Licensing agreement to promote Faroudja brand and video processing worldwide
CEDIA Expo 2005, Birmingham, UK, June 29, 2005 — Meridian Audio Ltd, the leading UK-based manufacturer of high-end audio, video and home theatre systems and components, and Genesis Microchip Inc., a world leader in the development of image processing technologies for flat-panel monitors, TVs and other consumer display products, today announced that the two companies have entered into a strategic licensing agreement that gives Meridian Audio the right to promote Genesis’s Faroudja technologies, products and brand on a worldwide basis. The agreement authorises Meridian to incorporate, manufacture and distribute Faroudja’s most advanced video technologies and home theatre solutions as part of its audio/video product line. Genesis Microchip and Meridian have also agreed to cooperate in the development of advanced video processing algorithms for inclusion in future Meridian video systems.
“Faroudja is at the forefront of video technology,” said Robert Stuart, Meridian chairman, co-founder and technical director. “Combining their video processing algorithms with Meridian’s own award-winning audio and video technologies presents an ideal strategy of offering extremely high quality home theatre solutions to the worldwide market,” he continued. “We are pleased to bring our audio/video expertise, manufacturing and marketing capabilities to bear on developing this renowned brand internationally. In addition to promoting the existing Faroudja product line, we will create new products in collaboration that will complement, for example, our already advanced optical disc player technology.”
“Meridian enjoys an international reputation for providing innovative high-end audio processing systems recognized for their performance”, said Anders Frisk, executive vice president of Genesis Microchip. “We believe that Genesis customers will benefit from the expanded promotion of Faroudja’s Emmy award-winning video processing technologies and brand through Meridian manufactured products and worldwide distribution structure. This strategic agreement with Meridian will expand Faroudja’s presence globally in the luxury home theatre market. Consumers looking for best-of-class audio and video quality in their home entertainment installations will appreciate this technological match.”
Meridian Audio Limited is based in Huntingdon, near Cambridge, UK, and was founded in 1977 by Allen Boothroyd and Robert Stuart. With an almost 30-year history of innovation and development of the highest quality consumer audio systems, the award-winning company is widely recognized as a world leader in digital and analogue audio reproduction. Meridian developed the world’s first audiophile CD player, the world’s first consumer digital surround controller, developed the MLP lossless packing systems mandated for use in DVD-Audio and emerging high-definition disc formats, and is the only UK audio hardware manufacturer to be a member of the DVD Forum. The company’s optical disc players, DSP-based loudspeakers and Digital Theatre systems are unique in the industry, maintaining a super-quality digital audio signal throughout the path from the source to the amplifier, and using digital signal processing to generate advanced crossover characteristics that would be impossible with conventional passive analogue systems. For more information, please visit www.meridian-audio.com.
Genesis Microchip Inc. (Nasdaq: GNSS), founded in 1987, is a leading provider of image processing systems enabling superior picture quality in flat-panel TVs and a variety of consumer and PC display products. Featuring Genesis Display Perfection technologies and Emmy award-winning Faroudja video technologies, Genesis system-on-a chip solutions are used worldwide by display manufacturers to produce visibly better images across a broad array of devices including flat-panel displays, digital TVs, projectors and DVD players/recorders. The Genesis technology portfolio features analogue and mixed signal system-on-a-chip design, DCDi deinterlacing, TrueLife video enhancement, IntelliComb video decoding and includes over 185 patents. Genesis supports its leading brand-name customers with offices in the US, Canada, India, Taiwan, South Korea, China and Japan. For more information, please visit www.gnss.com
Note to Editors: Genesis, Genesis Display Perfection, Faroudja, DCDi by Faroudja, TrueLife, and IntelliComb are trademarks or registered trademarks of Genesis Microchip Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
