Sony Disc Manufacturing To Launch Premiere Hybrid Super Audio CD (SACD) Production Line

Discs Will Play In Both SACD and CD Players With Optimum Sound and Spatial Presence

14-Jan-03

Sony Disc Manufacturing (SDM), the world's leading producer of prerecorded optical discs, today announced it will install a new hybrid Super Audio CD (SACD) line at its flagship U.S. manufacturing facility in Terre Haute, Indiana by April, 2003, with production slated to begin in May, 2003. The line will initially produce 15,000 hybrid SACD discs per day. Hybrid SACD replication services will also be available to third-party clients.The Super Audio CD format delivers the highest form of sonic purity with unprecedented frequency response and dynamic range, and is recognized by critics, music industry professionals and consumers as the next generation sound carrier, markedly superior to standard CDs.Hybrid Super Audio CD discs feature a high-density layer which can provide high-resolution, multichannel surround sound in addition to a separate two-channel stereo SACD version of the same music, and a layer with a CD version of the recording. The result is a hybrid disc whose full audio potential can be realized by the new generation of SACD players, and which is fully compatible with all other existing CD players on the market today. In addition, the SACD layer in hybrid discs contains the industryís most powerful content protection, utilizing cutting-edge encryption technologies.""As a developer of the SACD format, Sony is dedicated to expanding the awareness for and broadening the acceptance of this trailblazing technology,î says Michael Mitchell, Vice President/General Manager, Sony Disc Manufacturing. ìOur new hybrid Super Audio CD line reflects Sonyís and Sony Musicís shared commitment to providing the most advanced recording and playback technologies so that every music fan can experience unsurpassed SACD sound quality on equipment that is fully compatible with their existing CD collection, stereo and home entertainment systems.îSuper Audio CD comprises four key enabling technologies:1) Direct Stream Digital (DSD), source coding technology for superior high quality sound2) Direct Stream Transfer (DST) technology, which allows both stereo and multichannel mixes on one disc3) Content protection technology containing the invisible watermark PSP (Pit Signal Processing) for both content access and playback control4) Single layer, dual layer and hybrid discsAs the world's largest producer of prerecorded optical discs, Sony Disc Manufacturing supplies a full line of high-quality products and services for the education, entertainment and information industries. Services include digital authoring, copy control, graphic design, mastering, replication, packaging, distribution and fulfillment for CD, CD-ROM, DVD, Super Audio CD, PlayStationô and hybrid Internet discs. Sony Disc Manufacturing has three ISO-certified locations in the U.S.: Pitman, New Jersey; Springfield, Oregon; and Terre Haute, Indiana. For more information, visit the Sony Disc Manufacturing website at: http://sdm.sony.com

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