Press release:

Jan 8, 2009 06:30 ET

Sonic Brings Hollywood Hits to Connected CE and PC Devices with CinemaNow Software and Services

New CinemaNow SDK Accelerates Time to Market for CE Vendors Seeking to Deliver Premium Content to the Digital Home

LAS VEGAS, Jan. 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Sonic Solutions® (NASDAQ: SNIC) , today announced the CinemaNow SDK to enable consumer electronics (CE) manufacturers to rapidly integrate and deploy movie sell-through and rental store services in their devices. Sonic also announced it is providing entertainment delivery services for a new array of connected CE devices and digital home platforms.

Video entertainment from Sonic’s CinemaNow will be available on new Network Blu-ray Disc players from LG Electronics, through the Fujisoft-enabled Nintendo Wii game console in Japan, and featured in the newly announced digital home services platform from Prodea Systems. CinemaNow content will also be available as part of the Widget Channel television application framework developed by Intel and Yahoo, which will bring Web-based services to a number of broadband-connected products from major CE original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). Demonstrations of the CinemaNow ecosystem are available by appointment in Sonic’s private meeting room at the Renaissance Hotel (Copa Conference Suite A and B) during the Consumer Electronics Show, January 8-11, Las Vegas, NV.

“We are extremely pleased to be providing premium content services to a broad range of innovative new products that are helping to shape the future of digital home entertainment,” said David Cook, executive vice president and general manager of Sonic’s Premium Content Group. “These latest agreements, along with the release of a CinemaNow SDK, will help further our goal to provide consumers trouble-free access to ‘buy anytime, watch anywhere’ digital movies, TV shows and music videos.”

The CinemaNow SDK streamlines the integration of digital entertainment delivery and sell-through services. The SDK provides consumer electronics manufacturers with a cost-effective way to rapidly deploy content services on a range of devices such as Blu-ray Disc players, Web-connected televisions and set-top boxes. By featuring CinemaNow, manufacturers are able to provide customers with a flexible entertainment solution that offers a-la-carte purchase options as well as extended multi-device playback compatibility.

“Our collaboration with Sonic on Blu-ray Disc players brings additional exciting digital entertainment options to consumers,” said Peter Reiner, senior vice president, marketing and strategy, LG Electronics USA. “With our premium 2009 line of Blu-ray Disc players, LG is bridging the gap between packaged media and video-on-demand services to provide entertainment solutions that fit consumers’ digital lifestyles and demand for broad variety of content.”

CinemaNow is at the forefront of digital video distribution, offering high-quality Hollywood movies, TV shows and music videos to users across multiple platforms. CinemaNow streamlines distribution and solves device interoperability at the time of delivery. CinemaNow has relationships with more than 250 content providers and a content portfolio of over 14,000 titles that includes entertainment from major Hollywood studios and independent distributors, broadcast and cable television shows, and music videos from major labels. CinemaNow supplies premium entertainment services to a host of PC and consumer electronics device manufacturers including ARCHOS, Dell, EchoStar Communications, Hewlett-Packard, Macrovision, Microsoft, Pioneer, Samsung, Technicolor and TiVo.

About Sonic Solutions

Sonic Solutions (Nasdaq: SNIC; http://www.sonic.com/) enables the creation, management, and enjoyment of premium and personal digital media content through its Hollywood to Home(TM) products, services, and technologies. Sonic’s products range from the advanced authoring systems used to produce Hollywood DVD and Blu-ray Disc titles to the award-winning Roxio®-branded photo, video, music, and digital-media management applications, field-proven SDKs and services. Sonic’s Premium Content Group, which includes CinemaNow, is helping provide consumers convenient access to Hollywood entertainment for download and enjoyment on a broad range of digital devices. Sonic Solutions is headquartered in Marin County, California.

Forward Looking Statements

This release may contain forward looking statements that are based upon current expectations, including the launch, distribution, and market acceptance of the CinemaNow service and SDK. Actual results could differ materially from those projected in the forward looking statements as a result of various risks and uncertainties, including those discussed in Sonic Solutions’ annual and quarterly reports on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. This press release should be read in conjunction with Sonic Solutions’ most recent annual report on Form 10-K, Form 10-Q and other reports on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which contain a more detailed discussion of the Company’s business including risks and uncertainties that may affect future results. Sonic Solutions does not undertake to update any forward looking statements.

Sonic, the Sonic logo, Sonic Solutions, Roxio, the Roxio logo, CinemaNow, Creator, Toast, Hollywood to Home, AuthorScript and Qflix are trademarks or registered trademarks owned by Sonic Solutions in the United States and/or other countries. All other company or product names are trademarks of their respective owners and, in some cases, are used by Sonic Solutions under license. Specifications, pricing and delivery schedules are subject to change without notice.

Source: Sonic Solutions

CONTACT: Chris Taylor Sonic Solutions, +1-408-367-5231,
chris_taylor@sonic.com

Web Site: http://www.sonic.com/

The TV’s can be networked with their built-in Ethernet ports or via a USB WiFi adapter. The TV Widgets will come from Yahoo! properties such as Flickr, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Weather and Yahoo! Finance as well as third parties like USA TODAY, YouTube, eBay and Showtime Networks. They claim it will be extended to include video streaming and other content.

The most interesting piece of this, I think, is that the platform is open to 3rd party developers to create their own TV Widgets. It sounds like interested developers will be able to create their own widgets and provide them to Samsung TV users with an open market. And I suspect Yahoo! will be looking to license this platform to other vendors as well.

In addition to the features reported in their press release, last week Electronista spotted a post in AVForums.com that Samsung’s new HTDVs would also have some very interesting network content support:

# Now supports playback of movies in the following formats upto 1080p: MKV/ WMV/ VOB/ AVI/ TS/ 3GP/ MPG/ ASF

# Now supports the following video codecs:

* XviD
* DivX 3.11/4.x/5.1/6.0/
* H.264 BP/MP/HP
* MPEG-1
* MPEG-2
* MPEG-4 SP/ASP
* Motion JPEG
* Windows Media Video V9
* VC1

That’s quite extensive format support. Models in the 7, 8, and 9 series will also be DivX Certified with support for DivX Video On Demand.

Press release:

SAMSUNG AND YAHOO!® BRING THE BEST OF THE WEB TO TELEVISION

Internet@TV – Content Service to Open a Whole New World of TV Interactivity for Consumers

SEOUL, Korea and SUNNYVALE, CA – January 5, 2009 – Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., a market leader and award-winning innovator in consumer electronics, and Yahoo! Inc., a leading global Internet company, today announced a new Internet-based service to Samsung televisions available in the spring of 2009. Select models in Samsung’s 2009 flat-panel HDTV line-up will be powered by the Yahoo! Widget Engine, a fifth-generation applications platform that enables TV watchers to interact with and enjoy a rich set of “TV Widgets.” TV Widgets make it easy to interact with Internet content and services to complement and enhance the traditional TV viewing experience. The lightweight Javascript and XML applications bring content, information and community features available on the Internet within easy reach of the remote control. The new televisions will be displayed at CES 2009 in Samsung’s booth located at Central Hall, Booth #11033.

Select models in Samsung’s 2009 flat-panel HDTV lines will support the new TV Widget service, called “Internet@TV – Content Service.” The service, which adapts the Yahoo! Widget Engine, enables users to engage in a variety of experiences that traditionally could only be enjoyed on a PC. Not only will users be able to track their stock portfolio and stay on top of headline news, but they may also browse through videos, share photos and interact with friends. Users can access the service by connecting the HDTV to a home network via the built-in Ethernet port or using an optional Wi-Fi USB dongle.

The suite of TV Widgets range from a host of Yahoo! properties, including Flickr™, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Weather and Yahoo! Finance, to third-party content from well-known brands, including USA TODAY®, YouTube™, eBay® and Showtime Networks® among others. The content and services offered will grow to include video streaming and other popular internet services.

Developers worldwide will be able to develop and deploy TV Widgets for the television by using the open-platform Widget Development Kit (WDK). At the same time, Samsung will continue to provide high-performing TV hardware so that developers can easily deploy widgets on Samsung HDTVs. Samsung and Yahoo! will expand their collaboration further to bring more developers to the Internet@TV –Content Service and build an open ecosystem where more developers can create various TV Widgets for consumers to enjoy on their televisions.

“Samsung has been a proven innovator in Internet-enabled TV technology for some time now, offering the ground-breaking InfoLink service last year in 2008. There’s no denying that the easy-to-use, one-touch of the remote control service successfully provides information simply and effectively,” said Boo-Keun Yoon, Executive Vice President of the Visual Display Division at Samsung Electronics. He continues, “The collaboration with Yahoo! lets viewers go one step further. This new interface allows them to interact and connect with many of their favorite Web services on a personal level. It’s frankly way beyond just passively watching broadcasts and is no doubt the future of TV.”

“As a leader in developing innovative technology platforms to provide indispensable Internet services to millions of users, Yahoo! is excited to be working with Samsung to enhance consumers’ television viewing experience by bringing the best of the Web to their televisions,” said Patrick Barry, vice president of Connected TV at Yahoo! “Through this partnership, we can combine the Internet benefits of user choice and personalization with Samsung’s leading product innovation and global reach to deliver a new experience to users around the world.”

Samsung HDTVs with the Yahoo! Widget Engine and TV Widgets will be available in 13 countries in 2009 including the U.S, Canada, Mexico, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, The Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Finland. This provides publishers and developers the opportunity to create exciting TV Widget experiences that will reach and engage millions of Samsung TV viewers.

About Samsung Electronics

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. is a global leader in semiconductor, telecommunication, digital media and digital convergence technologies with 2007 consolidated sales of US$105.0 billion. Employing approximately 150,000 people in 134 offices in 62 countries, the company consists of four main business units: Digital Media Business, LCD Business, Semiconductor Business, and Telecommunication Business. Recognized as one of the fastest growing global brands, Samsung Electronics is a leading producer of digital TVs, memory chips, mobile phones and TFT-LCDs. For more information, please visit www.samsung.com.

About Yahoo!

Yahoo! Inc. is a leading global Internet brand and one of the most trafficked Internet destinations worldwide. Yahoo! is focused on powering its communities of users, advertisers, publishers, and developers by creating indispensable experiences built on trust. Yahoo! is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California.

For more information on Yahoo!’s Connected TV news, visit http://connectedtv.yahoo.com/newsroom