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

To: John Rieman who wrote (48868)	3/25/2000 5:50:00 AM
From: Maya	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 50808

Slowly the Cube semi value has inched up to $29. Looks like people are interested only in Cube semi. They have been buying Cube and shorting HLIT causing HLIT to go down and Cube to go up ratio wise. What a dichotomy. It will be interesting after the merger. Agreed, shorted shares will be replaced with the newly issued shares. But HLIT will start to push higher soon after the merger without these Cube buyers shorting it. BTW, special shareholder meeting for HLIT and Cube set for April 24th.

To: John Rieman who wrote (48868)	4/24/2000 12:53:00 AM
From: Cameron Lang	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50808

More on IBM's STB chips (couple of weeks old)... techweb.com IBM's MPEG controllers designed for set-top boxes Mark Hachman Silicon Valley- IBM Corp. last week attempted to gain inroads into the set-top-box market through the release of an MPEG-enhanced embedded PowerPC microprocessor. IBM's STB0210x and STB03xxx digital set-top-box integrated controllers take a somewhat novel approach, bolting an MPEG-2 decoder and demultiplexer directly on the PowerPC 401 or 405 microprocessor itself, which does some multimedia processing as well as some general-purpose computing. Rivals like Broadcom Corp. have traditionally allowed for an isolated CPU, designing a dedicated video/graphics "display processor" instead. IBM's approach is most similar to the features offered by C-Cube Microsystems Inc.'s AvIA-iNX "graphics transport network processor," which integrates a 100-MHz microSparc CPU but offers an interface to a system CPU. IBM's 54-MHz 210x series of controllers is designed for low to midrange digital set-top boxes, performing basic functions, according to John Sixsmith, marketing manager at the company's Digital Video Products Group in Waltham, Mass. However, the higher-performance 3-series, which features either a 108- or 162-MHz PowerPC, addresses OEMs' need to "drive hard for more and more performance," Sixsmith said. "This is intended to be the leader for the high-end digital set-top space." Both families integrate an MPEG-2 demultiplexer, audio decoder, and video decoder block, the latter capable of displaying five hardware graphics planes. The two product families share the ability to output the video in an NTSC or PAL format, and share a variety of I/O interfaces to smart cards and serial and parallel ports. Both families can select the Macrovision copy-protection option. The higher-end 3-series provides some unique features, including MPEG-2 Layer 2 audio, but not the MPEG Layer 3, or "MP3," format. IBM added an RF interface, and allows OEMs the option of selecting Dolby Digital AC-3 audio if they secure the appropriate license. IBM did not disclose pricing. The STB0210x will sample in May and enter production in June; the STB03xxx series will begin sampling and enter production in the second half of this year.