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

To: DiViT who wrote (28284)	1/20/1998 12:43:00 PM
From: John Rieman	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50808

A new two-way transmission chip........................................... multichannel.com Stanford Telecom Rallies in Chip Race By LESLIE ELLIS Stanford Telecom, not to be ignored in the cable modem and digital set-top silicon race, is out with a single chip that handles key bidirectional signalling functions. Chuck Frank, vice president of Stanford Telecom Inc.'s Component Products Group, said during a briefing last week that the new chip is important because it handles both downstream receiving and upstream transmission on one chip. Specifically, he said, the new STEL-2176 chip handles three flavors of downstream transmission: 16 QAM (quadrature amplitude modulation), 64 QAM and 256 QAM. For upstream signalling, the chip sends in QPSK (quadrature phase shift key) and 16 QAM formats, he said. Portions of the chip are patent-pending. "This is a chip that is both MCNS (Multimedia Cable Network System) and DAVIC (Digital Audio Video Council) compliant, in respect of upstream frequency range modulation and forward error correction," Frank said. That means the chip is selectable between the "Annex A" and "Annex B" portions of the QAM technique. (U.S. cable operators use Annex A, while European operators use Annex B.) So far, he said, the chip handles only the PHY (physical) portions of the Cable Television Laboratories Inc. DOCSIS (Data Over Cable Service/Interoperability Specification), but plans are under way to also include the MAC (Media Access Control) portion of that standard. "Our philosophy has been that most of the vendors want to do their own MAC, to maintain their own uniqueness," Frank said, explaining that the MAC protocol is typically "20 to 30 percent hardware, and 70 to 80 percent software" driven. So far, he said, several vendors are using Stanford Telecom's upstream transmission chip, and are currently evaluating the condensed, multipurpose STEL-2176. "We've been quiet because we don't make a lot of noise about things we don't have -- we don't make announcements about vaporware," Frank said. Vendors evaluating the new, single chip solution include Panasonic Video Communications Co.; GadLine, an Israeli manufacturer of modems; Com21 Inc.; and Hybrid Networks. Frank said production quantities of the new chip will become available in the second quarter.

To: DiViT who wrote (28284)	1/20/1998 12:50:00 PM
From: John Rieman	Respond to of 50808

DTV at CES. Stillborn?????????????????????????? multichannel.com At CES, A Star Is Stillborn By Gary Arlen Contributing Curmudgeon Digital television was supposed to be the star of this month's Consumer Electronics Show, showcasing the high-definition and digital TV sets that retailers should be putting on their shelves by autumn. Instead, TV manufacturers from Sony to Sharp to Philips to RCA kicked off their campaigns to create lower expectations about DTV delivery. They and others unveiled a perfunctory line of high-tech, very high-priced digital sets, acknowledging that they plan to sell only a few tens of thousands of units in limited markets (where broadcasters begin DTV telecasts) this year. RCA tried to bolster some hopes, announcing a deal with DirecTV, which will deliver DSS transmissions of HDTV later this year, thus offering the satellite audience a chance to use those RCA receivers. To complicate the digital TV debut, the television set makers showed equipment built around several different technical architectures, further suggesting that the DTV market will be fragmented upon introduction. Although ostensibly supporting all 18 Grand Alliance formats, some makers emphasized the 1080-interlaced format, while others concentrated on 780-progressive and 480-progressive formats -- the latter favored by computer companies that are pushing their own versions of digital TV. Some big-brand TV makers, notably Panasonic, didn't even demonstrate a DTV set, but merely offered a stand-alone set-top decoder that can receive and convert DTV signals for viewing on existing TV monitors. Although Panasonic was coy about pricing, its set-top is likely to debut in the $700-plus range -- which would be a bargain compared to the $3,000 to $10,000 price tags tentatively placed on the full DTV and HDTV sets. That combination of extravagant pricing and limited availability left retailers scratching their heads about what they really will be able to sell this year. And they weren't even thinking about the broadcasters' ongoing efforts to postpone the mandated launch of digital TV in 10 top markets by November. It added up to a somber launch for a product that has been hyped for so many years. The Consumer Electronics Manufacturers Association, which runs CES, kept its word to provide dozens of live DTV and HDTV exhibits at the Las Vegas show. Sadly, the transmissions (from local HDTV experimental towers) were limited to the usual prototype fare: ice skating, nature shots and stock sports footage. Hence, even the visuals didn't convey the impact of the DVD element displayed on adjacent monitors. Perhaps it's too dramatic to characterize DTV as "stillborn." Given the decade-long promises that HDTV is just around the corner, some might say it was "still born again." Among the definitions of "stillborn" is "unsuccessful from the beginning," and truthfully, that may be a bit harsh for this attractive technology. While skeptics are already saying that there's no mass market for these systems, DTV's immediate -- and very competitive -- challenges came from other parts of CES. As amply reported elsewhere, TCI and Silicon Valley used the unusual venue of the Consumer Electronics Show to unveil their set-top box plans. TCI's dual deal with Microsoft and Sun Microsystems (respectively for Windows CE operating systems and PersonalJava programming language) reminded the retailers who were paying attention that they may soon have the chance to sell a digital set-top box on behalf of the cable industry. Thanks to other recent deals, notably Sony's buy-in to NextLevel (to be renamed General Instruments on Feb. 2), brand names are coming to the cable set-top. (Sorry, Zenith, we know you're there already). Indeed, the opportunity to sell those new boxes, whatever they might be, was on many minds in Las Vegas. Tandy Corp. chairman John Roach told me he wants to figure out how those deals will give RadioShack an annuity by selling cable hardware. He'd like to develop relationships similar to Tandy's pact with Sprint PCS, in which the retailer gets an ongoing revenue stream based on usage of the devices it sells. Of course, that structure is completely alien to cable companies. As mega-retailers enter the digital set-top box business, an entirely new financial model may be developed. It could be one that diverts retailers toward the cable digital box and away from the vaporous HDTV equipment. CES is always a melting pot of gizmos and hype. This year's computer-centric digital binge augurs the arrival of an evermore perplexed digital viewing audience. And that's for high, low and medium definitions. Iway Patrol Columnist Gary Arlen particularly enjoyed Bill Gates' and Scott McNealy's cross-barbed satirical "commercials" shown during their CES speeches.