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

To: Jacques Chitte who wrote (45406)	9/24/1999 10:33:00 PM
From: Stoctrash	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50808

yeah...not exactly foot stompin'...but bullish for the sector.

To: Jacques Chitte who wrote (45406)	9/25/1999 12:55:00 PM
From: John Rieman	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50808

PVRs. Seagate has at least one win............ MbTV....... newsalert.com multichannel.com Hard Driving Toward Set-Top VOD By Gary Arlen Contributing Curmudgeon September 27, 1999 "Warning: If you don't control TV, it will control you." The recognizable caution-label layout appears as a sticker on a TV remote control. It dominates the cheeky full-page ad from Quantum Corp., a maker of computer hard drives. The cleverly worded message takes a poke at TV schedules that "dole out bathroom and snack breaks every 12.5 minutes." Quantum's ad for its "QuickView" digital-storage technology -- which lets viewers "pause live TV," among other features -- is the first in a series of promotions aimed at consumer-electronics retailers and high-end home-theater buffs. It is timed to support the rollout of "TiVo personal-video recorders and ReplayTV personal-TV servers" -- those would-be VCR replacements that are the buzz of digerati. Quantum was an early investor in both ventures, and it supplies both with hard drives. The ads are also a reminder that when it comes to digital television, this type of industrial-strength set-top video storage (10 to 20 gigabytes and climbing fast) may be consumers' digital product of preference, rather than the floundering HDTV sets or not-ready-for-retail digital-cable boxes. Indeed, TiVo, Replay Networks and a gaggle of competitors are escalating their campaigns to put a modified form of video-on-demand at the set-top. This month's alliance between NDS Ltd. and cable set-top-box maker Pace Micro Technology raised the stakes with its vision of an integrated digital set-top box that includes massive local storage. The companies don't yet have a customer for NDS' "XTV" ("Xtended Television") technology, which the company introduced this past spring. In fact, they don't even have a hard-drive supplier for the box with video storage. But Pace claims it will have a product ready for market by this time next year. Earlier this month, Western Digital Corp., another large hard-drive maker, unveiled its "WD Performer" line, geared specifically to the home-entertainment industry for use in TV sets, digital recorders, set-top boxes and audio-video home jukeboxes. It's available in versions up to 27.2 GB, which could hold more than 25 hours of standard MPEG-video storage or 500 hours of CD-quality MP3 audio. Sony has already signed up to use WD's technology in unspecified new products. Taken together, these separate initiatives indicate two things: ? Hard-drive makers are desperate to find new markets for their wares now that they've been commoditized in the PC realm; and ? The unknown impact of these personal-video recorders is already driving advertisers and programmers nuts. Not surprisingly, the high expectations for this technology are fueling the appetite for stock in TiVo, which is due to issue its initial public offering within days. For Silicon Valley component makers, the move toward consumer-electronics and set-top box applications has been under way for years. Another drive maker, Seagate Technology, was an early investor in WebTV. Nearly two years, ago this column described the dream of former WebTV president Steve Perlman, who envisioned a set-top digital recorder with 1 terabyte of storage by 2008. Thomson Consumer Electronics -- which already plans to put WebTV technology into its TV sets -- is believed to have even bigger storage plans for future sets. Panasonic, JVC, Philips and their set-making brethren have hinted at or actually enunciated plans to put similar storage capacity into future TV models, probably as soon as next year. The rapidly falling price of this massive storage capacity is adding to the industry's interest. Within a year, $50 will buy about 20 GB of storage (at OEM levels). That's about one-half of what it costs today -- and a sharp reminder about electronics economics to customers who paid $50 per GB last year or $50 for 100 megabytes a few years ago. Satellite receivers with built-in video storage have been trickling into the market, too (EchoStar's deal with WebTV and DirecTV's product with TiVo and Philips). Sales results aren't available -- not surprising, given the limited availability. The bigger issue, of course, is what happens next -- and how programming is affected by set-top storage. For now, the major attraction of these devices is the flexibility they offer to viewing: simultaneous recording and playback so you can "pause" a live show; intelligent electronic program guides that help you to find favorite shows; and technology that actually recommends programs that fit your viewing patterns. The next steps bring VOD even closer to the set-top: downloading specific shows, delivery of personalized commercials and similar customer-controlled applications. That's not to mention the audio-on-demand downloading capabilities of this equipment. The warning is appropriate: This capability will change viewing patterns in ways much deeper and more complex than VCRs did two decades ago. I-Way Patrol columnist Gary Arlen definitely needs more storage space -- digital and otherwise.