dv.com
Was wondering if JVC was going to mention the new MV400........But I'm a little confused, what is this HD decoder thing( Is it based on CUBE silicon)?
High definition MPEG-2 decoding system from JVC
Flexible DM-D4000 HD Decoder Bridges Analog and Digital
VICTOR COMPANY OF JAPAN, LIMITED (JVC) announces the DM-D4000 HD decoder, a flexible High
Definition MPEG-2 decoding system. It outputs serial digital or analog component video signals
and digital or analog audio signals decoded from MPEG-2 transport streams.
The DM-D4000 decoder is part of JVC's package of advanced DTV products. It offers a choice of
1080i and 720p High Definition formats in addition to 480p and 480i standard definition formats
and supports both ATSC, DVB and the Japanese ISDB standards for maximum flexibility in today's
worldwide broadcast environments.
The system's audio support includes 2 channel and 2 channel mix-down of 5.1 channel Dolby* Digital
(AC-3*) decoding and 5.1 channel Dolby* Digital pass through. An on-screen overlay display for
EIA-708 decoded closed captioning is also available.
The decoder's compact, one rack unit chassis has convenient front panel control. Its Ethernet
interface provides easy system integration and network management.
The DM-D4000 is the result of JVC's long-time experience designing MPEG-2 encoders and decoders.
JVC's broad skills in compression and decoding design have been developed on generations of
silicon, in conjunction with C-Cube Microsystems, from the very beginning of the MPEG
standardization process. JVC developed system microcode also drives the silicon level operations
of DiviCom's fourth-generation single rack unit HDTV MV400 encoder. It is the cornerstone of that
unit's efficiency and ability to take advantage of DiviCom parent company
C-Cube Microsystems' broadcast encoding silicon solutions.
The DM-D4000 decoder offers the high quality and system flexibility DiviCom and JVC customers
have come to expect.
A summary of system features includes:
· Multiple video format support (1080i, 720p, 480p, 480i) for ATSC
· Digital video output for 1080i (SMPTE-292M)
· Built in MPEG-1 Layer II and Dolby* Digital audio decoding (2 channel and 2 channel mix-down of
5.1 channel)
· 5.1 channel Dolby* Digital pass through
· Optional support for AAC audio for Japanese DTV
· Analog and digital audio outputs
· Closed caption data decoding and display
· Ethernet interface for system integration and network management
· Convenient front panel control
· Compact, one rack unit chassis
· Safety: North America (UL1950), Japan (JEIDA 37), Europe (EN60950)
High Definition Decoding Machine
· Electro-Magnetic Interference: North America (FCC Part 15 Class A), Japan (VCCI Class A),
Europe (CE Mark)
JVC PROFESSIONAL PRODUCTS COMPANY, headquartered in Wayne, New Jersey, distributes a complete
line of broadcast and professional equipment including cameras, recorders and editing products.
For more information, contact David Walton at 1-800-JVC-5825 or visit the JVC web site at
www.jvc.com/pro
DiviCom / JVC MV400 Encoder and JVC DM-D4000 Decoder
JVC will also be exhibiting a "one rack unit" real-time broadcast MPEG2 HDTV encoder and
decoder, co-developed by Divicom and JVC. JVC's technical and marketing partnership with
Divicom has accelerated development of real-time broadcast encoders, and led to the adoption of
Divicom encoders by DirecTV in Japan.
Nothing seems more important for CUBE/DIVI than the unfoling story of MediaOne and how cable is moving toward the center of the network....
some reports on this....
mercurycenter.com
AT&T bids to be No 1
in cable TV
MediaOne: Deal would improve AT&T's
standing in high-speed Internet
BY JON HEALEY
Mercury News Staff Writer
AT&T Corp. struck again Thursday, making a
surprise $58 billion bid for a second major cable TV
company, a move that would make the nation's
biggest phone company its largest cable TV
operator as well.
Six weeks after closing a $55 billion deal for
Tele-Communications Inc., AT&T offered cash and
stock for Colorado-based MediaOne Group Inc. It
serves large parts of the Northeast, Los Angeles,
Atlanta and south Florida, with about 5 million
subscribers.
The motive for AT&T is
the same in both deals: to
acquire the high-capacity
local network needed to
offer a suite of local and
long-distance phone, cable TV, and high-speed Internet services to its
customers. With both TCI and MediaOne under its wing, AT&T will have a
''significant presence'' in 18 of the country's top 20 markets, company
officials said.
The latest bid is another illustration of how communications companies are
repositioning themselves through buyouts and alliances to offer new bundles
of services across the country, or even around the globe. Analysts expect
AT&T to be one of a handful of large U.S. players, along with such
companies as Bell Atlantic, MCI WorldCom, Sprint and SBC
Communications Inc., which owns Pacific Bell.
The AT&T-MediaOne deal would be the largest cable TV merger in U.S.
history. AT&T's gambit came the same day Deutsche Telekom, the former
German phone monopoly, announced an $82 billion merger with the former
Italian phone monopoly, Telecom Italia, in a bid to dominate the deregulated
European phone and data markets and eventually compete in the United
States.
The MediaOne purchase would make AT&T the nation's largest cable TV
company, with about 15 million subscribers. The current leader, Time
Warner Cable, has aligned itself with AT&T, too, agreeing to a joint venture
to offer phone service over its cable networks.
With TCI and MediaOne, AT&T would own local networks passing almost
27 million of the 100 million U.S. homes -- although few areas would have
the equipment the company needs to provide phone service through them.
Add in the partnerships AT&T has struck with Time Warner and other cable
companies and its reach will be close to 50 percent of homes.
Competitive issues
Few consumers have any choice when it comes to local phone service, so
AT&T's moves could help drive prices down and spur innovation. Nor are
many homes served by more than one cable TV company, however, and
AT&T's moves could exacerbate that situation by bringing more consumers
under one giant company's control.
On the other hand, if AT&T's bundle of cable and phone services proves to
be a hit with consumers, Pac Bell and other local phone companies will be
pressured to come up with a competing package of video and voice service.
One possibility that SBC and Bell Atlantic already are exploring: a
combination of phone and small-dish satellite services.
AT&T will have to fight for MediaOne, though. Its offer came a month after
MediaOne and Comcast Corp. of Philadelphia signed a ''definitive
agreement'' in which Comcast Corp. would acquire MediaOne in a stock
swap worth about $55 billion.
If MediaOne accepts AT&T's offer -- which is higher than the Comcast bid
-- the companies will have to send off Comcast with a $1.5 billion parting
gift.
MediaOne officials declined to comment on the offer Thursday, other than to
say it was under review.
TCI, which serves much of the Bay Area, has about twice as many
subscribers as MediaOne does, and its networks pass about 10 million more
homes. But MediaOne is attracting a higher price partly because its networks
are considered to be in better shape than TCI's and partly because the TCI
deal drove up the price of cable stocks.
Dave Wood, director of MediaOne's media relations, said about half of his
company's networks have already been upgraded for two-way service -- a
key prerequisite for offering telephone, high-speed data and electronic
commerce services -- and the rest should be completed by the end of 2000
or early 2001.
MediaOne has already started selling phone service over its cable networks
in Los Angeles, Atlanta and Detroit, as well as in parts of Massachusetts and
Florida. Although it reported only 10,000 phone customers at the end of
1998, in some areas it has lured away close to 10 percent of the local phone
company's customers, Wood said.
MediaOne also reported having 84,000 high-speed Internet customers at the
end of 1998, using the affiliated Road Runner service. By buying MediaOne,
AT&T could replace Road Runner with its own high-speed Internet access
affiliate, @Home Corp. of Redwood City.
Analyst Lisa Pierce of the Giga Information Group suggested that the
high-speed data possibilities are a more important element in the deal than the
local phone ones. ''As new capabilities come out, they're going to be
high-speed data capabilities, they're not going to be enhancements to local
phone service,'' she said.
Pierce said that another key driver is AT&T's desire to offer a broad
package of services to consumers. The more consumers buy, Pierce said, the
less likely they are to switch to another company when a better offer comes
along.
C. Michael Armstrong, AT&T's aggressive chairman and chief executive, still
stressed local phone service in his comments about the deal.
''Combining AT&T and MediaOne means that far more American
consumers will have a choice in local phone service,'' he said in a statement.
''Together, AT&T and MediaOne will bring broadband video, voice and
data services to more communities, more quickly than we could separately
or, in MediaOne's case, with any other company.''
Beats Comcast offer
For each share of MediaOne Group stock, AT&T is offering $30.85 in cash
plus .95 shares of AT&T stock. It's also offering to pick up $4.5 billion
worth of debt and preferred stock.
The company has agreed to add cash to the deal to offset up to a 10 percent
drop in AT&T shares' value.
The offer is 26 percent higher than the value of MediaOne stock and 17
percent higher than Comcast's proposed stock swap, AT&T said. The
company has lined up Amos B. Hostetter, former chief of the cable company
that became MediaOne, as an adviser on the deal.
MediaOne already has been owned by a phone company: Denver-based US
West, a local phone powerhouse that once was part of the AT&T family. But
US West spun off MediaOne last year because of a lack of synergy between
the cable TV and local-phone businesses.
mercurycenter.com
AT&T's cable TV bid debated
Internet provider: Consumer advocates worry about
power over high-speed services. |
