With friends like these, Part 2..........................
Philips is keeping company with Hitachi, IBM, Cyrix and . . . ESST.
Cyrix chip targets convergence
By Michael Kanellos
November 12, 1997, 12:45 p.m. PT
comdex Chipmaker Cyrix and a host of electronics
partners are trying to drum up support for a new
all-in-one computing and entertainment device that
they say will be far more versatile than a set-top
box and cost much less than than pricey PC-TVs
from the vendors such as Gateway 2000.
If successful, the new device would bring a new
level of convergence to the consumer electronics
industry as well as give Cyrix another market for its
MediaGX processors.
Called the Media Center system, the new
convergence device would essentially be a fully
functional multimedia PC that can also control any
other electronic home entertainment device,
according to Steve Tobak, vice president of
corporate marketing at Cyrix. The company will be
showing off demonstration units at Comdex next
week.
Also at Comdex, the company will also be releasing
a reference platform for managed PCs to retail for
under $500 that has been submitted to major
computer manufacturers. To date, Cyrix has not
made a stab at corporate America with the
MediaGX.
With the Media Center, customers can watch TV,
surf the Internet, and send email as with a set-top
box, Tobak said. But users can also run movies on
a DVD drive, conduct telephone calls via
speakerphone, set up a videoconferencing system,
run 3D games, control the stereo, and do tasks on
spread sheets and other productivity applications.
Media Center will also include intelligence functions,
said a spokesperson. If you typically watch a show
at a certain time, the system will automatically
activate a VCR to record it based on past viewing
habits.
The system will be based around Windows 98 and
a Media Center interface. Its, at least initially, will
be the 200-MHz MediaGX with MMX from Cyrix,
which comes out this January.
The projected price is significant. Currently,
PC-TVs with similar functions from Gateway 2000
and Compaq cost well over $3,000 and typically
closer to $5,000.
Initially, the Media Center will sell for around
$1,200, which does not include a monitor or TV,
but the price will drop to $999 within a year, he
said. Cyrix itself will not manufacture Media Center
boxes. Instead, it will try to encourage PC
manufacturers and electronics makers to build
devices around the reference design.
"It's got far greater functionality than any set-top
box," Tobak said. "The idea is to lead the way for
PC and consumer electronics OEMs into what can
be done in the home."
While concept certainly has appeal, the price point,
vis-a-vis the low-cost set-top box market, will
make it a difficult proposition initially, said Tim
Bajarin, president of Creative Strategies.
"The price is a bit high [for the set-top box market],
but for what it does it is a good deal," he said.
"Gateway 2000 and Compaq have fundamentally
done the same thing with PC Theater at three times
the price, granted they throw the TV in."
Tobak, however, countered that improvements to
the MediaGX family will cut manufacturing costs.
The next version of the MediaGX, for example,
called the MediaMXi, will include 3D functionality.
As a result, OEMs will not have to include a
separate graphics processor, which they have to do
now. The MXi will also eliminate the need for a
separate MPEG-2 decoder processor.
"I can envision a $699, $799 price point for this
form factor with higher performance in 18 to 24
months," Tobak said.
Media Center partners include Hitachi, Philips
North America, IBM and ESS Technology.
The reference design that will be previewed at
Comdex will, if used, allow an OEM to develop a
thin, managed PC, said Tobak. The machine
supports all of the Net PC protocols.
"We are talking to all of the major OEMs and I
would expect to have a 'tier 1' manufacturer by the
second quarter 1998," he said. |
