Sigma's DVD Decoder Chips Proliferate into a Widening Range of Advanced DVD Players

Business Wire, May 22, 2003

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

MILPITAS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 22, 2003

Sigma Designs (Nasdaq:SIGM), a leader in digital media processors for consumer appliances, today announced that its EM8500 family of DVD decoder chips are now used worldwide by more than eleven manufacturers of advanced DVD players. These advanced DVD players set a new standard for consumer entertainment products by turning Internet video content, based on MPEG-4 and DivX Video into everyday television entertainment.

With MPEG-4, DivX Video and various music formats gaining popularity across the Internet, users can now enjoy a wide range of downloadable content directly from their DVD players. Driven primarily by increased compression efficiency, MPEG-4 is enabling providers to offer a new range of innovative video products and services over bandwidth-limited networks and low cost CD discs.

Sigma Designs' line of feature-rich, high quality, single chip DVD player solutions with MPEG-4 video decoding allows manufacturers to satisfy the growing consumer demand for cutting-edge multimedia technology. Sigma has also worked closely with DivXNetworks to enable playback support for all versions of DivX Video. Sigma Designs' EM8500 family represents the first DivX certified chipset available on the market. Key features in many of these advanced DVD players include:

-- Video playback using standard DVD, SVCD, VCD, MPEG-4 and DivX

Video content

-- Music playback using standard CD, MP3, and WMA content

-- Photo viewing using JPEG, PictureCD and other content

-- High quality picture and sound featuring progressive scan and

high definition output

-- User friendly media browsers for selecting and controlling

content playlists

The premium video quality delivered by DVD players based on Sigma's EM8500 decoder chip (such as the Bravo D1 from V Inc), are reinforced by users speaking out on the AVS Forum, a premier forum for sharing evaluations of home theatre systems.

In a statement issued on the AVS Forum, Alan Gouger said, "Using the $200 Bravo D1 DVD player (configured for 720p DVI output) with a Seleco 300+ DLP projector and 9' wide screen provided an accurate, smooth, film-like image. The Bravo D1 with its DVI output is very accurate in that it does not add any artificial edge enhancement or have chroma delay issues. Using the Avia resolution wedge test pattern, this player is perfectly clean right out to the edge, better than the Samsung HD1000 which uses the Faroudja chip for deinterlacing and scaling."

More than eleven manufacturers have introduced advanced DVD players in the past six months based on Sigma's EM8500 family of decoder chips. The following manufacturers have announced products that are available today.

-- Cosmic Digital

-- Jamo

-- Kiss Technology

-- Link Concept

-- Lite-On IT

-- Momitsu

-- Mustek

-- Neuston

-- Shenzhen Skywood

-- V Inc

-- Xoro

"MPEG-4 provides enhanced compression technologies that are being deployed today to enable convenient use of custom and downloadable content across bandwidth limited applications," said Ken Lowe, vice president of strategic marketing at Sigma Designs. "As a leader in advanced CODEC technologies, Sigma introduced the first set-top decoder solution for MPEG-4 a year ago and plans to offer other advanced CODEC technologies when they become commercially viable."

About Sigma's EM8500 Series of DVD Decoders

Sigma's EM8500 family is the premium solution for DVD players, enabling manufacturers to easily incorporate support of MPEG-4, DivX Video, MP3, WMA and Picture CD content, progressive DVD-Video, high definition scaling and audio CD playback. The convergence of these applications into a single, cost-effective appliance delivers a substantial benefit to the consumer. The EM8500 is designed around the system-on-chip concept with an internal 150 Mhz RISC CPU, both IDE and DVD loader interfaces, SDRAM memory controller, and the various I/O ports required to implement a complete DVD player. The EM8550 offers additional local busses and video ports to enable the use of Ethernet controllers, MPEG encoders, and other peripherals.

Video decoding capabilities include MPEG-4, MPEG-2 and MPEG-1 compressed video formats while audio decoding includes Dolby(R) Digital, Windows Media Audio (WMA) and MPEG-1 Layers 1, 2 and 3 (MP3). MPEG-4 video support is based on the advanced simple profile and supports DVD resolution content. MPEG-2 video support includes full precision DVD decoding and Macrovision protection and can be output in either progressive or interlaced format. Beyond the normal decoding of content, the EM8500 offers a sophisticated scaling and scan conversion of standard video to various HDTV resolutions, which recreates many elements of cinema picture quality. Also supported are the Picture CD (JPEG) formats for viewing digital photo content, which provides a substantially enhanced image when utilizing the high definition output.

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains forward looking statements, including statements about the projected timing and extent of customer shipments as well as the expected use of Sigma's MPEG decoder products. Actual results could vary from those projected in the forward looking statements as a result of various factors, including worldwide economic conditions, changes in the customer's ability or desire to complete the roll-out, consumer reaction to the new products and services being offered, the ability of Sigma to deliver sufficient quantity and quality of MPEG decoder chips, prices for the Sigma chips, alternative offerings by competitors, and the ability of the parties to work together successfully to achieve the rollout.