Another win for Zoran. Boston Acoustics is a high quality manufacturer.
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Wednesday January 27, 7:01 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
Zoran Digital Audio Processor
Selected for Boston Acoustics
DigitalTheater 6000
Zoran's Family of Digital Audio Processor Integrated Circuits Ideal for
Surround Sound Audio Systems
SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 27, 1999--Zoran Corp. (Nasdaq
NM:ZRAN - news), a leading provider of integrated circuits (ICs) and software for digital video
and audio applications enabled by compression, today announced that Boston Acoustics, Inc.
(Nasdaq:BOSA - news), a leading manufacturer of high performance audio systems for home, car
and computing environments, has selected the new Zoran ZR38601 Digital Audio Processor IC
for their complete Dolby Digital surround sound audio system, the Boston Acoustics
DigitalTheater(tm) 6000.
Zoran's recently announced ZR38601 and ZR38650 provide a unique solution for the
digitally-driven speaker systems market. This market is rapidly expanding as the demand grows
for high quality surround sound at an affordable consumer price point.
The DigitalTheater 6000, whose availability was announced at the International Winter Consumer
Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, is a complete, high quality, Dolby Digital 5.1 channel
surround sound home theater system priced below the price of a mid-range receiver.
Through the use of the Zoran ZR38601, with its 50 MIPs of processing power and built in
Sony/Philips Digital Interface Format (S/PDIF) receiver, the DigitalTheater 6000 is provided with
the ability to process the wide variety of audio data streams produced by DVD players,
LaserDisc Players, Digital Television (DTV) receivers, CD Players, and set top boxes.
These include Pulse Code Modulation (PCM), Pro Logic® and Dolby Digital streams that
respectively provide a 2, 4 or 5.1 channel listening experience. Downloadable microcode, from
Zoran's SiliconSoftware(TM) library, along with the ZR38601's on chip Dolby Digital and Pro
Logic decoding functions, gives the DigitalTheater 6000 the ability to automatically detect and
properly decode Dolby Digital or PCM incoming digital audio data.
As compared to its predecessor, the ZR38600, the ZR38601 has 100% more on-chip program
memory and provides 25% more processing power while being fully microcode compatible with
the ZR38600. Thus, the ZR38601, with the use of internal resources alone, can very economically
provide Dolby Digital decoding simultaneously with virtual surround processing, base
management, audio format detection and amplitude control.
''Zoran Digital Audio Processors allow us to provide our customers with automatic audio data
stream identification, high quality decoding, and audio processing functions required by today's
sophisticated digital surround sound systems. The listening experience provided by the
DigitalTheater 6000 is astounding and Zoran has helped us achieve this objective,'' commented
Dr. Michael Rudd, Boston Acoustics' Director of New Technologies.
Zoran's Vice President of Audio Products Paul Goldberg, added, ''We are very pleased to have
the Zoran ZR38601 selected by Boston Acoustics for the DigitalTheater 6000. It is a pleasure to
support Boston Acoustics in their efforts to provide digital surround sound systems which meets
their customers very high standards at a mass market price point.
''Now and into the future, Zoran is committed to providing Digital Audio Processors which
advance the state of the digital multichannel audio art.''
The Zoran ZR38601 is a true fourth generation Digital Audio Processor. Developed in
conjunction with Dolby Laboratories, it is the ideal solution for a wide array of digital audio
processing tasks. In addition to Dolby Digital, Pro Logic, and audio data stream identification,
these include, Virtual Surround processing, sophisticated Sample Rate System(TM) music modes,
THX® processing, and bass management.
In the case of Virtual Surround processing, algorithms from seven separate suppliers have been
ported to the ZR38601 platform and, because of the power of the ZR38601, they can all be
executed simultaneously with Dolby Digital decoding.
About Zoran
Zoran Corp. 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(TM) 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: ZR38601, Standard Plus, and SiliconSoftware are trademarks of Zoran
Corporation. DigitalTheater is a trademark of Boston Acoustics. Dolby Digital and Dolby Pro
Logic are trademarks of Dolby Laboratories.
All other terms and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective
owners, and are hereby acknowledged
Contact:
Zoran Corporation
Yizhar Ganor, 408/919-4286
ir@zoran.com
or
The Financial Relations Board
Cathy Kawakami (investors)
Alicia Nieva-Woodgate (media)
415/986-1591
www.zoran.com |
