Sunplus Selects Sonic CinePlayer BD Navigator for its Blu-ray SoC
Novato, California (June 3, 2008) - Sonic Solutions® (NASDAQ: SNIC), the leader in digital media software, today announced an agreement to license the Sonic® CinePlayer® BD Navigator software to Sunplus Technology Co., Ltd., one of the world's premier consumer electronics IC designers. Already a leading vendor of chips for the DVD player market, Sunplus is integrating Sonic's HDMV and BD-J technology to enable interactive playback and navigation in its new System-On-a-Chip (SoC) solutions aimed at the burgeoning Blu-ray Disc player market.
"Sonic's proven technology was a natural choice as Sunplus looked to develop new chip solutions for the high-definition video playback market," said Ho-Jung Ou, General Manager of the Home Entertainment Business Unit, Sunplus. "CinePlayer is not only reliable, but also easy to integrate into our Blu-ray IC solutions, which speeds our time to market."
Backed by Sonic's Hollywood-proven playback compatibility and quality, the CinePlayer BD Navigator SDK provides application developers a trouble-free way to add rich, Blu-ray Disc playback to their video applications and entertainment systems. CinePlayer-enabled products comply fully with the BD specification to offer exceptional high-definition audio, video, and interactive component playback.
"With broad expertise in interactive high-definition video and years of experience developing software for consumer electronics devices, Sonic is the ideal choice for companies entering the high-definition player market," said Jim Taylor, chief technologist and general manager of Sonic's Advanced Technology Group. "We are proud to be working with Sunplus, a respected leader in CE devices. As our agreement affirms, CinePlayer BD represents a compelling solution for consumer electronics component and device manufacturers wishing to compete successfully in the BD market."
A new report from Strategy Analytics, an international research and consulting firm, forecasts nearly 30 million BD-enabled households worldwide by the end of 2008 - a number they expect to quadruple by 2012. The report also predicts shipments of 19 million BD-enabled playback devices this year. Although the group expects the majority of these units to be game consoles, they expect stand-alone BD players to become the dominant segment in 2009.
Created by Sonic's Advanced Technology Group, CinePlayer BD Navigator is part of the company's expanding portfolio of technologies that are licensed to enable CD, DVD, and Blu-ray Disc playback, recording, and authoring. Sonic's technologies are licensed by leading firms such as Adobe, Broadcom, Microsoft, Scientific Atlanta, Sony, and ST Micro, and used to enable digital media experiences in a wide variety of markets including consumer electronics, PCs, kiosks, automotive entertainment systems, and music download services. For more information on Sonic's technologies for application developers, visit: (http://www.sonic.com/products/Developer/AuthorScript/DVD.aspx).
About Sonic Solutions
Sonic Solutions (NASDAQ: SNIC; http://www.sonic.com) enables the creation, management, and enjoyment of digital media content through its Hollywood to Home™ products, services, and technologies. Sonic's products range from the advanced authoring systems used to produce Hollywood DVD and Blu-ray Disc titles to the award-winning Roxio-branded photo, video, music, and digital-media management applications. Sonic's patented technologies and AuthorScript® media engine are relied upon by leading technology firms to define rich media experiences on a wide array of consumer electronics, mobile devices, set-top players, retail kiosks, and PCs. Always an innovator, Sonic has taken a leading role in helping professional and consumer markets make the successful transition to the new high-definition media formats and, through the Qflix™ platform, Sonic is defining new models for the digital distribution of Hollywood entertainment. Sonic Solutions is headquartered in Marin County, California.
About Sunplus
Sunplus Group, headed by Sunplus Technology Company Limited established in 1990, is devoted in IC design for electrical consumer applications. Sunplus offers not only IC design but also system solutions to maximize customer's benefits by differentiating each design. Sunplus' reusable IPs such as audio/video, microprocessor and digital signal processor technologies are applied to numerous IC solutions for multimedia home applications and ASICs that contributed to our quality life. Due to the expansion of business scope, Sunplus split its BUs into several fabless IC design companies in 2006. The LCD IC business was spun-off into Orise Technology Co., Ltd.; the Controller & Peripheral BU was transferred into Sunplus Innovation Technology Inc.; the Personal Entertainment BU and Advanced BU were spun-off into Sunplus mMobile Inc. The parent company, Sunplus Technology, keeps working on Home Entertainment IC solutions such as VCD/DVD, DVR, DVB, LCD TV and DTV. For more information, please visit the Sunplus website: www.sunplus.com.
Forward Looking Statements
This press release may contain forward-looking statements that are based upon current expectations, including the distribution and market acceptance of CinePlayer. Actual results could differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of various risks and uncertainties, 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, Form 10-Q and other reports 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. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements.
Sonic, the Sonic logo, Sonic Solutions, AuthorScript, Hollywood to Home, Qflix, CinePlayer, and Roxio are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sonic Solutions in the United States and/or other countries. All other company or product names are trademarks of their respective owners and, in some cases, are used under license.