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High Performance Digital Audio Sound Card Is Best PC Home Entertainment Solution

SonicXplosion DVD is the best choice for home entertainment on the PC with the broadest range of DVD playback features including: DVD movie playback with cinema-style 5.1 digital surround sound, including DTS decode for the latest DVD soundtracks and Dolby Pro Logic II for 5.1 music and movie playback; Dolby headphone for spacious virtual surround; and the full 5.1 version of Intervideo WinDVD 4.

Says Kevin Dale, president, PURE Digital: "SonicXplosion DVD sets a new benchmark for PC audio with an extensive, innovative feature set that includes the best in DVD home entertainment, audiophile performance and digital input and output. No other sound card includes full 6-channel Dolby Digital and DTS decoding in the box - SonicXplosion DVD is the most affordable and versatile way to upgrade any PC for full surround sound music, movies and gaming."

Says Jag Mann, Product Manager, Multivision: "SonicXplosion and SonicXplosion DVD offer Multivision customers the complete PC digital audio experience, with 5.1 surround sound output for extreme gaming and home cinema, and great music making features. Being the first PC sound card to offer the latest home cinema technologies, it's both comprehensive and cutting edge, which we have come to expect from VideoLogic products."

Movies
Unlike other sound cards SonicXplosion DVD includes full 6-channel Dolby Digital decoding in the box via its fully featured Intervideo WinDVD 4 player. As well as Dolby Digital - the DVD audio standard - SonicXplosion DVD features full support for Dolby Pro Logic II, which provides 5.1 channels of surround sound from any stereo source, and DTS, the high quality sound format for DVD and DTS Audio CDs.

Dolby Pro Logic II is a dramatically improved, updated matrix surround system, which does not require the audio source to be specially encoded. It further enhances the sound with a full-range stereo surround output and a greatly improved steering logic, resulting in high channel separation and an exceptionally stable sound field.

SonicXplosion DVD includes support for DTS audio decoding for video and music. An amazing technology for surround sound entertainment, DTS Digital Surround is an encode/decode system that delivers six channels (5.1) of master-quality, 20-bit audio each of which is audibly superior to the 16-bit linear PCM audio found on conventional compact discs. DTS audio discs also exist providing superb quality surround sound music.

Dolby Headphone lets users experience the surround sound effects from Dolby Digital DVD movies over any conventional stereo headphones. It is delivered via the amplified headphone output and provides a virtual surround sound effect from Dolby Digital or Pro Logic material as well as allowing listeners to experience a much more natural sound on stereo sources from DVDs, CDs, WAV and MP3 files and preventing listener fatigue during lengthy viewing.

Key Audio Features
SonicXplosion DVD provides broad support for in-game surround sound including EAX 1.0/2.0(tm) and enables both digital optical input and output for digital audio creativity. A huge selection of full-featured software applications is included for music creation and playback, MP3 music, power gaming and more including the stunning new Storm Music Studio 2.0 from Arturia.

SonicXplosion DVD's high performance Crystal SoundFusion DSP (digital signal processor) features Dynamic Resource Reconfiguration for smarter audio acceleration. SonicXplosion DVD features up to six discrete output channels for movies, music and games; a powerful MIDI engine with high-quality 8 MB sample set; 64 hardware voices and up to 976 software voices; support for all popular audio standards, including DTS, Dolby Digital (AC-3), Dolby Pro Logic II, DirectSound, DirectSound3D, EAX, Sensaura, A3D and DLS.

Dynamic Resource Reconfiguration
SonicXplosion DVD's Dynamic Resource Reconfiguration focuses the power of its Crystal SoundFusion 420 MIPS DSP where users need it most. For instance, if a game demands 3D audio but not MIDI wavetable sound, the on board audio DSP will focus its processing power on accelerating the 3D streams. If the user instead decides to listen to MP3 files, the DSP will reconfigure itself to optimise the MP3 decoding process. SonicXplosion DVD's advanced DSP design is engineered for the future, allowing upgrades to be made via software to keep pace with new developments in PC audio technology.
 

Wide Range of Software Included
SonicXplosion DVD also sets a new standard for bundled software with over a dozen full applications and numerous demo, freeware and shareware programs including: the full six-channel version of Intervideo WinDVD; VideoLogic JetAudio v4.83 (full version); Arturia Storm 2.0 (full version); VideoLogic Internet Telephone (full version); and an extensive selection of additional software (see list in Editor's Notes).

Digital Music
SonicXplosion DVD offers a wealth of features for desktop music production, turning the PC into a pro-quality music and sound editing system with features including: super low-noise analogue circuitry for better than -97db signal to noise ratio; 18-bit A-D converter for high resolution recording; six 20-bit D-A converters for high precision playback; a 10-band hardware graphic equalizer; an 8 MB DLS-compatible wavetable synthesizer; and support for an optional GS-compatible digital wavetable daughter board.

SonicXplosion DVD's on-board optical digital output also allows CD audio, MP3, and other digital music files to be transferred to MiniDisc or DAT in a pure digital format at 48 kHz. The optical digital input accepts digital streams at 32, 44.1 or 48 kHz for maximum versatility.

3D Technology
In addition to providing up to six output channels, SonicXplosion DVD supports the major 3D audio standards. Using Sensaura's key technologies - Multidrive, MacroFX and EnviromentFX - SonicXplosion DVD accelerates DirectSound3D, A3D and EAX 1.0/2.0, reducing the load on the PC CPU and freeing it to handle faster game play and sharper AI. SonicXplosion DVD features per-channel speaker test and speaker positioning control for surround sound optimisation.

Connectivity
SonicXplosion DVD offers a broad range of connectivity features including Optical Digital In and Out, three Line-Outs for 2, 4 or 6 speaker system connection, switchable line-in / Amplified Headphone-Out, Mic In (dynamic / condenser mono Mic In with +20db or +40db gain), and MIDI/Joystick Interface (on additional backplate). As many users now have multiple optical drives in their PCs, two uncoupled CD inputs are provided.

The optical digital input of SonicXplosion DVD can be synchronized to 32, 44.1 and 48kHz and full status information, like whether the stream is copy protected, is available from the software control panel. The digital output keeps connected to the outside world at 48kHz and lets you connect to DAT, MiniDisc or other equipment.
 
Used with the WinDVD software the digital output can provide Dolby Digital and DTS data streams to a dedicated external decoder if the user prefers not to decode those surround sound formats directly on the PC.

Business Applications
With a combination of NetMeeting's complete videoconferencing package, VideoLogic's Internet Telephone, integrated support tools, first rate technical support and PC2001 compliance, SonicXplosion DVD is perfect for all business uses. SonicXplosion DVD supports acoustic echo cancellation algorithms for enhancing videoconferencing or speakerphone applications. High-resolution 18 bit A-D converters and exceptionally low signal-to-noise and total harmonic distortion levels also improve voice recognition performance.

SonicXplosion DVD is backed up by the very best in free lifetime support including: technical support hotlines, Internet based support, and a five-year hardware warranty.

Editor's Notes
Additional Software Included:
- VideoLogic Internet Telephone (Full): Make phone calls from PC at fraction of the cost
- Steinberg DJ Player (Full): With basic mixing capabilities
- WinAmp (Full): MP3 / media player
- ACID Express (Restricted): Industry-leading music sequencer
- GoldWave Editor (Restricted): Soundwave editor, player, recorder and converter
- Steinberg Traktor DJ (Restricted): Music player, mixer and editor
- Steinberg Cubasis Inwired (Restricted): Recording and full production studio
- FruityLoops (Restricted): MP3, WAV and MID song loop editor
- Karaoke Player (Full): Sing along to your favourite songs
- CoolEdit 2000 (Restricted): Complete recording studio to record, clean up, mix, master, convert format and edit.
- CodAxe Codec Utility (Full): General-purpose coder using WMM with terrific functionality
- Roland Virtual Sound Canvas (Restricted): Software Synthesiser
- CoolSpeech (Restricted): Text to speech application including clipboard, URLs, email, documents etc.
- OrangeCD Catalogue (Restricted): Music cataloguing and player
- Pianito Studio (Restricted): Keyboard synthesiser and drum machine tracker
- Dart Karaoke (Restricted): Create karaoke from WAV/MP3 files and playback
- Groove Mechanic (Restricted): declick/depop/dehiss vinyl recordings for CD mastering
- AudioCatalyst MP3 (Restricted): MP3 ripper and encoder
- Xing MP3 Player (Restricted): MP3 Player
- 3D Positioning Demos (Full): Rotates soundsource objects in an imaginary room with 3D player

Specifications
GENERAL
2, 4, 6 speaker configurations
Auto-recognition and status display of digital in signal
Digital out at 48 KHz
2 uncoupled CD inputs
Low signal-to-noise ratio (better than -97dB)

DIGITAL AUDIO
8/16-bit playback & recording with up to 48 kHz (mono/stereo)
Extended full duplex at playback & recording (mono/stereo)
Recording and playback of all audio sources
Sensaura 3D features including MultiDrive, MacroFX and Environment FX

WAVETABLE SYNTHESIZER
Up to 976 voices
High quality 8 MB sound-set
DLS 1.0 compatible

AUDIO MIXER
Individual volume control (all audio sources)
10-band stereo equalizer with presents

MIDI/JOYSTICK INTERFACE
DirectInput-acceleration
Analogue/Digital joystick interface
MPU-401 compatible (UART mode)
SoundBlaster compatible MIDI interface

EXTERNAL CONNECTORS
Digital Out, optical, 48kHz (TOS link) ; AC-3 pass-through support
Digital In, optical, 32, 44.1 and 48kHz (TOS link)
3 x Line-Out, stereo (3.5 mm)
Line-In/Headphone-Out (switchable), stereo (3.5mm)
Mic In, mono (3.5mm)
MIDI/Joystick Interface (IBM 15 pin Sub-D)

ONBOARD CONNECTORS
Digital In, 32, 44.1 and 48kHz
2 x CD Audio In, stereo (MPC3)
Aux In, stereo (MPC3)
Wavetable connector (WaveBlaster pin compatible)

AMPLIFIER
Headphone amplifier, 2 x 60 mW

All trademarks belong to their respective companies and are hereby acknowledged.

About Imagination Technologies
Imagination Technologies Group plc is an international Intellectual Property (IP) licensing company that develops, licenses and supplies market-leading multimedia and communications IP including 2D/3D graphics, digital video, digital signal processing, audio and speech technologies for the consumer entertainment and PC markets. It supplies both licensable IP and advanced development tools to leading semiconductor and consumer electronics companies worldwide. Imagination Technologies Group plc has its corporate headquarters in the United Kingdom and is publicly traded on the London Stock Exchange (FTSE:IMG). See: www.imgtec.com.

About PURE Digital
PURE Digital - a division of Imagination Technologies - produces a range of innovative, award-winning products in the consumer entertainment and PC markets. The product range today addresses areas including digital radio; digital home audio; PC graphics / video and audio; and in the future will extend to digital video for TV / DVD and wireless LAN for effective digital media distribution in the home. PURE Digital also designs and licenses advanced production-ready systems for consumer electronics, arcade, gaming and hi-fi companies.
See: www.pure-digital.com.

Contact:
David Harold/Julia Horne tel +44 (0)1923 260 511
PURE Digital fax +44 (0)1923 270 188
Home Park Estate email:
david.harold@pure-digital.com
Kings Langley
Herts WD4 8LZ