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Technology Stocks : QUANTUM -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: money man who wrote (8289)	12/5/1998 1:54:00 PM
From: J Fieb	Respond to of 9124

Maybe this is why? Quantum went to Western Cable...See below.. techweb.com Sony, Quantum ally on new technique -- Drive can store TV shows Terry Costlow Anaheim, Calif. - Sony Corp. and Quantum Corp. last week demonstrated a storage technique that stores TV shows on a hard drive, saying it could lead to a new type of consumer audio/visual technology. The move heralds an effort by Quantum to expand into consumer electronics, underscored by the creation of a Consumer Electronics Storage Business Unit. The drive from Quantum Corp. (Milpitas, Calif.) is also the first public demonstration of Sony's i.Link interface, which is Sony's moniker for 1394 with digital-content protection. The i.Link specification was also unveiled last week. The drive technology, which was developed with input from Sony's U.S. Research Lab, debuted at the Western Cable Show. For Quantum, the technical demonstration was tied to the public announcement of its newest business unit. "We've been looking for a way to get into consumer electronics," said Jeff Klugman, director of marketing at Quantum's Consumer Electronics Storage Business Unit. "This isn't the only thing we're doing in consumer electronics. We're working with other companies and the ATA interface. We'll have more announcements coming before the end of the year." Quantum feels that disk drives provide much more capability than other storage techniques. With the growing number of broadcast channels, Quantum said, viewers often find it difficult to locate, record and watch shows in a decreasing amount of spare time. A drive's quick data-retrieval times provide more options. "Since the disk drive is a random storage device, unlike tape drives and VCRs, it provides you random access to content," Klugman said. "You can also access two video streams simultaneously, to record and play back at the same time, record two programs at once. Other technologies aren't fast enough to let you do two things at once." Rapid capacity increases and equally swift price declines make it possible to think about a new type of recording device for broadcasts, Quantum said. "The disk drive is the enabling technology. The increase in capacity and the decrease in cost make it possible to use drives in this application," Klugman said. "Drives can now record up to 20 hours at relatively low prices. You need about 2 Gbytes' capacity for every hour of MPEG content at MPEG-2 data rates." Quantum and Sony are showing the technology on a 19-Gbyte, 5.25-inch Bigfoot drive, which Quantum said offers the lowest cost per Mbyte of any disk drive. While Sony and Quantum are enthusiastic about the technology, they're uncertain how quickly it will take off. Klugman noted that last week's exhibit was not a product announcement, though that may come quickly. ------ Some people are getting very excited about video encoding and time shifing and storing on HDD.... Read about Replaytv for an idea..... replaytv.com ...Internet pioneer Marc Andreessen has joined the Replay Networks, Inc. board of directors, company CEO Anthony Wood announced today. Andreessen has also invested personal funds in Replay Network Any experts who can give their insights into this potential market? Thanks in advance..........