Hitachi, Moxi Digital, NEC, Philips Semiconductor, STMicroelectronics, And TiVo Adopt RealNetworks' RealOne Player for Wide-Spread Market Deployment in Consumer Electronics Devices
Industry Embraces RealOne Player as Next Generation Player for PDAs, Mobile Phones, Personal Video Recorders, Internet Boom Boxes, MP3 Players, DVD Players, Web Pads And Digital Cable, Broadband And Satellite Set-Top Boxes
RealNetworks Launches RealOne Consumer Electronics Acceleration Program for Consumer Electronics Manufacturers and Processor Companies to Offer RealAudio and RealVideo
Consumer Electronics Show, LAS VEGAS, Jan. 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- RealNetworks®, Inc. (Nasdaq: RNWK - news; Booth #14824) today announced strategic alliances with leading consumer electronics device and microprocessor providers that will enable consumers to enjoy RealAudio® and RealVideo® wherever and whenever they want. TiVo and Moxi Digital will integrate the RealOne(TM) Player into their set-top box platforms, and leading processor companies, including Hitachi, NEC, Philips Semiconductor, and STMicroelectronics, will optimize their platforms for the playback of RealNetworks' RealAudio and RealVideo in a wide variety of home devices including DVD players, set-top boxes, mobile phones and portable media devices.
The combination of today's announcement and previously announced agreements with Hewlett Packard, Liberate, Nokia, Sony Computer Entertainment, Symbian and Texas Instruments, will make it possible for consumers to enjoy RealAudio and RealVideo from a wide variety of devices in the living room and mobile environment.
``Millions of consumers throughout the world have made RealPlayer®, RealAudio and RealVideo the leading media technologies on the Internet,'' said Dan Sheeran, vice president, Media Systems, RealNetworks, Inc. ``Consumer electronics companies that partner with RealNetworks can leverage this large audience and enable consumers to enjoy their digital Internet media anywhere they want.''
RealNetworks' strategic alliances announced at CES include:
-- TiVo -- TiVo will integrate the RealOne Player as a standard feature in
its digital video recorders and offer RealOne Music to TiVo subscribers
-- allowing consumers to access television, music, and Internet media
from a single device. (see related release)
-- Moxi Digital -- Moxi Digital, a new set-top box platform company with
backing from Echostar and Vulcan Ventures will offer consumers RealOne
Player in their advanced home entertainment platform, the Moxi(TM)
Media Center
-- Hitachi -- Hitachi will optimize RealOne Player for Hitachi's SuperH(r)
RISC processor series used in mobile and digital consumer products such
as digital set-top boxes, PDAs, mobile phones, wearable internet
appliances, digital cameras, car information systems and factory
automation systems
-- NEC -- NEC will optimize the RealOne Player for its 64-bit VR
Series(TM) microprocessor platform for consumer electronics, satellite
set-top boxes, personal video recorders and web pads.
-- Philips Semiconductors -- Philips will integrate RealOne Player into
its Nexperia platform and Trimedia-based processors. Through a license
from RealNetworks, they will also provide consumer electronics
companies using these microprocessors the ability to offer RealOne
Player directly in their devices.
-- STMicroelectronics -- STMicroelectronics will optimize RealOne Player
for its processors for set-top boxes and DVD Players.
Internet media has quickly become the leading value-added application for home devices, and is being integrated into the leading DVD players, set-top boxes, audio players and gaming platforms on the market today. RealNetworks' cross-platform Internet media solution enables the consumer experience on a wide variety of operating systems and processors.
The media management capabilities of the RealOne Player allow consumers to transfer their media among Real-enabled devices. For example, a consumer could transfer music from the RealOne Player on their PC onto a CD-ROM for playback on their RealAudio-enabled DVD player or set top box. RealNetworks' advanced rights management technology, the RealNetworks Media Commerce Suite, ensures that appropriate copyrights are protected for these and other streaming, downloading, and media transferring activities.
``We are excited to be working with RealNetworks to offer consumers the ability to make their TiVo DVR the center of their entertainment experience in the living room,'' said Mike Ramsay, CEO, TiVo Inc. ``With RealOne Player, RealOne Music and a remote, consumers will be able to organize and play Internet radio, digital music they have recorded from their own CD collection and music streamed or downloaded through RealOne Music. RealNetworks has long been the leader in digital media delivery, and now consumers can use their TiVo to manage all their music and video entertainment.''
``By teaming with RealNetworks, a leader in the digital media delivery industry, together we will be able to provide consumers with a superior digital entertainment experience,'' said Steve Perlman, founder, president and CEO, Moxi Digital, Inc. ``Cable and satellite subscribers will be thrilled to obtain high-quality Internet-based media content throughout their house.''
RealOne Consumer Electronics Acceleration Program:
RealNetworks today launched the RealOne Consumer Electronics Acceleration Program. The program, which addresses both the needs of consumer electronics microprocessor companies and consumer electronics device companies, will work to bring the near DVD-quality video and CD-quality audio programming available through RealAudio and RealVideo to home and mobile devices. As part of the program, RealNetworks will offer consumer electronic device companies RealOne Player SDKs for the two leading appliance operating systems, Linux and Windows CE. Microprocessor participants in the program will be licensed to optimize their microprocessors and digital signal processors (DSP) for consumer electronics.
``Our strategic alliance with RealNetworks is a milestone for consumer portable electronic devices,'' said Eiichi Amada, senior vice president and chief technology officer of Hitachi America, Ltd. ``With the optimization of RealNetworks' RealOne Player for our SH3-DSP and SH4-based platforms, mobile manufacturers and designers will be able to provide high quality audio and video services enabling consumers to experience rich digital media capabilities in next-generation mobile devices.''
``This strategic alliance with RealNetworks is a big step for the next-generation industrial standard of broadband set-top boxes based on NEC's VR Series of 64-bit processors,'' said Katsu Itagaki, director of the Internet Platform Laboratory of NEC Electronics Inc. ``With the optimization of RealNetworks' RealOne Player for our VR Series platform, manufacturers and designers will be able to provide highly valued audio and video services while consumers will benefit by being able to experience rich digital media capabilities in the next-generation of consumer electronic devices.''
``Philips Semiconductors has a long history of providing innovative multimedia processor chips,'' said Jan Grotenbreg, director of business development, Philips Semiconductors. ``Integrating the RealOne Player onto our processor chips will enable consumer electronic manufacturers to provide end users with a state the art digital media experience.''
``We are excited to be working with RealNetworks to offer audio and video solutions for the next-generation of consumer devices,'' said Philippe Geyres, corporate vice president, Consumer and Microcontroller Groups, STMicroelectronics. ``By integrating RealNetworks' RealOne Player into our multimedia processing platform, set-top box and DVD manufacturers will be able to provide consumers with an enriched digital media experience.''
About RealOne Player
RealOne Player offers consumers an immersive, breakthrough media experience uniting digital media and the Web. Blending the functions of RealPlayer® and RealJukebox®, RealOne Player enables consumers to create their own personalized media experience by providing easy navigation between media playback, related links, and Web sites. RealOne Player is based on RealNetworks' RealSystem® core digital media technology and enables consumers to play virtually all digital media, including streaming and downloaded content, CDs, MP3s, thousands of radio stations and more - with support for more than 50 media types, including RealAudio and RealVideo, and RealNetworks' Media Commerce Suite of rights management and encryption.
About RealNetworks
RealNetworks, Inc., based in Seattle, is the global leader in Internet media delivery. It develops and markets software products and services designed to enable users of personal computers and other consumer electronic devices to send and receive audio, video and other multimedia services using the Web. Consumers can access and experience audio/video programming and download RealNetworks' consumer software on the Internet at real.com  . RealNetworks' systems and corporate information is located on the Internet at realnetworks.com .
NOTE: RealNetworks, RealOne, RealAudio, RealVideo, RealPlayer, RealJukebox and RealSystem are trademarks of RealNetworks, Inc. NEC Electronics Inc. and VR Series are trademarks of NEC Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. All other companies or products listed herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. |
