CE Daily: Here it is...

[krispydude]

edit: This is the September 5th edition. The September 4th edition is still MIA and does exist because it is quoted as a source in this newsletter.


‘Regrets’ About Sony E-Waste Plan
Philips CEO ‘Puzzled’ at Paramount’s Motives in Backing HD DVD
BERLIN -–“I’m still puzzled at the reason why they did it and the way they did it,” Philips Consumer Electronics
CEO Rudy Provoost, in an IFA interview Friday with Consumer Electronics Daily, said of Paramount’s decision
to support HD DVD only (CED Aug 21 p1). “Every scenario has a degree of probability,” and Paramount’s
dropping its Blu-ray support “didn’t rank very high on my scale of probability,” Provoost told us.
Paramount “apparently had reasons to believe it was worth doing,” Provoost said. Asked if he thinks promises
of HD DVD cash swayed Paramount, he said “you’ll have to ask people who you think are part of that deal.”
Later that day, we asked Toshiba HD DVD point man Yoshihide Fujii if Toshiba pledged money to Paramount to
get its endorsement; he confirmed it had. But Fujii said reports putting the sum involved as high as $150 million
were “totally wrong” (CED Sept 4 p1).
Asked if the Paramount decision surprised him, Provoost joked, “In this business, nothing is a surprise anymore.”
But he admitted, “to be brutally honest,” that he didn’t expect the decision “the way it went and when it happened.”
Having finally announced at IFA introduction of a standalone Blu-ray player for Europe, Philips “will
evolve with that market,” Provoost said. But Blu-ray won’t be “a huge source of revenue in the next 12 months,”
Today’s News:
‘IMPROBABLE’ PARAMOUNT DECISION backing HD
DVD only has Philips CE chief ‘puzzled,’ he tells us in
IFA interview. (P. 1)
CES TOPS IFA as biggest CE trade show, Shapiro says
in unusual rebuke of IFA organizers. Comcast CEO to
keynote CES. (P. 2)
WHDI SPECS EXPECTED 2008, with CE products
due in two to three years, chip developer Amimon
says. (P. 4)
DIRECTV-CURRENT DEAL not likely to raise major
regulatory issues, says state regulator. (P. 5)
DIGITAL TV: DTV coupon vendor isn’t talking, citing
contract ban on media interviews. (P. 6)
COMPANIES: Capacity issues not to blame for
Nvidia’s low Q2 inventory, CFO tells investor conference.
(P. 6)
FORMATS: Toshiba to give HD DVD players to first
150 buyers of 'Matrix Trilogy' set at London launch
next week. (P. 6)
INDUSTRY NOTES: JVC edged Panasonic in 2006 camcorder
share in Japan, where shipments fell 4.5%. (P. 7)
ADS & PROMOTIONS: Pioneer revises logo in rollout
of ad blitz for new Kuro plasma sets. (P. 7)
Copyright© 2007 by Warren Communications News, Inc. Reproduction or retransmission in any form, without written permission, is a violation of Federal Statute (17 USC01 et seq.).
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2007 VOL. 7, NO. 171
2—CONSUMER ELECTRONICS DAILY WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2007
he said. Philips at last year’s IFA said it would watch market developments before deciding when or whether to
jump in with a standalone Blu-ray player for Europe. A year ago, it said a Philips Blu-ray launch could come by
the end of Q1 2007, but that didn’t happen. “We said we had a few scenarios in the drawer,” Provoost said, recalling
his company’s 2006 Blu-ray strategy. “We said we would take the scenario that was in line with what the market
allows us to do or requires us to do. So indeed, we’ve been waiting.”
One reason for the wait is that the Blu-ray rollout “is going slower than I would have liked it to go,” Provoost
said. Still, some 1.6 million Blu-ray have been sold and “I see a Blockbuster or a Target making strong choices, and they
are closer to the consumer than the guys upstream in the value chain,” he said. Provoost still thinks “in good faith that the
winner is going to be blue,” he said. “And that’s not a technical discussion. For me, it’s a consumer discussion.”
“From a pure Philips perspective, we’re basically saying, let the market determine its own destiny” on
Blu-ray, Provoost said. “Let the players who have probably more at stake do their jobs,” including game developers
and movie studios, he said. “We’re going to work together with them to the extent that we can afford
it, to the extent that it’s meaningful for our consumers,” he said. That’s why Philips has shared the stage at
past IFA shows with Fox Home Entertainment President Mike Dunn and Buena Vista Home Entertainment
President Bob Chapek, he said. In Blu-ray, Philips “will continue to tell the world that we believe there’s a
format there that makes more sense than the other, but we will do that in a responsible way, both financially
and commercially,” he said.
The European Information & Communications Technology Industry Association, which Provoost chairs,
has been pushing “voluntary, but collective” green initiatives, Provoost said. Of the new Philips campaign, announced
at IFA, to apply a green logo to all environmentally friendly products in the line, “once in a while, you
need to lead by example,” he said. Philips has been very aggressive in promoting the green “envelope,” particularly
in campaigning for low-watt energy consumption in standby, Provoost said. With the Philips green logo, “we
hope that we can kind of drive a European agenda going forward,” he said.
On the Sony Take Back Recycling program recently debuted in the U.S., “I guess I regret that it is an
individual initiative,” Provoost said. It goes against “the principle of voluntary, collective agreements where
you join forces and think through all the implications and have a consistent offer to the consumer and the retailer,”
he said. “That is not really the case” with the Sony program, Provoost added. Asked how that hurts
recycling, Provoost said, “I’m not sure there is harm. I’m not familiar enough, to be honest with you, about
the specific economics of their decision. At Philips, we’re definitely studying what to do next, and harm or no
harm, if we should actually join them or not. At this point, it’s difficult for me to judge if this is right or
wrong.” -- Paul Gluckman, Barry Fox
Comcast CEO to Keynote

4—CONSUMER ELECTRONICS DAILY WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2007
early is worthwhile for another reason too: All the exhibitors who do so will be given priority when stands are
being allocated,” they said.
Funai had no comment on our query whether the company plans a Blu-ray hardware introduction in the
U.S. and under what brand. A nonworking prototype of a Funai-brand Blu-ray player was showcased under glass
at the company’s IFA stand. -- Paul Gluckman
Targeting High-End First
Wireless High Definition Interface Specs Due in 2008, Chip Maker Says
Wireless High Definition Interface (WHDI) specifications will be released by mid-2008 with a goal of embedding
the technology in CE products for less $10 within two to three years, said Noam Geri, vice president of
marketing and business development at Amimon, now developing an WHDI chipset.
Amimon, which released baseband processors (AMN2110, AMN2210) at the heart of the WHDI chipset,
expects Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. to start volume production of them this fall using a 0.13-
micron process, Geri said. The initial chipset will consist of four ICs, including baseband processors and two RF
chips. The processors, $20-plus in volume, will run at 100/200 MHz clock speeds. At first, the chipset will use
off-the-shelf 802.11a ICs, shifting in Q2 2008 to RF devices Amimon is developing with an undisclosed partner,
Geri said. IBM will make the RF chips for Amimon, Geri said.
The first products with the WHDI baseband processors and off-the-shelf RFs likely will be dongles
expected to appear in early 2008 priced in the “low hundreds of dollars,” Geri said. Sanyo has demonstrated
a $10,000 WHDI-equipped front projector expected to ship later this year (CED June 19 p4). Last week at
IFA in Berlin, Loewe and Funai demonstrated WHDI-equipped LCD TVs, but have no immediate plans to
ship them, company officials said. The major savings will come with the arrival of Amimon-developed RF
chips, Geri said. “Product can be out into the market based on the off-the-shelf RF chips with the same capability,
functionality and quality” as Amimon’s chips, but “it will be higher cost to use multiple of these
RF” ICs, Geri said.
In drafting an WHDI spec, Amimon will try to organize a consortium of companies by mid-2008, Geri said.
A small body is expected to form by January CES, Geri said. Geri declined to identify potential members. But in
March Motorola invested an undisclosed amount of money in Amimon. That infusion came in addition to $14 million
the company raised in a Series B funding round, Geri said. The consortium and the specs will help establish a
software-based WHDI protocol for connecting a set-top, link and multiple devices, Geri said. “You will see this
initially in high-end products as the volumes are low and the prices high,” Geri said. “We have a path to enable a
lower price by leveraging” the work already done in 802.11a/n technology, Geri said.
WHDI is seen as a rival to WirelessHD, backed by LG, NEC, Matsushita, Samsung, Sony and Toshiba, but
Geri says the two formats can coexist. WirelessHD specs are expected to be set this fall in hopes of the first products
reaching market in late 2008 (CED Aug 30 p4). WirelessHD Consortium co-founder Sibeam developed a chip
to deliver uncompressed signals at a range of up to 10 meters using the 57 to 64-gigahertz band, as authorized by
the FCC (CED June 28 p3). The system initially is expected to transmit at two to five Gbps, fast enough to handle
720p, 1080i and 1080p video along with advanced digital surround sound. Longer term, the 60-GHz system could
yield rates up to 20 Gbps for future HD upgrades.

[The Guardian]

Note (as I posted in the other thread) this is NOT the same article that we saw a headline for yesterday? That one was talking about Toshiba...

Edit: Here's the headline we saw yesterday: ""TOSHIBA PAID PARAMOUNT to support HD DVD only, but not $150 million, says Toshiba executive""

[krispydude]

heres some more tidbits...

‘
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2007 CONSUMER ELECTRONICS DAILY—5
Amimon is targeting delivery of 1080p video throughout a home in the five-GHz band using a technology
that breaks a signal into levels of visual significance, then maps it onto the wireless channel. The company has
demonstrated 720p and 1080i – about 1.5 gigabits of video –- at up to 100 feet using a 20-MHz channel and multiinput-
multi-output (MIMO) OFDM modem in the five GHz band. Uncompressed 1080p video can be sent a similar
distance using a 40 MHz channel in the same band at up to three Gbps. While Amimon earlier this year said
WirelessHD suffers from “significant degradation” of video quality and high latency that compression encoders
create (CED June 19 p5), Geri argued that “to a certain extent we’re not competing.”
“Sixty GHz is only in-room and it won’t work beyond walls,” Geri said. “We provide the ability to deliver
sources throughout a house and that was something that wasn’t available in the past” with ultra-wideband and
won’t available in the future with WirelessHD. “We see WHDI as complementary” to WirelessHD, Geri said.
WHDI has attracted interest among some Wireless HD-affiliated companies, Geri said.
Aminom, which has raised $21.5 million in two financing rounds since its founding, has the money to get
through volume production, Geri said. An earlier “A” round produced $7.5 million, he said. If WHDI gains
“traction” with CE suppliers, Amimon may seek more financing, but no timing has been set, Geri said. –- Mark Seavy
‘It’s a Separate Company’
DirecTV BPL Deal Not Seen Raising Big Regulatory Issues
DirecTV’s deal with BPL provider Current doesn't raise major regulatory issues because of Current’s
business model, said a state regulator who was on the BPL Task Force of the National Association of Regulatory
Utility Commissioners.
Current pays the utility to get on its system and also pays pole attachment fees, said Public Utilities Commissioner
Tony Clark of North Dakota. “To the extent that it is a separate company that is paying the utility company,
I don’t know that it raises huge questions,” he told us.
Current is deploying in Dallas on the distribution lines of Oncor Electric Delivery, a unit of TXU. Oncor
may face regulatory questions on pole attachment fees and “income generation issues,” Clark said. “But that is not
as complex as the situation where you have got potentially a utility company itself using its regulated assets to compete.”
One concern for regulators is cross-subsidization within the utility, he said.
“You also have to think of the impact on other communications providers,” Clark said. Regulators will
have to consider whether it’s good policy to allow “monopoly regulated dollars to be shifted into a competitive
industry to compete against folks who don’t have that advantage.” The DirecTV deal wouldn't be subject to
regulation because “that is all on the nonregulated side,” said Jay Birnbaum, Current’s general counsel. “The
rates that Oncor charges to distribute electricity have nothing to do with our broadband service whether it is
being resold by DirecTV or us directly.”
Clark said regulators haven’t confronted how to treat a utility that initially deploys BPL for internal “smart
grid” uses and then provides broadband services with it. An “entirely legitimate case” could be made out getting
ratepayers to finance BPL for “smart grid” operations, he said. “But the question is after you install that it is not
very expensive to add on and just enable the communications part of it.” Regulators don’t have an answer to “what
you do in a situation like that,” he said.
6—CONSUMER ELECTRONICS DAILY WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2007
A recent BPL document put out by NARUC would help state regulators clarify the rules for the industry,
Clark said. But many BPL rules are going to be made ad hoc as utilities approach state commissions with BPL pilots
or projects, he said. The NARUC documents will at least help commissioners and aides “raise some of the
questions that need to be asked” about handling BPL, he said. -- Dinesh Kumar
Digital TV
Epiq Systems, a member of the IBM-led team that won the $120 million contract to run NTIA’s DTV coupon
program (CED Aug 16 p1), declined our request for an interview. Consulting with NTIA, Epiq was told that
the contract bars Epiq from discussing the coupon program with reporters, said Myriam Schmell, vice president of
sales for the company’s class action and claims solutions business. -- PG
---
Uruguay adopted the DVB-T and DVB-H standards for DTV broadcasting, the DVB Project said.

Encoder maker Envivio now supports Microsoft's VC-1 codec in its new headends, it said. The system
will let operators provide IPTV and Internet TV service from the same headend.
---
Thomson bought online rich media distributor SyncCast, it said. SyncCast works with Microsoft's Xbox
Live Video Marketplace, National Geographic, CBS, MTV, HBO and other media outlets, Thomson said. The
terms weren't disclosed.
Formats
Toshiba will give HD DVD players to the first 150 buyers of The Complete Matrix Trilogy when Warner
releases the set on the format in London next week. The event is set Sept. 10 at HMV’s flagship store on Oxford
Street, Toshiba said. Doors will open an hour early, and the first 150 buyers of the three-movie set will receive an
entry-level HD-E1 player valued at 250 pounds including value-added tax, or about $500. The first 400 people to
buy the set will receive “a memorabilia goodie bag,” Toshiba said.
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2007 CONSUMER ELECTRONICS DAILY—7
HD DVD backer NEC will ship a PC with combo Blu-ray/HD DVD drive, the company said Monday. The
PC is the first dual-format compatible model in Japan and will play and record Blu-ray discs and play HD DVDs
but not record them. Other Japanese PC makers each support one of the formats. Toshiba’s models play HD DVD
only and Fujitsu’s and Sony’s are Blu-ray only.
---
Denon remains on track to ship its DVD-3800BDCI Blu-ray player this fall in the U.S., a spokeswoman told
Consumer Electronics Daily Tuesday. Reports of a postponement circulated after Denon U.K. pushed back its
launch to next year’s second quarter. The $1,999 player is Denon’s first Blu-ray product, and also scheduled to be
the format’s first Profile 1.1 model, with dual video decoders for picture-in-picture playback. That function becomes
mandatory in Blu-ray players introduced after Oct. 31. -- SAB
---
A Java-based multilevel strategy game will be among the Blu-ray bonus features when Fox releases
its Live Free or Die Hard on the format Nov. 20. The Blu-ray release of the Bruce Willis movie will include
the PG-13 rated theatrical version of the movie, as well as the game Black Hat Intercept!, Fox said. The disc
will be authored in Blu-ray’s BD-Java interactivity, with MPEG-4/AVC compression on a 50-GB dual-layer
disc. Soundtracks are in English with 5.1 DTS HD Lossless Master Audio, and in English, French and Spanish
with 5.1 Dolby Digital.

Ads & Promotions
Pioneer unveiled a new logo Tuesday as it rolled out an ad campaign for its Kuro line of plasma HDTVs.
The TV, print and online blitz is designed to reposition Pioneer as a premium brand and away from the commodity
flat-panel business, the company said. The slogan “seeing and hearing like never before” targets “discerning entertainment
junkies” for the Kuro sets, whose name comes from the Japanese word for deep and black and touts the
increased black level of the displays. The company’s new logo depicts the Pioneer name in a stylized italic.
Videogames
Microsoft set a Tokyo Game Show news briefing Sept. 12, eight days before the show starts. A Sept. 20
international media reception will accommodate “U.S. media and other media who couldn’t attend” the Sept. 12
briefing, a Microsoft spokesman said Tuesday. But it was unclear whether Microsoft will release more information
the day the show kicks off. The Xbox 360 continues to struggle in Japan, the latest Enterbrain market data show.
Only about 11,288 Xbox 360s were sold there in August, bringing its installed base to only 442,290. The 360 had a
year’s jump on the PS3 and Nintendo’s Wii, but many more of those rivals have sold in Japan. About 245,653 Wiis
were sold in Japan in August, increasing its installed base to 3.4 million there. The PS3 trailed, with a Japan in8—
CONSUMER ELECTRONICS DAILY WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2007
stalled base of 1.1 million after 81,541 were sold in August. Though Wii outsold the PS3 more than 3-to-1, Sony’s
console showed a resurgence for the second month running. Nearly 92,000 PS3s were sold in July after two
months of unit sales below 50,000.
---

[lch]

Originally Posted by krispydude

Later that day, we asked Toshiba HD DVD point man Yoshihide Fujii if Toshiba pledged money to Paramount to
get its endorsement; he confirmed it had. But Fujii said reports putting the sum involved as high as $150 million were “totally wrong” (CED Sept 4 p1).

so paramount is a cheap *****, and doesn't even need 150m to bribe ?

or he intentionally try to separate paramount who get 50m while dreamwork get 100m.

[Lepton]

Bribes are fun. But since there are maybe 100,000 active HD DVD customers out there (look at the HMM sales data... most titles sell ~10k copies).

So that's a cool $1,500 per customer they bought. With only a slow trickle of new customers joining. If you thought Toshiba is losing money on A-2's.... hoo boy! They are losing way more money on this deal!

[kotton247]

Originally Posted by lch

so paramount is a cheap *****, and doesn't even need 150m to bribe ?

or he intentionally try to separate paramount who get 50m while dreamwork get 100m.

Of course paramounted is a cheap *****. They probably would have caved for a sack of potato's.

[Spankey]

The article is what was expected. It confirms that Paramount was paid. What the details of that payment are and how much or how little is still unknown.

Perhaps Toshiba is saying they paid something and someone else paid some more. Paramount will not be able to say they made the choice for the consumer based on a year's experience. They were the studio that would have got trounced this year. If Universal ever went Blu-ray, Paramount would be left with one, maybe two major titles this year while everyone else bought Kong, Bourne, etc.

Maybe it was good for them to take the bribe.

[bootman]

What's up with Philips and their very lackluster attitude here?

[hoser]

There wasn't anything in there that was NEW about the Paramount sell-out.
Beatboy, tell me this isn't the article we have been waiting for....



The best thing was confirmation from Denon that the 3800 will be here before X-mas.

[chinewalker]

Originally Posted by krispydude

Philips CEO ‘Puzzled’ at Paramount’s Motives in Backing HD DVD
BERLIN -–“I’m still puzzled at the reason why they did it and the way they did it,” Philips Consumer Electronics
CEO Rudy Provoost, in an IFA interview Friday with Consumer Electronics Daily, said of Paramount’s decision
to support HD DVD only (CED Aug 21 p1). “Every scenario has a degree of probability,” and Paramount’s
dropping its Blu-ray support “didn’t rank very high on my scale of probability,”

Originally Posted by bootman

What's up with Philips and their very lackluster attitude here?

Nothing much lacklustre about Provoost's statement, it's a clear indication of the idiocy of Paramount's decision. Glad to see my former employer is on the Blu side.

[supersix4]

hahaha what a bunch of jokers!

[dialog_gvf]

Denon remains on track to ship its DVD-3800BDCI Blu-ray player this fall in the U.S., a spokeswoman told Consumer Electronics Daily Tuesday. Reports of a postponement circulated after Denon U.K. pushed back its launch to next year’s second quarter. The $1,999 player is Denon’s first Blu-ray product, and also scheduled to be the format’s first Profile 1.1 model, with dual video decoders for picture-in-picture playback. That function becomes mandatory in Blu-ray players introduced after Oct. 31. -- SAB

So, still on track.

Gary

[dialog_gvf]

Later that day, we asked Toshiba HD DVD point man Yoshihide Fujii if Toshiba pledged money to Paramount to get its endorsement; he confirmed it had. But Fujii said reports putting the sum involved as high as $150 million were “totally wrong” (CED Sept 4 p1).

Paramount already endorsed HD DVD. First, in 2004 when it joined Warner and Universal to declare exclusive support. Then again when it started releasing content on HD DVD.

Why did they have to pay Paramount to endorse it AGAIN?

They paid to remove an endorsement of Blu-ray. Not to add an endorsement of HD DVD.

Gary

[richard lichtenfelt]

It could mean that it was greater than 150m. Especially if you count the money that probably went directly into the hands of Viacom top execs.
This is conjecture on my part. I have no evidence to back it up.

[supersix4]

Originally Posted by richard lichtenfelt

It could mean that it was greater than 150m. Especially if you count the money that probably went directly into the hands of Viacom top execs.
This is conjecture on my part. I have no evidence to back it up.

that it could be, it always seemed like a small number given upcoming blu-ray movies and such would make that much in a couple mo.

[jcdDigix]

I am already boycotting Paramount & Co. After their BD releases that I owned (8 actually) they won't get nothing from me. Oh by the way I stopped buying DVD more than a year ago! I owned more than 1500 DVDs.

[supersix4]

Originally Posted by jcdDigix

I am already boycotting Paramount & Co. After their BD releases that I owned (8 actually) they won't get nothing from me. Oh by the way I stopped buying DVD more than a year ago! I owned more than 1500 DVDs.

here here!

[MrBogey]

Originally Posted by Lepton

Bribes are fun. But since there are maybe 100,000 active HD DVD customers out there (look at the HMM sales data... most titles sell ~10k copies).

So that's a cool $1,500 per customer they bought. With only a slow trickle of new customers joining. If you thought Toshiba is losing money on A-2's.... hoo boy! They are losing way more money on this deal!

They didn't buy customers. They paid to keep discs away from us. HD DVD gained nothing except taking away sales from the BDA.

[beatboy77]

Originally Posted by hoser

There wasn't anything in there that was NEW about the Paramount sell-out.
Beatboy, tell me this isn't the article we have been waiting for....



The best thing was confirmation from Denon that the 3800 will be here before X-mas.

Unfortunately it is a VERY watered down version of the article I was expecting us to get. The article involving the time frame of the deal, the actual Spielberg clause and Paramount's fears of an EU investigation.

It does seem weird that the version previewed yesterday on the CED website morphed in to this.

None the less, we still get confirmation that Toshiba paid Paramount to not release on the Blu-ray format at this time. Seems like this may possibly be an illegal act on both companies part.

I am going to email my state Attorney General's office tonight with excerpts from the article and try to get a legal clarification on this "deal." I do feel we the consumers were the product of a "bait and switch" type business move on the part of Paramount. Paramount made official announcements and participated in active marketing of Blu-ray products and then just suddenly pulled the plug. It can be understandable that many people bought Blu-ray products based the the promises of Paramount.

I encourage you guys to email you State Attorney Generals as well with questions about this "deal."

~Josh

[blublublu]

This doesn't seem to be the article in question. You actually want yesterday's, referenced here "(CED Sept 4 p1)":

Later that day, we asked Toshiba HD DVD point man Yoshihide Fujii if Toshiba pledged money to Paramount to
get its endorsement; he confirmed it had. But Fujii said reports putting the sum involved as high as $150 million
were “totally wrong” (CED Sept 4 p1).