C-Cube/ Western Digital.........................
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C-Cube Expands Reach into PVR Market with Western Digital
9/21/99
By Tom Butts
The list of companies entering the Personal Video Recorder (PVR) market just got bigger with a new agreement between C-Cube Microsystems and Western Digital.
The two companies announced an agreement to develop a reference platform targeting the emerging PVR market, which is now primarily occupied by two companies, TiVo and Replay. C-Cube and Western also plan to develop additional products based on C-Cube?s MPEG-2 silicon and Western?s digital hard drives. Western Digital manufactures hard drives for PC?s servers, workstations, and home entertainment products.
With this agreement, C-Cube is putting together the pieces of the puzzle to aggressively take on the PVR market. The Mipitas, CA-based silicon developer announced a similar agreement in July with software developer MbTV Networks, a division of Metabyte (see related article, MbTV Networks, C-Cube to Collaborate on Digital Video Recorder Reference Platforms).
The PVR market just might be the key to help revive Western Digital?s fortunes, the third largest manufacturer of hard drives, according to IDC. The company has suffered lagging sales of its hard drives?1999 fiscal revenues were down 20% to $2.8 billion from $3.5 billion in fiscal 1998.
The reference platform will be based on C-Cube?s Dvxplore MPEG-2 codec, which was introduced in 1998 targeting DVD-quality video for the PC. The platform also uses Western Digital?s new WD Performer line of hard drives featuring WhisperDrive acoustics for quiet operation. This is a key feature for PVRs as early reviews of the devices have commented on the excessive operating noise.
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