Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

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

To: John Rieman who wrote (29181)	2/6/1998 3:54:00 PM
From: John Rieman	Respond to of 50808

Digital Video in Hungary............................. Eutelsat & Antenna Hungaria Open Digital TV Operation Newsbyte News Network Thu, Feb 05 1998 BUDAPEST, HUNGARY, 1998 FEB 5 (NB) -- By Sylvia Dennis, Newsbytes. Eutelsat, which now claims to be Europe's largest satellite broadcasting company, has teamed up with Antenna Hungaria, the national Hungarian broadcaster, to open the first digital center in central Europe for TV and multimedia services. Located in Budapest, the center will enable Hungary to move quickly into the multimedia era and will use the strengths of the Eutelsat series of satellites to offer one of the fastest broadband delivery systems in the world. According to officials with Eutelsat, the new center can be used to deliver digital TV channels to direct-to-home, cable or community antennas, to distribute digital radio and multimedia content, for corporate data broadcasting, business TV, and Internet access. The center operates to digital video broadcasting (DVB) standards and will offer a range of narrow, middle, and wide bandwidth feeds through the Eutelsat transponders, officials claim. According to Eutelsat, DVB allows multimedia content (e-mails, Web pages, for example) and other data traffic to be received by the same antenna as for digital satellite TV. Once received, the de-multiplexed information is sent to the relevant system -- the video decoder for television and/or the PC for multimedia content. Newsbytes notes that Hungary is one of the first countries in Europe, and the first in central Europe, to launch a digital platform with Eutelsat. The satellite broadcasting firm plans to open a network of digital centers within the coverage zones of its satellites (Europe, North Africa and the Middle East) so that service and content providers have easy access to satellite capacity via a local supplier. Reported by Newsbytes News Network, newsbytes.com . Vanessa O'Connor, Eutelsat Press Office +33-1-5398-4757; Fax +33-1-5398-3788) (Copyright 1998)

To: John Rieman who wrote (29181)	2/6/1998 4:13:00 PM
From: John Rieman	Respond to of 50808

PCTV...................................................... techweb.com PC Maker Takes New Approach To PC-TV Market (02/06/98; 1:46 p.m. EST) By Andrew Craig, TechWeb <Picture>Four years ago, consumers failed to take to a device produced by Siemens Nixdorf that let them watch television on their PCs. So the German computer manufacturer went back to the drawing board, and has released a machine that lets people use PC technology on their television sets. The MultiMedia PCTV, launched Wednesday, lets consumers use a range of multimedia applications on their TV sets, including videoconferencing, Internet access, and video on demand. But after similar devices from other manufacturers -- including the Anglo-Japanese giant Fujitsu ICL -- failed to survive, analysts said they are watching carefully to see how Siemens Nixdorf manages its latest move into the consumer PC device marketplace. The DM 1,500 ($840) product will replace the ill-fated MultiMedia Star, the device Siemens Nixdorf launched in 1995 for displaying television pictures on PC screens. That machine encountered only very "limited market acceptance," said Peter Page, chief technology officer at Siemens Nixdorf at a meeting in Athens that ended Friday. "I think everyone thought the market would take off," he said. Siemens Nixdorf needs to find the right application for the MultiMedia PCTV, and must recruit the right distribution channel, said Page, adding that he hoped to have shipped a million of the devices by the end of the year. The device requires a "killer application, and we will keep adding functionality until it takes off," he said. "Siemens Nixdorf is not the vendor to attempt to crack a market that has remained maddeningly elusive so far. Although there have been several attempts by computer manufacturers to tap the PCTV market, we have yet to see a successful product," said Chris Jones, an analyst at researcher Dataquest, in London. Siemens Nixdorf may be handicapped by the fact that a PCTV may not have the price/power performance of a traditional PC. "PC prices have dropped dramatically in the last year and will fall further this year," said Jones. "Will Siemens Nixdorf be able to compete with PCs that are faster and a similar price? It may take them several attempts to find the killer application to do so." Included in MultiMedia's functionality is telephony, video telephony, Web access, audio and video on demand, as well as television. The device plugs into a normal television set and provides users with a GUI called a "WebFacer." Olivetti, another European IT giant, launched a PCTV device a few years ago, but concluded that people don't want a PC in their living rooms, according to Clive Longbottom, a London-based vice president of researcher The Meta Group. But Siemens Nixdorf's box "still looks like a PC," he said. Siemens Nixdorf is able to launch the product relatively cheaply by basing it on its thin-client NetPC product, Longbottom said. "It is worthwhile going ahead, because it is based on technology that is already available -- they've just added extra technology to the NetPC," he said. But Siemens Nixdorf must bring the price down, or look at cheaper ways of selling the product, Longbottom added. "They must bring the cost down to a level where people are happy to have it in the house as a extra accessory," he said. The product will not be sold directly by Siemens Nixdorf, but through service providers such as telecommunications companies that can bundle the device with their connection or content products. German telephone company Deutsche Telekom will sell the MultiMedia PCTV with software for accessing its T-Online Internet service preinstalled. The devices can be available to buy outright, or rented for a monthly fee, according to a spokesman for Deutsche Telekom. <Picture: TW>