New Zoran Vaddis-VX DVD Decoder IC Enables Sub $20 Complete PC-DVD Hardware Solution

Business Wire, August 10, 1998

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--August 10, 1998--

Vaddis-VX available with production ready Vaddis4VMI reference design including full DVD navigation and multi channel audio in software

Zoran Corporation (NASDAQ:ZRAN), a leading provider of integrated circuits and software for digital video and audio enabled by compression, announced today the availability of a new addition to its Vaddis(tm) DVD decoder IC family - the Vaddis-VX. Vaddis-VX is a "video only" version of the leading Vaddis DVD decoder specifically targeted at the price sensitive PC market. The audio decoding is executed in software on the host CPU thereby eliminating the need for extra components, connectors, and cables and reducing system cost significantly to less than $20. Manufacturers who choose to use Vaddis-VX with Zoran's Vaddis4VMI reference design kit can start production immediately. The Vaddis-VX IC is now available in mass production.

The combination of Vaddis-VX with Zoran's leading SoftDVD(tm) Navigator and Zoran's proprietary software audio module provides the best of both worlds. Users can achieve the high performance video and sub-picture decoding associated with a hardware DVD solution and maintain low CPU loading while at the same time secure significant cost reduction through software based audio decoding. Several companies are now adopting this unique solution based on the Vaddis4VMI(tm) daughter card reference design.

"We believe the introduction of Vaddis-VX with software audio decoding will expedite the adoption of hardware DVD decoding in the PC environment", said Dr. Shmuel Farkash, Vice President of Video Products for Zoran. "It is especially attractive for graphics daughter card solutions such as our Vaddis4VMI reference design card, where the absence of cables has strong advantages in installation, compatibility, and system cost."

Zoran now offers a complete line of hardware and software solutions for PC DVD: from the full function hardware decoding with Vaddis ZR36700, to the all-software SoftDVD, and now a software-hardware hybrid solution with the Vaddis-VX and software audio. Manufacturers can now optimize a solution per desired system.

On the Vaddis DVD Decoder Family

The Vaddis DVD decoder family is the world's most advanced set of DVD solutions targeted at second generation consumer stand-alone DVD/VideoCD/CD-DA players and PC-based DVD systems. Based on Zoran's proprietary MPEG-2 video and Dolby-Digital audio decoding technology, the Vaddis family integrates the decoding and presentation functionality required for full implementation of the DVD standard in a single chip.

Vaddis-VX is a subset of the leading Vaddis 36700 DVD Decoder and includes DVD content protection (CSS), Program stream demultiplexing, MPEG-2 video, MPEG-1 video, Subpicture, OSD, Letterbox, Pan-Scan and more. Using a Zoran-proprietary implementation, the Vaddis decoder family requires only a single 16 Mbit SDRAM for full operation. Vaddis dramatically reduces the required number of memory chips and other components thereby lowering the power consumption and overall cost of a DVD system. Vaddis-VX with software audio further optimizes this solution on the PC by eliminating extra analog audio components and connection cables.

On the Vaddis4VMI Reference Design

Vaddis4VMI is a DVD daughter card design targeted for Intel740-based AGP graphics cards or any other VMI 1.4 standard based graphics card. VMI (Video Module Interface) provides a direct bi-directional high bandwidth connection for both DVD data and video from Vaddis to the graphics controller. Systems designed to take advantage of VMI can achieve high DVD performance at a lower cost than PCI solutions, because they do not require a dedicated PCI slot to add DVD functionality or cables to run from board to board. Furthermore, VMI eliminates loading of the PCI bus with video thereby improving system performance. Zoran's Vaddis4VMI reference card comes complete with a production ready set of software drivers that enables a short time to market.

About Zoran

Zoran Corporation develops and markets integrated circuits, integrated circuit cores and software for digital video and audio applications enabled by compression for the PC and consumer multimedia markets. Zoran's product lines include JPEG codecs, MPEG and DVD decoders, digital audio signal processors, real-time Video CD and DVD software for the PC, and VLSI cores. The company's software is bundled by PC and graphic system manufacturers for software-only or hardware-assisted Video CD, DVD and JPEG compressed video playback on the PC.

Current applications for Zoran IC products include professional and consumer video editing systems, filmless digital cameras, PC-based or stand-alone Video CD systems and DVD players, and digital audio systems. Zoran's products and technologies have been adopted by many of the world's largest PC, audio/video boards and home entertainment systems manufacturers.

Zoran is headquartered in Santa Clara, California with additional operations in Haifa, Israel, Toronto, Canada and offices in Tokyo, Japan and Shenzhen, China. For more information about Zoran call (408) 919-4111, contact ir@zoran.com or visit our website: www.zoran.com.