Voodoo TV
3dfx Debuts Ultimate Desktop Entertainment System With New Voodoo3 3500 TV
New Single-Slot Solution Combines Blistering Graphics Performance With Full TV Multimedia, DVD-Quality MPEG 2 Support and FM Stereo
SAN JOSE, Calif., May 10 /PRNewswire/
3dfx Interactive® Inc. (Nasdaq: TDFX - news) today debuted the ultimate system for PC-based entertainment: the Voodoo3(TM) 3500 TV. Based on the acclaimed Voodoo3 graphics accelerator technology, the Voodoo3 3500 TV combines the industry's most powerful 3D and 2D graphics with complete TV tuner and multimedia functionality in a single AGP or PCI board. Featuring support for MPEG 2, DVD, FM stereo with dbx(TM), and high-resolution displays, the new board includes the most feature-filled entertainment card for hard-core game enthusiasts and cutting-edge multimedia entertainment consumers.
Equipped with the finest quality TV video and FM stereo available on a PC, the 183 MHz Voodoo3 3500 TV supports real-time MPEG 2 video and audio capture, and includes such advanced VCR features as timed recording and frame advance -- all accessible through an intuitive software interface. With Voodoo3 3500 TV, 3dfx users can surf channels, zoom in on their TV picture, and record their favorite television programs and play them back in DVD quality.
''More consumers than ever are outfitting their PCs with both high-performance graphics cards and TV multimedia components,'' said Greg Ballard, president and CEO of 3dfx Interactive. ''By coupling the highly integrated Voodoo3 architecture with award-winning video and MPEG 2 technology, we have been able to surprise the market with a Voodoo3 3500 card that delivers all the multimedia features consumers want with the ultimate in 3D graphics performance. Voodoo3 3500 TV establishes an entirely new product category for PCs, delivering to consumers the industry's fastest and most comprehensive desktop entertainment system.''
Manufactured for 3dfx by STB Systems, Inc., Voodoo3 3500 TV enables consumers to enjoy the best in PC-based entertainment; combining more than 300 hot game titles optimized for 3dfx technology, and a rapidly growing array of television programming -- all accessible through a single card. Because two separate boards would require both AGP and PCI expansion slots, Voodoo3 3500 TV allows consumers to save their unused slot for another peripheral.
Blistering Graphics Performance
The 183MHz Voodoo3 3500 TV board is expected to deliver up to 8 million triangles and 366 Megatexels per second at resolutions of up to 2,046 by 1,536 pixels. Voodoo3 3500 TV features a 350MHz RAMDAC, 16MB of memory, and an undisclosed game bundle featuring a top-selling title. The entire family of Voodoo3 boards includes such advanced features as: single-pass single-cycle multi-texturing for bump mapping and trilinear mip-mapping, dual 32-bit internal rendering, per-pixel mip-mapping, sub-pixel and sub-texel correction, 8-bit palletized textures, programmable exponential fog tables, Gouraud shading, a full 128-bit 2D accelerator, and support for DirectX®, Glide® and OpenGL®.
Today's announcement follows the recent successful retail launch of 3dfx Interactive's Voodoo3 2000 and 3000 boards. Voodoo3 3500 TV delivers up to twice the real-world application performance than its closest competitor, as measured by the industry-standard Quake II time demos.
MPEG 2 Decoding, FM Stereo and VisualReality Software
Voodoo3 3500 TV comes equipped with the industry's most comprehensive desktop TV capabilities and features, allowing consumers to interact with their PC just as they would a high-end television or VCR. The new board features MPEG 2 decoding, video capture, recording, playback, and stereo audio. With Voodoo3 3500 TV and third-party video editing applications, users can add movie studio-quality special effects to their own videos. Transition effects like wipes, fades, and dissolves or visual effects like fade-to-black and fade-to-white can be added to any video imported into the PC with professional quality results. After effects are applied, the new video footage can be saved back to the local hard drive and played back using the Voodoo3 3500 TV MPEG 2 software decoder.
Voodoo3 3500 TV also provides full support for DVD playback via either the CCIR-601 interface or from the supplied WinDVD software DVD player from Intervideo. The new board ships with complete FM stereo tuner capabilities, including Seek and Scan, giving consumers the option of listening to their favorite FM broadcasts. Also included is a full-featured multimedia software suite featuring: Microsoft NetMeeting; VDONet VDOPhone; WDM drivers for WebTV support; Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0; and a video editing software bundle that will be announced later.
The Voodoo3 3500 TV also features STB Systems' acclaimed VisualReality software that provides today's most active and convenient control for displaying a television signal on the PC screen. VisualReality lets the user adjust all major television controls -- from channel and volume control to a broad selection of special features -- using familiar on-screen-virtual remote controls. VisualReality also provides full FM stereo controls.
VisualReality features include the ability to scale the TV viewing area up to full-screen size, the ability to magnify a section of the TV screen, a convenient on-screen active channel selection menu, closed captioning, channel-blocking for parental controls, and easy adjustments for on-screen brightness, tint, color and contrast. VisualReality's ''skin'' architecture allows the end-user to alter the appearance of the TV virtual remote control to their liking with little effort by using one of many remote control styles included with the board, or by downloading instructions on making their own skin.
VisualReality software also allows users to perform advanced VCR operations: Play, Record, Fast Forward, Stop, Pause, Frame Advance Forward, Frame Advance Backward, and Timed Record. VisualReality's Timed Record Control Panel allows consumers to record up to seven programs throughout the week, with the option to record certain programs every week.
Voodoo3 3500 TV includes a specialized cable assembly that offers a comprehensive array of industry-standard audio and video I/O ports: S-Video in, S-Video out, Composite Video in, Composite Video out, Left and Right Audio in, and Left and Right Audio out. The cable assembly, available exclusively for Voodoo3 3500 TV, dramatically simplifies audio and video I/O for consumers.
Pricing and Availability
The Voodoo3 3500 TV AGP board is expected to be available throughout North America in July at the suggested U.S. retail price of $249. Pricing and expected availability for the PCI version will be announced at a later date. International availability and pricing also will be announced later.
About 3dfx Interactive
3dfx Interactive develops high-performance, cost-effective 3D media processors, software and related technology that are designed to enable a highly immersive, interactive and realistic 3D experience across interactive electronic entertainment platforms -- personal computers, coin-operated arcade systems and location-based entertainment. Current 3dfx Interactive products include the Voodoo family of accelerator chip sets, Voodoo2(TM), Voodoo Graphics®, Voodoo Banshee(TM) and the new Voodoo3. Visit the company on the Web at 3dfx.com, or log on to the 3dfx Virtual Press Room, available to authorized media at pressweb.3dfx.com.
3dfx Interactive, Glide and Voodoo Graphics are registered trademarks and Voodoo, Voodoo2, Voodoo3 and Voodoo Banshee are trademarks of 3dfx Interactive. All other names may be trademarks of their respective holders.
Certain of the statements in this press release, including the statements relating to the Company's expectations for commercial and shipping availability of the Voodoo3 family products as well as the performance expectations for the Voodoo3 family of products, are forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause results to be materially different than expectations. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, manufacturing and other delays relating to new products, difficulties in the fabrication process and dependence of the Company on third party manufacturers, general industry trends, including cyclical trends in the PC and semiconductor industries, the impact of competitive products and pricing alternatives, market acceptance of the Company's new products and the Company's dependence on third party developers and publishers. Investors are advised to read the Company's annual and quarterly reports on Forms 10-K and 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, particularly those sections entitled ''Factors Affecting Operating Results,'' for a fuller discussion of such risks and uncertainties. |
