Fall IDF 2006 - Day 1: 45/65nm, UMPC Update and Quad-Core

Toshiba's 2nd gen HD-DVD Player

An unexpected gem on stage with Otellini at today's keynote was an early version of Toshiba's 2nd generation HD-DVD player. We're expecting significant improvements to start up time with Toshiba's 2nd gen player, and Otellini confirmed that the player would be available with a sub-$500 price tag.

The 2nd generation Toshiba HD-DVD set top player is barely visible in the lower left of the picture

The 2nd generation player does still use Intel silicon and given the reduction in vertical height of the device, we're assuming that Toshiba is now using a Core based processor rather than the NetBurst based Pentium 4 in the first generation player.

The Only Worthwhile Viiv Related Feature

Intel devoted a small portion of the morning's keynotes to an update on Viiv, which honestly wasn't much at all. Viiv's reception has not been anywhere nearly as strong as Centrino, and we don't expect it to get any better until Intel can deliver something that is substantially more than what you can already do with a good MCE PC. Right now Viiv is more marketing and fluff than features and technology, and as such it's not something that's particularly interesting to us. There was however one interesting demo of a feature that is supported by Viiv systems from ClickStar:

ClickStar has committed to delivering, within two weeks of the film's theatrical release, an online downloadable copy of the movie 10 Items or Less. As we inch towards a broadband delivery model for movies, simultaneous or near simultaneous online and theatrical releases of movies will become reality. We're still a bit away from that reality, but the ClickStar solution is at least a step in the right direction.