Jon Iverson

Now that e-cinema&mdash;using a non-film, digital projector in a movie theater&mdash;has started to take off, several companies are offering new technologies for getting the high-resolution data to the movie house. Last week brought news of the new <A HREF="http://www.guidetohometheater.com/shownews.cgi?837">FMD 100GB disc</A> from C-3D, while this week we focus on news concerning the use of a high-bandwidth satellite to do the job.

Last week, <A HREF="http://www.semiconductors.com">Philips Semiconductors</A> (a division of Philips Electronics) announced the first in a new family of silicon chips that they claim "will revolutionize the way we use television." The company says its pnx8500 Nexperia Home Entertainment Engine will enable the combination of digital video, audio, graphics, and Internet content into "highly interactive" program material and will allow cable and satellite service providers to add new digital subscriber services to their existing TV program offerings. At the same time, Philips also announced Samsung's support for the new chip in its next-generation consumer set-top box.

Last November, <A HREF="http://www.flatdisplaysystems.philips.com">Philips</A>' flat-panel display division and <A HREF="http://www.rainbowdisplays.com">Rainbow Displays</A> announced their agreement to jointly develop large, "tiled" LCDs for a variety of next-generation consumer and business applications. Making good on that promise, last week the companies announced that they will showcase the industry's first 37.5-inch "tiled" flat-panel display at the Combined Exhibition of Advanced Technologies (CEATEC) Japan 2000, to be held October 3&ndash;7, 2000, in Tokyo.

Last week, in a statement coinciding with the International Broadcasting Convention taking place in Amsterdam, <A HREF="http://www.equator.com">Equator Technologies</A> and <A HREF="http://www.snellwilcox.com">Snell & Wilcox</A> announced that they have developed what they describe as the world's first end-to-end, optimized digital video platform enabling low-cost consumer products to deliver "better-than-VHS-quality" video at sub-megabit bandwidths. The companies claim that the newly developed technology, which they have dubbed "VHS-plus/Megabit-minus," will be available near the end of 2000.