Company Announces
Industry's First HDTV Media Hub, Next-Generation HP Digital Entertainment
Centers, and a Full Line of New TVs and Projectors
PALO ALTO, Calif. Jan. 5,
2005 - In advance of the annual Consumer
Electronics Show in Las Vegas, HP (NYSE: HPQ) (Nasdaq: HPQ) 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 http://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 http://www.hp.com.
(1) Actual prices may vary.
This news release
contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, as
well as assumptions that, if they ever materialize or prove incorrect, could
cause the results of HP and its consolidated subsidiaries to differ materially
from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements and
assumptions. All statements other than statements of historical fact are
statements that could be deemed forward-looking statements, including the
expected development, performance or rankings of products or services;
statements of expectation or belief; and any statement of assumptions underlying
any of the foregoing. Risks, uncertainties and assumptions include the
development, performance and market acceptance of products and services and
other risks that are described from time to time in HP's Securities and Exchange
Commission reports, including but not limited to HP's Quarterly Report on Form
10-Q for the period ended July 31, 2004 and other reports filed after HP's
Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended Oct. 31, 2003. HP assumes
no obligation and does not intend to update these forward-looking
statements.
Source: HP
