Zoran's SoftDVD Bundled With NewCom's Latest DVD ROM Drive to Play
Hollywood Movies on the PC
09/28/98
Business Wire
(Copyright (c) 1998, Business Wire)
SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 28, 1998--
DVD ROM Drive Upgrade Market Begins to Deploy Zoran's SoftDVD(TM)
to Enable Movie Playback On Pcs Without Requiring Specialized
Hardware
Zoran Corporation (Nasdaq:ZRAN), a leading worldwide provider of integrated circuits (ICs) and software for digital audio and video compression, today announced that NewCom, Inc. (NASDAQ: NWCM) is now bundling Zoran's SoftDVD(TM) decoder/player with its DVD ROM drives for the PC retail upgrade market.
Now, many end users will be able to upgrade their 266 MHz and faster MMX enabled PCs to play the latest DVD Hollywood movies and PC games without requiring specialized hardware for MPEG - 2 or Dolby Digital Decoding.
"Zoran is very pleased to provide SoftDVD to NewCom for bundling with their latest DVD ROM drives," said Dr. Isaac Shenberg, Vice President of Sales and Marketing of Zoran Corporation.
"We believe there is a large potential in the installed base of high speed PC systems capable of running SoftDVD with a DVD ROM drive purchased through existing PC channels. This is an important step for Zoran in expanding our presence in the retail market using SoftDVD."
"We selected Zoran's software to bundle with our leading DVD ROM drives because of SoftDVD's high quality video and audio technology ," said Bob Spector, NewCom's Director of Marketing. "Many end users who already have invested in MMX enabled PCs will now be able to utilize this power to play DVD content, bringing the most popular Hollywood entertainment to their PCs at a very affordable price."
About SoftDVD
SoftDVD enables MMX equipped PCs to play DVD content without requiring dedicated decoding hardware. All video and audio decoding, navigation, decryption and 3D audio functions are performed in software. Zoran was the first company in the world to offer a full-software DVD player for use with the PC.
SoftDVD also supports six 3D audio algorithms for an enhanced audio experience using only two speakers. Today, entry-level PCs (more than 266Mhz) which utilize a Pentium II processors are capable of running SoftDVD with popular graphics cards to produce a high quality video and audio experience.
About Zoran
Zoran Corporation develops and markets software and integrated circuits (IC) for compression enabled digital Audio and Video applications. Zoran also designs complete reference products based on Zoran's technology. Zoran's product lines and intellectual property (IP) include JPEG codecs, MPEG , DVD and Super-VCD decoders, IC cores, digital audio processors for decoding and processing digital audio streams such as Dolby Digital and MPEG , and real-time DVD and VCD software for PC.
All these standard based products benefit from Zoran's Standard-Plus technology. Zoran's software is bundled by PC and graphics-card manufacturers for software and software assisted DVD/VCD playback on PCs. The company's ICs are used in numerous digital Audio and Video products. Leading applications incorporating Zoran's products and IP are professional and consumer video editing systems, filmless digital cameras, stand alone DVD/VCD players and PC-based systems, digital speakers and audio systems.
Zoran is headquartered in Santa Clara, California with additional operations in Haifa, Israel, Toronto, Canada and offices in Tokyo, Japan and Shenzhen, China. For more information about Zoran call 408/919-4111, or visit our website: www.zoran.com. For our latest press releases please call our fax-on-demand service at 1-800-PRO-INFO, ticker symbol ZRAN.
About NewCom
NewCom (NASDAQ:NWCM) is a leader in the computer communications and multimedia fields, designing high speed modems, ultra-fast CD-ROM drives, upgrade kits, Internet set-top boxes, plug and play sound cards, and other products the world depends on for the efficient flow of information. NewCom products can be found at many of the nation's leading retailers including Circuit City, Fry's, OfficeMax, BestBuy, and Staples. For more information, write Newcom at 31166 Via Colinas, Westlake Village, CA 91362-4500 or call 818/597-3200, fax: 818/597-3210.
Note to Editors: SoftDVD is a trademark of Zoran Corporation. All other product and brand names are the property of their respective owners.
CONTACT: Zoran Corporation Yizhar Ganor, 408/919-4111 ir@zoran.com or Financial Relations Board Cathy Roberts, 415/986-1591 (Investor Contact) clr@sf.frbd.com Alicia Nieva-Woodgate, 415/986-1591 (Media Contact) anw@sf.frbd.com or NewCom Sonia Kiarashi, 818/597-3200 skiarashi@newcominc.com www.newcominc.com or Aldrich & Associates Inc. (NewCom Media Contact) John DeNovi, 562/436-5156 john@aldrichpr.com
07:02 EDT SEPTEMBER 28, 1998
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