Zoran Corporation Announces VaddisHD™ High-Definition Multimedia Processor Platform for Blu-Ray Disc and HD-DVD Players

New DVD Platforms Demonstrated at CES 2008

SUNNYVALE, CA — Zoran Corporation (NASDAQ: ZRAN) announced that it is demonstrating its VaddisHD™ High-Definition Multimedia Processor platform, supporting both the Blu-Ray Disc and HD-DVD emerging standards at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2008 in Las Vegas on Monday.

The VaddisHD™ multimedia processor ICs integrate a state-of-the art High Definition (HD) video pipeline and enable multi-standard decoding including support for HD H.264, VC1, MPEG2, MPEG4, and AVS. With an integrated dual processor and dual Audio DSP, it enables the most advanced HD applications, including Java and HDi support for the Blu-Ray and HD-DVD standards, respectively. This IC family also incorporates Zoran’s latest HDXtreme® video processing and scaling technology shipping in Zoran’s SupraHD® HDTV processors powering major brand HDTVs.

“We expect to see large growth in the blue laser player market from 2009, with new models being introduced at lower prices. At the same time, we expect more Hollywood titles to have interactive features that take advantage of the Blu-Ray and HD-DVD standards, adding value for consumers. As the market grows, manufacturers will experience price pressure and look for optimized SOC solutions that integrate both the back-end and front-end functions,” said Ryo Gonishi, industry analyst at Techno Systems Research Co (TSR Japan). “As a leader in the DVD market, Zoran is expected to leverage its long-term relationships with DVD manufacturers to maintain its market share and deliver innovative new features and high quality performance in new blue laser players at affordable price points for consumers.”

“Building on Zoran’s continued success in the DVD and HDTV market, Zoran is enabling first tier manufactures to develop high quality, high performance HD-DVD and Blu-Ray Disc systems that are affordable and offer high value to the consumer. The new VaddisHD™ High Definition Multimedia SOC is optimized for supporting HD-DVD and Blu-Ray player functionality offering an advanced HD playback experience for consumers,” said Ram Ofir, senior vice president and general manager, Zoran’s Home Entertainment division.

Other key features of the VaddisHD™ High-Definition Multimedia Processor include:

• Multi-standard HD video decoder supporting H.264, VC1, MPEG2, MPEG4, AVS and other formats
• Dual processor with 450MHz application CPU and secure CPU
• Dual 300 MHz audio DSPs supporting all audio formats required by Blu-Ray disc and HD-DVD standards
• Graphics engine for multi-plane compositing
• Integrated HDMI v1.3 Transmitter with 12-bit deep color and CEC support
• Built-in 297MHz video DACs
• Built-in ATAPI, SATA and USB 2.0 OTG interfaces
• Ethernet 10/100 connectivity
• Direct interface to blue laser front-end IC (VaddisHD Blazer™)

In addition, Zoran’s VaddisHD Blazer™ blue laser front-end companion IC, sampling soon, will support all the necessary optical media formats including HD-DVD, Blu-Ray Disc, China-HD-DVD, DVD, SACD, and CD. This front-end IC is built on Zoran’s proven technology and experience in the DVD market working with dozens of optical pickup unit (OPU) manufacturers. Zoran is working with leading HD-DVD and Blu-Ray Disc OPU manufacturers and expects that blue laser DVD systems based on the VaddisHD™ Multimedia Processor and VaddisHD Blazer™ companion IC will be available later in 2008.

The VaddisHD™ High-Definition Multimedia Processor platform, including software, is available to qualified Zoran customers.