Dolby Displays Cutting-Edge Audio and Image Technologies for Digital Entertainment

Dolby HDR Technologies and Dolby Volume Enhance Sight and Sound to Deliver the Next Level of Entertainment Experiences

LAS VEGAS — At the 2008 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Dolby Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:DLB), is demonstrating technologies that transform images and sound to elevate the digital entertainment experience.

Dolby is highlighting its high dynamic range (HDR) imaging technologies that deliver dramatically enhanced contrast with extended brightness and dynamic range on LCD high-definition television displays with LED backlight technology. Dolby is also demonstrating Dolby® Volume audio technology, which resolves the issue of program volume inconsistencies from television and home entertainment systems to deliver a high-quality audio experience.

Dolby’s latest technologies, on display at booth 21419 at the Las Vegas Convention Center, focus on providing stunning high-definition picture quality to match the surround sound experiences provided by Dolby audio technologies:

• Dolby’s HDR imaging technologies utilize the capabilities of LED-based backlight units for LCD televisions with LED backlight technology to provide outstanding contrast combined with crisp brightness and deliver picture quality that matches real-world visual perception of depth, detail, and color.
• LCD TV manufacturers who have implemented LED technology into their products can use Dolby HDR technologies to further significantly enhance the video quality of their products, greatly improving the consumer experience.
• Xilinx® Inc. has announced that its Virtex™-4 SX field-programmable gate array (FPGA) chipsets have been approved for Dolby’s HDR innovations.
• Dolby Volume controls sound levels over a wide range of devices and consumer media formats, providing consumer electronics manufacturers a simple and elegant option for managing loudness control.

Dolby Driving HD Entertainment

Dolby technologies help define the next generation of high-definition entertainment. Today, 32 Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD players, 31 audio-video receivers, and more than 40 studios are using Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital Plus, or both to power the sound of 378 HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc titles.

Dolby TrueHD is the ultimate high-definition audio experience, delivering warm, realistic, and enveloping sound from the Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD formats. In next-generation high-definition video disc players and media, Dolby Digital Plus delivers up to 7.1 channels of surround sound with better-than-DVD sound quality.

Next-Generation TV Services

At CES, Dolby is highlighting industry support for Dolby Digital Plus technology in next-generation television products, including three new televisions from Sony®, LG Electronics, and Philips®, as well as Vudu’s movie download service. Dolby is also showing chip designs with Dolby Digital Plus on digital set-top boxes with IC implementations from Broadcom®, Conexant™, and STMicroelectronics.

Based on Dolby Digital (AC-3), Dolby Digital Plus is a scalable technology designed specifically to meet the evolving demands of content delivery. For broadcast applications where bandwidth is at a premium, Dolby Digital Plus is measurably more efficient than standard Dolby Digital, allowing broadcast operators to deliver more HD movies and programming with spectacular surround sound.

Entertainment on the Move

Dolby technologies offer rich and engaging experiences for PCs, camcorders, phones, portable media players, and cars.

• Several laptop PCs from Acer®, Asus™, Lenovo™, LG Electronics, MSI, and Toshiba are on display at CES that incorporate Dolby Home Theater™ technologies. These laptops are based on the Dolby PC Entertainment Experience initiative, a suite of technologies that enable PCs to deliver a home theater experience.
• Lenovo will include Dolby Home Theater in its new line of IdeaPad consumer notebook PCs launching this year.
• Dolby Home Theater places listeners in the middle of the onscreen action for a cinema-style experience at home or on the go. Featuring powerful and advanced digital signal processing technologies, Dolby Home Theater allows listeners to enjoy music, movies, and games in vivid surround sound using two to six speakers, or any set of headphones.
• More than ten high-definition camcorders from Sony and Panasonic® feature Dolby Digital 5.1 Creator, which allows users to add Dolby Digital 5.1-channel soundtracks to their home movies.
• Dolby Digital Stereo Creator allows Microsoft® Windows® Vista® Ultimate and Windows Vista Home Premium users to create high-quality DVDs of home movies with Dolby Digital stereo soundtracks.

Dolby’s booth also features the 2009 Ford Flex full-size crossover with optional Sony premium branded audio, the first factory-installed application of Dolby Pro Logic® II surround sound with Advanced Surround Fader technology.

• Dolby Pro Logic II creates a captivating surround sound experience from any stereo (two-channel) movie, music, TV, or game audio source.
• Advanced Surround Fader preserves the integrity of the original audio mix at any fader position, full front to full rear.