Orban Announces 16-Second Diversity
Delay Upgrade for OPTIMOD-FM 8500
Tempe, AZ, January 30th, 2007 — Orban announces the immediate availability of an upgraded DSP board for Optimod-FM 8500 that can produce up to 16.4 seconds of diversity delay in HD Radio™ installations. The original 8500 hardware produced up to 8.2 seconds of delay. This was more than adequate for earlier generations of HD Radio transmission hardware, which required approximately 7.8 seconds.
After the original 8500 hardware was developed, iBiquity introduced its Exgine architecture. (“Exgine” is a contraction of exciter and engine.) In some broadcast manufacturers' implementations, the Exgine architecture requires more than 8.2 seconds of analog-signal delay to match the analog and digital signals at an HD Radio receiver. The 16.4-second upgrade makes the 8500 compatible with such Exgine-based exciters with plenty of safety margin for future developments.
The upgrade only benefits stations using new-generation HD Radio hardware that prevents them from matching their analog and digital channel delays. Other stations do not need the upgrade, which does not affect any other 8500 features.
Starting February, 2007, all new 8500s will ship with the 16.4-second delay. Additionally, any 8500 can be easily field-retrofitted with a new DSP board, which can be ordered from Orban customer service (phone +1 480.403.8300; email custserv@orban.com).
The upgrade process consists of upgrading the 8500's software and then swapping the old and new DSP boards. Suggested retail price of the upgraded board is $950.00.
Orban Forward-Looking Statements
This news release may contain "forward-looking" statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Management's anticipation of future events is based upon assumptions regarding levels of competition, research and development results, raw material markets, the markets in which the company operates, and stability of the regulatory environment. Any of these assumptions could prove inaccurate; and therefore, there can be no assurance that the forward-looking information will prove to be accurate.
About Orban
Orban is a manufacturer of high-quality digital and analog audio processing, transmission encoding, and noise reduction equipment. Orban is in the market for radio, TV and Internet audio processing. As technology evolves, Orban continues to innovate with state-of-the-art audio processing products for DAB, DTV and streaming media. The Company purchased Orban® in May of 2000. Orban was founded in 1970 by Bob Orban, who is the world's foremost expert in transmission audio processing for broadcast. Orban leads the industry in the design and manufacture of audio processors for radio, television and Internet broadcasting. Recognized for its standard-setting Optimod® digital audio processors and the Opticodec® codecs, the Orban name has become synonymous with reliable, high performance products. Today, its versatile audio processing equipment and codecs are the products of choice in fast-paced production environments worldwide.
For more information contact David Rusch at phone +1 (480) 403-8300, fax +1 (480) 403-8301 or e-mail: drusch@orban.com. Information is also available at www.orban.com and www.orban-europe.com.