Zoran Announces Third Generation DVD Recording Platform Developed With SANYO To Be Demonstrated at CES 2004

Unveils Single-Board, Dual-Format DVD Recorder With Zoran Back-End and SANYO Front-End

Sunnyvale, Calif. - January 8, 2004 - Zoran Corporation (Nasdaq: ZRAN) announced a new single-board DVD recording platform, developed in cooperation with SANYO Semiconductor Company, enables OEMs to introduce sub-$200 DVD recorders in 2004.

The new reference design, to be demonstrated this week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, combines the high performance, cost optimized back-end components from Zoran, Activa 100 and Vaddis 5R, with a mature front-end solution from SANYO Semiconductor Company, LC 897490K and Asahi Kasei Microsystems (AKM) AK8584.

"Zoran strives to provide optimal system solutions for our customers. With this new single-board reference design, Zoran can now offer a proven high quality, cost-competitive solution allowing our customers to quickly bring new sub-$200 DVD recorders to market," said Dr. Jinxiang (Gene) Liu, vice president and general manager at Zoran's DVD division.

The new Zoran-SANYO Semiconductor Company enabled platform supports recording of multiple formats, such as DVD -/+ R/RW and CD-R/RW. One of its key features is "watch and record", where the user can watch a DVD title while recording another program. In addition, the system offers time shifting using either a hard disk drive or a DVD recordable disc. Up to six hours of recording can be stored on a single DVD disc, reminiscent of the SP/LP/ELP modes on VCRs.

This first version of the single-board reference design has been carefully matched and tuned for the SANYO OPU. This tuned front end and OPU combination enables OEMs to offer optimized solutions capable of high performance recording and playback. The flexibility of the baseline printed circuit board and software design allows consumer electronics manufacturers and OEMs to offer multiple product variations combining optical disc drives, hard disc drives or VCRs.

"In 2004, the DVD recorder market is expected to reach 12 million units. With street prices already below $299, integration of components on a single board becomes a necessity. Zoran, with its single-board DVD recorder solution and partnership with SANYO, is well positioned to compete in this market," said Michelle Abraham, senior analyst at In-Stat/MDR.

The reference design components, Activa 100, Vaddis 5R, LC897490 and the SANYO OPU are in production and shipping in volume.

About Activa 100 and Vaddis 5R
Activa 100 includes an MPEG encoder and DV25 decoder.

Vaddis 5R includes a powerful CPU, CSS/CPPM/CPRM copy protection technologies, DVD decoder, picture in picture, and high quality progressive video encoder.

About SANYO LC897490K
SANYO LC897490K provides a high level of integration -- CPU, Digital Signal Processing for Channel and Servo and the Write Strategy. The LC897490K can support multiple write formats -- DVD -/+ R/RW, and CD-R/RW.

About AKM AK8584
AKM AK8584 provides a high performance Analog Front End function necessary to implement writable DVD drive. It supports multiple write formats -- DVD-/+R/-/+RW, DVD-RAM, and CD-R/RW.

About SANYO Semiconductor Company
SANYO Semiconductor Company belongs to the Component Group, one of four company groups consisting of SANYO Electric Co., Ltd., which engages in the electronic components business. In fiscal 2002 (ended March 31, 2003) the Company achieved 290 billion yen (US$2.31 Billion) with about 13,500 employees including those of its subsidiaries. The Company develops and manufactures semiconductor devices for leading applications in the electronic industry, such as mobile communication equipment, PC/PC related products and analog/digital AV equipment. There are nine manufacturing facilities in Japan and seven in the Asia-Pacific region. Sales bases of the Company are located in North America, Europe, Asia and Japan. Further information is available at http://www.semic.sanyo.co.jp/index_e.htm

About Asahi Kasei Microsystems Co., Ltd.
Asahi Kasei Microsystems Co., Ltd. ("AKM") is one of major companies of Asahi Kasei EMD Corporation. AKM is a leading provider of analog and mixed signal products for applications in the growing consumer electronics markets. With two decades of expertise developing and delivering analog mixed signal technologies, AKM has pioneered high-performance processing into various applications, especially audio, video, mobile phone, telecommunications, and data storage applications.

About Zoran Corporation
Zoran Corporation, based in Sunnyvale, California, is a leading provider of digital solutions-on-a-chip for applications in the growing consumer electronics markets. With two decades of expertise developing and delivering digital signal processing technologies, Zoran has pioneered high-performance processing into various audio, video, and imaging applications. Zoran's proficiency in integration delivers major benefits for OEM customers, including greater capabilities within each product generation, reduced system costs, and shorter time to market. Zoran-based DVD, digital camera, DTV and imaging products have received recognition for excellence and are now in millions of homes and offices worldwide. With headquarters in the U.S. and operations in Canada, China, Europe, Hong Kong, Israel, Japan, Korea and Taiwan, Zoran may be contacted on the World Wide Web at www.zoran.com or at 408-523-6500.

 

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NOTE: Zoran, Vaddis and Activa are trademarks of Zoran Corporation. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.