Royal Philips Electronics and Crest National, a leader in the film, video and optical media industries, today announced a partnership agreement to develop a Super Audio CD (SACD) hybrid disc production line to be installed in Crest National's replication facilities in Hollywood, CA, USA.
This is the first step of the agreement to jointly develop hybrid SACD production lines, and to roll out SACD into a mass-market proposition. The production line is scheduled to be installed this summer, with full production by autumn of this year. The first line will have a production capacity of 3 million SACD hybrid discs a year with more lines to follow.
This SACD hybrid disc production line will be the first to be
established in USA and will increase the available hybrid disc
manufacturing capacity to meet the rapidly increasing demand for this new medium. The agreement also includes post-production activities in SACD authoring.
"Philips is pleased that SACD hybrid disc production will now be
installed by one of the leading disc replicators and post production
facilities in the world," says Jos Bruins, Philips' Marketing Director for the Super Audio CD format. "This is an important part of the next phase of the roll out of SACD into the mass market."
"Crest National is pleased to be taking a leading role in SACD hybrid disc manufacturing," says Ronald E. Stein, President, Crest National.
"We welcome the opportunity to partner with Philips to bring this
exiting new medium to North America. It is a further reflection of
Crest's experience and expertise in implementing new technologies and bringing high quality products to the world's most demanding
customers."
SACD
Super Audio CD, developed by Philips and Sony, is the evolution to the audio CD offering ultimate sound quality in both stereo and multi-channel surround while maintaining complete backwards compatibility, via the hybrid disc, with all existing audio CD players. It uses the latest DSD (Direct Stream Digital) technology that delivers superior sound reproduction quality, with the ability to render all the nuances of a live performance. SACD has wide industry support from professional audio companies, as well as major music labels. There are about 650 SACD discs available worldwide with over 1000 titles expected to be available by the end of the year.