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

To: DiViT who wrote (30807)	3/12/1998 11:16:00 AM
From: BillyG	Respond to of 50808

Philips solid-state MPEG player. Only $2000. (cough). It uses flash memory storage, and it plays MPEG1 and MPEG2. Philips Announces New Solid State Video Player EINDHOVEN, The Netherlands--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 12, 1998-- Philips Electronics M & D Business Unit Thursday announced the ISP3004, an MPEG2 video player based on the use of PCMCIA memory card storage. The ISP3004 is the latest development in the ISP3000 series of solid state products. The ISP3004 is a stand-alone plug-and-play rack unit for applications such as video presentations in museums, theme-park attractions, exhibitions, point-of-sales displays, video kiosks and other situations where high-quality video clips are played repeatedly. PCMCIA cards have several advantages over disc or tape. They have no moving parts, so the system is very reliable and can withstand shock and extreme environmental conditions. In addition, video clips in the card are easily updated, and there is no degradation of quality over time. The ISP3004 can be connected to any TV set with a composite or S-VHS input (PAL/NTSC, 16:9/4:3) to display the recorded video clips, or can connect to a video wall. It also supports stereo playback of audio associated with the clips. A wide range of playback control features are supported -- for example, a simple push-button keypad or a sophisticated automatic remote control from a PC. Approximately 20 minutes of video material, with the quality of a double-scan wide screen TV, can be stored on a 350-MByte flash PCMCIA card. However, hard-disk type PCMCIA cards with 750 MByte or more allow longer storage time when required. PCMCIA cards are programmed with MPEG1/MPEG2-encoded video clips, which can be generated with a Philips encoding workstation, or sourced externally with any MPEG video encoder. The workstation is a PC fitted with a Philips TriCodec MPEG encoder/decoder card. With bit rates selectable from 1.2 to 4.6 Mbit/s, the video quality and playback duration can be balanced for optimal results. The ISP3004 also can play variable bit-rate encoded material when the highest quality video is required. The video clips are loaded into the PCMCIA card through a PCMCIA programming drive in the workstation. The ISP3004 is undergoing evaluation in numerous locations worldwide and will be released to the market during the second quarter of 1998 with a predicted cost of approximately $2,000. Philips Electronics of the Netherlands is one of the world's biggest electronics companies, with sales of more than $39 billion (U.S.) in 1997. It is a global leader in color television sets, lighting, home telephony products, electric shavers and recorded music (PolyGram). Its 264,700 employees in more than 60 countries are active in the areas of semiconductors and components, consumer products, professional products and systems, lighting, and software and services. Philips is quoted on the NYSE, London, Frankfurt, Amsterdam and other stock exchanges. News from Philips is located at www.news.philips.com. CONTACT: Philips Electronics Rinske Stege, +31 40 2734866 or Darryl Lloyd Inc. Darryl Lloyd, 818/551-7360 ext. 11