To: John Rieman who wrote (25646 ) 11/24/1997 6:55:00 PM From: BillyG Respond to of 50808
ATI is bullish on DVD. But it is pushing its hybrid hardware/software solution. I forecast that they'll have a complete hardware solution one day (maybe not their own)............... -ATI TECHNOLOGIES: Will DVD let PCs usurp the TV? M2 PRESSWIRE-24 November 1997-ATI TECHNOLOGIES: Will DVD let PCs usurp the TV? (C)1994-97 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD * ATI Technologies leads PC DVD entertainment revolution DVD will be the killer technology that establishes the PC in the home entertainment market, says ATI Technologies. ATI is currently shipping a solution to major computer manufacturers, including Compaq, that allows any PC equipped with a DVD-ROM drive and an ATI 3D Rage Pro chip to play DVD movies on either a monitor or TV screen. Hardware add-ons which allow owners of a DVD-ROM drive to play DVD movies could add hundreds of pounds to the price of a PC, taking it out of an acceptable home price range. However ATI has developed an extremely low cost solution that saves PC makers the need to incorporate expensive DVD hardware and opens the door for PC-based DVD systems into the mainstream marketplace. The higher resolutions of PCs over TV sets result in higher quality images than are possible with DVD video player/TV systems. Industry analyst DataQuest predicted in a May, 1997 report that DVD PC drive systems will total about 8 million in 1997, compared to about 1 million DVD video players. By the end of 1998, the DVD PC drive market should swell to more than 24 million, with DVD video players at about 4 million. ATI is the only graphics vendor in the marketplace currently shipping a high quality DVD solution that enables DVD replay through the use of hardware-assisting motion compensation and software and is expected to continue to lead and dominate the PC DVD market. ATI has worked in close partnership with both Intel and software developer Zoran for more than a year to develop the world's best software DVD solution. Gerd Queisser, vice-president of ATI's European operations says: "Software DVD is the killer-technology that PC manufacturers have been looking for to penetrate the home entertainment marketplace. "With software and our 3D RAGE PRO chip, manufacturers can build a high quality DVD solution that takes advantage of the inherent benefits of the PC over the consumer DVD video player - and do it virtually free-of-charge. "Together we will help the DVD market grow tremendously and the features that 3D RAGE PRO offers now will become standard for DVD in the future." Compaq will include ATI's DVD solution in its Presario 4840 and 4850. A number of other major computer manufacturers are poised to announce DVD products that incorporate ATI's software DVD technology. Home theatre systems and big screen movies with ImpacTV2 For display on large screen TV sets, ATI also offers the ImpacTV2 chip for high quality PAL TV-out. The flicker-free display on the TV provided by the ImpacTV2 chip will allow computer makers to offer PC DVD systems that can easily and inexpensively serve as excellent home theatre systems. ImpacTV2 also provides support for Macrovision 7 copy protection to allow display of protected DVD content on a TV set. ATI also manufacturers ATI-TV, an add-in card that turns a PC into a TV, complete with full Teletext which can be copied and pasted like any computer document. Still images or movie clips can be captured to disc or copied into presentations, web pages or email messages. Users can zoom-in on video footage, and images recorded by camcorder can be transported to the PC ready for playback in a matter of seconds. ATI's 3D RAGE PRO chip off-loads demand on the Pentium II processor The 3D RAGE PRO chip off-loads much of the computational workload from the Pentium II, the best processor for optimal DVD performance, [without a hardware decoder!] and with motion compensation, provides the full frame rates needed for high quality DVD/MPEG-2 playback. Without motion compensation, competing hardware solutions cannot provide full frame rate replay, resulting in jumpy images when action on the screen involves rapid movement. With the power of ATI's leading home entertainment and multimedia technologies the PC far outstrips the 'fun potential' of the traditional TV. About ATI ATI Technologies Inc. designs, manufactures and markets innovative and award-winning multimedia acceleration solutions and graphics components for personal computers. The company is one of the world's leading suppliers of video and 2D/3D graphics accelerator products to OEM and retail customers. Founded in l985, ATI employs more than 900 people at headquarters in Thornhill, Ontario, with offices in the United States, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Japan. The company is ranked among Canada's largest technology firms with fiscal 1996 fiscal revenues of GBP 218 million. The company has a history of industry firsts including the first 2D accelerator - mach32, the first PCI accelerator - mach64, and the first 3D accelerator - 3D RAGE. In addition to its successful desktop chips, ATI markets the world's first 3D LCD chip for notebooks - the 3D RAGE LT. ATI's European headquarters are based in Germany, with the UK operation co-ordinated from London. ATI's web page is at www.atitech.com Editor's Note: ATI hardware is available for review from Cohn & Wolfe. If you would like a demonstration of ATI's technologies please call David Harold. CONTACT: Simon Greer, ATI Technologies Inc. Tel: +44 (0)1628 533 115 Fax: +44 (0)1628 533 116 e-mail: sgreer@atitech.ca David Harold/Chris Cox, Cohn & Wolfe Tel: +44 (0)171 331 5300 Fax: +44 (0)171 331 9088 e-mail: david_harold@cohnwolfe.com *M2 COMMUNICATIONS DISCLAIMS ALL LIABILITY FOR INFORMATION PROVIDED WITHIN M2 PRESSWIRE. DATA SUPPLIED BY NAMED PARTY/PARTIES.*