Electronic News has cover article on DVD at Comdex. Cube is mentioned. Sony says it will stick with hardware DVD..................
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From Page One of Electronic News: November 17, 1997 Issue
At Comdex Portable Computers And DVDs Shine
By Cynthia Bournellis and Peter Brown
Las Vegas--As 150,000 to 200,000 people (depending on whose numbers you believe) tour this year's Comdex Fall '97
show and conference, they will get a dose of portable computers and exposure to a variety of digital versatile disc (or digital
video disc depending on whose identification you use) (DVD) equipments, along with thousands of products for personal
computers.
Unlike years past, there is not one technology theme unifying the show. Last year, Windows CE was the predominant
feature as a variety of OEMs rolled out portable systems, and lots of peripherals for those systems were introduced. In the
previous year everyone was abuzz about PowerPC microprocessors as the then-powerful IBM/Motorola/Apple triumvirate
and their partners tried desperately to push their way back into the mainstream desktop PC market with "CHRP," the
now-defunct Computer Hardware Reference Platform.
This year suppliers will be showing portable computers in all shapes and sizes, from ultra-thin laptops to handhelds to
something in between.
Another area of intense scrutiny promises to be the multimedia segment, especially the emerging DVD industry. As systems
manufacturers move on to the second generation of players, they are triggering demand for second generation DVD-ROM
chips and nearly every major DVD semiconductor manufacturer is showcasing next-generation DVD devices.
Although the chips might be available, DVD content still looms as a major roadblock holding back the sales of DVD-ROM
drives and players.
DVD-ROMs' Feet In Cement
According to industry observers, first generation DVD-ROMs have virtually had their feet in cement because of a lack of
entertainment, storage and information content. DVD drives have also suffered from not having adequate playback and
rewind features. Second generation drives claim to be able to fix these playback problems. However, lack of content still
plagues the industry.
"We are seeing second generation products because we can," said Ken Wirt, VP of corporate marketing at Diamond
Multimedia Systems. "Next generations are not an issue for the growth of the DVD market; it's not even a price issue. It's
more of a question of software availability and what is needed is a sufficient amount of movies, software and games to go
with DVD-ROMs. The market is primed for growth by evolution of the drives and prices but the real issues are compelling
content."
However, DVD-ROM manufacturer Sony Electronics says second generation drives may be passed over by that company.
According to Bob DeMoulin, Sony marketing manager for CDR and DVD-ROMs, the company is just now rolling out its
1x drives and is considering leap-frogging the second generation drives to possibly as high as 5x drives.
"What's happening is it took so long to roll out the first generation drives because of a lack of titles and the same problem is
occurring right now with 2x solutions," said Mr. DeMoulin. "A larger impact from second generation devices will happen
around second or third quarter of next year when other drive manufacturers begin rolling out second generation drives. But
sales will take a while to heat up because right now there are not a lot of applications outside the entertainment aspect for
people to buy. So if you want to do more than play games or watch a movie at this point you can't do it."
Clint Chao, director of marketing for PC products at C-Cube Microsystems, agreed that lack of content has held back
DVD drives and may hold back second generation drives as well. He is optimistic, however, that second generation drives
will spawn new electronic appliances--what he calls the Creativity PC and Entertainment PC--that will open up the market
early next year.
"With these new generations of DVD we will see different flavors like portable DVD, low cost hardware DVD for PCs, and
drives that will penetrate the sub-$1,000 market as well as the non-x86 machines such as Web-TV," said Mr. Chao.
Hardware Vs. Software DVD
Another portion of the DVD-ROM equation is the continuing battle between software and hardware DVD-ROM chips. On
the soft DVD front is Zoran, which is touting its fully-functional soft DVD offering that uses motion compensation to allow a
user to get 25 to 30 percent of the CPU's operation back. Jeff Herrera, marketing manager for Zoran, claims Zoran's soft
DVD offers angles, parental control, Navigator support and multiple support for audio--everything a hardware DVD-ROM
chip offers.
Hardware DVD chip makers argue soft DVD chips require a high end microprocessor--somewhere in the range of 266 to
400MHz--to run DVD functions effectively. This creates not only a price issue but also places a burden on the PC to run
the entire DVD without having a choppy picture.
Sony's Mr. DeMoulin said Sony has no plans for software DVD-ROM drives in the future and is concentrating its efforts on
hardware-based solutions. "This doesn't mean Sony won't ever address soft DVD but right now it's pure hardware from
us," he said.
Although most of the marketers of DVD claim price has not been a factor in slow sales, Steve Musallam, product manager
for video for Chromatic Research disagrees. He said cost had a lot to do with the success--or lack thereof--of first
generation DVD-ROMs and prevented a lot of design wins for the overall DVD industry. Chromatic's second generation
DVD chip, dubbed the Mpact 2, also features 3-D graphics and more of a complete entertainment chip rather than focused
specifically DVD or graphics acceleration. Chromatic--and its manufacturing partners Toshiba America, LG Semicon and
SGS-Thomson--is expecting the bill of materials for the Mpact 2 to run around $60.
"A large part of the holdup has been on the drives themselves. There are very few 2x drives on the market right now and
after Comdex I assume it won't be much better," said Mr. Musallam. "Now we will have all these separate chips out there
that are dedicated to second generation drives, but with no drives. The market for these drives will be extremely competitive
when the drives do come out. Those with a unique chip are destined to win," he noted.
Win CE 2.0 Driving Portables
Meanwhile, a portion of the rapid growth in the portable computing market is attributable to the strong acceptance during
this past year of Microsoft's Windows CE operating system for handheld designs. Systems OEMs will showcase their latest
designs based on Microsoft's Windows CE 2.0 operating system, announced last month.
Windows CE Version 2.0 includes more integrated desktop synchronization and support for network connectivity and
printing, zooming functions such as Microsoft's Pocket Word and Excel applications, spell checking, and support for E-mail
attachments and group scheduling in Microsoft's Pocket Outlook program. A pocket version of PowerPoint has also
emerged.
The theme of these second-generation handheld computers (HPCs) is big, colorful and manageable--that is, bigger displays,
color screens and tools that let network managers access the user's desktop PC in order to track data about the handheld
PC such as a serial number. Manageability software will be bundled on these new devices.
Compaq is one of the first OEMs to introduce a color display on an HPC. Its first product is the new Compaq C Series
family which includes a 640x240 color display. Compaq will also offer a monochrome version. The minimum memory
requirement is 8 megabytes of RAM and 16MB of ROM. While the new version includes an integrated 33.6Kps soft
modem, it still requires a Type II PC modem card for wireless connectivity.
Wireless must be made available in order to grow the handheld market, according to Tom Wheeler, president of the
Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association. He said OEMs need to take an active role in getting wireless solutions
into the hands of users in the form of bundled products.
Compaq's Emily Campbell, a product manager in the handheld division, said the company is working with several wireless
providers and hardware developers to possibly offer a bundled product in the future. "Wireless is still in its infancy and a lot
of customers' networks don't support it. We see a bundled HPC product as a possibility," Ms. Campbell added.
Compaq Switches Vendors
Rather than work with Casio, which built Compaq's first-generation HPC, Compaq is working with Inventec, a Taiwanese
manufacturer, on the design of the C Series. Compaq also chose to go with a 75MHz MIPS RISC processor from Philips,
over the Hitachi chip used in the first HPC. "We found that the Philips chip is faster in terms of switching between
applications," said Ms. Campbell. An additional feature of the first C Series product is a VGA out card that enables the
projection of PowerPoint information onto a monitor or larger screen. The new device will range in price from $499 to
$600 for a monochrome display. Color devices will be more expensive.
Hewlett-Packard will unveil its new 360LX Palmtop PC. Priced at $699, the 360LX includes a full-width, 16-greyscale,
high-contrast, natural back-lit screen and a dedicated storage slot for CompactFlash cards, leaving the PC card slot free for
a modem connection. The 360LX also comes with 8MB of RAM, 10MB of ROM and a faster MIPS processor from
Hitachi. The 360LX uses HP's TopTools network management software.
Additionally, HP will cut pricing on its 320LX Palmtop PC, the first generation Windows CE device, to $499. A color
device, the 620LX, will soon follow and will have connectivity to wireless networks to access E-mail or a intranet, or to
send/receive faxes through a corporate or third-party server. Future Windows CE products from HP will have even larger
screens and keyboards and be priced near $1,000, according to Michael Hegeman, worldwide solutions manager in HP's
Handheld Products Group for North America.
The Philips Mobile Computing Group will showcase the Velo 500 handheld PC. The Velo 500 maintains the same small
form factor as the Velo 1, yet it incorporates new features including a 640x240 pixel touch screen with 16 levels of
grayscale, a 28.8 kilobits-per-second built-in modem that has fax/send/receive capabilities, and a 75MHz MIPS processor.
The Velo 500 will be available in 16MB and 24MB versions. It also includes an enhanced voice recorder and database.
Prices will start at $639 for the 16MB unit. The 24MB unit will come pre-installed with an 8MB DRAM Miniature Card
and will be priced at $749.
On the laptop front, a thinner, lighter product will be introduced by the Mobile Computing Division of Mitsubishi Electronics
America Inc. The new 3-pound Pedion notebook computer is designed for executives who travel. It features the new
233MHz Mobile Pentium processor with MMX technology from Intel, a 1-gigabyte hard drive, 64MB RAM and a
12.1-inch thin film transistor display with an injection-molded magnesium case.
"Mitsubishi's Pedion represents a major advancement in mobile PC design and is a leading example of how Intel's
0.25-micron process technology provides manufacturers the flexibility to design systems with new, innovative form factors,"
said Stephen Nachtsheim, corporate VP and GM of Intel's Mobile and Handheld Products Group.
The Pedion can reside on a docking station that weighs less than three pounds. |
