Panasonic And Quantum Develop 1394 Digital Video Recording Subsystem For Consumer Electronics Products

26-Apr-00

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. and Quantum Corporation's Hard Disk Drive Group announced that they have developed the first audio/video hard drive subsystem that records and plays back digital content with random access digital video recording (DVR) functionality over IEEE1394.This 1394 A/V hard drive will be used for Panasonic consumer electronics products that will begin shipping the second half of 2000. The Quantum QuickView-enabled subsystem is designed for embedding in digital consumer electronics products ranging from television sets to cable and satellite set-top boxes, and digital A/V recorders.When released, these products will support content protection based on encryption and authentication technologies such as IEEE1394 DTCP. Content protection is of critical importance to the development and deployment of new business models within the entertainment and information industries. In this arena, Quantum and Matsushita Electric are making efforts to ensure that content-protected platforms are created to make these new business paradigms successful.The advent of this 1394 Quantum QuickView hard drive subsystem is the result of an ongoing joint development relationship between Matsushita Electric along with its subsidiary Matsushita-Kotobuki Electronics Industries, Ltd. (MKE), and Quantum's Consumer Electronics Business Unit. This is the second product to be marketed as a result of this partnership. The first product, DV Editor, is a non-linear video editing system for the home selling under the Panasonic brand name.""The collaboration between Matsushita Electric, MKE, and Quantum has produced a truly innovative means of developing new, simplified, cost-effective, A/V consumer electronics products powered by advanced hard drive technology,"" said Dr. Yoshitomi Nagaoka, Director and member of the Matsushita Electric Board of Directors. ""The IEEE1394 interface has been forecasted as the most important interface for the next-generation of digital home appliances. This integrated component will give manufacturers a platform to build on and will give consumers extraordinary control over digital A/V content coming into their homes.""Matsushita Electric and Quantum have focused considerable resources on 1394 development, each company pioneering protocols and technologies that turn hard drives into digital recorders without the need for expensive, conventional PC system architectures.New Technology To Accelerate The PVR MarketThe digital video recording (DVR) subsystem created by Matsushita Electric and Quantum has yielded a major advancement for the personal video recorder (PVR) market, a class of products distinguished by the inclusion of an electronic program guide (EPG) and preference engine to automatically select and suggest programs to record. The growth of PVRs can now be accelerated by having a standardized 1394 DVR module available to be embedded into a wide variety of consumer electronics devices.""The PVR devices on the market today have touched every aspect of the television infrastructure from the viewer and advertiser to the service provider and broadcaster,"" said Tex Schenkkan, Vice President and General Manager of Quantum's Consumer Electronics Business Unit (CEBU). ""Our pioneering work with Quantum QuickView technologies is enhanced with this new addition to our family of products. Matsushita Electric and Quantum have collaborated to create an integrated component which will accelerate easy implementation of DVR capabilities in all types of new digital devices.""Quantum QuickView Technology For 1394Quantum QuickView technologies for 1394 enable a variety of A/V devices to perform live-broadcast-pause, personal-instant-replay, and fast-forward and rewind of satellite and terrestrial digital broadcast signals. Quantum QuickView technology is also capable of performing instant program searches when linked to an EPG, and executing simultaneous recording and playback of video content. Quantum QuickView also incorporates Quantum's Quiet Drive Technology (QDT), a series of innovative acoustical advancements and unique drive features that dramatically reduce hard drive noise levels.1394 Interface BenefitsThe 1394 multimedia connection enables simple, low-cost, high-bandwidth, real-time data interfacing between consumer electronics products such as digital set-top boxes, camcorders, TVs, and digital still cameras. Quantum is the Work Project Leader for the new IEEE1394 A/V hard disk drive interface specification which provides ease of expansion of storage space and the ability to share storage between 1394-compatible devices, with true isochronous streaming and plug and play simplicity.""Looking ahead, it is clear that 1394 technology will become the interface of choice among consumer electronics manufacturers because of ease-of-use, performance, and flexibility,"" said Mark Kirstein, Vice President of Research for Cahners' In-Stat Group. ""Hard drive vendors like Quantum, who are positioning themselves as leaders in adopting this new interface technology, are clearly headed in the right direction.""About CEBUIn 1997, Quantum's Consumer Electronics Business Unit (CEBU) laid the foundation for applications of hard drives in consumer electronics by performing primary research on consumers' television viewing habits. Further quantifying the market for new categories of consumer electronics products, CEBU followed up with a national Nielsen Media Research study in 1998.About Matsushita ElectricFor further information, please visit Matsushita Electric's Web site at http://www.panasonic.co.jp.About Matsushita-Kotobuki ElectronicsMatsushita-Kotobuki Electronics Industries, Ltd. is a subsidiary of Matsushita Electric, and is one of the world's largest manufacturers of optical (DVD/CD-ROM) disk drives, hard disk drives, and high-capacity floppy disk drives. MKE's other products include VCRs, combination model TVs (TV/VCRs), video camcorders (DVC/VHS-C) and heating equipment.About QuantumFounded in 1980, Quantum Corporation is the storage supplier in six of the seven markets it serves: desktop hard disk drives, tape drives, network attached storage (NAS) appliances, solid state systems and hard disk drives for the emerging personal video recorder (PVR) market, and DLTtape automation systems. Quantum Corp. is on the Internet at www.quantum.com.

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