Zoran's CVD1 Video decoder core ships with Trident's DPTV video Processor

IP News

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – January 6, 2000 --Zoran Corporation (NASDAQ: ZRAN), a worldwide leading provider of integrated circuits (ICs), and IC Intellectual Property (IP) cores for digital audio and video compression, announced today that Trident Microsystems, Inc. (Nasdaq: TRID), is shipping Zoran's CVD1' video decoder core, embedded in its DPTV' Video Processor – the world's first single-chip digital television video processor.

The DPTV' video processor addresses the strong consumer demand for affordable high-quality digital video imaging as the industry enters the digital television era.  The first design wins are at Changhong Corporation, TCL Corporation, and Skyworth Corporation, the number 1, 3, & 4 manufacturers in China, and Westlake Corporation.

"We are happy to add the capabilities of our industry leading CVD1' video decoding core technology to Trident's DPTV' device.  Trident has always been a leading innovator in the digital video marketplace," said Shmuel Farkash, Vice President of Video Products for the Zoran Corporation. "This announcement validates our commitment to be the first in the market with a video decoder core product verified in silicon.  The video decoder core technology complements our existing video encoder core solution, which is shipping in products from Trident and Matrox, as well as in Zoran's own VADDIS DVD decoder and COACH digital still camera chip."

"Zoran provides the technology to enable high quality digitization of video signals, " said Dr. Gerry Liu, Senior Vice President of Marketing for Trident, "We've used Zoran cores before, and we continue to  appreciate the value of Zoran's solutions and the outstanding technical support provided by the Zoran team."

ABOUT ZORAN'S CVD1' VIDEO DECODER CORE
The video decoder's quality has a significant impact on the performance of the complete video system as it is the first link between the original analog video source (such as TV, VCR or camcorder) and a digital video system. The video decoder function is becoming a requirement for many applications, such as PC Video, Digital TV, Set-top-Box, Video conferencing and video surveillance.  Zoran's video decoder core is a ready-to-use IP block that can be integrated into any IC that needs to accept analog video input.

Zoran's highly optimized decoder core design offers superior image quality at a very low gate count.  Based on technology independent design, this core can be synthesized to any 0.5 or sub 0.5 micron process technology.  The video decoder core supports all variations of video standards including NTSC, all PAL versions, and SECAM.  It provides the highest quality of video through advanced 5-tap adaptive COMB filtering technology and support for 10-bit analog to digital converters.  The core supports autodetect of video standards, Macrovision, and robustly handles noisy signals and VCR trick modes.  The low gate count ensures its acceptance in high-volume, cost sensitive applications such as PC multimedia and consumer products.

Zoran's video decoder and video encoder cores are off-the-shelf building blocks that can be easily integrated into larger designs.  This significantly reduces time-to-market and development costs, while offering unprecedented flexibility and product differentiation.

Zoran's CVD1 video decoder and CVE2 video encoder cores will be shown at the Zoran booth at the CES show this week, Booth #D3859.  Stop by, or contact Donalyn Marchi at 408 919 4200 to schedule an appointment.

ABOUT TRIDENT MICROSYSTEMS
Trident Microsystems, Inc., with headquarters in Santa Clara, California, designs, develops and markets digital media for the masses in the form of graphics controllers and multimedia integrated circuits for PCs. Trident's products are sold through a network of OEMs, original design manufacturers and system integrators worldwide. For further information about Trident and its products please consult the company's web site: http://www.tridentmicro.com.

ABOUT ZORAN CORPORATION
Zoran Corporation develops and markets integrated circuits (ICs), IC Intellectual Property (IP) cores, and embedded software for digital audio and video applications enabled by compression. Zoran also provides complete reference designs based on Zoran's technology. Zoran's product lines and IP include JPEG codecs, MPEG and DVD decoders, digital still camera system on a chip, digital audio, and digital video encoder and decoder cores.

All these standard-based products benefit from Zoran's Standard Plus' technology. Zoran's ICs are used in numerous digital audio and video products. Leading applications incorporating Zoran's products and IP include professional and consumer video editing systems, filmless digital cameras, stand alone consumer DVD players, SuperVCD players, Digital TV systems, digital speakers and audio systems.

Zoran is headquartered in Santa Clara, with additional operations in Haifa, Israel, Toronto, Canada and offices in Tokyo, Japan and Shenzhen, China. For more information about Zoran call 408/919-4111, or visit our website: www.zoran.com.

CVD1' and Standard Plus' are trademarks of Zoran Corporation.   Trident and DPTV' are trademarks of Trident Microsystems, Inc.  All other terms and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners, and are hereby acknowledged.