Jason Dunn
03-24-2004, 08:30 PM
<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.sonic.com' target='_blank'>http://www.sonic.com</a><br /><br /></div>"Sonic Solutions® the world leader in DVD creation applications, today announced that it has expanded its industry-leading HyperMux DVD formatting technology to include advanced algorithms specifically designed to support the new DVD+R Double Layer (DL) recording format. Sonic’s new HyperMux-DL engine leverages the company’s successful history of creating multi-layer disc authoring systems for Hollywood studios by applying advanced title layout, buffer management, layer-break management, and frame selection technologies to consumer DVD creation applications for the first time.<br /><!><br />"Sonic has been creating dual-layer DVDs since 1996, and we have gained unmatchable experience with the nuances, pitfalls, and technical complexities of making dual-layer discs perform optimally in the broadest number of consumer players," said Jim Taylor, General Manager of Sonic’s Advanced Technology Group. "DVD+R Double Layer technology represents a major breakthrough in recordable DVD, and we are proud to be playing a key role in its introduction, giving our consumer and professional customers the most reliable and technically advanced solution for supporting additional video and data capacity."<br /><br />“We are pleased to see that Sonic has implemented this new 8.5 GB high-capacity DVD+R DL feature in their HyperMux DL engine," said Hans Driessen, Communications Manager at Philips Optical Storage and Vice Chair for the DVD+RW Alliance Products Promotions Group. "This again underlines the high innovation of the DVD+R/+RW format and the ability to quickly bring these new features to the market. Using Sonic's HyperMux-DL engine, users are now able to create compatible DVDs with up to 8.5 GB of data or four hours of video in DVD quality."<br /><br />Sonic’s MyDVD®, Sonic PrimeTime™, DVDit!® and RecordNow!™ consumer applications as well as Sonic’s “Hollywood” professional applications, Scenarist® and DVD Producer™, are the first to take advantage of this unique technology to create DVD+R Double Layer discs that can hold four to eight hours of video or up to 8.5 billion bytes of data on a single disc. <br /><br />Sonic’s HyperMux-DL formatting technology optimizes the DVD data stream to minimize buffer usage, ensuring better stream quality and integrity while enhancing title playback performance across the broadest range of consumer DVD players. HyperMux-DL has been specially tuned to deliver maximum writing speed and disc compatibility for DVD+R Double Layer media while minimizing MPEG video frame stutter. <br /><br /><b>HyperMux-DL’s proprietary Double Layer features include:</b><br /><br />Sonic SmartBalance™ – automatically balances data and video content across both disc layers for the fastest-possible write times. SmartBalance algorithms automatically adjust the layer break point to minimize lead-out time, dramatically speeding disc-burning time, while ensuring maximum read-back compatibility. <br />Sonic JumpSafe™ – selects the ideal title set layout and layer break point with precisely filled error-correction blocks to ensure optimum video playback and to avoid the frame stutter and visual distortion that commonly occurs in DVDs authored on standard formatting systems when the MPEG data streams are interrupted during layer switch. <br />HyperMux DL-enhanced DVD+R Double Layer versions of Sonic’s consumer products are currently available and will be included in bundles from major drive and PC manufacturers starting in the second quarter of 2004. Sonic AuthorScript® with double layer support has been released to selected licensing partners in the PC and consumer electronics markets. Retail versions of Sonic’s professional product lines incorporating DVD+R Double Layer are slated for release in Q2 of 2004. <br /><br /><b>About DVD+R Double Layer</b><br /><br />The Double Layer DVD+R disc nearly doubles the storage capacity of a current DVD+R disc from <br />4.7 Gbytes to 8.5 Gbytes. Because both layers can be accessed from the same side of the disc, there is no need to turn over the disc to benefit from the extra recording capacity. The technology will allow users to record up to 4 hours of high-quality video and up to 16 hours at VHS-quality video on a single Double Layer DVD+R disc while maintaining compatibility with most existing DVD-Video players and DVD-ROM drives.<br /><br /><b>About Sonic Solutions (NASDAQ: SNIC)</b><br /><br />Based in Marin County, California, Sonic Solutions (<a href="http://www.sonic.com">http://www.sonic.com</a>) is the world's leading supplier of DVD creation software for professional, industrial, and consumer applications. The majority of major film releases on DVD have been produced on Sonic's professional DVD authoring systems in studios around the world. Sonic's MyDVD® and DVDit!® are the most widely-used DVD creation applications by consumers and video enthusiasts and are the solutions of choice among the key PC and after-market drive suppliers. Sonic's RecordNow!™ is a leading solution for audio and data mastering. Sonic's AuthorScript, the DVD and CD formatting and burning engine that underlies Sonic's applications, is the most widely deployed DVD software engine and has been licensed by Adobe, Microsoft, Sony, and many others."