Sonic Teams with Panasonic, Sonopress, Sony Music, Universal Music, and Warner Music Group on First DVD-Audio Test Discs
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 22, 1999--
Major Studios to Use Sonic's DVD-Audio Tools for DVD-Audio
Production
Sonic Solutions announced today that it has successfully
collaborated with Panasonic and the world's leading recording
companies -- including Sonopress (BMG Storage Media), Sony Music,
Universal Music and Warner Music Group (WMG) -- to create the first
DVD-Audio test discs with SonicStudio HD, Sonic's next-generation
professional audio workstation, and DVD Creator AV, the DVD-Audio
version of Sonic's award-winning DVD-Video production system.
These first DVD-Audio test discs demonstrate the advanced
features of the new format -- high-resolution sound, graphics, and
interactivity -- and were shown earlier this month at the IFA
("Internationale Funkausstellung 1999") show in Berlin.
"DVD-Audio will be one of the first new formats of the 21st
century," said Robert Doris, President of Sonic Solutions. "Designed
as a truly flexible digital format, DVD-Audio discs will be playable
on millions of PCs as well as on set-top DVD players. Sonic's
DVD-Audio production and authoring tools will allow users to fully
exploit all the capabilities of this new format, whether they are
producing a simple audio disc or a complex title with moving images,
menus, interactivity and web links."
Since 1998, Sonic has been working intensively with the major
record labels as they participated in the design of the DVD-Audio
format in anticipation of the release of the first consumer DVD-Audio
players. Each of the major labels in Sonic's DVD-Audio Developers
Group used early versions of Sonic's DVD-Audio production software to
author titles on their initial test discs and then provided feedback
to Sonic's engineering team.
"Together we're all getting a crash course in this new format,"
added Doris. "Prior to these first test discs, no one really knew how
DVD-Audio titles would be authored. Working with the major labels on
the first DVD-Audio discs has been invaluable and will help us refine
the production version of our system."
"Preparing DVD-Audio titles is much more challenging than
traditional CD premastering," said Al McPherson, VP of Technology at
WMG. "In contrast to a CD, which involves just a single stream of
stereo audio at a fixed sample rate, our first demonstration DVD-Audio
disc contains hundreds of different elements -- ten tracks with six
channels at different sample rates, graphics, menus, slide shows and
video. Preparing DVD-A titles requires complex tools that can handle
all these elements, and working with Sonic will enable us to author
titles that exploit the exciting new features supported by DVD-Audio."
About The First DVD-Audio Demonstration Discs
The first DVD-Audio titles created with Sonic's DVD Creator and
SonicStudio HD systems demonstrate the richness and variety of the new
format. By adding a Dolby Digital track or a two-channel LPCM track
along with a still image or slide show, some of the record companies
are authoring versions which can be played back on existing DVD-Video
players as well as new DVD-Audio players.
-- Panasonic -- Panasonic/Technics commissioned SYRINX music & media
(www.syrinx.de), a leading DVD production house in Hamburg,
Germany to create a DVD-Audio disc that will be bundled with
Panasonic and Technics players when they are released in the
German market. With Sonic's DVD-Audio tools, SYRINX created a
comprehensive disc that demonstrates all the features of the
DVD-Audio standard, including high-resolution stereo, surround
sound, visual menus, lavish slide-shows and full-motion video
with multichannel audio. The DVD-Audio disc presents the Hamburg
Westport Jazz Festival and includes recordings of Pat Metheny,
John McLaughlin, Ruben Blades and Stanley Clarke.
"With the help of Sonic Solutions, we were able to make
exhaustive use of many aspects of DVD-Audio," says Andreas
Stange, co-founder of SYRINX and head of DVD production, "so this
disc is not only a world first but one of the most versatile
DVD-A discs produced so far."
Panasonic/Technics presented the DVD-Audio disc together with
their new DVD Universal Players at the IFA show in Berlin.
-- Sonopress' facility in Guetersloh, Germany prepared two titles
for demonstration at IFA:
-- Denon Classic Collection/Various Artists from Beethoven to
Gershwin and others
-- Brazilian Music Artist Duo Reinhard und Winanda. Recorded by
Andreas Torkler.
Both titles contain six-channel audio, menus,
and slide shows.
"DVD-Audio delivers some very compelling new features to
consumers," said Wolfgang Martens, Sonopress Technical Director
Premastering. "It allows fantastic quality audio with very
interesting video features. Sonic provides the editing and
authoring tools to create excellent product and their tools will
allow us to expand audio entertainment far into the future."
-- Sony Music -- Sony Music in New York has completed its first two
DVD-Audio titles including a disc of Bernard Hermann film scores
performed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Essa-Pekka Salonen.
"Sony Music has begun production on an impressive slate of
DVD-Audio releases from a number of its top artists which will be
available concurrent with the new format's launch," said Leslie
Cohen, Vice President, New Business Development, Sony Music
Entertainment. "Sonic Solutions is the first company to develop
the authoring tools for DVD-Audio, and following our joint
success in producing these first test titles, we look forward to
working closely with Sonic to take full advantage of DVD-Audio's
capabilities as we help shape the future of this format."
-- Universal Music's Deutsche Grammophon studio in Hamburg, Germany
successfully created two demonstration DVD-Audio projects and
debuted them at IFA:
-- CARL ORFF: CARMINA BURANA (Deutsche Grammophon) Chor und
Orchester der Deutschen Oper Berlin, Christian Thielemann,
conductor, Christiane Oelze, Simon Keenlyside, David
Kuebler, soloists
-- PUCCINI: LA BOHEME (Decca) Orchestra e Coro del Teatro alla
Scala di Milano, Riccardo Chailly, conductor, Angela
Georghiu, Roberto Alagna, soloists.
"The possibilities of DVD-Audio are only limited by one's
imagination," said Rob Pel, Managing Director of Universal
Recording Service. "The SonicStudio HD and DVD Producer AV
systems that Sonic has developed will allow us to create new
kinds of audio and video entertainment that have not been
possible on any earlier formats."
-- Warner Music Group -- With its initial test project, Warner is
the first to create a DVD-Audio title which exploits many of the
expanded features of the DVD-Audio format -- multichannel sound
with mixed sample rates of 96kHz and 48kHz in a single track,
corresponding Dolby Digital tracks that can be played in a
standard DVD-Video player, still pictures of credits and artist
photos which can be browsed simultaneously while listening to
audio.
Teldec, a Warner Music Group label, prepared its first prototype
DVD-Audio disc of Johann Strauss Waltzes performed by the Berlin
Philharmonic Orchestra under Nikolaus Harnoncourt. Authored on a
SonicStudio HD system and Sonic DVD Creator, this six-channel,
24-bit, 96kHz recording was one of the first to use Meridian
Lossless Packing (MLP) from an original six-channel, 24-bit,
96kHz direct-to-digital recording. It was played for the first
time at IFA.
About DVD-Audio
DVD-Audio is the new audio format that builds on the success of
the hugely popular DVD-Video format. More than two years in the
making, DVD-Audio is the result of close collaboration among major
recording companies, consumer electronics manufacturers and technology
suppliers.
The format incorporates breathtakingly accurate audio
reproduction by supporting sampling rates of 96kHz and 192kHz with up
to 24 bits of information per sample (compared to the CD standard of
44.1kHz and 16 bits per sample).
With DVD-Audio, full-resolution audio can be presented in stereo
or in any channel combination up to six-channel surround. Audio
programs can be accessed interactively and presented along with visual
material including menus, slides, and text. Because of the enormous
bandwidths involved in high-resolution audio, DVD-Audio incorporates
an innovative coding scheme developed by Meridian Audio, called
Meridian Lossless Packing (MLP).
With MLP it is possible to use full-resolution, 24-bit, 96kHz
audio on all six channels of a surround presentation even though the
overall bandwidth of the original master tracks would exceed the
bandwidth available in a standard DVD disc. DVD-Audio permits
incorporation of video as well, including many of the features that
have made DVD-Video such a runaway success.
About DVD Creator AV and SonicStudio HD
Sonic Solutions has created the industry's first and only
DVD-Audio production system, Sonic DVD Creator AV, which includes
SonicStudio HD, Sonic's system for high-density audio production and
Sonic's DVD Producer for authoring DVD-Audio and DVD-Video titles.
SonicStudio HD is built upon the innovative new HDSP(TM)
Processing Architecture and supports editing and mixing of
multi-channel audio at sample rates from 44.1kHz to 192kHz. DVD
Creator allows authoring of DVD-Audio titles with real-time preview of
all the elements in a DVD-Audio title -- multi-channel high-resolution
audio, menus, slide shows and video.
About Sonic Solutions (Nasdaq:SNIC)
Based in Marin County, California, Sonic Solutions designs and
manufactures DVD publishing systems used by video, audio and
multimedia professionals around the world to prepare music, video,
film, graphics and entertainment software. Sonic DVD Creator is the
leading system for producing content for the DVD format, and has been
used to create thousands of DVD titles worldwide, for applications
ranging from feature film releases to corporate and industrial titles.
Sonic also offers SonicStudio HD, the leading digital audio
workstation used by audio professionals to prepare recorded sound for
release on DVD and CD, as well as for film and video soundtracks and
broadcast. Sonic is a leader in advancing DVD-Video and DVD-Audio
technology and is a full voting-member of the DVD Forum, the
standards-setting body for the DVD format. Sonic Solutions can be
contacted on the web at: sonic.com.
The above paragraphs of this press release contain forward
looking statements that are based upon current expectations. Actual
results could differ materially from those projected in the forward
looking statements as a result of various risks and uncertainties
including, among others, the timely introduction and acceptance of new
products, costs associated with new product introductions, the
transition of products to new hardware configurations and platforms
and other factors, including those discussed in the Company's annual
and quarterly reports on file with the Securities and Exchange
Commission. This press release should be read in conjunction with the
Company's most recent annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly report
on Form 10-Q on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission,
which contain a more detailed discussion of the Company's business
including risks and uncertainties that may affect future results.
Note to Editors: Sonic, Sonic Solutions, the Sonic logo, HDSP,
SonicStudio HD and DVD Creator are trademarks of Sonic Solutions. All
other company or product names are trademarks of their respective
owners. Specifications, pricing and delivery schedules are subject to
change without notice.
CONTACT:
Sonic Solutions
Paul Lefebvre, 415/893-8000
paul-lefebvre@sonic.com
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