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To: DiViT who wrote (26869)	12/18/1997 3:59:00 PM
From: Stoctrash	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 50808

Sounds like CREAF is gunna need a whole bunch of Ziva in the coming months if this type of review of the Encore continues. zdnet.com With the tremendous growth in >1K PC sales, would it not make sense to do a combo Sound Blaster/DVD-decode board? Message 2995360 From the January 1998 Issue of PC World> BEST BUY "Surprisingly, our application benchmarks and hands-on evaluations showed that DVD-1 and DVD-2 kits provide very similar performance. All these kits provide awe-inspiring video and audio playback, and can read vast stores of data from DVD-ROMs able to pack 4.7GB on one side. Still, compatibility with CD-Recordable and CD-Rewritable media make DVD-2 kits the superior buy, and the Creative Labs PC-DVD Encore kit is the best of the bunch. The Encore edged out all other kits in our performance tests, and it's the only DVD-2 drive that provides both a trouble-free analog video connection and Dolby AC-3 audio hardware."

To: DiViT who wrote (26869)	12/18/1997 5:04:00 PM
From: John Rieman	Respond to of 50808

INTERNATIONAL UPDATE............................ ijumpstart.com The programming opportunities in the Middle East seem to be on an inexorable rise as competing cable and satellite platforms struggle to out-do each other - even though the market prospects for pay-TV are far from certain. Chris Forrester reports Middle East platforms slug it out Middle East broadcasting headlines for the past three years have concentrated on one or other digital platforms, as Orbit, Star TV, Showtime and 1st Net slug it out to make a living. Each has been responsible for endless local column-inches in a series of stories that have seen more twists and turns than a daily soap. Indeed, some might argue, the story would make a good topic for a soap. Consider the facts: Orbit launched its digital bouquet from Rome in 1994 targeting the Middle East, initially requiring the purchase of a $10,000 receiver. First subscriptions collected in 1996, and now undisputed market-leader, helped by a dedicated Disney Channel and investment from Disney and Warner in Orbit's 'Super Movies' channel. Rumoured to have spent $1 billion on the venture. Future TV, a free-to-air satellite 'super-station' transmitting from Beirut - and indirectly owned by Lebanon's prime minister Rafiq Hariri. 1st Net, established as a joint platform for Arabic and expatriate viewers. Arabic programming came from Arab Radio & Television, backed by billionaires Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz of the Saudi Royal family and Sheikh Saleh Kamel. English-language material came from Viacom-owned Showtime. The two outfits have been through more separations and reconciliations than a Hollywood starlet. Currently, 1st Net and Showtime is definitely not speaking and while both parties are coy about hard numbers, Showtime is undoubtedly closer to breakeven. Showtime, now standing alone, is backed by Viacom with programming and with cash from KIPCO, a diversified Kuwaiti group. They offer nine channels, mostly Viacom fare with MTV, Nickelodeon, VH-1 and the Movie Channel. Showtime is taking an aggressive line in showing uncut movies, a brave move in ultra-conservative Saudi Arabia. Star TV, having struggled to make any serious headway in the key Gulf region of Saudi Arabia, threw its lot in with Orbit, called itself Star Select and helped to shift Orbit boxes and gain extra incremental revenue from existing Orbit subscribers. Viewers now get a classic DirecTV/USSB offering - although Orbit/Star still supply only about 30 channels in all. Each of the four platforms is spending heavily, seemingly adding channels by the handful: Orbit will launch a second sports channel, Orbit Sport 2 in February. E! Entertainment TV, which already has output deals with Orbit, is known to be considering a dedicated block. Orbit will transmit Al Thalitha ("Three"), a general entertainment channel heavily targeted towards teenagers and young adults, in the first half of the year. It is understood that Orbit is negotiating with French-based AB Productions to take perhaps two or three channels from AB Sat, the French digital bouquet. Canal Horizons, the popular Canal Plus-backed movie channel for overseas markets, is also in negotiation to join the Orbit line-up. These channels would be particularly attractive to French-speaking Arabs in Tunisia and other North African countries. 1st Net has added a tele-novella and educational (El Mareff - Knowledge) channels, and is said to be planning others. 1st Net added MBC, a high-quality (but free-to-air) DTH channel transmitting from London. But some problems have occurred. One former member of the 1st Net bouquet, Lebanon's Future TV, quit the bouquet at the end of October, with CEO Ali Jaber saying: "In my view the Arab world is not yet prepared for encrypted television. I defy anyone to prove to me the contrary." Future is doing well with its 'super-station' format, lots of pretty girls and an unashamedly populist output from liberal Beirut. It's the same across town at Lebanese Broadcasting Company (LBC), which also transmits a free-to-air satellite super-station. CEO Pierre Daher takes the opposite view, and has stayed part of 1st Net with LBC Plus, which adds some exclusive programmes to the 1st Net pay-platform. "Pay television will never replace free television [in the Middle East]. But pay television will take its niche, it has worked all over the world, why should it not work here." Daher admits that the 'super-station' concept has worked well, more or less doubling his ad-revenue in a single year. As 1998 opens there are new challenges to face. Egypt will throw its hat into the ring with a half-dozen new thematic channels on a new NileSat satellite launching in the Spring. At about the same time a Saudi Arabian 'wireless cable' microwave system will go live, offering initially about 40 channels. The prospect for 1998 is for deep-pocketed Saudis and Kuwaitis battling it out with free-wheeling Lebanese super-stations offering up just what the public want. The new entrants (from Egypt and Saudi Arabia) are looking for a more modest return on the back of state-support and endorsement

To: DiViT who wrote (26869)	12/18/1997 8:41:00 PM
From: John Rieman	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 50808

What should your Digital Set Top Box do???????????????????? ijumpstart.com DIGITAL CONSUMERS KEEN ON HOME BANKING, BUT MOVIES FAIL TO THRILL <Picture><Picture> Pace Micro Technology has released the results of a consumer study it has commissioned into the services UK consumers expect from digital TV and the types of activity they would be prepared to use digital set-tops for. Among the most interesting findings concerned some of the new activities that users would consider. Forty-one per cent thought that home banking via digital TV would be valuable, particularly Londoners, and 36 per cent saw potential for home shopping - 10 per cent even said this would be the main reason for getting digital TV. But 60 per cent of respondents said they would use the TV for seeking medical advice and 40 per cent said that voting would be acceptable. Impulse pay-per-view scored surprisingly low, with only eight per cent citing it as the reason for going digital, and only 11 per cent in cable and satellite homes. This should spur operators to not simply offer more film services but turn attention to interactive ones. The spokesman admitted that the set-tops sold to date would not be capable of some of the more advanced services but that one of the aims of the survey was to stimulate discussion and debate among broadcasters so that services such as these could be specified in the future. Among the types of services that largely have been suggested by the survey but have been absent from digital discussions is the payment of income tax, and accessing local and national government information. Pace thinks people may be willing to pay for some services and this may mean a new revenue stream for the digital TV operators.