At the 2008 Intel Consumer Electronics Summit held on December 9 in Beijing, Eric
Kim, senior vice president and general manager of the Intel Digital Home Group,
signed a memorandum of understanding with TCL Corporation, a leading domestic multimedia
device manufacturer in China. To promote cooperation with leading consumer electronics
companies, Eric also used the summit to officially introduce the Intel® Consumer
Electronics Network to China.
In his personal blog post, Eric explains that when it comes to bringing the Internet
to TV, China’s consumer electronics industry is taking a leading role.
I cannot recall a more exciting time to be involved in the consumer electronics
industry. We are entering an inflection point that will transform the way all of
us experience the world’s most popular and pervasive medium – television. This transformation
is being driven by the convergence of two powerful technological forces: TV broadcast
technology and IP broadband. These technologies are coming together to bring Internet-based
content and services to TV viewers.
At Intel we are extremely proud to be working closely with China’s leading consumer
electronics companies, service providers, content providers, and software vendors
to help drive the transformation of television. I am personally looking forward
to my forthcoming trip to China, to meet with industry leaders who are working with
Intel to bring the Internet to TV.
Since the dawn of television, viewers have always wanted a richer and more compelling
experience. Innovations such as color, remote controls, electronic program guides,
and time-shifting with a DVR are all innovations that have supported this desire.
In addition, TV viewers like upgrades that offer more choices of what to watch and
how to watch it. Bringing the Internet to TV is the next step forward in this ongoing
evolution, but we have to do it the right way. To bring the Internet to life on
TV we need to emphasize the Internet's ability to provide richer experiences while
preserving what people already love about TV. The Internet on TV must be as simple
as traditional TV – which is simply a matter of turning it on, selecting your favorite
program and settling back on the sofa.
These factors helped guide us at Intel when we set out to create a platform which
the consumer electronics ecosystem can use to bring Internet-based content and services
to television. The hardware side of the platform is the silicon needed to bring
a rich and responsive interactive Internet experience to TV-related CE products.
This is the Intel® Media Processor CE 3100, the world's first system on chip (SoC)
optimized for consumer electronics that is based on the Intel® architecture core.
This platform will help the consumer electronics ecosystem create generations of
new products, such as high-performance set top boxes and Internet-connected media
players, as well as cool new Internet-based content, services and applications designed
for viewing on TV.
In addition, bringing the Internet to TV with the help of the Intel® Media Processor
CE 3100 also has the potential for extending the availability and affordability
of Internet-based content and services to households that do not have personal computers.
We are really excited about this opportunity as it supports Intel’s goal of helping
to connect the next billion people around the world to the Internet with uncompromised
technology.
The TV industry in China is at the forefront of this transformation. At Intel, we
believe that Chinese technology companies will be leaders in the development and
deployment of advanced Internet-based information and entertainment services, ranging
from new IPTV information and entertainment services to social networking applications,
online games, and online education, just to name a few. Intel has already engaged
with TCL and Changhong, leaders in the Chinese digital TV industry, to promote these
solutions. These companies and Intel share a common vision for the future of CE.
We look forward to extending our work to a broad ecosystem of CE industry leaders
in China. Together, we strive to accelerate the availability of digital entertainment
to consumers through an ecosystem that will ultimately benefit Chinese and global
consumers alike.