TI Leads In Defining The Future Of Interactive Digital Entertainment For The Home Market

""CompleteTV"" Will See First-Ever Melding Of High Definition Broadcasting And Internet-Based Content

2-Feb-01

Texas Instruments (TI ) announced a unique, innovative project which the company says ""will demonstrate the future of home entertainment."" The project - named CompleteTV - will enable a number of families in Raleigh, North Carolina to take part in a pilot program beginning during the second quarter of 2001, giving them access to a home entertainment experience which will seamlessly combine, for the first time, the worlds of broadcast HD programming and Internet-based information and entertainment. During, and at the conclusion of the six month program, the twenty families will provide feedback on their experience.""We have a vision of what home entertainment will look like in the future,"" said Dale Zimmerman, Product Manager for DLPô Home Entertainment Systems, ""and this exercise is designed to validate that vision and to provide Texas Instruments with invaluable information to support our continuing product development. This is a collaborative project whose ultimate goal is to enhance the home entertainment experience.""The project will equip selected Raleigh families with a large screen, rear projection HD home entertainment system from Panasonic, very similar to the PT-52DL10 which won Best In Show in the video category of the Innovations 2001 awards at the recent Consumer Electronics Show. The system features Digital Light Processingô technology. ""We're thrilled to be participating in this program,"" said Jonas Tanenbaum, National Marketing Manager for Panasonic Television and Network Systems Division. ""As a company, we pride ourselves in being at the forefront of delivering exciting new experiences to consumers, and the CompleteTV project enables us to be part of something which can help shape the way in which entertainment will be delivered to the home.""The system comes equipped with the necessary high definition capability and PC interfaces to enable it to act as a multi-functional screen, capable of simultaneously delivering outstanding quality video and high resolution graphics. The complete system will include a high performance broadband ""entertainment computer,"" integrated by RKR Video of Huntington Beach California, a company specializing in state-of-the-art video and graphics for personal computers in home theatre applications.""DLP technology is unique in its ability to allow manufacturers such as Panasonic, Hitachi and Mitsubishi the ability to develop large screen home entertainment systems which provide outstanding high resolution video and graphics,"" continued Zimmerman. ""This uniquely positions DLP to help create a new home entertainment experience far more integrated, more interactive, more immersive - and more enjoyable.""High definition broadcasting will be provided by Raleigh CBS Affiliate, WRAL Digital - the first station to broadcast a digital signal in the U.S. The station, owned by Capitol Broadcasting Co., Inc., operates at 975 kilowatts from a new 2000-foot tower. WRAL was the first station in the nation to broadcast a full HDTV newscast.""We're delighted to be working with Texas Instruments on this exciting project,"" said James F. Goodmon, President and Chief Executive Officer of Capitol. ""Both our companies share similar visions of the future of home entertainment and community service programs broadcast digitally to the home - and then viewed using a digital display technology. As a leading proponent of digital broadcasting, we feel we have much to contribute. We stand on the edge of a news and home entertainment revolution.""The families will interact with their home entertainment system via a specialized navigation interface, designed by Emerald Solutions of Portland, Oregon, a leading e-business solutions and services company. The program guide will be provided by Decisionmark Corporation, a fast-growing developer of Internet-based software and applications for consumers and business decision makers. The ""middleware"" - the software which will allow broadcast video and Internet entertainment to appear simultaneously on the screen - is being developed by Texas Instruments and RAVISENT Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: RVST), a provider of digital audio, video software solutions and Internet appliance technology of Malvern, Pennsylvania. ""Technically, this is a significant challenge for everyone involved,"" said Mike Harris, Chief Technology Officer for RAVISENT. ""All the elements are there, and all the technologies are in place, but making them work together in a way which is intuitive for the consumer is what makes this project unique. It's a real pleasure for us to be part of something that has the potential to dramatically improve the home entertainment experience.""More information on TI's DLP technology can be found at www.dlp.com.

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