Silicon Image is introducing a PanelLink Cinema Partners (PLCP) p...

vp- consumer electronics. “Ad hoc” tests have been tried, but “frankly, they've not been sufficient, and a lot of finger-pointing” has resulted between set-makers and set- top-box suppliers when the interface fails to work properly, LeMoncheck told the HDTV Forum Thurs. in L.A. PLCP will be a separate Silicon Image subsidiary of Silicon Image aiming “to give consumers access to premium content,” LeMoncheck said. “… Consumers get frustrated. Their digital connection may be working properly, but if the copy protection isn’t properly implemented, you may get snow on some of the channels you expected to be able to see.” PLCP will include interoperability testing “over and above even what HDMI is doing,” and will mount a certification logo and consumer education program to identify those products that are PLCP compliant, LeMoncheck said. The plan will be to label such products “Cinema-Ready,” he said. Disney, Universal, Warner and Intel are supporting PLCP, he said. Preliminary PLCP specs are circulating among the “early adopter member companies,” and announcement of a final version 1.0 spec will come “the next couple of weeks,” LeMoncheck said. PLCP’s first ATC will be established this quarter in Sunnyvale, Cal., and the logo and education program will be launched soon at retail and will receive a “big push” at the Jan. CES in Las Vegas, he said. He said more than 150 HDMI-compliant products are available at retail or announced for shipment during the upcoming holiday selling season.