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Technology Stocks : Gemstar Intl (GMST) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: RocketMan who wrote (1413)	1/9/2000 1:52:00 PM
From: quidditch	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6516

Is it clear that one or more parts of TiVo's technology directly competes with that of GMST? It is going to be hard to sell that monthly fee when there are TVs on the floor with built-in EPGs. Confusion still exists for me here. Does TiVo's ERP (erase/record/play) technology (for recording/stopping/playing TV or Web transmission content) incorporate an IPG and/or EPG? If so, how does that IPG and/or EPG square with Gemstar's patented space? Responses invited. Steve

To: RocketMan who wrote (1413)	1/9/2000 2:59:00 PM
From: John Carragher	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 6516

section from Mercury news recap Personal video recorders Last year's CES marked the debut for TiVo Inc. and Replay Networks, two Silicon Valley companies making personal TV recorders that use a hard disk to pause and replay live TV, as well as recording shows automatically based on the viewer's preferences. This year, more manufacturers announced plans for such devices, with prices dropping and features expanding. The recorders are also showing signs of evolving into storage devices for all manner of home entertainment -- TV, music, home videos, photographs and anything else that can be digitized, including information from the Web. Sony announced its first TiVo unit will be due this spring, priced just under $400. That's $100 less than the basic Philips models sell for today, and the Sony units will have more than twice the recording capacity. Future Sony models will be able to connect to other home electronics devices, such as CD and DVD players, once copyright-protection issues are resolved. Panasonic said it would begin selling its version of the Replay recorder in April, with price and storage capacity yet to be announced. Philips announced it would add a competing model to its TiVo line: a personal TV recorder from Microsoft's WebTV subsidiary in Mountain View. That unit would incorporate the WebTV Plus service, which allows viewers to see enhanced versions of TV shows and, for an extra fee, to browse the Internet on their TV. Company officials declined to say when the WebTV unit would be available, or how much it would cost. WebTV already makes a similar unit in cooperation with satellite TV provider EchoStar Communications Corp., which sells for $299 and can tune in satellite broadcasts from EchoStar's Dish Network. DirecTV announced that its version of personal TV -- a receiver with TiVo technology -- would be available in the second quarter of this year for an undisclosed price. Those receivers won't be able to browse the Internet but will perform some simple interactive TV functions, using technology from Wink of Alameda. TiVo also has announced efforts to develop interactive TV services with America Online and Liberate Technologies of San Carlos. Officials from Thomson, which owns the RCA, GE and ProScan brands, indicated they, too, planned to enter the personal TV realm, most likely with Microsoft.