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To: axial who wrote (8424)	9/11/2000 9:29:09 AM
From: MikeM54321	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 12823

Re: Digital TV - Philips and STB Positioning "I suggest Philips..." Jim- Just read this story this AM. I don't believe I've ever heard of HAVi. Sounds interesting. I'll have to check that out. Thanks. -MikeM(From Florida) ******************** Philips Digital Networks Sees $1 Billion in Sales in 2000 AMSTERDAM, Sept 10 - The Philips Digital Network division of Philips Electronics NV(PHG) expects $1 billion in sales in 2000, the majority of which will come from digital set-top boxes for interactive TV, the groups chief said on Sunday. Philips aims to move up to number one from the number three position worldwide in sales of set-top boxes, the divisions chief executive officer Rob van Oostenbrugge told Reuters in an interview. Philips is currently in third place behind Motorola(MOT) and Thompson/RCA(TMS) of France, Van Oostenbrugge said. The company has recently announced deals to jointly develop further products with software maker Liberate(LBRT) and Microsoft(MSFT), timed to coincide with the International Broadcasting Convention taking place this weekend in Amsterdam. Philips is Europe's largest maker of consumer products, lighting and semiconductors**.

To: axial who wrote (8424)	9/11/2000 11:15:30 AM
From: justone	Respond to of 12823

Jim: I certainly am not an expert on digital TV, but I understand that there is a lot of vendor created confusion over deployment: so this is an area of uncertainty. I suspect this topic is covered somewhere on the thread, and will try to research it. Also, regarding your Phillips/HAVi One thing I haven't spent much time on is wireless in the house- perhaps we need a "Last 100 feet" thread. I'll look at it. I also remember it is discussed in the thread somewhere. I have little knowledge in this area, other than to note that 1) cordless phones are very very successful, 2) wireless data and 3) wireless appliances will also be successful based on user demand, but there are two requirements: - the cost has got to be very very low - it must be easy to manage (self configuring) I also am vaguely aware there are competing standards here as well. So this is another area of uncertainty. My general design principle from my years as a software architect is to combine areas of likely change (uncertainty) in one functional area, and keep everything that doesn't change separate. Applying this to the problem of what the termination device would look like in the last mile in the home, I again feel that a software-driven open-architecture solution is preferred to embedded set tops. The device should have compact PCI buss/ or USB, IP, windos/linus, and HTTP/HTML. All the uncertainly (applications and interfaces) should be add on's. You should NOT embed uncertainty. You can embed standards, but in separate modules. I guess people want first tv, then radio, then cd, then dvd, then stored tv, then broadband web (data), then digital tv, then wireless appliances, then wireless lans, but don't agree on the standards, the best thing is to have software driven plug in modules for each of them. I also missed one very important point that (I think) Mike mentions somewhere- remotes vs mouse. I just went out and bought some components: I now have a tv remote, a cable remote, a vcr remote and am/fm/cd remote. I don't work any of them very well. Add a dvd remote and you end up with a totally confusing system with five or six devices that each work differently. On the other hand a mouse, a window, and a menu are relatively easy to understand. So you can add complex new features to a pc and have a fairly nice system that is easy to use. You can manage all the desired multi media features and email too! I guess what I'm saying is that the future is a low cost PC with a large hard drive and a bunch of plug in modules for dvd/cd, tv, hdtv, wireless lan, cams, cordless phones, and who knows what else in the future: perhaps a clock that is easy to program (I can't do it on my VCR today, so much for a master's degree in engineering). And we may still have the remote, but as Wireless IP mouse and keyboard. Thus again, your semi suggestion is probably a good one- if digital TV takes off they will all need the chip, set top or PC or embedded in the TV. Who are the competitors other than TI?