Philips Electronics NV has launched a prototype video-on-demand television set-top decoder designed to enable users to dial up an electronic library of movies by telephone for viewing on the TV. The decoder, initially available only in prototype quantities to trade buyers, will be launched in the US where companies are experimenting with delivering digital TV signals to the home through existing phone lines. Called the Home Interactive Multimedia Terminal, it converts 1.5Mbps digital television signals into NTSC or PAL analogue signals. Viewers will be able control the remote source material using functions such as play, stop and pause, and data from the video server such as the movie catalogue – to be displayed on screen. It combines a standard T1 communications interface system, an MPEG-1 decoder and a control system. Philips is working on the technologies with BroadBand Technologies Inc, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina and Compression Labs Inc. It is still possible to use the line for normal phone calls while films are being viewed on the system, and Philips says that it plans versions for different types of telephone networks and for satellite, cable, broadcast and other media.
