ASUS Xonar HDAV1.3 sound card featuring Dolby TrueHD Bit-Stream

First audio solution to set HTPCs Blu-ray-ready with embedded ArcSoft TotalMedia Theatre

Sydney, Australia, February 6, 2009 - ASUS has launched the Xonar HDAV1.3 Series sound cards revealing the world's first and only solution to offer Dolby TrueHD audio bitstream on the PC platform. The Xonar HDAV1.3 follows on from the success of ASUS' first sound cards to be equipped with the next generation DTS-HD Master Audio and Dolby Digital Plus bitstream on the PC platform.

A powerful combination comprising of C-Media's custom-made AV200 audio processor and ArcSoft's TotalMedia Theatre software player lets users be the first to enjoy Dolby TrueHD's lossless compression rate of 24bit/192KHz over to their AV receivers. This is a major leap forward in the emerging Blu-ray era and was unprecedented before the release of the Xonar HDAV1.3.

The ASUS Xonar HDAV 1.3 is the world's only solution capable of providing bit-to-bit exact lossless Blu-ray audio output, without any downsampling to DVD quality - allowing users to enjoy next-generation audio enhancements such as DTS-HD, Dolby TrueHD and Dolby Digital Plus on the PC. Furthermore, the Xonar HDAV 1.3 supports most video graphics cards on the market, offering delivery of both video and audio outputs through a single HDMI cable.

Working closely together with C-Media and ArcSoft to create the world's first premium audio solution, ASUS hopes to not only address consumer audio needs, but also to showcase its outstanding R&D capabilities.

The ASUS Xonar HDAV1.3 Series sound cards are available in Australia and New Zealand from February 2009 at selected computer resellers. RRP from AU$249, NZ$329 (all prices inclusive of GST).

About ASUS

ASUS is a leading company in the new digital era. With a global staff of more than ten thousand and a world-class R&D design team, the company's revenue for 2008 was 8.1 billion US dollars. ASUS ranks among the top 10 IT companies in BusinessWeek's "InfoTech 100", and has been on the listing for 11 consecutive years. ASUS was also selected by the Wall Street Journal Asia as No.1 in quality and service. For more information, visit http://www.asus.com.au.