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 (32350)	4/17/1998 3:39:00 PM
From: BillyG	Respond to of 50808

DiviCube with JVC, IBM, Matsushita, and Tek. Not a bad lineup. Oops, I forgot INTC and MSFT.

To: John Rieman who wrote (32350)	4/17/1998 4:26:00 PM
From: BillyG	Respond to of 50808

300MHz P-II IBM Aptiva with DVD-ROM for $1795.... newsalert.com

To: John Rieman who wrote (32350)	4/17/1998 4:28:00 PM
From: BillyG	Respond to of 50808

M-JPEG capture card for laptops -- $499....... newsalert.com

To: John Rieman who wrote (32350)	4/17/1998 4:33:00 PM
From: BillyG	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 50808

Intel is giving away its own software DVD "solution" to PC OEMs who use the 350-400MHz Pentium-II and the 100MHz bus. This can be a positive for CUBE, because it helps open up the market for DVD, it hurts CUBE's competitors that sell SoftDVD, and a number of buyers will want to upgrade to hardware DVD later. techweb.cmp.com << In an effort to fuel demand for its fastest processors as it faces falling margins and weak demand, Intel Corp. is quietly offering PC OEMs a software DVD decoder optimized to run on its newest Pentium II processors without the need for a hardware MPEG-2 decoder. Intel's decision to distribute the decoder coincides with its introduction of its 440-BX chip set, which provides the underlying system-bandwidth boost for such memory-intensive applications as DVD.>> <<SNIP>> <<Running DVD on a system with a 400-MHz Pentium II processor at 100-MHz system-bus speeds consumes about 60 percent of the CPU's processor power, leaving it sufficient headroom to run other applications without dropping frames. Running a 300-MHz Pentium II on the 66-MHz system bus, by contrast, requires all the CPU's processing power to decode the DVD, an Intel spokesman said. Much of the performance improvement is enabled by the company's 0.35-micron 440-BX chip set, which increases system bandwidth to 100 MHz and provides a more sophisticated buffering and arbitration scheme to manage CPU traffic. The chip set alone is claimed to provide a 20 percent to 50 percent boost in overall system performance, favoring memory-intensive applications.>> <<SNIP>> <<The software DVD decoder is a product of Intel's Architecture Labs (Hillsboro, Ore.), the division that is responsible for developing and promoting new applications for the PC. Architecture Labs has provided other software products in the past for such functions as videoconferencing and early video decoding. Still, the move is unusual. In the past, Microsoft Corp. has traditionally taken on the role of incorporating video decoders in its operating system, as it did when it included the MPEG-1 decoder it licensed from Mediamatics for its Windows 95 operating system. There is also the question of why Intel would develop its own software MPEG-2 decoder for DVDs, since several other companies, such as Zoran Corp. and ATI Technologies Inc., provide the same type of software.>>