The Duck thinks they can do digital TV with MPEG-4, and Windows 98...........................................
techweb.com
September 22, 1997, Issue: 1076
Section: News
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Win 98, MPEG-4 to be used to help launch digital TV sets
By Jack Robertson
New York-The computer industry will launch living room-friendly digital TV sets and PCs next year using Microsoft Corp.'s Windows 98 and an MPEG-4 video-decompression codec, according to sources at a UBS Securities seminar held here earlier this month.
MPEG-4 and another video decompression device, called True Motion, produced by New York-based Duck Corp., will be handled through Windows 98 software running on Pentium microprocessors, the sources said.
Richard Doherty, senior manager at The Envisioneering Group, Seaford, N.Y., said the Windows 98 decompression software eliminates the need for more-expensive MPEG-2 hardware solutions. He predicted that the Windows 98 approach could ultimately make serious inroads into MPEG-2 vendors' dominant position in all parts of the digital-video market.
Microsoft's embrace of MPEG-4 in Windows 98 is a surprise to most vendors gearing up for the emerging digital-video market. MPEG-4 was originally developed as a low-cost decompression software scheme for videoconferencing. Next year's launch of Windows 98 will enable the PC to become the home appliance for all forms of digital video and open up a vast market, said Paul Misener, Intel Corp.'s manager of telecommunications and computer-technology policy.
One of the largest MPEG-2 chip makers, SGS-Thomson Microelectronics N.V., is closely eyeing the Windows 98 pending intrusion into the digital-video-decompression arena.
"We know what Microsoft is trying to do in Windows 98 and will be prepared to meet this competition," said Laurent Bosson, chairman of SGS-Thomson Microelectronics Inc., the U.S. subsidiary. "Software decompression [using the CPU] is only one solution. We like competition and expect to continue to be a market leader in MPEG chips."
Stanley Marder, chief executive of Duck, said 10 million to 20 million PCs sold in the 12 months after Windows 98 is introduced will be able to receive digital-TV (DTV) broadcasts after they are equipped with an $80 tuner board.
He said virtually all PCs shipped in 1998, including a living room-TV version, will come equipped with digital DVD-ROM drives. PC industry people at the seminar were upbeat about the likelihood of the U.S. broadcast industry agreeing to DTV transmissions using progressive-scan format, which can be displayed on computer screens.
Most broadcasters are expected to initially forgo the full-blown high-definition-TV format, which would take up 6 MHz of bandwidth for a single program. Instead, broadcasters at the seminar said they are strongly inclined to start with standard-definition-television (SDTV) formats that have slightly less resolution but allow the transmission of multiple digital programs as well as a wide variety of digital data services.
Intel's Misener said SDTV gives broadcasters a potentially vast revenue stream by allowing the downloading of huge amounts of digital data to home PCs or living room PC-TVs during off-hours.
Only the large installed base of PCs can receive this data dump, motivating the broadcast industry to adopt progressive-scan transmission to reach this market, he said.
Marty Yudkovitz, president of interactive media and business development at NBC, and Anthony Carrara, president of Paramount Stations Group, said they are seriously considering progressive-scan SDTV digital transmissions.
Copyright (c) 1997 CMP Media Inc. |
