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: DiViT who wrote (39285)	3/15/1999 3:22:00 PM
From: WISDOM MILES	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50808

CUBE is a significantly undervalued stock with HUGE upmove potential. The way it is now is very strange. It might be related to SHORT manipulation. Also true is that there are as many SHORTS as LONGS in this board. Take care! Wisdom

To: DiViT who wrote (39285)	3/15/1999 4:32:00 PM
From: BillyG	Respond to of 50808

Dolby packs five-channel sound for DVD games eetimes.com (see diagram in article) By Junko Yoshida EE Times (03/12/99, 2:30 p.m. EDT) SAN JOSE, Calif. — Dolby Laboratories will unveil its latest effort to promote multichannel PC game development at next week's Game Developers' Conference. FilterGraph is a piece of software code that lets game developers mix, in real-time, 5.1-channel music with game sound effects for DVD-ROM-based videogame play. "Our goal is to bring home-theater experiences to PC titles," said John Loose, multimedia audio specialist at Dolby Laboratories. The implementation lets consumers enjoy four-channel, home-theater-like sound effects through a pair of front-positioned speakers and dual rear speakers with separate left and right channels, eliminating the need for a hookup to a separate home-theater system. Lander, a videogame title due for launch this month by Sony-owned entertainment-software publisher Psygnosis, is the first DVD-ROM-based PC videogame title to feature Dolby Digital streams mixed with interactive game sound effects. Dolby is betting its effort will encourage more PC-game developers to take advantage of DVD's multichannel capabilities. Dolby is not charging licensing fees for FilterGraph-enabled content development or for participation in certification programs. Though the formal rollout is set for next week, Loose said half-a-dozen game developers are already implementing the software. To date, game developers have limited use of multichannel Dolby Digital to such elements as transitional vignettes or the "minimovies" that precede gameplay. That's largely because of the awkward setup required by today's PC-game platform. "Dolby Digital music and videogame sound effects don't come from the same spigots," explained Dennis Staats, manager of technology marketing at Dolby. Realization of 5.1-channel Dolby Digital audio streams in a six-speaker environment for DVD-ROM gameplay requires hookup of an external home-theater system to the PC. The game's PCM sound effects, by contrast, are channeled through the PC speakers. Development of PC games with six separate but truly interactive digital audio channels awaits the common implementation of a high-speed, "fat" data pipe, such as IEEE 1394 in both PCs and home-theater systems. Until then, FilterGraph provides "a good transitional solution," Dolby's Loose said. FilterGraph translation code acts as a set of drivers within the game title. When the PC's host CPU decodes the 5.1-channel Dolby Digital audio, FilterGraph intercepts it before it is transformed into two-channel Dolby Digital sound. It then translates the audio into Microsoft Corp.'s Direct Sound/Direct Show calls, enabling Dolby Digital sound streams to be mixed with the PC game's sound effects in real-time and reproducing the sound as four-channel audio. The implementation responds to the push for four-channel audio among such sound-card vendors as Creative Labs and Diamond Multimedia, said Staats. FilterGraph does not require changes in the sound card to enable four-channel Dolby Digital PC games. Consumers simply add two rear speakers to the current setup. "We provide authors of videogame titles with new tools and techniques to do multichannel PC games," said Dolby's Loose. "The key is that the only way to get true multichannel effects out of your game is through Dolby."

To: DiViT who wrote (39285)	3/16/1999 11:39:00 AM
From: BillyG	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50808

Microsoft Venus Plan Provides Opportunities for Taiwan Firms nikkeibp.asiabiztech.com March 16, 1999 (TAIPEI) -- The "Venus" project, which was recently agreed upon by Microsoft Corp. and China, for the promotion of the Windows CE operating system, also will provide business opportunities for Taiwan's producers of chipsets. More than ten Taiwan-based IC designers have been chosen to supply chipsets required by Microsoft's Windows CE system for the project. Nine computer companies from both Taiwan and China, including local giant Acer Inc., signed a memorandum supporting the Venus plan with Microsoft in Shenzhen, China, on March 10. The plan will enable Chinese users to surf the Internet, play video games and watch laser discs on their TV sets, with the addition of a set-top-box decoder. A Taiwan-based software official said that while only 2.1 million Chinese are Internet subscribers, more than 300 million have immediate access to TV sets. This means that there is a good potential market for TV-based Internet access in China. Other Taiwan-based firms that will participate in the project include Integrated Technology Express (Taiwan) Inc. (ITE -- a subsidiary of United Microelectronics Corp.), and Acer Laboratories Inc., an Acer subsidiary. Related story: Microsoft Provides Internet Access to Chinese TV Users (Commercial Times, Taiwan)