Philips Views Future Of Television

As the nationwide movement to digital television continues to gain momentum, Philips Electronics offered National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) trade show attendees last week a first-hand look at the future of television on its widescreen 64-inch, rear-projection, high-definition television.Based on extensive research in digital television technology, business development, and design, Philips demonstrated an example of future DTV applications commonly referred to as ""data services"" or ""datacasting"" on HDTV. The display was designed to provide broadcasters, businesses, and the media with a sample of just one of the many potential business and consumer applications that can be developed for digital televisions as soon as industry standards are clearly defined.""Education remains a cruical part of the roll-out of DTV and Philips is committed to educating all sectors of the market in every way possible,"" said John Strobel, Vice President of Marketing for Digital Television at Philips. ""We have been heavily involved in education voer the past year as the major sponsor of the Harirs/PBS DTV Express and DTV For DummiesÆ, an educational book on digital television we ae providing free to interested consumers. Todayís demonstration at NAB is another important way of reaching broadcasters and businesses and helping them conceptualize the groundbreaking possibilities of the DTV technology, so we can work together to make them a reality.""The Philips demonstration featured a high-definition version of one of Philipsí popular new commercials created and launched in the fall of 1998 as part of a major corporate brand campaign. It also contained information from one of Philipsí major retail partners, sending a ""datacast"" of the commercial that contains specific information on the productís retail availability. The hypothetical scenario allows a DTV owner to ""register"" a zip code into a digital television after purchasing it. Broadcasters and advertisers could then embed additional information such as nationwide retail locations and/or additional details about the product into the commercial, providing consumers with immediate and effortless access to this information.In addition to demonstrating interactive applications, Philips also showcased its 64-inch rear projection, high-definition television. The set, which is available at retail stores in major digital markets nationwide, represents the first in a series of Philips digital television offerings that will help consumers transition to a new digital decade. Philips also plans to offer a set-top box later in 1999 that will bridge the transition from analog to digital television, protecting consumersí investments in analog TV. Philips rear-projection set uses a display of 1080 interlaced x 1920 lines of resolutions with a 16:9 (1.78:1) widescreen format. Philips uses three 9-inch cathode ray tubesóversus the industry average 7-inch CRT tubesóand first-surface mirrors to eliminate light refraction. The set also comes equipped with a Dolby Digital surround sound system and internal 120-watt amplifier, and features a clip-on-style center channel input to enable consumers to use additional external amplification sources. For connection to additional peripheral home theatre equipment, the Philips HDTV includes an extensive jack panel comprised of side and rear A/V inputs and outputs.Philipsí HDTV also has an easy-to-use built-in programming guide. Its Guide Plus+ô programming can capture and display advanced information such as on screen channel review, program summaries, and category sorting.Finally, the Philips HDTV contains the Philips Trimedia single chip, programmable media processor designed to support DTV, broadcast data services, a reverse communications channel and Internet browser.