USB LivePRO High Speed Delivers Affordable Analog Capture for Streaming Broadcast Quality Video and CD Quality Audio to Digital Entertainment Systems

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Nov. 18 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Zoran Corporation (Nasdaq: ZRAN - News), a leading supplier of silicon solutions to the digital entertainment market, announced that its USB LivePRO High Speed reference design enabling bidirectional video and audio streaming will be demonstrated in Booth #18USB at Comdex 2002 in Las Vegas.

Zoran's USB LivePRO High Speed is a multimedia capture and playback system for converting analog video (camcorder) memories into digital formats that are more compatible with today's home entertainment systems. Today many consumers have home videos that they would like to store and preserve in a high quality, long-life format that is also easily shared. The USB Live PRO High Speed solution offers a very economical way to achieve the high quality digital conversion of analog video memories to digital archiving systems such as hard drives or DVD disks.

The industry's first plug-and-play compliant USB LivePRO High Speed reference board is designed to capture and playback video and audio from analog sources such as video camcorders or VCRs, taking full advantage of the 40x larger bandwidth provided by the new USB 2.0 standard. It also is fully backward compatible supporting legacy Full Speed USB 1.1 systems (12.5 megabits).

Zoran's new USB LivePRO High Speed reference design uses Zoran's JPEG Codec IC ZR36060 and allows peripheral OEMs to quickly develop high performance audio video products with bidirectional connectivity. This high-speed solution allows consumers to capture, store and enjoy superior levels of full-frame broadcast quality video and CD quality audio in a digital format.

USB LivePRO High Speed is the first full-featured high quality Motion JPEG (MJPEG) audio video capture solution available on the market. Low compression MJPEG can actually deliver higher quality than MPEG2 because it retains maximum image data and therefore, delivers higher picture quality for digital archiving and later transcoding for other applications. Today's CPUs can transcode on the fly so that no time is lost if another application specific codec is needed, whether it is MPEG2 for DVD or MPEG4 for the Web.

"The USB LivePRO High Speed reference design allows Zoran's customers to quickly incorporate the best technology for broadcast quality video and audio with the latest connectivity technology. Motion JPEG combined with USB 2.0 High Speed connectivity allows consumers to convert their home videos into a higher quality broadcast format, save them to a longer-life digital format, and enjoy superior levels of performance when viewing them later over digital home entertainment systems," said Camillo Martino, executive vice president and COO at Zoran Corporation.

About Zoran Corporation

Zoran Corporation, based in Santa Clara, California, is a leading provider of digital solutions-on-a-chip for applications in the growing consumer electronics markets. With almost 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 products and digital cameras have received recognition for excellence and are now in millions of homes worldwide. With headquarters in the U.S. and operations in Canada, China, Hong Kong, Israel, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan, Zoran may be contacted on the World Wide Web at www.zoran.com or at 408-919-4111.

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