CES 2006 - Day 2: Blu-ray/HD-DVD, PureVideo H.264, Viiv, Centrino Duo and a lot more
by Anand Lal Shimpi & Manveer Wasson on January 7, 2006 3:07 AM EST- Posted in
- Trade Shows
DirecTV and Viiv
On our first day in Vegas we got a preview of ATI's OCUR device; as we mentioned in the article, the OCUR will be used to bring CableCard support to PCs with Windows Vista later this year. While at the show, DirecTV announced a relationship with Intel that could potentially result in a very similar capability for DirecTV owners.
The idea is that sometime in the future, DirecTV users will be able to connect their Viiv PC to their DirecTV receiver and share content between the two. The goal is to be able to not only gain access to movies, pictures and music stored on the Viiv PC but also to use the Viiv PC as a HD-DVR for your DirecTV channels.
There are absolutely no details on the implementation or expected availability, all we know is that DirecTV and Intel are working on the solution and that we can expect it sometime in the future. Given Microsoft and ATI's commitment to deliver CableCard support to the PC by the end of this year, we'd estimate that DirecTV would want to be able to promise the same HD/premium content support under Vista to their subscribers as soon as possible as well.
The Viiv PC at the DirecTV booth was yet another Intel reference design, however it was a non-functioning sample.
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highlandsun - Saturday, January 7, 2006 - link
These are edge-lit displays, i.e., the LEDs are all along one edge of the screen and lightguides are used to spread their light across the whole display surface. If you decrease the brightness of one or two LEDs that will cause a dark stripe. Probably not useful for most types of images.Clauzii - Sunday, January 8, 2006 - link
Hmm - bummer! Would have been nice though...each backlit....Lyman42 - Saturday, January 7, 2006 - link
I agree, the rollable display is probably one of the most innovative things shown in the article. I also wish that AMD SFF PC would be for sale outside of Asia; it looks very cool. As for HD-DVD and Blu-Ray (BR), anyone notice how ugly the HD-DVD box looks compared to BR's? I like that the Blu-Ray Boxes say 1080p right on the cover, great way to try and differentiate yourself from the competition for J6P.psychobriggsy - Saturday, January 7, 2006 - link
I didn't like the design of most of the VIIV devices. Still too 'PC' like.That Dell VIIV device only had VGA output. Welcome to VGA resolution DRM video on your HDTV. Come on, a VIIV PC should have DVI with HDCP at least, and HDMI would be nice too.
The Intel VIIV machine looked awful. What is it with PC manufacturers and the desire for ugly buttons and nasty smokey-black plastic panels?
OTOH the OLED display looked great, amazingly thin. And the rollable display has a lot of promise for the future.
lexmark - Saturday, January 7, 2006 - link
great article. looks like intel is really pushing forward on its viiv platform. i really liked alot of the case designs on display.on the rollable paper idea, won't durability become a problem? something so thin and delicate looks easy to damage.
oh yea AT, stumbled upon a typo while reading:
The display was barely over an eighth of an inch "think"
Iv3RSoN - Saturday, January 7, 2006 - link
That AMD media center was sexii indeed.skunkbuster - Saturday, January 7, 2006 - link
that rollable display looks really coolKashGarinn - Saturday, January 7, 2006 - link
If anyone can find a link to a video of the thing, that'd be awesome.K.
longfred - Sunday, January 8, 2006 - link
http://www.polymervision.com">www.polymervision.com technology -> download gives you pictures and a video.xsilver - Saturday, January 7, 2006 - link
I think the idea of it keeping for months without power is pretty awesome, no cumbersome battery pack!