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Technology Stocks : Intel Corporation (INTC) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ronald A.Christopher who wrote (42304)	12/15/1997 2:56:00 PM
From: Joey Smith	Respond to of 186894

All, Article: Didital PCTVs picking up steam: Zenith Allies With Intel On PC Digital TV (12/15/97; 1:44 p.m. EST) By Jack Robertson, Electronic Buyers' News Jumping from consumer electronics to home computing, Zenith Electronics has quietly joined with Intel to demonstrate a DTV running on a Pentium II platform. Zenith, a member of the grand alliance of TV-set makers that forged the HDTV standard, offered a backstage look at its PC DTV at the Western Cable Show in Annaheim, Calif. The demonstration came on the heels of Intel's announcement of a multifront initiative to establish Pentium II as the dominant processor for DTV systems. While Zenith still plans to market standard HDTV sets, "We see both living room PC-like appliances and high-definition TV sets having a place in the market," said Paul Snopko, director of research and development at Zenith, in Glenview, Ill. Zenith follows TV-set competitor Thomson Consumer Electronics, which is already selling a high-end PCTV in conjunction with Compaq, but plans to offer economy-priced PC DTV models next year. A bevy of PC makers, including Dell, Gateway 2000, and Micron Electronics, are reportedly developing Pentium-based DTVs to be introduced next year to coincide with the first U.S. HDTV broadcasts. During the past two weeks, Intel has launched several initiatives to make Pentium II as widely used in DTV appliances as in conventional PCs. "We believe the Pentium II generations in the next year will be able to run all potential digital-TV formats from all possible sources," said Thomas Galvin, director of TV market development at Intel, in Santa Clara, Calif. Intel used the show to launch its second DTV open-standard initiative in five days, inviting broadcasters, cable operators, DBS companies, and Internet providers to join in developing a common standard for authoring programs that would run on any digital media. The proposal would allow a single DTV set to run interlaced or progressive-scan formats at various frame rates, using the microprocessor to configure the screen for the desired format. Although Intel clearly wants Pentium II to be that processor, Galvin said the proposed standard would enable Advanced Micro Devices, Cyrix, or any other microprocessor vendor to compete for the heart of the DTV set. Intel's digital-TV thrust is based on cutting the cost of a living room appliance by eliminating separate MPEG-2 and Dolby AC chip sets and shifting the decompression work to software on the Pentium II. For the show demonstration, Zenith used a 300-MHz Pentium II for a 420-line progressive-scan computer screen. A 740-line progressive-scan or full 1,028-line interlaced HDTV format would require a 400-MHz microprocessor, which Snopko said he expects Intel will have next year. Intel's Galvin scoffed at media reports that said the company's DTV initiatives mark a split with Microsoft, which is pursuing its own proprietary software agenda in the DTV market. "Our aim is to have a completely open system that could run all DTV software that meets the standard," he said.