Los Angeles, Calif., October 17, 2000 -- Sonic Solutions announced at the Audio Engineering Society (AES) Convention its plans to offer support for the final version of the new DVD-Audio specification, Version 1.2. Using the new capabilities defined by the expanded specification and incorporated in Sonic DVD Creator AV, DVD-Audio producers will now be able to include copy protection and content watermarking in their DVD-Audio titles.

Version 1.2 of the specification defines a new copy protection method called CPPM (Copy Protection for Prerecorded Media), developed by 4CEntity, LLC. The CPPM specification defines a renewable cryptographic method for protecting entertainment content when recorded on physical media.

Sonic will also integrate Verance watermarking technology as an option with SonicStudio HD for secure content delivery in DVD media. Watermarking DVD-Audio content will allow content providers to invisibly mark, and later identify their content.

Sonic DVD Creator AV is the only commercial product providing support for DVD-Audio, which includes the ability to create DVD-Audio and DVD-Video menus, audio sampling rates from 44,1kHz to 192kHz, and support for both linear PCM and MLP (Meridian Lossless Packing) audio formats.

"Sonic has always been at the forefront of DVD-Audio technology, and in fact Sonic DVD Creator AV has been the only system used by the DVD Forum for developing test discs for verification purposes," stated Yuki Miyamoto, Senior Strategic Business Manager for New Technologies at Sonic. "Now that the DVD-Audio format has been finalized to incorporate copy protection and watermarking technologies, our users can begin creating secure DVD-Audio titles using the systems with which they are already familiar."

"Copy protection was the last missing component before DVD-Audio titles could become a commercial reality," said Mark Waldrep, President and CEO of AIX Media Group. "Sonic's integration of CPPM and watermarking will allow DVD-Audio content to be handled in a secure fashion, which in turn will encourage recording artists to create releases of their titles in the new audio format."

The new release of DVD Creator AV which supports CPPM and watermarking is scheduled to ship at the end of October. The CPPM technology will be a standard feature within DVD Creator AV, and the Verance watermarking will be available as an option.

About DVD-Audio
DVD-Audio is a 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.

About DVD Creator AV and SonicStudio HD
Sonic Solutions has created the industry's first DVD-Audio production system, Sonic DVD Creator AV, which includes SonicStudio HD, Sonic's system for high-density audio production and Sonic's DVD Creator 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.

About Sonic Solutions
Based in Marin County, California, Sonic (http://www.sonic.com) is the leading manufacturer of solutions for DVD publishing. Sonic DVDit! (http://www.dvdit.com) is the first application for DVD authoring targeted at videographers and corporate video producers, and is bundled with major video editing, capture, encoding and media production systems. Sonic DVD Creator and DVD Fusion 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. SonicStudio HD is the leading digital workstation for preparing audio for release on CD and the first for creating content for the new DVD-Audio format. Sonic is also a full voting member of the DVD Forum, the standards-setting body for the DVD format.


Source: Sonic Solutions
Web: www.sonic.com