Gemstar, LSI Agree To Development Deal

LOS ANGELES — Gemstar-TV Guide International and consumer electronics IC-chip manufacturer LSI Logic have entered into a multiyear agreement to develop a reference design platform for the TV Guide On Screen system, Gemstar-TV Guide's interactive program guide (IPG) that is built into CE products.

The companies said the reference design will enable consumer electronics manufacturers partnered with Gemstar to rapidly develop TV Guide On Screen-enabled products — including a wide range of digital video recording products — for market at reduced cost.

The new reference platforms will combine TV Guide On Screen with LSI Logic's DoMiNo single-chip DVD and HDD recorder processors, providing manufacturers with a more efficient means of developing IPG-enabled digital recording devices, the companies said.

LSI Logic processors enable reduced cost, design complexity and time-to-market through high levels of system integration, the company said.

“As the demand for high-quality, cost-competitive digital recorders grows, it is extremely important to provide our CE manufacturer partners with optimal, cost-effective solutions to integrate TV Guide On Screen into their products,” said Doug Macrae, TV Guide Consumer Electronics' president in a prepared statement.

TV Guide On Screen in North America has signed licensing deals with more than a dozen consumer electronics manufacturers in the past two years, the company said. Licensees now include: Hitachi, Sony, JVC, LG/Zenith, Panasonic, Mitsubishi, Philips, Pioneer, Samsung, Sharp, Thomson, TiVo and Toshiba.

TV Guide On Screen is a subscription-free IPG service that is built into consumer electronics products, including digital televisions, digital video recorders and DVD recorders. The guide offers interactive onscreen program listings from TV Guide that enable viewers to quickly and easily navigate, sort, select and schedule television programming for viewing and recording.

The LSI Logic line of DoMiNo DVD and HDD recorder processors features single-chip recorder solutions. The high level of integration on a single chip reduces design complexity and provides system designers with considerable savings on the overall bill of materials, LSI said.