Business Editors/Hi-Tech Writers
MALVERN, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 22, 2000
RAVISENT Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:RVST), a provider of digital audio and video software solutions, announced today that Microsoft(R) Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) has selected RAVISENT to be the provider of DVD playback software for its eagerly awaited Xbox(TM) video game system.
Under the terms of the five-year agreement, Microsoft is licensing RAVISENT's CineMaster DVD engine for DVD playback on the Xbox. Scheduled for launch in the Fall of 2001, Xbox is designed around an Intel processor and a custom chipset from NVIDIA(R) Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA). Utilizing RAVISENT's CineMaster DVD engine optimized for the Xbox graphics processing unit, the Xbox is expected to provide users with the highest quality video and audio performance on the market today.
This product offering is part of an emerging effort by RAVISENT to capitalize on its extensive consumer electronics and PC entertainment technology experience, in order to bring the latest video innovations to the gaming community. Video gaming is a growing market, and video game consoles are quickly becoming a standard part of home entertainment centers.
"Xbox not only raises the bar for game consoles, but has the opportunity to greatly impact and redefine the world of home entertainment," said Alan McCann, Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Digital Media Group for RAVISENT. "This agreement provides RAVISENT with a tremendous opportunity to leverage our extensive experience in both the PC and consumer electronics markets, bringing the best of both worlds to this innovative platform."
"With Xbox, we have set out to provide consumers with unquestionably the best entertainment experience available, and RAVISENT's DVD playback software and consumer electronics expertise allows us to deliver on this vision. CineMaster is the ideal software solution for the Xbox, providing the best DVD viewing experience available in the market today," commented Todd Holmdahl, General Manager of Xbox Hardware at Microsoft Corporation.
RAVISENT's CineMaster DVD engine is also available for licensing to system designers and platform builders in PC, consumer electronics set-top box, and game console configurations.
About CineMaster DVD
RAVISENT's CineMaster DVD Engine is a cross-platform, high-performance DVD and MPEG-2 decoding solution designed to decode and playback DVD-Video, MPEG Video and Broadcast MPEG Video content. CineMaster DVD can be integrated with a variety of digital media processing components to deliver decoding capabilities, as well as support cutting-edge HDTV (High Definition Television) decoding.
The CineMaster(R) DVD Engine components are in use by major CE OEMs, PC OEMs, video graphics companies, and video game manufacturers. CineMaster digital media components meet the requirements of the DVD Forum, the Content Scrambling System (CSS), Dolby, and Macrovision, and assist OEMs to meet rapidly changing consumer preferences in record time at a low cost.
Key components in the CineMaster DVD Engine include:
-- DVD Navigation Engine -- DVD Presentation Engine (including trick mode playback) -- MPEG-2 Video Decoder -- Dolby Digital (AC-3), MPEG-2, LPCM Audio Decoder -- Closed Caption/Sub Picture Decoder
About Xbox
Scheduled for release in fall 2001, Xbox (http://www.xbox.com/) is Microsoft's future-generation video game console that delivers superior graphics, better audio and the most intense, action-packed gaming experiences available. All this is possible because Xbox has at least three times the graphics performance of the newest generation of game consoles.
About RAVISENT Technologies Inc.
RAVISENT provides digital video, audio and Internet appliance technology to industry leading PC, Consumer Electronic and Internet Appliance OEMs, empowering them to deliver highly competitive, cost-effective products with a strong time-to-market advantage. RAVISENT software and intellectual property is contained in products from Compaq, Dell Computer, Gateway, Hewlett-Packard, Micron, Elsa, Matrox, Iomega, Fujitsu, Quantex, Sony, Tottori-Sanyo, Vestel, ATi Technologies, C-Cube, STMicroelectronics, Telecom Italia, Met@box, Formenti and IPM.
Founded in 1994, RAVISENT is a global company, headquartered in Malvern, Pennsylvania, with offices in San Jose, Seattle, Canada, Germany and Japan. More information about RAVISENT is available at www.ravisent.com.
All companies and product names mentioned herein are for identification purposes only and may be trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective companies.
This press release may contain certain forward-looking statements that relate to RAVISENT's future business and financial performance. Such statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that may cause the actual events of future results to differ from those discussed herein.
Such factors include, among others: RAVISENT's recent change in its business model, its limited operating history, fluctuating quarterly operating results, expectation of future losses, anticipated price declines in products, dependence on its current product lines, dependence on a small number of customers, lack of long-term commitments with customers, dependence on manufacturers and strategic relationships, product delays, the difficulty of protecting proprietary rights, the ability to manage growth and attract and retain additional personnel, the potential for defects in its products, risks from international operations, its ability to raise capital in the future, its dependence on the personal computer and consumer electronics industries, competition, its ability to manage technological change and respond to evolving industry standards, government regulation and Year 2000 software issues.
Investors are advised to read RAVISENT's Annual Report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, particularly those sections entitled "Factors Affecting Operating Results," for a fuller discussion of these and other risks and uncertainties.
Copyright(c)2000 RAVISENT Technologies. All rights reserved.
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