Wednesday December 16, 7:00 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
Zoran SoftDVD Enables Micron Desktop PCs to Play
Hollywood Movies and DVD Games
World's First Software-Only DVD Decoder Delivers Unmatched DVD
Playback Capabilities to Micron(TM) Millennia(R)
SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 16, 1998-- Zoran Corporation (Nasdaq:ZRAN - news), a leading
provider of integrated circuits and software for digital video and audio compression applications, today announced that
SoftDVD™, the industry's first pure software DVD decoder, is shipping with Micron Electronics (Nasdaq:MUEI - news)
award winning family of Millennia desktop PCs.
Micron Electronics, the third largest direct provider of leading-edge computer systems, joins leading manufacturers such as
Diamond Multimedia (Nasdaq:DIMD - news), Intel (Nasdaq:INTC - news), Matrox Graphics, Newcom (Nasdaq:NWCM -
news) and other who have already chosen SoftDVD for use in their products.
Zoran's SoftDVD robust architecture and Micron's high quality desktop systems provide consumers with smooth, high quality,
DVD playback performance at an attractive price. Zoran's SoftDVD, now compatible with Microsoft's DirectShow™
streaming multimedia architecture, represents the industry's largest installed base of software DVD decoders.
''We are pleased to have been chosen by Micron for their Millennia family of Desktop PCs,'' stated Dr. Isaac Shenberg, senior
vice president for Business Development at Zoran. ''SoftDVD delivers unmatched capabilities to the DVD user together with
top quality image and is a perfect match for high quality desktop PCs such as the Micron Millennia.''
SoftDVD is standard on the Millennia MAX, which was ranked the number-one desktop PC by the editors of PC World
Magazine (Dec. 98). SoftDVD is also available as an upgrade on the Millennia 350 and 450 desktop PCs, both of which were
ranked ''Best-Buy'' by PC World Magazine.
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 enhanced audio experience using only two speakers. Today, entry-level PCs (more than 266Mhz)
which utilize a Pentium II processor 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, integrated circuits (ICs) and IC Intellectual Property (IP) cores for digital
audio and video applications enabled by compression. Zoran also provides complete reference designs based on Zoran's
technology.
Zoran's product lines and IP include JPEG codecs, MPEG and DVD decoders, digital audio processors and real-time DVD
software for PC's. 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 playback on PCs.
The company's ICs are used in numerous digital audio and video products. Leading applications incorporating Zoran's products
and IP include professional and consumer video editing systems, filmless digital cameras, stand alone DVD players, SuperVCD
players and PC-based systems, digital speakers and audio systems.
Zoran is headquartered in Santa Clara, 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 Web site: www.zoran.com. For our
latest press releases please call our fax-on-demand service at 1-800-PRO-INFO, ticker symbol ZRAN.
Note to Editors: StandardPlus, and SoftDVD are trademarks of Zoran Corporation.
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