I am not the expert digital video guy, but could the following be the reason for the drop in CUBE price today? With Microsoft involved, it seems the transmission/reception would be primarily software to an expectedly higher powered CPU next year or in '98. Can one of you smart guys help me with this theory?
April 4, 1997
Microsoft, Intel, Compaq Push
Technical Digital-TV Standard
By DAVID BANK and DEAN TAKAHASHI
Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
The Big Three of the personal-computer industry next week will seek to persuade television broadcasters to adopt their technical standards for digital television, an uphill battle to ensure PCs play a major role in delivering the next generation of home entertainment.
Microsoft Corp., Intel Corp., and Compaq Computer Corp. on Monday will propose a digital-TV strategy that emphasizes Internet-based information services and interactivity, as well as high-definition picture quality.
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission cleared the way for the nation's television broadcasters to begin the transition to next-generation digital television, a technology that promises super-crisp pictures and CD-quality sound.
The announcement, to be made at the National Association of Broadcasters conference in Las Vegas, kicks off a major lobbying effort to attract consumer-electronics manufacturers and television
producers. Broadcasters are expected to begin transmitting digital-TV signals in major cities by October 1998.
PC makers hope to use the new digital technology in big-screen computers and eventually move from consumers' dens into their living rooms. But the effort faces high hurdles. To date, consumer-electronics makers have pursued different technologies for "home theater" products that display sophisticated images, but
don't emphasize interactivity.
The standards battle was triggered last December when the Federal Communications Commission opted to let the market decide on the right digital-broadcast format, rather than dictate one itself. That has set off a so-called war for the eyeballs, in which broadcasters and hardware manufacturers hash out the best formats for consumer products and programming. The FCC, as expected, approved rules Thursday giving broadcasters free licenses to provide digital television, which is expected to begin reaching viewers in the top 10 markets within 18 months. The older analog-format TVs will still be used for at least seven years to give consumers time to buy new digital TVs or PCs. During the transition to digital, PC makers hope to introduce some products that can steal some market share from television. Their plans are largely based on the belief that the
technology will spawn new hybrid entertainment forms, combining conventional video images such as sports programs with two-way capabilities that might allow consumers to get involved in the action or communicate with each other.
"Any notion that consumer electronics are not going to get smart is fallacious," said Craig Mundie, Microsoft's senior vice president of consumer products and the industry's point man in discussions with broadcasters. "We are trying to stretch out a hand to the
consumer-electronics and broadcast industries and say,
'We can help you with this transition.' "
TV makers generally have supported a different format for the way digital images are displayed than the standard proposed by PC makers. Broadcasters have tried to remain neutral, hoping hardware makers can
build devices that can work with either standard.
"From a broadcaster point of view we want to remain distribution-appliance neutral," said Michael Sherlock, executive vice president for technology at NBC, a unit of General Electric. "We would love to have our products seen on computers, but at the same time, we don't want to give up the traditional way of getting television." "There is no consensus in the broadcast industry for one format over another," said Lynn Claudy, senior vice
president for the National Association of Broadcasters."The receivers that make it to the market should be designed to handle a number of different formats." Some consumer-electronics companies are moving to
accommodate that position. Executives at Panasonic, a unit of Japan's Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. that is a major television producer, said their first digital televisions will be able to receive all of the proposed formats. "It's premature to make choices," said Paul Liao, chief technology officer of Panasonic Technologies Inc. in Princeton, N.J.
But computer makers favor monitors that use a "progressive-scan" format because they can display text in a way that is more readable than on traditional television screens, which use an "interlaced" format.They have so far shied away from the idea of devices that can use both technology standards, citing increased costs. PC makers expect the digital-TV technology to add $100 to $150 to the cost of a conventional PC. The first products from TV makers are expected to sell for at least $2,000, mainly because of the cost of a large
display screen.PC makers are hoping to attract broadcasters with the
prospects of high volume -- some 20 million to 50 million digital TV-ready PCs by 2003. The Consumer Electronics Manufacturers Association forecasts that only a few million digital TV sets will be sold by that date. "More people are going to watch digital TV on the PC because it's going to be built into the architecture," said Robert Stearns, senior vice president for technology and corporate development at Houston-based Compaq, which is preparing to introduce large-screen PCs designed to be used in the living room.
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