Terratec HomeArena TXR 884: inexpensive 7.1-channel acoustics

Terratec to introduce Aureon 5.1 USB, a new external 5.1-channel soundcard

Toshiba Gigabeat G20: multimedia player with 20Gb HDD

DSC-S1 — new 3.3 Mpix camera from Sanyo

More details on Prescott processors and the Grantsdale family

Matsushita´s plans on market share increase

DVD-RAM Promotion Group Established

Terratec HomeArena TXR 884: inexpensive 7.1-channel acoustics

Terratec 7.1 HomeArena TXR 884 provides 84W RMS total power, supports Dolby Digital, DTS and Dolby Pro Logic. The subwoofer has a 12.5cm 28W RMS LF speaker. Each satellite has a 7.5cm 8W RMS wideband speaker. Satellites are sized 85x112x98mm each, subwoofer – 165x250x340mm.

To Europe Terratec 7.1 HomeArena TXR 884 will arrive in September with MSRP of 179 euros.

Terratec to introduce Aureon 5.1 USB, a new external 5.1-channel soundcard

Aureon 5.1 USB bases on VIA Envy 24HT chip and support Dolby Digital, AC3, DTR, Dolby Pro Logic II. In fact, this model is an external version of Aureon 5.1 Sky. Aureon 5.1 USB has two analog-in jacks, 6-channel out, optical and coaxial SPDIF, mic-in.

Aureon 5.1 USB will be bundled with InterVideo WinDVD and Steinberg Traktor DJ. Terratec MSRP of Aureon 5.1 USB is about 99 euros.

Source: PC INpact

Toshiba Gigabeat G20: multimedia player with 20Gb HDD

Gigabeat G20 features 1.8" 20Gb Toshiba MEG200J and is encased into the "sapphire blue" or silver aluminium case. Sized 76.5x89.5x12.7mm, it weighs about 138g. The built-in Li-Ion battery provides 11 hours of operation and the bundle includes a docking station. Supporting USB2.0, the player works under Windows 98 SE/Me/2000/XP.

Source: PC Watch

DSC-S1 — new 3.3 Mpix camera from Sanyo

Sanyo unveiled its new Xacti-series camera for beginners, DSC-S1, that will go on sale Sep 19.

• Sensor – 1/2.7", CCD, 3.3 mln. pixels (effective – 3.2 million)
• Lens – 7 elements in 6 groups, 3x optical zoom, 5.6–16.8 mm focal length (36-108 mm equiv.), F=2.8-4.9
• Digital zoom – 4x
• Minimal shooting range – 50 cm, 6 cm (macro)
• Image resolution – 2880 x 2160 (approximated)
• Media – SD/MMC
• Movies – 320 x 240 pixels, 15 fps
• Optical viewfinder — Real-image
• LCD– 1,6" (80 000 pixeles)
• PictBridge support
• Interface – USB, video-out (NTSC/PAL)
• Power supply — CR-V3
• Dimensions – 99.8 x 30 x 63 mm
• Weight – 145 g

More details on Prescott processors and the Grantsdale family

As you know, Prescott´s crystal size will make 109.1mm² instead of Northwood´s 131.4mm² due to 90nm process instead of the 0.13µm technology. This time the company won´t have to change the wafer size like it had to do while transiting to 0.13µm process (from 200mm to 300mm wafers). Prescott clock speeds will start from 3.4GHz to reach 4GHz in 2004. According to provisional estimations, Tejas chips will be launched in Q4 2004 with 4.4GHz+ clock speeds. By that time Prescott might reach 4.0-4.2GHz.

As for the Grantsdale solutions expected in Q2 2004 with DDR2-400/533 and DDR333/400 support, the most powerful discrete Grantsdale-P would likely support DDR2 only, while integrated Grantsdale-G will support both DDR2, and DDR. Of course, the market will se the mainstream Prescotts as well — Grantsdale-GV and Grantsdale-GL — without 533MHz FSB support. These are expected closer to Q3 2004. Grantsdale-GV won´t support external graphics despite the PCI Express x16 slot (unlike AGP, PCI Express x16 is not dedicated to graphics only). Grantsdale-GL won´t support Hyper-Threading and PCI Express x16, just PCI Express x1. By the way, the new Northway Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) chip will work with PCI Express x1. According to provisional information, the whole Grantsdale family will support up to 4Gb of memory.

Below is the summary for Grantsdale-P/G chipsets:

Grantsdale Northbridge

• 533/800MHz FSB (up to 1066MHz when Tejas is released)
• LGA775 package
• PCI Express x16
• Dual-channel DDR2-400/533 and DDR333/400
• Integrated Intel Extreme Graphics 3 (DirectX9, Pixel Shader 2.0) in the "G" model

Southbridge ICH6/ICH6R

• 4 x PCI Express x1 ports
• Inegrated Azalia sound (24bit/192kHz)
• 1 x PATA100 channel
• 4 x SATA150 ports
• 8 x USB 2.0 ports
• 6 x PCI slots

Source: PC Watch

Matsushita´s plans on market share increase

According to seveal sources, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co Ltd, is aimed to double its share of the flat-panel television market by the 2005/06 business year. The maker had a 16 percent global market share in 2002/03, but wants to capture 30 percent within three years.The company aims to boost its share of the liquid crystal display (LCD) TV market to 25 percent from 11 percent over the next three years and that of the plasma display panel (PDP) TV market to 30 percent from 22 percent.

The latest sales targets were given when the electronics giant unveiled 13 new flat-panel TVs in its newly named "Viera" series, to be launched in the domestic market this autumn. The products range from 14-inch to 50-inch diagonal screen sizes and include three PDP TVs and 10 LCDs. The company plans to increase annual production capacity for flat-panel TVs and to raise its global sales of televisions overall to 700 billion yen ($5.93 billion) in 2005/06 from 530 billion yen in 2002/03.

Matsushita, which ranks second to Sony Corp in the consumer electronics sector, said it wants flat-panel TVs to account for more than 60 percent of its television sets in 2005/06, compared with below 20 percent in 2002/03.

DVD-RAM Promotion Group Established

Nine leading electronics and information technology companies announced they have created an industry organization called the RAM Promotion Group (RAMPRG) to encourage awareness and adoption of the recordable DVD format called DVD-RAM.

The nine companies, Hitachi Ltd, Hitachi-LG Data Storage, Inc, Hitachi Maxell Ltd, LG Electronics Inc, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co, Ltd (Panasonic), Samsung Electronics Co, Ltd, Teac Corp, Toshiba Corp and Victor Co of Japan Ltd (JVC), all members of the Recordable DVD Council (RDVDC), are committed to promote the DVD-RAM format, and are working together to popularize DVD-RAM-related products with the support of the RDVDC.

With the aim of bringing DVD-RAM into widespread use around the world, the RAM Promotion Group will engage in a broad array of promotional activities that highlight the use of the format in both PC and consumer electronics hardware, media, software and related applications.

Activities will include exhibits at major international exhibitions in Japan, the US and Europe to display and demonstrate DVD-RAM products, as well as industry education initiatives, a dedicated Web site and print publications.

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