ProjectX....
08/21/98
KRTBN Knight-Ridder Tribune Business News: Contra Costa Times, Calif
Copyright (C) 1998 KRTBN Knight Ridder Tribune Business News; Source: World Reporter (TM)
Aug. 21--If Silicon Valley startup VM Labs gets to call the shots, digitally connected living rooms for tech-hungry consumers may sprout in millions of American homes.
VM has brewed an electronic alchemy that can transform DVD players, set-top cable boxes and satellite TV receivers into interactive devices the company hopes will revolutionize how consumers entertain themselves.
People could be more than mere couch potatoes when they want to use a TV. They could employ a single device to play video games, watch TV or play back a video on their DVD machine, said Richard Miller, president and co-founder of VM Labs. The living room of today could become a digital pot that brims with scads of goodies.
Los Altos-based VM Labs believes its technology, endowed with the mysterious moniker Project X, could become a platform for every type of mass video entertainment. Miller figures one way or another, VM-enhanced devices can penetrate into just about every home with a cable connection or TV set.
As consumer electronics and cable companies ship millions of DVD players, TV boxes and other devices, many of the machines also would contain a VM Labs chip and circuitry. Similar to a microprocessor in computers, VM Labs' "media-processor" will add more power to entertainment systems because it'll be used just on video and audio functions.
"We've taken the world's most successful entertainment media and brought them into one device," Miller said. "Consumers spend a lot of time and disposable income on video entertainment.
"This can be a digital video revolution," Miller said.
Bold words, to be sure. But plenty of hazards lurk that could blunt consumer acceptance of this new concept, warned industry insider Gary Arlen, a Bethesda, Md.-based analyst, who nevertheless is intrigued by the concept presented by the 45-employee VM Labs firm.
"The challenge is making customers aware that it's a valuable new feature," Arlen said. "To get this on to store shelves, you have to find some way to let people know what you've got."
Still, Miller's vision is one facet of an unrelenting crusade by Silicon Valley and the consumer electronics industry to reach their version of a Holy Grail: new entertainment vehicles for interactive consumers.
"Hollywood and the content publishers love this because they see it as a way to push DVD ," said Miller, who founded VM in 1995 after leading Atari Corp.'s development of the Jaguar game console. "The consumer electronics industry is happy because after 10 years, there is finally something truly different and new."
VM Labs executives want their technology, which is especially appealing to video game developers, to piggyback on a DVD player so the machine could be more than just a passive device.
"The concept is pretty fascinating, it's pretty radical," said Wes Nihei, editor-in-chief with San Francisco-based GamePro magazine.
Why? Nihei believes Project X is a prime example of the convergence of technologies.
"The computer has always been in the home office or the den and the video-game console traditionally is in the kid's room," Nihei said. "This will bring that game console into your living room. It will be on top of or next to your TV. It's going to be in your VCR. There is a real opportunity to create a huge installed base."
DVD , or digital video disc, technology is gaining wider acceptance among consumers. About 500,000 players have been shipped. DVD systems can operate discs packed with two hours of video programming, such as a movie.
"By combining game technology within DVD technology, it's possible to move a competitor into the space against Sony and Nintendo," said Rob Enderle, analyst with Giga Information Group. "It could also move DVD players more rapidly into the market."
The first hardware systems that contain the VM technology are due to ship in 1999. Toshiba will incorporate the VM chip, which was made by Motorola, in Toshiba DVD players next year. Thomson Consumer Electronics -- maker of the RCA, GE and ProScan brands -- also has licensed the VM system.
The Digital Frontier is a weekly feature that takes a look at the advances and challenges of technology, from Silicon Valley to the Internet to the home front.
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