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

To: Stoctrash who wrote (24270)	10/23/1997 12:33:00 PM
From: BillyG	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 50808

Wait, I thought the browser was free . . . Never mind.

To: Stoctrash who wrote (24270)	10/23/1997 8:35:00 PM
From: DiViT	Respond to of 50808

For those who thought I was dreaming.... Tomorrow's entertainment systems Steven M. Blumenfeld and Mark Dillon ÿ 10/30/97 Broadcast Engineering Copyright (c) 1997 Intertec Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved. ÿ By now we have discussed most of the interactive avenues available to you as a broadcaster. We have spent time chiding you on being the first to market with your local information. We have pleaded for you to take the lead in the TV appliance revolution. Finally, we have tried to help you understand some of the ramifications of interactivity. This month, we are going to try to tie all these technologies and architectures together and take a look at the near future - we call it HybridCast. Intel calls this technology Intercast, and Microsoft will be pushing a similar concept as its broadcast architecture in Windows 98. Both Intel and Microsoft present the computer as a viable way to obtain TV (broadcast) information. They do this through the use of the Internet and the VBI. However, I believe that these broadcast technologies, as they are currently defined, are too limiting. A much better solution requires a third element to the equation - optical disc/storage. There are information architectures for the Internet combined with a CD-ROM, but nowhere have we seen an optical disc tied together with the Internet and broadcast television. Think of the immense power of a system that used the strengths of each of these media. Internet for real-time data updates, broadcast for real-time image updates and a large, inexpensive optical storage device for archival and proprietary information. Broadcast interactivity Back in 1991, we ran a project called Hybrid TV. We had a Philips CD-I player outfitted with a special gen-lock/overlay board, a VBI decoder and a 1,200-baud modem. Together with our partners, we delivered broadcast interactivity to 60 million households. However, only 100 of these boxes were made. What was interesting about this trial and technology is that we were doing what Intercast is trying to do today, only our data sources encompassed all three items mentioned above. The one constant in this and all other interactive architectures of this class is the broadcast medium. Today's network infrastructure and technology will enable the implementation of an outrageous interactive entertainment system. Let me propose a consumer device that incorporates DVD , television and the Internet. This is not all that far off. By the end of the year, Echostar will have a DSS and DVD combo unit. Now, broadcasters can incorporate high-bandwidth 3-D environments on DVD , combined with positional and informational data from the Internet and entertainment from the television. This system will allow rich new experiences to be generated on your customer's TV screen. In fact, the show will have a life of its own. Communities of interests will spring up to share background and setup data, much like the Music Trading Trees that surround bands such as the Grateful Dead and Phish. Your audience will decide what occurs on the TV screen. I am not talking about the "pick your favorite ending" type of interactivity, but a whole new involvement by your audience. Your audience will have the ability to manipulate objects and control the actors' environments. From a production standpoint, these shows will have to rely a lot more on character and plot development than on location. The upshot As in all new technologies, the first questions need to be "Where is the money?" and "What is the business model?" If you think hard enough, you will see that the combination of these technologies opens new financial possibilities and will give the broadcaster a new, incremental revenue stream. As we advance toward the digital age of television, this type of production will require only an incremental increase in cost, but could generate significant revenue and differentiation for a broadcaster. Imagine being able to change the look and feel of your station to a selected group of people. You can start with the 18- to 35-year-olds most likely to own computers with DVD and be on the Internet. You will have the ability to give them a truly customized broadcast. OK, so you have heard all this before, and it has been tried in many incarnations, each met with successful press, but dismal financial rewards. What is different this time around? Honestly, the only differences are time and new innovation. Every day the technology grows by leaps and bounds, and the real question is not if you will be involved in a full-fledged multimedia broadcast architecture, but when.