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

To: Peter V who wrote (50279)	11/9/2000 5:20:33 PM
From: John Rieman	Respond to of 50808

Konka, a C-Cube DVD customer.......................... eet.com TV maker Konka looks to info appliances By Sunray Liu EE Times (11/08/00, 3:15 p.m. EST) SHENZHEN, China — Konka Group, China's largest TV and cell phone maker, is shifting its focus to concentrate on the emerging information appliance market here. Konka will kick off its new strategic push with a series of digital and network products. The company is also developing an 8-bit microcontroller at its laboratory in Silicon Valley and is working with Intel Corp. on a third-generation (3G) multimedia terminal. Well-known here for its prowess in consumer electronics product development, Konka's designs have become reference models for other local producers. Branching out internationally as well, Konka announced China's first U.S.-compatible digital TV receiver at the Consumer Electronics Show and said it is supplying a receiver for China's HDTV trials. During the China High-Tech Fair here in October, Konka executives detailed a range of digital TV products including a networked TV receiver and video recorders, along with receiver-based LCDs and plasma displays. The digital TV receivers will be used as monitors at 10 local stations as part of the China State Planning and Development Committee's plans to accelerate deployment of DTV broadcasting around the country. The company has developed core technologies to display all U.S. and European digital TV formats, and "we have realized [their] mass production," said Weirong Chen, chief executive of Konka and vice chairman of its board. Since China has yet to settle on a terrestrial digital TV format, Konka has also divided its integrated DTV receiver design to include a monitor and separate set-top box. The digital set-tops can receive standard and high-definition signals for the U.S. and European terrestrial, cable and satellite formats. The rapid growth of China's Internet market has prompted the company to add network access functions to its consumer products and cell phones. Konka's network TV sets come equipped with a modem and browser for Internet access and e-mail. The receiver provides 800-line resolution for reading Chinese characters, a zoom function operating at a doubled field frequency of 100 Hz and a sequential scan capability. The net TV also contains PC functions like word processing and spreadsheet creation. A networked DVD player incorporates an MPEG-2 decoder and a Web browser that can also play MP3 music files. Maintaining advantages Meanwhile, Konka has established separate state consumer electronics and communications development laboratories along with Konson Lab Inc.(Fremont, Calif.), as its seeks to maintain its technological edge. The Konson lab has so far delivered a color TV microcontroller used in Konka receivers. Konka used to purchase MCUs from Philips Semiconductor but decided to invest in the lab in 1997 to control costs, system development cycles and its own chip supply chain. The lab rolled out its first 8-bit MCU design 12 months later, which included flash memory and mask ROM versions. Dennis Lin, president of the Konson Lab, said the MCU has several new features including 32-kbit storage and 256 onscreen display characters, or twice that of general-purpose MCUs. Software upgrades will improve menus and interfaces. The lab has also designed a font editor based on Windows 98 that can simplify the design of Chinese characters — a key requirement for domestic use of bitmap editors. The MCU supports the C programming language and on-chip emulation and debugging. As a result, the chip can be mounted early in a design. Software can be downloaded from a PC through an IIC bus. The MCUs are being produced at two Taiwanese fabs using 0.35-micron process technology on 8-inch wafers. Konka's Chen said the company is developing an MPEG-2 decoder chip for digital TV along with a baseband chip for its Global System for Mobile (GSM) communication and General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) wireless phones. All are expected to be ready within the next three years. In addition to establishing its U.S. lab, Konka is also cooperating with leading chip makers in an effort to boost its new information appliance strategy. It announced an agreement with Lucent Technologies last year on cell phone technology and unveiled plans at the high-tech fair here to work with Intel on developing mobile 3G phone terminals. The new 3G devices will use Intel's Xscale microarchitecture and its personal consumer architecture. Konka has set up wireless communication centers in Shenzhen and in Silicon Valley, which employ more than 60 engineers. After shipping a series of GSM cell phones, Konka will roll out a Wireless Access Protocol phone by the end of the year. The company is now in the process of setting up its 3G communication development center, which will be funded with 10 percent of its cellular phone revenue. The Intel project is expected to accelerate that progress. Although China has not decided on which 3G formats it will adopt, Konka and Intel have decided to design some multimedia terminals for both the Chinese and overseas markets.