Sonic And Panasonic Collaborate On Blu-ray Disc Authoring Systems For Hollywood Studios

13-Jan-05

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., best known for its Panasonic brand products, and Sonic Solutions announced today at the Consumer Electronics Show their intention to collaborate on the development of authoring systems for Blu-ray Disc (BD)-ROM for professional use. The collaboration will speed the production of BD titles for commercial release.Under the agreement, the two companies will contribute technology and engineering toward the development of BD authoring systems. By combining Panasonicís BD technology with Sonicís expertise in creating professional authoring environments, worldwide distribution channel, and vast installed user-base, the companies expect to establish the infrastructure required for professionals to gain access to the authoring technology in order to jump-start BD-ROM title creation.Mr. Kazuhiro Tsuga, Executive Officer of Matsushita Electric in charge of digital network and software technology in Corporate R&D, said, ìThe alliance between our two companies marries our respective skills and experience, ensuring a better high-definition movie production environment for studios. Together, our efforts will help accelerate the introduction of Blu-ray-based entertainment to the home.îìWe are delighted to be working with Panasonic to develop professional BD authoring systems,î said Rolf Hartley, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Sonicís Professional Products Group. ìI am certain that with the collaboration of our technology partners, we will continue to provide Sonic customers with the latest and very best authoring technology available.î