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To: Jacques Chitte who wrote (35698)	9/3/1998 6:41:00 PM
From: John Rieman	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50808

Mpeg encoders for camcorders need to run with power consumption rates of under 1.2W, the lower the better. Hitachi says theirs runs at or under .5W. The price needs to be below $50....................... c-cube.com The next generation of the world's first MPEG-2 codec architecture will meet all the critical demands of the high-volume consumer electronics industry: high performance, low price, and low power consumption. Combined with the new storage media such as recordable DVD now being aggressively developed, the next generation MPEG-2 codec will make consumer devices such as digital VCRs and disc-based camcorders a reality in the near future.

To: Jacques Chitte who wrote (35698)	9/3/1998 9:07:00 PM
From: John Rieman	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 50808

Warner Home Video is going to distribute 100 Disney flicks in Europe. VHS versions will roll on the same day.................... emediapro.net Agreement to Result in European Distribution of Buena Vista DVD Product Buena Vista Home Entertainment (BVHE) and Warner Home Video have announced a distribution agreement for BVHE product in the DVD format in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the former Soviet Union. The agreement--encompassing more than 100 titles from Walt Disney Pictures, Touchstone Pictures, Hollywood Pictures, and various acquired motion pictures--runs through the year 2000. Warner Home Video will distribute and market the BVHE films on DVD in more than 30 regional territories; each will be released simultaneously on VHS. "We are very enthusiastic about the DVD format and our signing of this deal marks our commitment to ensuring that it becomes a thriving business," says Stuart Warrener, president of BVHE Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. "By unifying with Warner Home Video, we are creating a real benefit for the current and potential DVD retail base." All titles will include both the local language and the language from the original theatrical release, and will be copy-protected with Macrovision and CSS Encryption. Titles released during the first two months included Con Air, Air Force One, The Rock, Face-Off, Ransom, Crimson Tide, Phenomenon, While You Were Sleeping, Pretty Woman, and Dead Poets Society. (Buena Vista Home Entertainment, 350 South Buena Vista Street, Burbank, CA 91521-6557; 818/295-4681; Fax 818/567-0734)

To: Jacques Chitte who wrote (35698)	9/4/1998 4:28:00 PM
From: John Rieman	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50808

Pioneer again................................................. twice.com Pioneer Preps For Digital Future - -September 7, 1998 By Greg Tarr Recognizing North America's accelerated adoption of PC and A/V electronics convergence technologies, Pioneer said the region will take on even greater importance under its new global mission directive called Vision 2005. Pioneer Electronics president Kaneo Ito outlined his business "road map" at a press conference in New York last month, where the 60-year-old company also unveiled a new logo as part of the corporate face-lift. In place of the familiar blue omega icon is the name Pioneer in soft, rounded red lettering, with only the "P" in caps. Ito said the color symbolizes boldness and action, while the capital P followed by lower-case letters "evoke the idea of entertainment." Ito said the logo will be featured in a global advertising campaign, slated to kick off on October 1, and will be phased into the product line starting this fall. Pioneer's executives said the sweeping changes were made to keep stride with rapid technological developments, in-cluding new products arising from DVD, satellite and recordable optical disc systems, and the growth of the Internet. Ito said he expects Pioneer to use its digital contributions to make dramatic revenue increases over the next seven years. Pioneer hopes to more than double its current $4.2 billion in worldwide revenues to $9 billion by 2005. Kazunori Yamamoto, Pioneer North America president, reported that his region is currently the largest revenue-producing sector, accounting for some $1.3 billion, or one-third of Pioneer's worldwide revenues. In attaining its revenue goal, Ito said Pioneer will also have to achieve the following: become the global leader in DVD, achieve a successful business in new generation displays, become a leader in digital home networks, and continue to develop key technologies to drive convergence-related products and services. To streamline operations and enhance corporate flexibility, Pioneer Electronics has been realigned into four primary companies covering home entertainment, mobile entertainment, business systems, and display products. Ito said Pioneer will use its strengths, experiences and patents from LaserDisc to command the leadership spot in DVD. He called DVD a highly diversified product technology that at the outset has produced DVD-Video, DVD-ROM and DVD-Recordable systems, with DVD-Audio "on its way." The company said DVD allows for much more growth than LaserDisc, giving its older format another one-and-a-half to two years in the market before being completely re-placed by DVD. For the near future, Ito said, Pioneer is working to deliver DVD systems capable of HDTV quality, adding his company has successfully tested blue laser technology and is now working to develop stable diode production processes in order to market products in two years. Pioneer is also looking to bring DVD into car navigation systems and will have a Divx-enabled DVD video player next year. Ito said he believes Divx and open DVD systems can "co-exist." Pioneer will also exploit its advances in display technology, said Ito, noting that it was first to introduce a 50" XGA-quality plasma screen. Pioneer's goal for the category is to attain 15% of the world market for plasma displays. Meanwhile, Pioneer executives affirmed that they will collaborate with Sharp on a two-piece HDTV system, using a CRT-based rear-projection TV display made by Pioneer and a DTV set-top tuner/decoder developed by Sharp. Pioneer plans to introduce the two-piece system later this year. Sharp will introduce the two systems in a single integrated HDTV. Like Sony, Pioneer expressed a strong interest in developing in-home A/V networks, using centralized set-top boxes linked through broadband wiring paths such as the IEEE-1394 standard. Ito said he thinks DVD-Rewritable systems in the form of multi-disc changers can be used as multimedia servers for entire households. Pioneer executives said future digital set-tops will help users easily navigate between cable programs, the Internet, network games, and audio/video downloads. Ito said Pioneer will actively seek out strategic alliances with companies that can help develop such systems. Pioneer said it will offer a set-top product using OpenCable standards, recently announced partnerships with Canal+, C-Cube and DiviCom to help that effort.