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To: BillyG who wrote (35620)	9/1/1998 2:08:00 PM
From: DiViT	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 50808

Hitachi launches multimedia DVD zdnet.com 04:37a Hitachi launches multimedia DVD Hitachi Ltd. Tuesday launched a "home multimedia station" which combines aspects of a Television and PC, Japanese wire services reported. The system will be able to play DVDs and digital information sent via satellite, digital camera or the Internet. The system runs on Microsoft Corp.'s (Nasdaq:MSFT) Windows CE And Hitachi's Super H microprocessor. -- Margaret Kane, ZDNN

To: BillyG who wrote (35620)	9/1/1998 4:09:00 PM
From: John Rieman	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50808

PC makers plan 15M DVD-ROM drives shipped with PCs in 1998............ upside.com "The first generation, though, is what we call broadband interactive entertainment, and it's the larva of story dwelling," says Jim Banister, vice president and general manager of Warner Bros. Online. "It's all that's best from TV and all that's best from the Internet, combined into an immersive and entertaining experience." And how does Warner expect to arrive at this new diversion? By using DVDs, which Warner just happens to hold a number of patents on. (Talk about leveraging your intellectual property!) Warner's thinking: Take alternative camera angles, extra footage and other unused video elements for several episodes of a television show, publish them on DVD-ROM, encrypt each episode and put the key to unlock that material on the program's companion Web site. One possible example: Warner's "Babylon 5." Today, the company has no definitive Web DVD plans for its avidly watched science-fiction series, but it's a scenario that Banister chats up at every opportunity: "We'd say, 'This is your pass to unlock the first part of the season,' and the people who'd use it would get a more immersive experience. This lets us distribute broadband entertainment to a narrowband audience." It could work. Consider the following: This year, Compaq Computer Corp. of Houston; Gateway Inc. of North Sioux City, S.D.; and other PC manufacturers told Banister they expect to ship 15 million PCs equipped with DVD-ROM drives. Next year, that number could hit the 50 million mark, according to Banister. "Warner Bros.' method is interesting, since we know the blueprint for advanced digital settop boxes either has DVD built in or has ports for them," says Patrick Meehan, a research director at Gartner Group Inc. of Stamford, Conn. "But more important to Warner Bros. is that this solves their No. 1 concern of maintaining their intellectual property. It gives them a way to distribute it, control it and get a royalty on it." And, in fact, Warner Bros. has several ideas for getting its discs, priced at a "nominal" fee, into customers' hands. These include bundling deals with computer manufacturers, partnerships with advertisers, retail sales and in-store giveaways.