Coding Technologies Sweetens the Sound of Digital Music with Release of Upgraded MPEG-4 aacPlus Encoder

New Version of the Company’s aacPlus Encoder Dramatically Raises the Bar on Audio Fidelity, While Further Lowering Bandwidth Requirements

NUREMBERG, Germany--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Coding Technologies today announced an upgraded release of its MPEG-4 aacPlus Audio Encoder engine. The company’s aacPlus audio codec is the audio compression format of choice across a variety of industry standards, systems and applications, including, MPEG, DVB, DMB, 3GPP. Coding Technologies’ aacPlus implementations are used by the world’s most demanding professional equipment manufacturers, broadcasters, and content aggregators to deliver high quality music via terrestrial, satellite, the Internet, and mobile networks.

Coding Technologies’ enhanced encoder achieves significant improvements in audio fidelity and listening experience without any associated increase in bandwidth consumption. This allows content service providers to “dial-down” transmission bandwidth usage without affecting or sacrificing established audio quality. These increased audio quality gains are realized in every application level including: digital broadcasting, Over-the-Air (OTA) music downloads, high quality music ring tones and Internet Streaming.

The new encoder enhancements also lead to significantly improved speech quality and multi-channel audio fidelity at even lower bit rates. For example, delivering 5.1 Surround Sound now only requires 128 kbps, previous versions required 160 kbps. aacPlus is capable of delivering CD quality stereo at 48 kbps. In comparison, CD quality for MP3 is typically rated at 128 kbps.

“Delivering the best audio experience in the most efficient manner possible is the name of the game,” says Roger Bolton, vice president of business development at TANDBERG Television where MPEG-4 aacPlus multi-channel audio is included in the video compression industry leader’s latest MPEG-4 AVC encoders for HDTV. “The new version of aacPlus delivers excellent quality and will provide the high levels of performance our customers require from audio to complement their high definition video output.”

"At Coding Technologies it is all about audio quality and customer satisfaction,” says Andreas Ehret, vice president technical lead, Coding Technologies. “Our team has worked hard and is very proud to have improved our encoder significantly in these areas as part of this new release. In short, the world’s best audio codec just got even better."

The Coding Technologies aacPlus encoder solutions empower some of the world’s most cutting-edge wireless music and television services available, including, AOL, KDDI, NTT DoCoMo, REAL, Sprint and XM Satellite Radio. In the mobile space, Coding Technologies estimates that the number of aacPlus enabled mobile phones sold worldwide by the end of 2006 approached 200 million units.

To realize the audio gains of the new encoder no change or upgrade is required for any installed aacPlus decoder, including those in PC applications, set-top boxes, mobile phones, and digital music players or radios.

Availability:

Coding Technologies’ MPEG-4 aacPlus solutions are available immediately for Windows, Macintosh, Linux, and selected embedded platforms. The packages include a variety of libraries, tools, and a new GUI-based PC sample application, designed to showcase a new interactive configuration interface within the PC SDK.

The new aacPlus encoders are available as a free upgrade to all qualified Coding Technologies’ licensees.

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Coding Technologies

Coding Technologies provides the best audio compression for mobile, broadcasting, and Internet. SBR™ (Spectral Band Replication) from Coding Technologies is a backward and forward compatible method to enhance the efficiency of any audio codec; putting the "PRO" in mp3PRO and the "Plus" in aacPlus. Parametric Stereo from Coding Technologies and Philips again significantly increases the efficiency of audio codecs for stereo signals at low bit rates. Products from Coding Technologies are fundamental enablers of open standards such as 3GPP, 3GPP2, MPEG, DVB, Digital Radio Mondiale, HD Radio, and the DVD Forum.

Coding Technologies is a privately held company with offices in Sweden, Germany, China, and the USA. Founded in 1997 in Stockholm, the company later merged with a spin-off of the renowned Fraunhofer Institute in Germany, the inventor of MP3. Coding Technologies’ customers include America Online, EMP, iBiquity Digital, KDDI, O2, Nokia, Orange, RealNetworks, SK Telecom, Sprint, T-Mobile, Thomson, Texas Instruments, Vodafone, and XM Satellite Radio.

For more information, visit www.codingtechnologies.com.

About TANDBERG Television

Whether it’s advanced compression systems, on-demand or interactive television, TANDBERG Television (TAT.OL) delivers the technology and expertise that is moving digital video forward. The company’s award-winning solutions are used by the world’s leading network operators, broadcasters and content owners to deliver new viewer experiences and advertising opportunities. With a broad suite of open, standards-based products, TANDBERG Television offers the highest quality digital TV solutions including IPTV, HDTV, video-on-demand, advertising on-demand, and interactive TV applications to customers in the Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East and Africa. For more information, please visit www.tandbergtv.com.