Try this INTC PC-TV link..............
biz.yahoo.com
Thursday December 4, 9:58 pm Eastern Time
Intel wants your PC to watch TV for you
By Samuel Perry
SANTA CLARA, Calif., Dec 4 (Reuters) - Intel Corp.(INTC.0)executives Thursday unveiled a new vision for how digital
television signals could enable a whole new generation of smart TV sets brimming with new interactive features.
Intel hopes a new transmission standard will bring fresh momentum to the emerging market for digital televisions, enabling
consumers to order Christmas gifts or play video games from the comfort of their living room couch.
Intel executives told a gathering of reporters at the semiconductor giant's headquarters here that its new ''Open Digital
Broadcast Initiative'' could enable broadcasters to choose among a variety of transmission formats.
Using prototype devices, Intel demonstrated how it could mix television signals along with data by blending Internet standards
with TV compression techniques to offer video games and other interactive programs over broadcast signals delivered by
cable, satellite or terrestrial air waves.
Intel said the receiving devices could be incorporated in TV set-top boxes at various prices. Some would function more like
personal computers and have enough data storage to let consumers store movies, for example, for viewing later. ''Your PC
will watch TV for you,'' said Mike Richmond, business unit manager of broadcast products at Intel's Consumer Products
Group. ''The applications for a PC which watches TV for you would be enormous.''
Instead of the complicated and costly central computers, known as servers, which would be necessary to run ''video on
demand'' for consumers to order movies and other programming, Intel executives said their design would enable people to
select and store videos and other data as it is transmitted.
Video on demand, which had been viewed as the model for multimedia distribution five years ago, has proven too costly but
broadcasters could transmit content at regular intervals on a ''carousel'' model far more cost-effectively, Intel said.
Such transmissions could include software, video games, and a host of entertainment and business services.
The storage feature would also let people ''pause'' a digital program for five or 10 minutes for a ''bathrooom break,'' [FredE takes longer because he takes the WSJ with him] as with
a video casette recorder, and then return to the same part of the program when they came back.
The attraction for Intel, which provides microprocessors that serve as the brains behind more than nine out of every 10
personal computers shipped worldwide, is to open up a whole new market for its semiconductor products.
A year ago, Intel Chief Executive Officer Andy Grove used his Comdex keynote address to declare the PC industry was
engaged in a ''war for eyeballs'' with traditional television.
Earlier this week, Intel President and Chief Operating Officer Craig Barrett noted PC unit shipments have surpassed those of
TVs in the United States in the past year and were projected to exceed televisions on a worldwide basis soon.
But what remains to be seen is how Intel's proposal will be viewed by both broadcasters and the companies who will actually
transmit digital broadcast signals.
Ron Whittier, senior vice president and general manager of Intel's Content Group, said the company is working with all major
broadcast networks in addition to its investment in a European multimedia satellite transmission group.
An initiative launched last Spring by Intel with partners Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq:MSFT - news) and Compaq Computer
Corp (NYSE:CPQ - news) at a National Association of Broadcasters gathering quickly drew static from the trade
organization, which said a U.S.-approved plan had provided more flexibility than the trio proposed.
The Intel executives said their latest proposal had been developed to accommodate the criticisms of broadcasters, embracing
all transmission formats using software translation coding to address the broadcast industry's concerns.
''The first point is, it's the TV, stupid,'' said Claude Leglise, a vice president of Intel's Content Group. ''At the end of the day,
it has to be able to run TV.''
But it was not clear whether even Microsoft and Compaq, Intel's partners in the April Digital TV proposal, would jump on
Intel's latest bandwagon.
Whittier said Intel is in talks with Compaq, and shares the Houston-based computer maker's concern that the proposed
standard could raise the cost of systems significantly. He said all three partners were engaged in a ''healthy'' discourse.
''You have implementation partners having what I would consider normal implementation arguments,'' he said.
Officials at Microsoft and Compaq were not immediately available for comment and Intel said it had not yet begun to seek
formal backing from potential partners.
Intel demonstrated a number of implementations of the proposed technology, including Oracle Corp.'s (Nasdaq:ORCL -
news) NC device and sophisticated video games made by Rage Software Plc (quote from Yahoo! UK & Ireland: RGE.L), based
in Manchester, England.
Intel said it expects digital broadcast technology to play on a variety of operating systems and computer chips, not just those
supplies by Intel and Microsoft, for example. |
