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

To: DiViT who wrote (26323)	12/8/1997 1:46:00 PM
From: BillyG	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50808

I haven't seen the Philips infomercial, but I would like to see it. Do you remember what network carried it?

To: DiViT who wrote (26323)	12/8/1997 2:04:00 PM
From: BillyG	Respond to of 50808

Dolby AC3 in Europe -- follow-up to your post last week.......... Dolby's Got The Whole World Listening SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 8, 1997--It is now official that PAL DVDs which carry only Dolby Digital audio soundtracks are fully compliant with the DVD Video standard. One hour before the new DVD Forum met for the first time on December 5th, in Tokyo, Japan, the DVD Steering Committee, which is composed of the original 10 member companies of the DVD Consortium, met in a separate meeting. The steering committee conducted some final discussions, and then took a vote to decide the issue of audio for the PAL DVD format. The vote was in favor of changing the status of Dolby Digital from an "optional" format to the category of "mandatory" formats in the PAL DVD specification. This was announced at the DVD Forum meeting to all attendees. Prior to this announcement, DVDs in PAL countries were required to carry either a PCM or MPEG soundtrack in addition to the Dolby Digital one. Areas of the world which adhere to the PAL standard include Europe, China, Australia and parts of South America. This is a welcome change for those content providers who wish to provide content containing a 5.1 channel Dolby Digital track and, for reasons of limited disc capacity, do not wish to also have to include a two-channel MPEG-1 audio track. With the specification change, the MPEG-1 track is no longer required for conformance. "We are very pleased with the decision made by the DVD Forum yesterday. It is yet another indication that Dolby Digital (AC-3) is the worldwide standard for multichannel audio," said Ed Schummer, Vice President, Dolby Laboratories Licensing Corporation. Since the introduction of DVD Video in Japan and the USA, over 600 DVD titles have been released or announced. Almost every release is Dolby Digital encoded. Every DVD player sold -- 460,000 units -- features Dolby Digital audio. Dolby Laboratories is the developer of audio signal processing systems used worldwide in consumer audio and video products, on consumer audio and video entertainment software, and in professional sound applications that include music recording, broadcasting, and motion picture sound. The privately-held company is headquartered in San Francisco, with offices in New York, Los Angeles, Shanghai, Tokyo, and European headquarters in England. CONTACT: Kanner Public Relations Inc. William A. Kanner 212/545-7424, Voice 212/545-7426, Fax KannerPR@AOL.com, E-Mail

To: DiViT who wrote (26323)	12/8/1997 4:03:00 PM
From: John Rieman	Respond to of 50808

David. Here's your year 2000 box......................................... To: Dan Spillane (26236 ) From: John Rieman Saturday, Dec 6 1997 9:45AM EST Reply # of 26331 Phillips wanted MPEG-2 audio added. They are working on MPEG-2 audio encoders. It means they lost. But this Phillips is no loser......................................... newmedia.com. (Published in NewMedia December 15, 1997 Contents) Open Your Checkbooks... By Becky Waring <Picture: becky> iServ<Picture: i>Philips Home-Theater <Picture: what is iServ> <Picture> THREADSWhat's on your mind in the world of digital media? What do you love? What do you hate? Talk amongst yourselves in Peer to Peer, the general discussion area of Threads. The wait is over. Convergence is finally here -- really. And guess what? It's not coming from Microsoft, or Sony, or even Apple. It's brought to you by Philips and its Marantz division. <Picture: Philips Home Theatre>ÿÿÿ<Picture>ÿÿ What is this wonder? It's the DVX8000 Multimedia Home Theater ($5,000). Unlike WebTV and other set-top boxes, which have wimped-out browsers and limited functionality, the DVX8000 has a full Pentium 233MHz computer inside. And unlike the PC/TV offerings from Compaq and Gateway 2000, which are basically just PCs with TV tuners and analog NTSC output, it functions as a full AV receiver -- the hub of your stereo and TV system. And its sleek black design is made to blend into the living room. ÿÿÿ<Picture>ÿÿ As a computer, the DVX8000 has all the bells and whistles: 32MB of RAM (expandable to 128MB), a 3.1GB hard drive, a wavetable sound card, millions of colors at SVGA resolution (800 by 600), a 3D accelerator chip, a 33.6Kbps modem, a floppy drive, a wireless keyboard, and a DVD-ROM drive with MPEG-2 and Dolby Digital decoding. Two USB ports, two serial ports, a parallel port, a MIDI/Joystick port, mic and line inputs, an IR port and one half-length PCI slot offer standard connections for peripherals like printers and scanners. ÿÿÿ<Picture>ÿÿ As a home-theater center, the Philips unit is also top-of-the-line, with video connections for TV, 2 VCRs, laserdisc, and DSS, and audio inputs for CD player (or turntable) and tape deck. It features TV and FM tuners, Dolby Digital (AC-3) and ProLogic, Lucasfilm Cinema Re-EQ, and a 5.1-channel pre-amp. ÿÿÿ<Picture>ÿÿ But the whole is truly more than the sum of the parts, and this is where the convergence really takes place. If you're watching TV and a commercial break starts, you can instantly call up the computer (no boot-up time) and check your e-mail or write a letter while monitoring the video in a window on the computer display. End of commercial, click once more and the TV fills the monitor again. And what a display! If you have one of the new progressive-scan RGB monitors or front projectors, line-doubled video results in amazing quality -- digital sources like DVD and DSS are kept digital as long as possible, avoiding the image loss that comes with intermediate analog conversions. You can also use S-video connections; while this won't give you the highest possible quality, it's still very good, and better than conventional TV. ÿÿÿ<Picture>ÿÿ The universal remote control covers everything, TV and computer, and lets you listen to any audio source while viewing a different video. So you can listen to the radio or CD while surfing the net, or monitor the sound on TV-in-a-window while checking e-mail. ÿÿÿ<Picture>ÿÿ All this integrated functionality comes straight out of the box and works with your existing stereo and video equipment, For multimedia mavens, the feature with the most potential is probably that free PCI slot. I'd put an Iomega Buz card in it, which combines full-screen, full-motion video capture with an Ultra SCSI port. That way you can attach a CD recorder to take advantage of all the audio equipment in the vicinity. One of the difficulties in making your own CD mixes of old LPs, tapes, and other CDs is that your computer is not usually anywhere near all these devices, and cabling is a pain. Connecting the tape output on the DVX8000 to the adjacent sound card input makes those problems history. And capturing and editing home videos should be similarly easy with the Buz's breakout box hooked to one of the VCR connections. I can't wait to try this out. Look for a report on our real-world experience in a couple of months, along with news about other similar products that should star at January's Consumer Electronics Show. Philips (888) 486-6272 First Lookÿ December 15, 1997 Contents

To: DiViT who wrote (26323)	12/8/1997 4:46:00 PM
From: John Rieman	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50808

To sell DVD, all you need to do is show it. A DVD review.......................................... phillynews.com DVD: It comes through loud and clear by Jonathan Takiff Daily News Staff Writer How good is DVD -- the new high-tech, CD-sized digital carrier of moving pictures and multi-channel sound? We recently invited a trio of tech-savvy audio- and video-lovin' fans to eyeball and ear-judge some of the best music-video discs available for the medium. Our guinea pigs were longtime progressive rock mixmaster and critic Michael Tearson, the equally legendary DJ Ed Sciaky and music manager/event producer Alan Newman. To give the medium a full-blast, no-compromise test, we fed the output from a Philips Magnavox DVD player to a Kenwood receiver equipped with six-channel Dolby Digital decoding, then onto an MB Quart "Domain" Home Theater speaker system and 35-inch Sony XBR television. (But this versatile DVD system also works quite well with the sound pumping through a conventional stereo or Dolby Pro Logic surround-sound receiver and the picture playing on any TV set with a video or, better yet, S-video input.) Two of three judges (and yours truly) proclaimed DVD the best home-entertainment program source they'd ever experienced -- with "picture clarity and color reproduction that's just amazing" and "sound that's equally impressive -- robust and razor-sharp." The only reviewer who didn't go bananas was laser-disc devotee Sciaky, who grudgingly judged the new medium "a little better than laser video." One of the other guys quipped, "Ed's just mad 'cause he doesn't want to give up on a format he already has." Why did I choose to show these guys titles like "Mary Chapin Carpenter Live at Wolf Trap," "Eric Clapton Unplugged" and "Dave Grusin presents 'West Side Story,' " as opposed to slam-bang action-adventure films like "Mars Attacks" or "Twister," the staple of most in-store DVD demonstrations? Movies are doctored like crazy by special-effects and Foley (sound-effects) technicians to shake you in your seat. And who knows what a spaceship landing in the Nevada desert or a tornado-swept car crashing into a barn really looks or sounds like? But a knowing ear can detect the "honesty" (or lack of same) in the voices and instrumentation of a live musical performance. And some of these shot-on-video programs had picture clarity that was almost too revealing. "Geez, you can see all the blemishes in Carpenter's face," marveled Tearson during closeups. "If she had a pimple, you could pop it," dittoed Newman, only half-joking. The latter was even more impressed by the fine gradations of black -- an acid test of color reproduction -- as evident on Clapton "Unplugged." "You can see that his jacket is really midnight blue, against a black backdrop. On the videotape version, it all blends together." Sonic performance from the new medium was judged equally hot. "Wow, you can even hear Mary Chapin's guitar pick clicking on the strings," marveled Tearson, during her backyard acoustic interlude with Shawn Colvin on "That's the Way Love Goes." "And check out the faint bird chirps and whistling wind sounds coming from the rear channels," peeped Newman. "I feel like I'm sitting on the porch with them." During performance footage from Wolf Trap, Carpenter rocked out on "Shut Up and Kiss Me," and devoted concertgoer Sciaky allowed "it sounds and looks better here" -- in my living room -- "than it was there." Even more impressive, audibly, was the brassy big-band wailing on "Something's Coming" from the Grusin "West Side Story" DVD. This disc was digitally recorded and mixed especially for the new six-channel medium (with three speakers across the front and two in the back, plus a dedicated subwoofer channel). "The band is set up in a 180-degree arc, with trumpets blaring out of the rear speakers," noted Tearson. "From my vantage point, I feel like I'm in the conductor's seat." Also knocking them silly were the sights and sounds of Prince's flick "Purple Rain" and the THX-certified pressing of Oliver Stone's cinematic tribute "The Doors" -- a superb mixed-media roller-coaster ride. "The channel separation is great, and the bass is phenomenal," noted our Newman on "When Doves Cry." And as the screen rendering of the Doors soared and audience roared on the nightclub performance of "Break On Through to the Other Side," all of us felt like we'd done so, too.