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: Don Dorsey who wrote (34136)	7/2/1998 4:57:00 PM
From: John Rieman	Respond to of 50808

The DTV deadlines won't be met.................................. tvbroadcast.com Stations Doubtful For DTV Deadline Innovation in the use of the new digital channels RF TV broadcasters have received could be discouraged if the FCC assesses user fees that are too costly, unfair, or unrealistic, the agency is being told. But broadcasters themselves cannot agree on how best to arrange the user-fee structure. In addition, an increasing number of network affiliates in the nation's top 10 markets are having difficulties building out their digital capabilities to meet their deadline of being on the air by Nov. 1. Four of the 42 (26?) stations that volunteered to be on the air by that date already have told the FCC they are unlikely to meet it. Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, broadcasters are fighting once again with their arch-enemy cable industry over the issue of must-carry. Cable operators do not want to be forced to carry the digital signal of broadcasters in addition to the analog signal they already carry, much less everything else broadcasters might send out over their digital spectrum. The two biggest cable operators have told Congress they will not be able to carry the digital signals because of technological problems and the amount of space the signals will eat up. Congress is likely to have a tough time deciding whether to expand the must-carry law already in place. The decision may not have to be made this year, however. As a Time Warner executive pointed out, "At the start, at least, a significant portion of the programming broadcast digitally may simply be simulcasts or time-shifted replays of the same programming that is being broadcast over analog channels." The latest problems facing the forced switch from analog to digital appear to confirm earlier speculation that the road to conversion will be a rocky one. Fighting Fees Although RF (terrestrial) broadcasters have shown little interest in the ancillary uses of their digital spectrum, they nonetheless are urging the FCC to be cautious in the way it imposes user fees. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 required the agency to collect user fees from broadcasters for the ancillary services, such as data broadcasting, that they carry and for which they would in turn charge a fee.

To: Don Dorsey who wrote (34136)	7/4/1998 9:53:00 AM
From: John Rieman	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50808

JVC working on home networks................................. techweb.com Home Networks Defining The Digital Home (07/03/98; 2:07 p.m. ET) By Junko Yoshida, EE Times TOKYO -- In the war to define the digital living room, consumer electronics companies here say home networking is the new battleground. Leaving behind the platform fights of PC vs. TV, engineers in Japan believe it's communication protocols and the other building blocks of the home net that will ultimately define the look and feel of next-generation digital consumer products. Two emerging projects spotlight the shift in thinking. A well-funded operation set up by consumer giant JVC and a unit of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) is developing a 200-Mbit/second infrared networking technology for the home. A separate project, backed by a number of consumer manufacturers, is working on an expanded charter for the Infrared Data Association (IrDA). "In the digital era, to differentiate one's set-top from another is virtually impossible," said Shuichi Tago, manager of Hitachi's Image & Information Media Systems Division. Neither the chip set that goes into a set-top box nor the real-time operating system running inside it can make a big enough difference to sway consumer favor, he said. What's left for system vendors, in Tago's view, is "the development of a friendly graphical user interface and an easy-to-use interface with other peripherals within the home." A common goal in home network technology is to find a way -- with or without a PC -- for digital consumer appliances to intelligently communicate with one another. IR technology tops many lists, and the IEEE 1394 serial interface has a powerful backer in Sony. Universal Serial Bus also comes into play in some schemes, and optical technology is waiting in the wings. "Each technology is being developed with different applications and diverging technical dimensions in mind," said Makoto Nakamura, department general manager of Sharp Corp.'s Software Research Laboratories. The issue is not so much choosing a winning networking technology, he said. Of greater import is clearly defining useful applications for each while enhancing technical capabilities -- notably, the speed and distance that data can travel within the home.