Hold on! New Creative PC-DVD kits for $149...............
The dxr2 kit (CUBE inside) is now $299. The standalone dxr2 MPEG-2 decoder board (CUBE-based) is $169. Hold on!
Creative Drives PC-DVD Into the Mainstream with Complete Line of
Solutions Starting at $149.99
New Family of PC-DVD Solutions Broadens Availability of DVD on the Desktop
MILPITAS, Calif., March 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Creative Labs, Inc.
(Nasdaq: CREAF), the world's leading provider of multimedia products for the
PC, today announced a new family of PC-DVD(TM) products that include six new,
aggressively-priced solutions. In line with its strategy to design and
develop products that address key segments of the PC market through all
channels, Creative is delivering its highly-acclaimed PC-DVD technology to the
mass market at accessible price points. The new line includes a stand-alone
PC-DVD drive -- the Creative Blaster(R) DVD-ROM -- for an estimated street
price of US$149.99. Creative's new family of PC-DVD solutions are designed
for home users, corporate users, and multimedia and gaming enthusiasts.
Creative's broad offering of PC-DVD products are designed to strategically
target different segments of the PC market with the latest DVD technology.
The new offerings let the consumer select aspects of PC-DVD technology to suit
their individual needs, including enormous storage capacity (up to 17
gigabytes of data), enhanced full-motion, full-screen video plus Dolby Digital
(AC-3) audio. These solutions can be used in computer-based training,
archiving, interactive educational programs, for distribution of data, hybrid
Internet applications, entertainment titles and much more.
"With our new line of PC-DVD products, anyone interested in DVD technology
can now select from multiple, affordable, easy-to-install solutions," said Sim
Wong Hoo, chairman and chief executive officer at Creative. "We're allowing
our customers the ability to create their PC-DVD environment by choosing the
PC-DVD components they need."
Creative Family of PC-DVD Solutions
Based on Creative's highly acclaimed Dynamic Xtended Resolution technology
(Dxr(TM)2), and its second-generation drive technology, the new line includes:
* Creative Blaster(R) DVD-ROM, a stand-alone, second-generation PC-DVDx2
drive that provides CD-ROM and DVD-ROM functionality in one package. It's
available mid-March at an estimated street price of US$149.99.
* Functions as a CD-ROM drive with full support for all popular CD-
ROM formats, including previously un-supported CD-Recordable
media and CD-RW allowing users to playback existing CD-ROMs
* Blazing CD-ROM drive speed with a transfer rate of up to 20x and
100msec access time
* Provides access to DVD-ROM's expansive storage capacity of up to
17GB
* DVD-ROM transfer rate of twice the first-generation drives that
provides fast access and smooth playback
* Creative Dxr2 Decoder Board for full-motion MPEG-2 enhanced video and
Dolby Digital, surround-sound audio decoding. When combined with Creative's
Blaster DVD-ROM drive, or Discovery AWE64 PC-DVD-Ready kit, the Dxr2 Decoder
provides the ultimate multimedia experience. It is available immediately for
an estimated street price of US$169.99.
* Simultaneous connection to a PC and TV with composite or S-Video
outputs for viewing DVD videos on the TV
* Line-doubling to 60 frames per second, including vertical and
horizontal filtering and dynamic interpolation of up to 1280 X
1024 full-screen resolution
* Interfaces with digital receivers for room-filling 5.1 channel
Dolby Digital audio
* Creative's Discovery AWE64 PC-DVD-Ready -- This DVD-Ready kit is
designed to upgrade and future-proof a users PC with the latest in DVD drive
technology. It is available immediately at an estimated street price of
US$249.99. This DVD-Ready kit includes:
* Creative's Sound Blaster(R) AWE64 audio card
* Creative's second-generation PC-DVDx2 Drive
* Sound Blaster SBS20 speakers designed by Cambridge SoundWorks
* Also included are 10 of the latest multimedia titles
* Creative Components 700 - This kit is from Creative's new Multimedia
PC*KIT(TM) line and is specifically designed for systems integrators. It
provides SIs with the ability to build powerful multimedia PC-DVD systems
using fully-tested, Creative-branded components for reliability, ease-of-use
and the ultimate in compatibility. Creative Components 700 is available
immediately at an estimated street price of US$479.99 and includes:
* Creative's second-generation PC-DVDx2 drive
* Creative Labs Sound Blaster AWE64 - the highly-acclaimed 64-voice
audio card
* Graphics Blaster Exxtreme Value - a 4MB 2D/3D graphics
accelerator
* Creative MPEG-2/Dolby Digital decoder board for optimum hardware-
based DVD video and audio playback
* Cambridge SoundWorks' PCWorks - the award-winning speaker
subsystem based on Henry Kloss' highly-acclaimed speaker design.
* Creative PC-DVD Encore Dxr2, the award-winning upgrade kit that
includes Creative's second-generation PC-DVD drive and Creative's Dxr2 decoder
card is available now at US$299.99. This highly-acclaimed kit includes:
* Simultaneous connection to a PC and TV with composite or S-Video
outputs for playing DVD video on the TV
* Line-doubling to 60 frames per second, with Creative's Dynamic
Xtended Resolution technology including vertical and horizontal
filtering and dynamic interpolation of up to 1280 X 1024 full-
screen resolution
* Runs at twice the speed of the first-generation DVD-ROM drives
* Interfaces with digital receivers for room-filling 5.1 channel
Dolby Digital audio
* Fully supports all popular CD-ROM formats, including previously
unsupported CD-Recordable media and CD-RW
* Blazing CD-ROM drive speed at transfer rate of 20x and 100 ms
access time
In addition, the PC-DVD Encore includes the following DVD-ROM titles:
* "Wing Commander(TM) IV" from Electronic Arts(TM) - A full-motion
interactive video game that has been optimized with Dolby Digital
audio and MPEG-2 video for an exclusive kit bundle for the launch
of the PC-DVD Encore kit.
* "Claw" from Monolith Productions - Available in the DVD format,
"Claw" is a side-scroller game title with studio-quality animated
MPEG-2 cut scenes.
* Graphics Blaster Exxtreme(TM) PC-DVD Edition, a 4MB graphics
accelerator which includes DVD video and Dolby Digital audio decoding, plus
2D/3D acceleration based on the PERMEDIA 2 processor from 3Dlabs. The
Graphics Blaster Exxtreme DVD will be available early Summer 1998.
For more information on these and Creative's entire line of solutions,
please visit Creative's award-winning Web site, The Creative Zone at
www.creativelabs.com.
Creative Labs, Inc., is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Creative Technology
Ltd. and serves as the company's U.S. Headquarters. Creative Technology's
other U.S.-based subsidiaries include Cambridge SoundWorks, Inc., Digicom
Systems, Inc., EcTiVA, Inc., E-mu Systems, Inc. and Ensoniq, Inc.
Creative Technology Ltd. develops, manufactures and markets a wide array
of advanced multimedia solutions for the PC, entertainment, education, music
and productivity tools markets. Creative's products are marketed through the
OEM, systems integrator and retail channels under a variety of trademarks,
including the "Blaster" family name. Sound Blaster(R) has become the
multimedia industry's de facto audio standard. Sound Blaster is an audio
platform consisting of a sound card or chipset, software drivers and bundled
software applications that enable PCs to produce high quality audio.
Creative's corporate headquarters and primary manufacturing are based in
Singapore, with sales, distribution and research and development being carried
out through an extensive, global network of subsidiaries located in North
America, Europe, Asia and Africa.
This announcement relates to products whose launch are in the United
States of America. The product names, contents, prices and availability may
differ elsewhere in the world according to local factors and requirements.
Sound Blaster is a registered trademark and PC-DVD, PC-DVD Encore,
Graphics Blaster Exxtreme, Dynamic Xtended Resolution, DXR and PC*KIT are
trademarks of Creative Technology Ltd. in the U. S. and other countries. All
other product names mentioned herein are trademarks of their respective owners
and are hereby recognized as such.
Wing Commander and Electronic Arts are trademarks or registered trademarks
of Electronic Arts or its wholly owned subsidiaries.
Safe Harbor for Forward Looking Statements:
Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters set
forth herein (including information on future products, future marketing
efforts, and future revenues, margins, expenses and earnings) are forward
looking statements that are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that
could cause actual results to differ materially from those set forth in the
forward looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, among
others: potential fluctuations in quarterly results due to the seasonality of
Creative's business and the difficulty of projecting such fluctuations;
reductions in the market value of products sold by Creative, including
increases in supply or declines in demand or prices for CD-ROM or DVD drives,
board and chip-level products, and software products; the short product cycles
that characterize most of Creative's products; the increasing proliferation of
sound functionality in new products from new competitors and at the
application software, chip and operating system levels; Creative's reliance on
sole sources for many of its chips and other key components; the timely
development, ramp, delivery and market acceptance of new products, including
Creative's next generation sound chips, and its graphics accelerator, video
conferencing, CD-ROM and DVD drives, DVD encoder cards, communications and
Internet-related products; the availability of operating capital on acceptable
terms; the volatility of share prices for companies in Creative's industry and
the effect of those prices or other events beyond Creative's control; and
other risk factors described in Creative's filings with the Securities and
Exchange Commission over the past twelve months.
SOURCE Creative Labs, Inc.
/CONTACT: Theresa Pulido, Creative Labs, Inc., 408-428-2329,
tpulido@soundblaster.com; or Gary Brotman, Golin-Harris Communications,
213-623-4200, gbrotman@golinharris.com/
(CREAF)
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