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Technology Stocks : C-Cube -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: tony schwarz who wrote (43428)	7/29/1999 12:36:00 PM
From: Black-Scholes	Respond to of 50808

"CUBE holds a 51% market share for MPEG2 chips." Has ANYBODY (including CUBE's analysts most of whom only "pound tables" for companies that have the potential of doing debt or equity offerings) bothered to figure out what this means for growth going forward??? Discount this out, folks, and the upside surprise probability becomes "1". Nobody (and I mean nobody) had this strong of a market share figured into their discounted cash flow models. DVD's and STB's growth rates make VCD's initial growth rates look anemic. Oh, by the way, BB-RS's semiconductor analyst (the same one who "follows" CUBE), has a BUY rating on BRCM and it only has a PE of 265 with a projected year-over-year earnings growth rate of 37%. Gee, I wonder if BRCM is going to be issuing any debt or equity in the future? That analyst is a shameless WHORE!

To: tony schwarz who wrote (43428)	7/29/1999 2:24:00 PM
From: Black-Scholes	Respond to of 50808

In 1998, MPEG-2 decoders for on-line networks still made up the larger share of the MPEG-2 decoder market. As mentioned earlier, DBS set-top boxes consume the greatest portion of these decoders. By a wide margin, ST Microelectronics shipped the largest number of chips in 1998 equaling a 68% share of the market. The large majority of MPEG-2 decoders shipped into the set top box market are from the STi5500 series that has integrated all the back-end functions in a set top box into a single chip. Following ST are LSI Logic and C-Cube in that order. LSI Logic's shipments increased slightly from 1.9 million in 1997 to 2.1 million in 1998. LSI Logic's L64005 MPEG-2 decoder is part of the Integra set top box architecture. Acer is using the Integra architecture in a set top box for SKYPerfecTV's DBS service in Japan. LSI also has a design win with Hitachi Home Electronics UK for a digital terrestrial set top box. C-Cube offers the AViA 600 and 602 as part of the AviA@TV set top box product line. The AViA-602 includes all of the features available in the AViA-600 plus MPEG-5.1 and Dolby Digital AC-3. C-Cube has design wins from BetaResearch, Canal+, Pace, JVC, Sharp, Zenith, and Pioneer in the set top box area. Just recently they announced that Philips will use C-Cube chips in digital cable set top boxes that will be deployed in the U.S. by Media One. Philips ranked fourth in unit shipments for this segment with 1.3 million units shipped in 1998. They announced the STB5660 Reference Design Kit, which uses the SAA7215 MPEG-2 decoder. The kit targets digital DBS set top boxes. Their next generation STB6000 reference design will use an MPEG-2 decoder that integrates a descrambler, a demulitplexer, memory controller, MPEG-2 decoder, MIPS CPU, 16-bit graphics engine, and a NTSC/PAL encoder. IBM has announced its own entry into the MPEG-2 decoder market. As part of its STB010x10 family of digital set top box solutions, IBM now produces a digital audio and video subsystem centered around an MPEG-2 audio/video decoder. The complete system is targeted at DVB and advanced television set top applications. In March 1998, Oak entered the MPEG-2 decoder for on-line networks segment with the purchase of assets of ODEUM Microsystems, which included an MPEG-2 audio/video decoder for use in set-top boxes. The OTI-8211 forms the basis for the Access set top box reference design platform. The chip has been chosen for the Hitachi Semiconductor/Cisco Systems Networks Program set top box reference design and the T-6000 set top box from Celerity Systems. Chinese consumer electronics manufacturer Malata is also using the Oak chip in a set top box solution that passed government certification testing. Other competitors in the MPEG-2 decoder chip market for on-line networks include VLSI Technology, which began shipping the chips that are part of its ViSTA 99 set top box reference design in late 1998. These chips include the VES6200 MPEG-2 decoder. In March 1999, Conexant, formerly Rockwell Semiconductor, introduced the CN8600 and CN8610 chips as part of its digital set top box reference platform. Chips will begin shipping in volume in the third quarter of 1999. Broadcom has also entered the MPEG-2 decoder market with a chip targeted at all digital set top boxes. In June 1998, NEC announced a back-end chip for set top boxes that integrates the processor, the transport demultiplexer, the MPEG-2 decoder, and a graphics engine onto a single chip. Samples should be available in 1999. Toshiba plans to begin shipping the TC81230F MPEG-2 decoder for set top boxes this year. The chip integrates a MIPS-based CPU, descrambler, 2D graphics controller, MPEG-2 decoder, AC-3 decoder, and memory controller.