Intel-Philips tie-up for home entertainment system |
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Sun, 04 Sep 2005 06:05
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NEW YORK: Chipmaker Intel Corporation and Dutch electronics group Philips are collaborating to market home entertainment systems with Intel chips. Under the deal, Intel will provide processor, chipset and software for Philips media center, a system that facilitates storing and sharing photos, music and video on a single platform.
The agreement also marks Intel's foray into the $70 billion-a-year consumer electronics semiconductor market.
Intel made the announcement about the deal at IFA, the world's biggest consumer electronics trade fair in Berlin.
The PC-based Philips system, called Philips Showline Media Center, includes a card that allows users to watch two TV channels simultaneously, a 250-gigabyte hard disk drive for storing music and photos, and a recorder for DVDs and CDs. The device will feature a Pentium 4 processor with hyperthreading technology and Intel 945 Express chip set. Alongside, there will be Intel high-definition audio, supporting surround sound and allowing multiple audio streams that can be accessed in different rooms.
Intel's head of digital home group Don MacDonald said the company will market the right products at right price points in three to five years. Typically, chips used in TVs, digital cameras, DVD players and personal video recorders are cheaper and more energy-efficient that Intel chips essentially meant for computer systems.
MacDonald said when consumer electronic products get connected, they would need more powerful and versatile processors and Intel can supply them integrating many functions in a smaller and cheaper chip.
He said: "We're not designing for simple, analog products. We're designing for interactivity. We've been talking about the digital home for 10 years, and now it has come of age."
Intel had made the first move into the home entertainment devices segment last week with the introduction of its Viiv platform. The Viiv devices run on Microsoft's Windows Media Center Edition and uses Intel Centrino chips.
Philips said it will start selling the new Media Centre device under its brand name in October or November in Europe. It will be positioned as an entertainment device, said Philips spokesperson Simon Poulter. "We're not calling it a PC, even though the device has a lot of PC functionality. We want it to be seen as an entertainment center."
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