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace,"" more than 60 titles have been released in the format, more than 30 of which are currently available on DVD, including two of this year's Academy AwardÆ nominees for Best Sound: ""Gladiator"" and ""The Perfect Storm."" For the full list of films in Dolby Digital EX available on DVD, visit www.dolby.com/movies/films_previous.0110.html. All Dolby Digital EX software is 100-percent backward-compatible with all existing Dolby Digital decoder products. Products displaying the Dolby Digital EX or THX Surround EX logos are required to reproduce the extra surround channel. For more information about Dolby Laboratories, visit www.dolby.com.

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