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Sonic Ships PlantDirect™ Tapeless Premastering

Enables On-line Delivery of Finished DVD Titles for Replication

Los Angeles, California (December 10, 2002) – Sonic Solutions® (NASDAQ: SNIC) announced today at DV Expo that it is now shipping PlantDirect, an exclusive technology that allows DVD title masters to be delivered to replication facilities over the Internet. PlantDirect is an add-on software module for the Sonic ROM Formatter application, the industry-standard DVD formatting solution used to prepare Hollywood-level DVD title master tapes.

Until now, professional DVD authors were required to use expensive Digital Linear Tape (DLT) storage drives and media to deliver DVD masters through standard shipping methods to the plant. PlantDirect eliminates the DLT step in the production chain and dramatically speeds the process of connecting the authoring facility with the replication plant by allowing the finished masters to be delivered electronically.

PlantDirect enables Sonic ROM Formatter to write the industry-standard file-sets required for the replication of DVDs to hard disk instead of DLT. Using a typical file transfer protocol (FTP) client application, DVD authoring facilities can electronically upload their titles from their hard disk to the replication plant saving precious time in the DVD creation process.

"Professional DVD producers worldwide rely on Sonic technology to create millions of replicated DVD discs each year," said Rolf Hartley, General Manager, Professional Products Group, at Sonic. "With PlantDirect, our users can deliver their releases to the replication plant more efficiently and inexpensively, plus save precious time in the process."

"DVD title production demands are expanding every year while delivery deadlines are becoming more aggressive," said Clive Bush, Senior Vice-president at Technicolor Creative Services. "Sonic PlantDirect gives us a direct connection from our authoring studio to the replication facility and allows us to maintain our production goals, saving our clients significant time and expense."

Sonic ROM Formatter with PlantDirect is currently available through Sonic’s worldwide network of value added resellers (http://www.sonic.com/resellers/).

About Sonic Solutions (NASDAQ: SNIC)
Based in Marin County, California, Sonic (http://www.sonic.com) is the world’s leading manufacturer of solutions for DVD creation. Sonic MyDVD® (http://www.mydvd.com) is the first DVD authoring application for consumers, and is the leading DVD solution among DVD recorder and PC manufacturers. Sonic DVDit!® (http://www.dvdit.com) is the leading DVD authoring application for videographers and corporate video producers; more than two million copies of MyDVD and DVDit! have been shipped. With its high-performance MPEG decoding engine and support for Microsoft DirectX®, Sonic CinePlayer™ provides the highest-quality video and audio playback of DVDs or Video CDs. Sonic DVD Creator®, Sonic Scenarist®, Sonic ReelDVD® and Sonic DVD Producer™ are the most widely-used systems for professional DVD publishing, and are installed worldwide at major studios, post production facilities and in corporate marketing departments. Sonic’s AuthorScript® engine for DVD formatting and burning is licensed by leading software developers including Adobe, Microsoft and Sony. Sonic is a full voting member of the DVD Forum, the standards-setting body for the DVD format.

Sonic, the Sonic logo, Sonic CinePlayer, Edit-on-DVD, OpenDVD, and True DVD Slideshow are trademarks of Sonic Solutions. AuthorScript, Sonic DVD Creator, MyDVD, DVDit!, ReelDVD and Scenarist are registered trademarks of Sonic Solutions. All other company or product names are trademarks of their respective owners and, in some cases, are used by Sonic under license. Specifications, pricing and delivery schedules are subject to change without notice.