DVD media processor from VM Labs. Project X and Sony...........
Processor puts sluggish DVD back in game
By Junko Yoshida
with additional reporting by Yoshiko Hara
LOS ALTOS, Calif. - In a bold move that could
send ripples through both the hotly competitive
videogame industry and the sluggish market for
DVD, a small startup will disclose a media
processor that aims to turn DVD players into
videogame consoles. VM Labs will unveil its
processor as part of its Project X platform at the
Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Atlanta next
week.
The three-year-old company, which employs 40
engineers, will bring big backers to E3, including a
semiconductor company that will fab the
processor, at least one Japanese
consumer-electronics giant that will produce
Project X-based DVD players, and software
developers that have signed on to develop Project
X-based titles. DVD players have yet to take off in
the market, however, and analysts are divided over
whether VM's technology gambit can ignite a new
product category comprising DVD/game hybrids.
According to market statistics compiled by In-Stat
Inc., worldwide DVD-player shipments will total a
lackluster 2 million units this year, up from 700,000
units in 1997. "The DVD player market today just
isn't big enough to support a lot of divergence,"
said analyst Gerry Kaufhold, and that may not
bode well for VM Labs.
Nevertheless, VM may not be the only company
preparing a merged DVD/game player. Kaufhold
pointed out that a PC-like set-top, featuring a
DVD player, Windows 95 games and Internet
connectivity and priced at around $599, is
expected to be unveiled at Comdex/Fall and to
ship in 1999. There has also been speculation that
Sony will roll a DVD player into a "Playstation 2"
console in 1999, he said.
VM Labs enters the fray armed with an internally
developed, highly parallel and scalable media
processor aimed at embedded
consumer-electronics systems. The Project X
platform also includes a suite of software
application programming interfaces (APIs) and
development tools. "It's designed to turn consumer
systems, such as standalone DVD players and
set-tops, into an interactive entertainment
platform," said Richard Miller, president and chief
executive officer of VM Labs.
Powerful partners
The company's consumer-electronics partners will
launch the first Project X-based DVD players on
the U.S. market in 1999, Miller promised.
According to some reports, Motorola will
manufacture the VM chip, and Matsushita Electric
Industrial Co. (Osaka, Japan) will license the
technology to build players. Neither company
would confirm the reports, though Matsushita
managers in the United States and Japan said they
are familiar with VM Labs.
Much more.........
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