Faroudja Digital Format Translatorô (DFT) Selected By HBO DFT Becomes Integral Component Of HBOís HDTV Broadcast Strategy

NAB, Las Vegas, April 19, 1999 - Faroudja, Inc., at the annual convention of the National Association of Broadcasters in Las Vegas this week, announced that premium cable provider Home Box Office (HBO) has selected the Faroudja Digital Format Translatorô (DFT) as an integral component of its High Definition Television (HDTV) roll-out strategy. HBO is an operating company of Time-Warner, Inc.""Weíre very pleased about the purchase and our relationship with Faroudja,"" said Dominic Serio, HBO Senior Vice President of Broadcast Operations and Engineering. ""HBOís engineering department spent considerable time evaluating current market upconverters and was most impressed by Faroudjaís product and approach. We based our decision on picture quality, as the goal has always been to employ the highest-end equipment.""""HBOís purchase of the Faroudja DFT validates the outstanding quality of our product,"" said Glen Sakata, General Manager of Faroudjaís Broadcast Group. ""We are very pleased HBO is choosing our DFT product, whose key function is to upconvert a video signal to HDTV quality as it is being broadcast. The Faroudja DFT enables HBO, and other broadcasters, to continue using their vast libraries of analog video and upconvert the signal to HDTV on-the-fly.""The DFT utilizes Faroudjaís patented technology to convert any 480I signal (NTSC, S-Video, analog, Component, D-2 or D-1) into the most popular of the new DTV formats by the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC): 480p, 720p or 1080i. It simultaneously converts the aspect ratio of the input image into the 16:9 (1.78:1) ratio of the new cinema-style widescreen TV monitors. The DFT can be controlled by a custom Windows NT-based software package or by the front panel interface.""The Digital Format Translator provides HDTV-quality video in a variety of formats from todayís NTSC and digital sources,"" said Sakata. ""The DFT is a keystone in the transition to DTV. By reusing archive material and utilizing existing video processes, todayís analog facilities can quickly and affordably migrate to tomorrowís digital television domain.""Television studios have created millions of hours of archived material, including features, episodic sitcoms and dramas miniseries, made-for-TV movies, commercials, promos, pubic service announcement and news reports in a wide variety of source formats and platforms. Foroudjaís DFT converts this content into a format usable in the digital era.The HBO Transmission facility on Long Island in New York will use the Faroudja DFT to leverage existing broadcast playback equipment and systems infrastructure to upconvert archived feature films, promotional material and live events to formats compatible with its new HBO-HD Eat/West Coast feeds. DFT units have been purchased to develop and maintain High Definition broadcast capabilities within the scope of the new digital standards.Each Faroudja DFT has been configured for HBO with Video Detail Enhancement and Noise Reduction features, and is se at the 1080I ATSC Standard/High Definition format HBO requires.For more information phone Glen Sakata at Faroudja 408 735 1492. The suggested price for a basic DFT starts at $48,000, with additional modules available for most HDTV and digital format requirements.