Ravisent Ships HDTV-Ready DVD Player

HDTV is coming to a DVD player or PC near you. Ravisent Technologies (Malvern, PA) has announced that all of its DVD/MPEG-2 decoder/player products now shipping are HDTV-ready. In addition, copies of its CineMaster decoder product line incorporate advanced proprietary algorithms enabling the decoding of all 18 ATSC DTV formats including high definition television (HDTV) formats.

In the near future, consumers will be able to upgrade appropriate personal computer configurations that already include the CineMaster 99 DVD player to a full HDTV PC with only the addition of an ATSC-compliant receiver card and associated drivers for channel tuning and control. No additional HDTV decoder will be required.

Several independent hardware vendors (IHVs), including Conexant Systems Inc. (Newport Beach, CA), have announced the availability of ATSC-compliant television receiver cards and/or receiver card reference designs using Ravisent's software for use in personal computers. This gives PC OEMs an easy-to-implement design platform for bringing HDTV broadcasts to the mainstream Pentium-III PC for less than $150.

Upgrades will be available through OEM computer manufacturers and Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) sales channels later this year.

Edited by Meredith Lockard