Company Announces Industry's First HDTV Media Hub, Next-Generation
HP Digital Entertainment Centers, and a Full Line of New TVs and Projectors
In advance of the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, HP
today kicked off the next phase of its digital entertainment push by
announcing a set of products and partnerships that build on the company's
strategy to deliver simplicity, innovation, personalization and mass-market
pricing.
"Digital entertainment is about enabling consumers to enjoy, manage
and interact with all kinds of content from any source in a simple, easy
way," said Carly Fiorina, HP chairman and chief executive officer. "Our
expertise in imaging and printing, consumer devices and computing technologies
combined with our R&D capabilities uniquely position HP to solve
the complexity of integrating the physical and digital worlds and take
the digital lifestyle mainstream."
The company announced an expanded family of entertainment hubs. First,
HP announced it will add high-definition ATSC tuning capabilities to
its current HP Digital Entertainment Center (DEC), which is designed
for PC enthusiasts who want to combine e-mail and Internet access with
digital entertainment capabilities. HP's new DEC products fuse the best
of PC and audio-visual elements. Two models are expected to ship this
spring with different storage, graphics card and tuning options.
Second, HP announced the industry's first HDTV media hub
an HP-developed
product that enables consumers to access, manage and enjoy digital photos,
music, TV and video combined with the capabilities of HDTV, a digital
cable set-top box and a dual-tuner digital video recorder (DVR). Consumers
who are looking for a family room or living room-based entertainment
experience can now enjoy multiple kinds of content, which previously
required multiple technologies and devices, through a single, simple-to-use
platform managed remotely from the couch. For example, consumers can
easily create their own slide shows combining personal digital photos
and videos with music.
The new HP media hub, expected for release in fall 2005, will launch
with three key services:
An intuitive Electronic Programming Guide designed by HP that allows
consumers to easily find and record the content they want,
A music information service that automatically provides song titles,
CD artwork and other artist information and
An automatic update service that upgrades the device with new services
as they become available, extending the longevity of the device.
Additionally, in 2005, HP plans to introduce a full line of 17 new HDTVs
and home theater projectors based on HP-developed "visual fidelity" technologies,
such as the company's patent-pending "wobulation" technology, which enables
twice the resolution of digital projection displays without increasing
the cost. HP's picture-enhancing technologies also analyze each pixel
in every image for noise reduction, color enhancement, motion compensation
and detail enhancement, resulting in a sharper, clearer picture.
Partnerships and channel expansion accelerate digital entertainment
HP continues to expand its partnerships with some of the industry's most
influential companies, driving open standards and furthering the goal
of providing consumers with unique content and services. New partnerships
include:
Tweeter Home Entertainment Group: HP is expanding its vast retail
presence by teaming up with specialty A/V retailer Tweeter Home Entertainment
Group. Tweeter's new Las Vegas concept store, called Tweeter Entertainment
Architects, will feature HP's digital entertainment products at the center
of many of the entertainment experience settings throughout the store.
Additionally, these products will also be sold throughout the retailer's
store network.
Philips: HP is helping to lead the digital rights management (DRM)
effort to enable businesses and consumers to produce and use digital
entertainment content without having to worry about piracy. HP and Philips
are jointly launching the new Video Content Protection System (VCPS),
which provides a powerful entertainment experience that automatically
adheres to new recording rules for the consumer but remains completely
transparent to the viewer.
Panasonic: HP and Panasonic are working together to make it easier
for consumers to use DVD media between their digital consumer electronics
and PCs by incorporating DVD+R and DVD-RAM formats into the companies'
respective DVD products. By eliminating format issues and confusion about
which media to use, both companies expect that consumer interest in DVD
recording will grow significantly. The companies also plan to cooperate
on developing products and solutions that support the Blu-ray Disc Association
high-definition optical disc format. The goal is to create the overall
best user experience in the growing recordable DVD market, as well as
in the future Blu-ray Disc market.
DRM Coral Consortium: As a founding member of the Coral Consortium,
an alliance of media and technology leaders dedicated to DRM interoperability,
HP will participate in announcements regarding new Coral members and
technical specifications. Working with the Coral Consortium is one of
HP's efforts to protect digital content without confining the consumer
experience, supporting DRM solutions that balance technology, regulations
and legal mechanisms.
Additional new products
LightScribe Direct Disc Labeling: Last year at CES, HP announced
that it was revolutionizing consumers' ability to personalize discs with
the introduction of LightScribe Direct Disc Labeling technology, which
enables users to create customized, silkscreen-quality labels directly
onto discs using their HP PCs. This year, HP is enhancing LightScribe
so that it works 50 percent faster. It is also licensing the technology
so it can be offered by other PC makers as well as DVD manufacturers.
Several manufacturers are announcing plans at CES 2005 to include LightScribe
technology in their products.
New Desktop and Notebook PCs: The Compaq Presario SR1350NX Desktop
PC, HP Pavilion Desktop PC (a830n or a820n) and the HP Media Center m1280n/m1270n
Photosmart PC will all include new LightScribe Direct Disc Labeling technology
and ship this month. Starting at estimated U.S. street prices of $699,
the HP Pavilion ze2000 notebook PC and the Compaq Presario M2000 notebook
PC will also ship this winter.(1)
The company will also unveil new partnerships with music, fashion and
entertainment icons during Fiorina's Friday morning keynote address at
the CES conference.
More information regarding HP's presence at 2005 International CES is
available in an online press kit at www.hp.com/go/ces2005.
About HP
HP is a technology solutions provider to consumers, businesses and institutions
globally. The company's offerings span IT infrastructure, global services,
business and home computing, and imaging and printing. For the four fiscal
quarters ended Oct. 31, 2004, HP revenue totaled $79.9 billion. More
information about HP is available at www.hp.com.
(1) Actual prices may vary.
