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Sony, Toshiba, Matsushita Announcements Raise Clouds Over Future of DVD Audio

August 29, 1996 by Leave a Comment

Tokyo. Sony Corp. yesterday confirmed industry speculation that it will not introduce DVD players until next spring. Sony blames the delay on the looming initial scarcity of software.

The DVD format is touted by many as an eventual replacement for CD’s, videotape, and CD-ROM. The discs are the same size as CD’s, but they are capable of storing as much as 14 times the amount of digital information.

Sony’s decision follows more positive announcements earlier in the week by Japanese makers Toshiba Corp., Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., and Hitachi Ltd.

Toshiba says it will market two DVD models in October or November, in time for Christmas shopping in both the U.S. and Japan. One of the Toshiba units will play both CDs and DVDs, while the other will be equipped for karaoke.

Pioneer will market two DVD players in October, one compatible with CD’s and the other with laser discs. Parent company Matsushita plans to announce a Japanese sales date and pricing at a news conference today. And Hitachi still plans to introduce an unspecified lineup of DVD players by the end of the year.

According to Sony spokesman Masanobu Sakaguchi, disputes about copy protection have delayed the production of software, as well as the DVD players. “We believe that was a reasonable business decision,” he said. “You can’t do business just coming out with the hardware.”

The DVD format is also hobbled as a vehicle for audio recordings by the lack of an agreed standard. Dolby’s AC-3 is specified for surround sound accompanying video. But there are currently several proposed standards for independent DVD audio, including 24-bit resolution with 96 kHz sample rate, 24-bit 88.2 kHz, and 16-bit 44.1 kHz.

The bottom line: don’t expect to see much movement on the DVD Audio front for quite some time.

Filed Under: Biz, Pro Audio

Record Company Manoeuvres: Red Ant and Go!Discs Change Ownership

August 28, 1996 by Leave a Comment

New York, NY. Alliance Entertainment said yesterday that it has completed the previously announced purchase of Red Ant Entertainment from its principals, Wasserstein Perella and Al Teller. Teller has become Alliance’s co-chairman, president and chief executive officer.

Red Ant Entertainment is a Los Angeles-based record label currently building a roster of alternative, urban contemporary and country artists.

London, UK. Late last week, PolyGram announced that it had bought London-based Go!Discs. The label’s lineup includes top-selling British singer Paul Weller. PolyGram already owned a 49 percent stake in Go!Discs, and purchased the label outright in this move. Andy Macdonald, founder and managing director of Go!Discs, will leave the company.

Go!Discs has a reputation for turning raw British pop acts into chart successes at home and abroad. Besides Weller, a solo artist who is also known for his work with The Jam and The Style Council in the 1980s, Go!Discs’ attractions include The Beautiful South, Portishead and Gabrielle.

Filed Under: Biz

Founder Robert Carver Quits Carver Corp.

August 28, 1996 by Leave a Comment

Lynwood, WA. Robert Carver has resigned as Chairman of the Board at audio equipment manufacturer Carver Corp. He was Carver Corp’s founder, and the designer of many of Carver’s key products. He had quit the company once before, in 1994, in a dispute over royalties. He returned seven months ago as part of an agreement for Carver Corp. to sell its professional amplifier division, a deal that involved licensing rights that he still held. In the interim, Robert Carver started a competing audio equipment company, Sunfire Corp.

In accepting the resignation, Carver Corp. President Stephen Williams said: “The board and I have become increasingly concerned with the possible conflicts of interest Mr. Carver has in serving on Carver’s board. We wish Mr. Carver well in his new company and believe this action is best for both the company and Mr. Carver.”

Filed Under: Biz

VLSI Licenses Intel AC’97 Technology to Enable 3D Audio

August 28, 1996 by Leave a Comment

San Jose, CA. In related news, VLSI Technology, Inc. announces that it has licensed AC’97 technology from Intel. The AC’97 standard describes an interface between advanced digital audio peripheral components and Intel Pentium®-based computers. It will enable PCs to offer CD and broadcast quality 3D sound.

“AC ’97 is an important standard for next-generation 3D audio on PCs,” says Don Maulsby, V-P of VLSI’s Computing Products Group. “Signing up for AC’97 now will help us achieve our goal of introducing new 3D audio products at this year’s COMDEX trade show.”

The PC industry’s transition from 16-bit ISA bus synthesized audio to forthcoming 32-bit, PCI-based 3D audio creates significant opportunities for aggressive new players, such as VLSI, to capture a share of the emerging 3D audio chip market.

Filed Under: Tech

QXpander Technology Incorporated in New Crystal Chip

August 28, 1996 by Leave a Comment

Calgary, AB. QSound Labs has announced that its stereo-to-surround technology, QXpander™, is now available to OEM’s on board a single-chip audio sub-system. The new part, the CS4238B, is manufactured by Crystal Semiconductor.

“It’s really a complete sound card on a chip,” says QSound Technical Writer Scott Willing. “The only significant element not built in is wavetable synthesis, and that’s supported through a serial interface.”

QXpander is a patented process that works with any existing stereo recorded material. It is not required in the recording process, which means a listener’s entire audio library can be enhanced by QXpander simply by playing it through the CS4238B Crystal Chip. Any two-speaker stereo system is adequate.

QXpander technology is already available in several other forms including: QSound’s highly-regarded plug-ins for the Digidesign TDM™, Sound Designer II™ and ProTools™ environments; the QTools/SF plug-in for Sonic Foundry’s Sound Forge™ editor; stand-alone parts (the QX2010 & QX2130 single chip processors); and multimedia computers by Acer and other makers.

The CS4238B offers easy implementation for manufacturers of multimedia sound cards and similar products. It is pin-for-pin compatible with Crystal’s CS4232 and CS4236 industry-standard audio codecs. And along with the QXpander algorithm, it incorporates most of the capabilities required for multimedia audio including: FM synthesis; MIDI, joystick, CD-ROM and modem interfaces; support for Microsoft’s DirectSound® API; hardware master volume control; and extensive power management features.

Samples of the CS4238B have been shipping since early August and marketing efforts by Crystal are now in full swing.

Filed Under: Tech
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