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We knew it was Intel's plan to launch its Sandy Bridge or Core 2011
processors at CES, but leave it to Chipzilla to throw in some total
surprises ahead of the show. Yes, you read the headline right --
Intel's planning to launch its very own movie and video service in the
first quarter of 2011. Unlike iTunes or really anything else out
there, Intel's Insider will allow those with Core 2011-powered laptops
or desktops to purchase or rent the latest movies in full HD -- yes,
good ol' 1080p. But, why exactly is Intel teaming up with studios,
content owners, and video distributors when so many others out there
are trying to do the same thing? In essence, the company sits in a
good place to combat a lot of the issues movie studios have had with
HD video distribution -- Insider is tied to the new 2nd generation
Core processors, and thus provides hardware protection, rather than
software protection of the content. According to Intel's Erik Reid,
the company has already struck deals with CinemaNow and Warner
Brothers, and the plan is for all content to be made available at the
same time as the DVD or Blu-ray release. It is unclear whether there
will be an Insider portal for all this content or if other services
will just be certified to work on the hardware platform, but we will
be finding out much more once the show starts.
Naturally, Intel doesn't only want you to watch those brand spankin'
new 1080p movies on your laptop screen -- it is pushing WiDi in a big
way, and the second generation, which will be baked into new Core 2011
systems, will support 1080p streaming and will eventually enable
streaming of protected content, including DVDs and Blu-ray discs. WiDi
2.0, as they are calling it, will work a lot like the original version
we like so much and allows you to extend your desktop to an HD
monitor, but unfortunately, it will require a new HDTV receiver to
enable the full HD capability and it still has that two second lag. No
word yet on who is making those boxes or how much they'll cost, but
we're hoping to learn a few more details about Intel's big push to tie
video content to its new processors at its CES press conference in
just a few days.
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