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Company Continues Commitment to Researching, Developing and Producing the Newest and Most Existing Media Formats

Sonopress LLC, a world leader in media services and turnkey production operations, today announced that is has been named a contributing member of the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA), an organization responsible for establishing format standards and promoting and further developing business opportunities for Blu-ray Disc -- the next-generation optical disc for storing high-definition movies, photos and other digital content. The BDA was officially launched in Tokyo on October 4, 2004, and Sonopress is among the first companies to join the organization as a contributing member.

As a member of the new BDA organization, Sonopress will now participate in key BDA activities along with members of the Blu-ray Disc Founders group, which includes leading companies Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Hitachi, LG Electronics, Matsushita (Panasonic), Mitsubishi, Pioneer, Phillips, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, TDK and Thomson.

The goal of the Blu-ray Disc Association, which currently has more than 70 member companies from the consumer electronics, information technology, media and software industries, is to develop Blu-ray Disc specifications, ensure Blu-ray Disc products are implemented by licensees according to the intent of those specifications, promote wide adoption of Blu-ray Disc formats and provide useful information to those who have interest in supporting Blu-ray Disc formats.

"It is critical to our business goals that we continue to participate in discussions around cutting-edge formats, and ensure that we are well prepared to meet both the current and future needs of our customers," said Peter Schaper, VP Technology and Development of Sonopress. "We are pleased to be among the first to join the elite group of companies that will contribute to the Blue-ray Disc Association. We look forward to sharing our knowledge and the feedback of our customers as we observe the ongoing acceleration of the Blu-ray format."

As a contributor to the BDA, Sonopress will attend general organizational meetings and seminars, and participate in Technical Expert Groups, regional Promotion Team events and Compliance Committee activities. This participation will enable Sonopress to maintain its leadership position as a manufacturer of cutting-edge media formats and continue to lend its expertise to the ongoing development of the Blu-ray format.

Blu-ray Disc can hold up to 25 gigabytes of data or high-definition video on a single-layer disc and up to 50 gigabytes on a dual-layer disc, as opposed to the current DVD disc, which holds up to 4.7 gigabytes on a single-layer disc and up 8.5 gigabytes on a dual-layer disc. The key applications of Blu-ray Disc are recording and playback of high definition video. Blu-ray Disc is also suitable for a variety of applications including PC data storage and is an ideal storage medium to enable digital convergence bridging between PC applications and consumer electronics entertainment devices. The performance of Blu-ray Disc will meet the growing market demand for High Definition TV and offer new opportunities for content providers to create compelling interactive services for customers.

In addition to the Blu-ray format, Sonopress plans to support a variety of new formats as they become available to consumers, including HD-DVD and DualDisc.