Dolby Laboratories announced that their in-car entertainment technologies are part of two new aftermarket consumer products from Alpine and Clarion, as well as part of the Toyota Brevis vehicle with a factory-installed 5.1-channel DVD-Audio/Video system incorporating Dolby Digital and MLP encoding.
Consumers desiring Dolby Surround in Motion in-car technologies can choose from a growing number of options in aftermarket products available through autosound retailers and catalogs. Alternatively, consumers can purchase a vehicle that comes factory-equipped with the latest in in-car entertainment solutions featuring Dolby technologies.
In Japan, Toyota announced that their Brevis model is the worlds first car to feature a factory-installed 5.1-channel entertainment system with multichannel DVD-Audio/Video capability. Given the stature of the Brevis – a luxury sedan introduced to compete with the likes of Mercedes-Benz and BMW in Japan – it is not surprising that Toyota included both DVD formats.
The Toyota Brevis announcement follows an earlier announcement this year that Volvos new XC90 SUV would feature a premium audio system with Dolby Pro Logic II technology. Together, these vehicle offerings indicate that the future of mobile entertainment includes multichannel audio.
Alpine recently announced their PXA-H700 integrated surround processor, which can be combined with an in-dash receiver/head unit or a DVD changer to create in-car multichannel surround entertainment. In keeping with Alpines component system approach – which enables consumers to build the system that best meets their needs by combining Alpine products – consumers can add Dolby Digital and Pro Logic II surround decoding capabilities to any Alpine Ai-NET head unit, at any time.
Clarion is now shipping their DXZ925 CD/receiver head unit with Sirius DARS capability, a product expected to be an extremely popular aftermarket component for Dolby Pro Logic II technology. The Clarion DXZ925 product is not only one of the first Sirius-ready units available on the market, but is also the first CD/receiver/head unit to provide mobile surround for audio-only applications.
In addition to the new Alpine and Clarion products, a number of other companies offer or have recently introduced aftermarket in-car entertainment products with Dolby technologies, including Cascade Audio Engineering (CAE), Lake Technology, MB Quart, Panasonic, Rane, Rockford-Fosgate, Sony, Stinger, and Zapco.
For more information, visit www.dolby.com.
