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To: BillyG who wrote (44040)	8/19/1999 3:49:00 PM
From: DiViT	Respond to of 50808

Bandwidth for Brains MOMENTUM GATHERS ON HARD DISC VCRS 08/16/1999 Inside Multimedia (c) 1999 Phillips Business Information, Inc. MbTV networks, an OEM developer of hard disc set top box video recorders has announced it is licensing Seagate Technology's SeaStream which will enable signals from a number of different streams being delivered to the recordable set top. MbTV says its first products will be available in the new year. SeaStream's technology stores and manages the delivery of video streams, enabling multiple streams of data from different media to be dealt with at the same time. MbTV envisages the device becoming the basis for home networks, which will be able to simultaneously record several TV channels, play a movie, download a CD quality music from the Internet, while also hosting the software for a video game console. MbTV claims there is a "tremendous interest" amoung electronics companies, and are also marketing the devices as "personal television which will be able to anticipate and record TV programmes that would be of interest to a viewer". CEMA, the US research group has released figures on the growth of home theatres, indicating the demand for such devices will reach twenty million this year, five times the installed base of five years ago. Currently these comprise, for the most part, DVD or VCR players with surround sound capability and widescreen TV. Seagate are reluctant to discuss the products they currently have under development but in addition to its OEM deals, it will shortly promote its second generation U4 drive aimed at the " the growing sub-$1,000 PC and consumer appliance markets." The company says eleven "leading" manufacturers are using the technology. Research group IDC anticipate sales of such devices will reach 38 million units by 2001, so Seagate are convinced they are on to a good thing. The U4 will support video and audio streaming, Internet navigation, multimedia, e-mail and word processing on an open interface specification, that will again, simultaneously support both data and A/V operations by adjusting information streams on-the-fly. www.metabyte.com/mbtv Personalised TV Since launching its MbTV Networks Division, parent company Metabyte has been re-inventing itself with software that automatically learns individual TV viewing habits and creates personalised profiles. The MbTV client software is designed to recommend programmes and automatically record on Personal TV recorders. In addition to the Seagate deal above, MbTV has now signed a deal with C - cube Microsystems to develop a Digital Video Recorder set top and PC-based reference designs using C-cubes Dvxplore single chip real time video MPEG2 CODEC (a compression/ decompression device for audio video and graphics). Using a mass storage device (i.e. a hard disc) a MbTV- enabled DVR can provide 'time-shifted' viewing and the ability to watch recorded content at the viewer's convenience. How this will affect mainstream TV advertising is any one' guess, though MbTV envisage developer's selling their own. Under the slogan of "Bandwidth for Brains", Mb TV maintain that the ability to allow targeted advertising and personalised TV portals will provide e-commerce opportunities for its OEMs developers.

To: BillyG who wrote (44040)	8/19/1999 5:38:00 PM
From: John Rieman	Respond to of 50808

Excite@Home wants to deliver interactive TV............ internetnews.com Excite@Home Poised to Deliver Interactive Television August 18, 1999 By Patricia Fusco InternetNews.com Assistant Editor ISP News Archives Hedging a bet that set-top boxes and cable modems will be in high-demand with U.S. consumers, Excite@Home is positioning itself to deliver interactive television services through their cable partners. Excite@Home Wednesday announced it is offering their cable partners a suite of modular content applications and network services specifically designed for television set-top boxes. This family of products and services are based on existing platforms and technologies currently utilized in the marketplace. The services are broadband IP-based with connectivity available to Data Over Cable Systems Interface Specification-enabled interactive devices. DOCSIS is a standard interface for cable modems through which set-top boxes can handle incoming and outgoing data signals between a cable TV operator and a computer or television set. The set-top box standard is commonly known as OpenCable. Tom Jermoluk, Excite@Home chairman and chief executive officer, said the company is well-suited to offer interactive television services and fulfill their corporate vision. "No organization is better equipped than Excite@Home to enable broadband, IP-based, interactive services for television," Jermoluk said. Excite@Home's suite of set-top products and services for cable partners includes turnkey network operations, client software, email and ad serving through its subsidiary, MatchLogic. The cable access provider's enhanced services include IP transport over Excite@Home's 16,000-mile national broadband backbone, regional caching of Web content, private peering with other large Internet service providers, billing services and back office systems integration. Customizable local television data and broadcasting technology built-in to the Excite@Home suite of services allows cable operators to provide interactive services to existing cable set-top boxes. The Local.TV suite provides for simplified authoring, scheduling, and publishing systems that automate the creation and distribution of local or regional interactive content. Excite@Home's push for television content development and deployment has been reported to be the reason for their alleged executive rift with their primary investor, AT&T.