ken@wybbs.mi.org (Ken) (01/31/91)
You may recall the message I posted last week regarding competition to the cable industry from a DBS firm called Skypix. This week, in EE Times, there is an article that talks about a potential competitor to Skypix. Apparently, General Instrument the company that brought you Videocypher scrambling, has come up with something called Digicypher. GI claims that it can use the same satellite (SBS-6) and only needs a dish half the size of the Skypix dish with no signal degredation. EET had reported that under certain high screen change conditions, Skypix pictures would get momentarily grainy. The GI system only does 4-1 compression compared with the 10-1 compression that Skypix uses. This implies that there would not be as many channels available from GI. GI claims that Digicypher will be compatible with existing Videocypher systems, implying that existing dish owners could upgrade their receivers to receive existing signals plus the new Digicypher signals. They also say they are working on an antitaping circuit. Almost contradictorily, GI says they also plan a digital port on their receiver that would allow direct digital taping using digital VCRs now under development. So far, the GI system is just talk though. Skypix has announced a distribution deal with Echosphere, an existing dish distributor. Ken -- Ken Jongsma ken@wybbs.mi.org Smiths Industries ken%wybbs@sharkey.umich.edu Grand Rapids, Michigan ..sharkey.cc.umich.edu!wybbs!ken