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To: BillyG who wrote (33300)	5/19/1998 9:56:00 PM
From: DiViT	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 50808

INTEL CANCELS SOFTWARE-BASED DVD DECODER 05/18/98 CONSUMER MULTIMEDIA REPORT (c) Copyright 1998 Warren Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Citing crowded market for its retreat from offering PC makers software-based solution to DVD decoding, Intel cancelled launch of Intel DVD platform planned for eve of next week's Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Atlanta (May 27-30). Project, which was 2 years in making, consisted of software algorithm that would have enabled PC with 300 MHz Pentium II chip to decode MPEG-2 video and Dolby Digital surround audio on DVDs and DVD-ROMs without additional hardware. Company had estimated that Intel DVD on motherboard would cost PC makers just $5 compared with $25-$35 for hardware solution. Algorithm also would have permitted DVD decoding by PC with 266 MHz Pentium II and AGP graphics card. "The market moved at lot faster than we anticipated," said Steven Ashby, Intel product mgr.-Internet & Communications. "When we started, nobody was out there with a software solution. They said it couldn't be done." He told us that now, though, PC makers can choose software decoding from 7 vendors, including Quadrant and Zoran, and from card-makers such as ATI that incorporate their software. "We got into this to bring diffusion to the technology. There are some quality solutions out there, so the diffusion has happened," Ashby said. "We're not going to be there just to be a competitor." Intel won't offer branded software to PC OEMs but will license Intel DVD to graphics cards vendors and other 3rd party suppliers, Ashby said. "ATI, for example, might want to offer our solution as a 3rd engine," he said. Licensing Intel DVD still would offer some benefits to manufacturers, as product already is certified for Microsoft's Windows 98 DirectShow and also handles discs mastered with currently available Media Control Interface (MCI), Ashby said. System supplied to 3rd parties also would carry Intel's umbrella licenses from DVD Forum for Content Scrambling System (CSS) and from Dolby Labs for Dolby Digital. Intel still will work with DVD-ROM software developers, Ashby said. Company expects about 100 data titles to be available this year, mostly MCI, he said, with "handful" of DirectShow discs such as Microsoft's Encarta.