Dolby And Intel To Aid Developers In Bringing Premium Surround Sound Experience To PCs
Dolby Laboratories and Intel Corporation today announced the two companies are collaborating to provide developers with
tools to enable high-end audio for Intel-based PC platforms. As a result, consumers can enjoy a premium surround sound
experience on their computers whether they are on the go, in the living room or bringing the audio studio into their
den.
The powerful combination of Dolby’s audio expertise and Intel’s industry enabling efforts based on Dolby Master Studio’s
rigorous audio specifications will lead to the creation of advanced High Definition (HD) Audio solutions. Intel’s new
product reference designs and guidelines will support the Dolby PC Entertainment Experience Initiative. Intel’s latest
PC platforms based on the Intel® 915 and 925X Express Chipsets and fast Intel® Pentium® 4 processors with
Hyper-Threading Technology** provide the performance and headroom for emerging audio applications.
Dolby and Intel will offer quality assurance and engineering support to the ecosystem of developers designing solutions
using the HD Audio architecture. To help ensure compliance, performance and broad availability of solutions, Intel and
Dolby are providing developers with the tools and engineering support they need to design solutions that make the most
of Dolby’s audio technology. PC manufacturers will now be able to offer a range of consumer-focused digital home PCs
with integrated system-wide support for Dolby premier technologies such as Dolby HeadphoneTM, Dolby Virtual SpeakerTM,
Dolby Digital LiveTM and Dolby Pro LogicTM IIx.
“When consumers hear the name ‘Dolby’, they recognise that it stands for an exciting experience in entertainment audio,”
said Rob Crooke, Intel vice president and general manager, Desktop Marketing and Strategic Planning for the Desktop
Platforms Group. “The Intel and Dolby collaboration will deliver to consumers a compelling set of audio features and
capabilities once only available in consumer electronics entertainment systems. These types of enhancements to the PC
platform will bring consumers closer to the digital home vision where they can enjoy content any time, anywhere and on
any device.”
“We are excited to maintain momentum with Intel, building upon the industry excitement generated by our announcement at
Spring IDF,” said Richard Hockenbrock, Dolby’s vice president of Licensing Operations. “By working with developers
across the PC industry to leverage our respective companies’ expertise, we have the opportunity to guide the industry in
creating a higher level of performance and more complete set of Dolby integrated audio solutions for digital home PCs.”
A key element of the Dolby PC Entertainment Experience Initiative is the Dolby PC Logo program unveiled at Spring IDF in
February, which is designed to make it easy for users to choose a PC with Dolby technologies capable of meeting their
specific entertainment needs. An overview of Dolby's offerings under this program is as follows:
Dolby® Master StudioTM—An advanced set of audio presentation capabilities with up to 7.1 channels of surround sound for
the most compelling, natural and dramatic listening experience possible from all your entertainment, and the power to
author DVDs with surround sound.
Dolby Home TheatreTM—True home theatre surround sound from your content with the flexibility to tailor your listening
experience to fit your media, mood, audience and environment.
Dolby Sound RoomTM—All the excitement and natural ambience of a perfectly configured 5.1 speaker home theater system
from any source, using just two speakers or headphones.
About IDF The Intel Developer Forum is the technology industry's premier event for hardware and software developers.
Held worldwide throughout the year, IDF brings together key industry players to discuss cutting-edge technology and
products for PCs, servers, communications equipment and handheld clients. For more information on IDF, visit
http://developer.intel.com/idf/.
About Dolby Laboratories
Dolby Laboratories creates technologies that intensify and enhance the entertainment experience. For nearly four
decades, Dolby has been instrumental in defining high-quality audio and surround sound in cinema, broadcast, home audio
systems, cars, DVDs, headphones, games, televisions and personal computers. Based in San Francisco with European
headquarters in England, the privately held company has entertainment industry liaison offices in New York and Los
Angeles, and licensing liaison offices in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing and Tokyo. For more information about Dolby
Laboratories or Dolby technologies, please visit www.dolby.com.
About Intel Intel, the world’s largest chip maker, is also a leading manufacturer of computer, networking and
communications products. Additional information about Intel is available at www.intel.com/pressroom.
Intel and Pentium are registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other
countries. *Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others. **Hyper-Threading Technology requires a
computer system with an Intel Pentium 4 processor supporting HT Technology and an HT Technology enabled chipset, BIOS
and operating system. Performance will vary depending on the specific hardware and software you use. See
www.intel.com/info/hyperthreading for more information including details on which processors support HT Technology.